hello ..new to the whole oilburner stuff..need some help with my 88 f-250

[theglassman]

well.....this is my first stepp into the diesel world...

here we go...
bought a 1988 7.3/5 speed f-250 with only 76 thousand original miles on it.......

good...truck runs awsome....alittle low on power compared to a cummins ..but im told thats normal..

bad....the only issues the truck has is electrical...

1..tach only reads half the time and when it does its waaaay off from what the motor is doin..
2..battery guage reads barely over 8....what ever that means...lol
3...gass guage seems to be accurate for both tanks
4...temp guage is useless
5...oil preasure guage is a joke..
6..headlights are dim as heck and barely useable
7..glowplugs dont work.......dash light flickers when you turn on the key....then nothin...(i installed new glow plugs)
.....
now the wierd stuff....lol.....when the truck is idleing and u just touch the gas peddle the lights dim and the needles bounce a bit....
hmmm....
other then that it all works great...hahahah.....
im not a wiring guy but im not ignorant to the stuff......i just dont know anything about diesels and not much more about fords.........HELP....lol

..
one idea i thought about was a completely new wiring harness from painless and then try to blend it in with the diesle part of the truck..
i wouldnt mind getting new guages and doin a custom set up...just not sure on where to start

 

[Knuckledragger]

Welcome! There are plenty of helpful diesel owners here ready to answer your questions. I'll take a stab at a few:

Sounds like a bad alternator would cause most of your problems. Have it checked before spending a bunch of dough on a new one. Battery gauge reading 8 means it is charging 8 volts, about 2/3 of what you need.

Glowplugs have a controller that can go bad, but I would wait for the results of the Alternator check.

Tach is run by a magnetic pickup in the top of the IP housing. They are about $60 new.

 

[icanfixall]

Welcome to the forum. Usually the tach senser thats found in the timing gear cover towards the drivers side of the injection pump is the tach problem. It has two black wires feeding power to it. Sometimes they pick up some dirt and wont read correctly. Removing them and cleaning off the magnetic piece will fix them. Also that wires feeding them sometimes will break down and short out too. Mostly the dash gauges are felt to be little more than idiot gauges with pointers. Many here will install manual or electric replacements to get a real reading. The oil pressure gauge is only telling you that you have at least 7 lbs and nothing more. As for the coolant temp... What is the word NORMAL mean for a real temp... Its at the "O" or the "L" or where... It really means not much.. Located on the front of the drivers side head is a coolant temp sender. Thats the over temp dash lite sender. What happens is as the engine gets up to 242 degrees that large sender closes and will force the dash gauge to peg way over past the "L". Usually we never see this happening because thats too hot for these engines. It kinda tells you its too late to save the engine... One really needs to cool down the engine if that happens. When this happens you will see a dash message that syas CHECK ENGINE... This comes on when you loose oil pressure too. The normal coolant temp sender is up near the injection pump on the drivers side of the block by the serial numbers. Now about all the dash lites and gauges working mostly when they want to... Thats sounds like the typical ground issue or the dash voltage regulater found on the back side of the dash in the printed circut. I think you have a ground issue really. Don't worry about not knowing much about this rig. Most here were where you are now so it common ground. Please read the Hall of shame forum before you buy anything for this engine... There are some cheats out there on ebay and other places trying to take your money and give you nothing in return. As for gluplugs.. We all have tried all of them and the motorcraft Beru ZD9 are the only kind that last..

 

[theglassman]

wow...thats alot to absorb...lol....i really dont trust any lights ot factory guages on my trucks.......i am thinkin about doin new guages in a custom plate in place of the factory cluster face....are the temp ...oil ..battery and volt guages the same as a gas motor....
....oh and i just put a brand new alternator on it...thanks for the replies so far

 

[91F350idi]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[GOOSE]

wow...thats alot to absorb...lol....i really dont trust any lights ot factory guages on my trucks.......i am thinkin about doin new guages in a custom plate in place of the factory cluster face....are the temp ...oil ..battery and volt guages the same as a gas motor....
....oh and i just put a brand new alternator on it...thanks for the replies so far

Welcome to Oilburners, you are in the right spot for your vintage truck. Yes, the temp, oil pressure, and volt/amp gauges are basically the same as a gasser version. The tach is really the only major difference between a gas and diesel truck. I put aftermarket gauges in for coolant temp and oil pressure, what a difference, you really get a peace of mind in knowing what your engine is doing instead of merely wondering. Do a little research and you will find out that a headlight relay mod is very common and a good upgrade for your truck. There have also been some good write ups on separating your lens from the housing and polishing the inside and outside of it, and resealing it together with epoxy to keep condensation out in the future. For less than a hundred bucks, you can have very bright headlights again. Good luck with your rig and keep us posted.

 

[GOOSE]

Also, use a volt meter to see what your batteries are really doing. You should have 12 volts when the truck is off, 13.5-14 volts when running. Some vintages of these trucks have external regulators, may have to look into that. Once again, good luck.

 

[riotwarrior]

wow...thats alot to absorb...lol....i really dont trust any lights ot factory guages on my trucks.......i am thinkin about doin new guages in a custom plate in place of the factory cluster face....are the temp ...oil ..battery and volt guages the same as a gas motor....
....oh and i just put a brand new alternator on it...thanks for the replies so far

Welcome to OILBURNERS....best place for info on these trucks bar none.

Ya most of the gauges for a gasser are the same as for a diesel...boost is boost gas/diesel.....water temp is water temp...Oil pressure...well you get the picture...only a diesel tach is the specialty item.

Your issue with voltage could be the voltage regulator,

I'd say ...with engine off....unplug the voltage regulator and clean the terminal connections well, reconnect then I'd suggest doing same for the connections on the main battery solenoid and all batter cables and grounds. Clean is your friend.

Once that's all cleared up, try and see if you get a better reading on the voltage gauge, and if not, test the output with a multimeter at the batteries and see if you are getting more than 8 volts...again stock gauges SUCK!!!

If you are getting between 13.5 and 14.6 with engine running that's fine...less..not good...more worse ...cooks batteries!


Plz take a moment and fill in your signature with truck info, helps us to help you.

Also look at the tech articles, the FAQ's and hall of shame...lots to be gleaned in there for sure.

Hope you enjoy the site.

Al

 

[icanfixall]

The 88 year alternater trucks wil have the external voltage regulaters. They are found on the passenger side fender well. Usually they cost around $12.00....

 

[idi_econoline]

Yeahyeah, welcome, glassman! Hopefully your truck and this site will grow on you..... even if you've worked on gassers for years, these old IDIs will be a whole new experience for you. But these trucks are worth the fair amount of effort needed to repair the sins and blunders of their previous owners.

And, speaking of experience, those members with thousands of posts under their belts have much to share about these old beasts. And those with fewer posts have a surprising amount to share as well.... and all of these gentlemen are a rather civil bunch, IMHO.

Plz do keep us updated, and pics are welcome.

 

[Can30Diesel]

Welcome to the forum! Get that alternator checked!

 

[dmaxjoe]

Welcome to Oilburners. I would check all grounds and maybe add a few just to be sure. Then go on to the voltage regulator and alternater.

 

[theglassman]

thanks guys....
alt. is brand new from ford....
think im gona just start trowin new parts at it just to be sure.......it couldnt hurt.....

 

[theglassman]

WHERE WOULD ALL THEE GROUNDS BE THAT EVERYONE KEEPS MENTIONING....