Came to the dark side

[crashnzuk]

Hey all. Some of you may know me from the Ford IDI section or Pirate4x4. I just picked up a 98 6.5/5 speed 2500 regular cab with a flatbed. It's got 220k and it is 100% stock. It needs a couple of little things and some maintenance, but it seems to be a solid truck. I have no plans or illusions that it will replace my 1st gen Cummins Dodge as my towrig, so it will be used for light duty stuff around the house. I'll be keeping an eye out here for tips, tricks, and things to look out for. That's it for now, just thought I'd pop in say hey
Travis..

 

[towcat]

welcome to hell.
you will love the truck until your first overheat.
if you PMD hasn't been moved yet, drop by heath diesel and get their relocation kit and move it behind the bumper.
since it is a '98 you can't ditch theh DS4 injection system completely.
good seeing you again.

 

[crashnzuk]

Good to be back, you guys have any get togethers coming up? I've read about not overheating it. I'm not planning on using this for any real work, that's what my real truck is for Hopefully it'll be a good light duty run about that gets good fuel mileage. At least I was smart enough to get one with a manual trans
Travis..

 

[crashnzuk]

Here she is in all her glory
Travis..

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Black dawg]

And it really isnt overheat, more like over 225, will give you trouble.

 

[rjjp]

If the goat is normal, and the bowtie is the dark side, what's that make the oval?

 

[crashnzuk]

Well, already having issues with it Have had several unintended acceleration events, and it developed a p/s leak and barfed out all of the fluid. Time for a PMD I suppose, it does it after shutting it down for a bit. I guess it can't handle a bit of heat soak. The place I got the truck had replaced the lines for the steering and hydroboost, so I suspect they did something wrong. Oh well, at least I didn't go into it thinking it was the best, most trouble-free engine ever made. I mostly got it for its condition, the 5 speed, and the bed.
Travis..

 

[towcat]

Well, already having issues with it Have had several unintended acceleration events, and it developed a p/s leak and barfed out all of the fluid. Time for a PMD I suppose, it does it after shutting it down for a bit. I guess it can't handle a bit of heat soak. The place I got the truck had replaced the lines for the steering and hydroboost, so I suspect they did something wrong. Oh well, at least I didn't go into it thinking it was the best, most trouble-free engine ever made. I mostly got it for its condition, the 5 speed, and the bed.
Travis..

drop by the heath diesel website. they have a kit to put the PMD behind the front bumper. the five speed is worth the price of admission though.

 

[opusd2]

That's a sweet looking truck, and don't think you have to relegate it to light duties. Even the NA 6.2s I own have plenty of snot and can pull their own, so to speak.

 

[crashnzuk]

Yeah, I'll have to strap something on it when I get it running right and see how it is. BUT, I really like my goat so I don't think I'll stop towing with it. This Chevy might just turn into a light to moderate wheeler anyway, but we'll have to see how things go with it for a while. Everything is in a state of "I don't know where I'm going with this thing yet"
Travis..

 

[crashnzuk]

Well, I fixed my p/s leak. The new hose from the pump to the hydroboost wasn't routed correctly and it came loose/blew the o-ring. A new o-ring and a couple quarts of fluid and she's back on the road.

I found and won a new black stanadyne pmd on the bay, it should be here today or tomorrow. I think I'm gonna mount it behind the bumper once I get a harness. I put about 50 miles on it yesterday driving back roads and some interstate. All was well until I got closer to home and on slower roads with stop lights. It acted like it was gonna take off again, so I headed back home before it freaked out in traffic. Hopefully the new PMD will make this thing reliable.
Travis..

 

[crashnzuk]

Who sells a reasonably priced, good quality PMD harness, I can't see spending $100+ on a couple plugs and 6 pieces of wire. Any thoughts or tips?
Travis..

 

[tanman_2006]

Check out Leroydiesel.com. It will out tow or town along side a cummins if you get a bigger turbo and chip. Mine gross over 30k

 

[crashnzuk]

Update, I got an N.O.S. Stanadyne black PMD off of ebay and bought a 6 foot harness from Auto Wiring Solutions. The harness looks very nice, has Delphi connectors (at least the male end) and a nice heavy duty abrasion resistant weave/fabric protector sleeve on it instead of split loom. It was $44 to my door which I thought was reasonable. I pulled my intake so I could get my original resistor out of the pump mounted PMD. That was a bit of work for a resistor, but nobody had any closer than 2 working days out and I needed my truck. The gaskets were only $20 total and the work was easy so I just made it happen. I mounted my new PMD to a 6"x8"x 1/4" aluminum plate on the plastic defelctor directly behind the bumper. I spaced it off of the plastic about 1/2 inch to allow for airflow. Once it was all done and plugged in, the truck started instantly and drives like it should. The plate so far has not been more than warm to the touch even after driving for an hour and checking it after it's been shut down for 10-15 mins. So far I am pleased and hope it stays that way.

As far as power goes, being in CA means I have to smog it. I am not going to do anything that will require me to swap things back and forth at test time, so different turbos and tunes are probably out of the question.
Travis..

 

[tanman_2006]

There is a good handful of 6.5's that won't pass with the stock turbo and run cleaner with a larger one, mine included. They are proven to work with a 4" cat from a stock 08 and newer Dmax exhaust. Just food for thought.