IH 6.9L 84 Ford F250

[F350farmboy]

Yeah, those water separators tend to cause more trouble than they actually help. For a temp. fix, take a short piece of hose and hose clamp it to the h2o separator drain and cram a bolt into the other end and hose clamp everything nice and tight, that should keep air out even if the actual h2o separator is bad. When funds and time permits, steal a 7.3 filter head assembly at the junkyard (dont literally steal one )

 

[FORDMAN41291]

well here is what I did, I took the freeze plug that is two big and used a razor to shave it down a bit, put that son gun up there tightned it up and then put JB Weld around it! what a money saver and it works!!!

PS. The freeze plug did not pop, it sort of fell out

 

[mankypro]

Get a 3/8" hose mender bard from Lowes or something and bypass your water separator. Then plug 'er in for about 4 hours, then give it a shot again. Have you checked the fuel filter? Removed it and see if there is any fuel in it? Maybe get a new fuel filter and fill it with fresh #2 and try again? Have you checked for fuel delivery? Do you have a mechanical lift pump?

This why you've been told to climb around the beastie a while...

 

[FORDMAN41291]

it is an IDI, so i'm not sure, if it mechanical or not I installed a new fuel filter, the pump is working, I shot it up with a spritz of ether and she about wanted to start, scared the crap out of me, I forgot just how loud diesels were, I am waiting to install the oil filter return and delivery manifold, I had to put a new freeze plug in. I hope that rubber one stays it was hell just putin thatn in.

thanks

again

 

[david85]

Are your glow plugs coming on at all? You should be getting 10 seconds before starting on a cold start.

The big plume of white smoke (mixed with grey as well maybe?) Is all the diesel fuel that has been injected into the engine during all the cranking. Its to be expected that a mess will result when the engine finally starts to purge it out. It is going to clatter and know loud until that accumulated fuel burns out of the cylinders and exhaust ports.

For timing, look at the top of the injection pump where it joins to the front drive gear housing (the semi circular thing on the top front of the engine where filler neck connects is the drive gear housing).
You may have to wipe some grease or dust off the top of this joining area, but if you look closely, you should be able to see two small scribe marks right at the joint between the injector pump and the gear housing. If those are lined up, don't mess with the timing, at least not yet.

Get it started and give it a chance to clear its throat, then assess weather it needs timing to be adjusted.

Here is a testing method to see if your individual glow plugs are good:

1: Disconnect the glow plug that you are going to test

2: connect a 12V test light to the glow plug and touch the probe to the + side of the battery

3: if it lights up, the plug is good, if not, the plug is bad.

If you don't have a test light even a length of wire will work. If the plug is good, you will see a small spark when you close the circuit.

If any glow plugs are bad, do not use anything other than motorcraft/beru glow plugs.

I try to discourage people from using starting fluid on diesels especially higher compression diesels like the 6.9. I won't go into details about what can happen, but internal damage is possible especially if you don't disable the glow plugs.

Here are some safer alternatives to using either:

1: gasoline soaked rag on the intake of the engine

2: a high power (1500 watt) heat gun pointed down the intake of the engine while cranking

I know they sound goofy, but they work. I can actually start start my truck in the winter with a heat gun and no glow plugs.

 

[FORDMAN41291]

for as old as this truck is those people didnt take very good care of it it atall I don't think the glow plugs work. I thought if you use gas on a diesel engine it will screw it up? even if it is on a rag over the air breather?

 

[mankypro]

Some folks light a *** of newspaper and let it get sucked into the intake

It should work. Test your glow plugs as was mentioned. Does it have a block heater?

 

[FORDMAN41291]

yeah it still has a block heater, don't know if it works or not.

 

[mankypro]

Check it with a voltmeter for continuity. Or plug it in for an hour then put your hand on the block near above the starter - be careful you could get burned - it should be warm.

 

[Agnem]

Don't use glow plugs and either together! Best read some of our technical articles before you get yourself in trouble.

 

[FORDMAN41291]

I most likely need new glow plugs because the engine is so old and no one has serviced the electrical system in along time

 

[david85]

Does the glow plug light come on at all when you try to start it? These engines are very hard to start without glow plugs unless you help it with some other means. Thats the disadvantage of indirect injection over direct injection.

Gasoline vapor through the intake won't hurt anything. Its liquid gasoline through the fuel injection system that is harmful because it damages the fuel system and causes incorrect ignition timing if you try and run the engine on gasoline alone.

Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but you can't crank for more than 20 seconds at a time without risking damage to the starter. After 20 seconds, you need a 2 minute cool down time.

Removing glow plugs also carries risks if they were not the correct brand. The glow plug tips can swell and make it impossible to remove them unless the tip breaks off and falls into the cylinder. If any of the glow plugs feels like its going to snag or gets tight again after initially loosening it, don't try to remove it.

Here is an article that describes how to recover a broken off glow plug tip without having to pull the cylinder head off:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/k2pilot/Glow plug removal article.html

 

[FORDMAN41291]

yeah someone did tell me not to crank for more than 20 seconds, and I don't know about the glow plug light because the lock cylinder is broke and won't even turn the radio on? so thats another expense but it's worth it, how do I "hot wire" the truck from inside the cab, i have to turn it over by touching the solenoid. oh and hey if anyone has an original Ford F250 owners guide i would appreciate it if someone could scan and e-mail to me? you can send me a personal message to get my e-mail.

thanks again

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

yeah someone did tell me not to crank for more than 20 seconds, and I don't know about the glow plug light because the lock cylinder is broke and won't even turn the radio on? so thats another expense but it's worth it, how do I "hot wire" the truck from inside the cab, i have to turn it over by touching the solenoid. oh and hey if anyone has an original Ford F250 owners guide i would appreciate it if someone could scan and e-mail to me? you can send me a personal message to get my e-mail.

thanks again

Well that sheds some light on alot of things. If ya don't have power in the dash due to a faulty ignition switch, chances are you are not getting power to the injector pump either.

That why the ether was giving you a puff of smoke as it'll fire without the key but won't run unless ya have a sustained fuel supply coming into the equation.

For safety sake, I'd prolly try to get the ignition fixed first before going any further at this point.

 

[FORDMAN41291]

the fuel pump is activating i took a injector pipe off and fuel was coming out.