New guy in Riverside CA

[FC350]

Hey all,

I just traded a bunch of jeep rock crawler parts for a running 1986, F350, Reg Cab, 4X4, C6 auto, 4.10, 6.9 IDI.

It has a Turbo. Not sure about the manufacturer of the kit. The truck came from Lancaster. The Air horn on top of the intake manifold says R&E Racing. I did a quick online search. There is a performance shop by that name in Lancaster. I have yet to contact them. I am hoping to get a little info on specs.

Overall the truck is in good shape. It needs a lot of Rubber. All the suspension bushings, fuel lines, tires ect. It has been in a wreck at the front driverside. It's had a lot of repair done. At first glance you wouldn't know. It looks like it could use a new set of front leaf springs and an alignment. It looks like the driverside main leaf is bent a little. It has some wicked outer tire ware on the outside of the passenger tire.

When I got it none of the gauges worked. I replaced the Instrument cluster voltage Reg and now they work. I repaired a couple grounds and replaced all the burned bulbs. The electrical system seems to be fully functional inside and out.

I'm new to diesels, so bare with me. I don't have any formal mechanic training, but my jeep experience is serving me well. I am a machinist and fabricator by trade, so I have learned the value of patience. I bought The Ford Factory Service manual. I still need the emissions supplement.

The factory water separator was bypassed. I removed it and cleaned it out thoroughly. I plumbed it back into the fuel system. I'm not convinced the dash light is functioning properly. Any suggestions on diagnosis.

The glow plug controller has a manual bypass. I understand that it's good to have. I also read that the early fast start system cannot withstand more than a few seconds of on time before damaging the GP's. I have been careful but still plan to replace the GP's. It has the spade connector type GP's. When I got it the truck it had a second harness for the bullet connector style GP's. I removed the extra wire harness for now.

There is a jumper wire from the Engine temp/glow plug/water in fuel light plug run straight to a constant 12V source. I have unplugged it, but am not sure why it's there. It doesn't seem to have any affect.

When the motor is getting proper fuel is sounds good. There is a little bit of a lope that develops when slowly depressing the throttle. It seems excessive to me. My hope is that a fresh set of injectors, fuel lines ect will clear that up.

Any golden nuggets of wisdom would be appreciated, but I have a couple pertinent questions. The entire fuel system seems pretty dirty. I'd like to remove and clean out both fuel tanks. Any suggestions on chemicals to use? I thought about using acetone to flush them out and then rinsing them with clean water and air drying them.

After the tanks are done I'd like to replace as much of the plastic/rubber fuel lines as possible and thoroughly flush all the steel lines up to the IP. Anybody know of a good source for those parts?

Once all that is done I feel that I will be ready to go to work on injectors, GP's and inspect the IP. It depends on funds, but I would prefer to just replace the IP with the injectors. I'd hate to clog up new injectors.

My only other concern is blowby. There seems to be a lot of oil drifting out of the port where the CDR valve was. There is a block-off-plate installed in the back of the intake manifold and just a tube jammed into the lifter cover. The tube runs across the motor and is plumbed into the air intake between the air filter and turbo. How should I track down the root cause? My guess is a compression test would be a good start. Is there a common culprit other that rings and cylinder walls?

I hope to button down all these issues and eventually install new head studs and possibly new head gaskets on account of the turbo. I don't expect this work to have been done by the previous owner(s). A little voice in my head is telling me that if I tune this engine well, I really run the risk of blowing a head gasket and all will be for not.

I go back and forth on what is more critical and what should be done first. I am tempted to do a compression test first. If the overall condition seems good then replace EVERYTHING mentioned above in one shot. It will be a monumental test of my patience because it will take me a good deal of time to afford a hoard of parts that extensive.

Thanks Carl

 

[Clydesdale]

Pics or banned?

 

[FC350]

Pics or banned?

I'll get some pix tomorrow afternoon. I have a lot on my work plate tomorrow morning.

I temporarily removed the bed for easy access to fuel tanks. I also plan to restore the rear suspension with the bed out of the way. So, The truck isn't at it's full hot **** thang potential.

 

[mopwrd340]

welcome i traded my jeep comanche for my truck

 

[Brad S.]

Good trade, no offense to any Jeep people around.
Good way to get started with a good pickup and a very good board, to learn a lot about these pickups.
Welcome aboard.

 

[Knuckledragger]

I'll start on something I am familiar with. You say the fuel system is dirty. In what way? The color of the fuel, particulate matter, what? Before doing anything radical, try changing the fuel filter (fill the new one with diesel before installing so you don't burn up the starter for the first start, not to mention air inclusion).

These old trucks have a common trait, the fuel senders disintegrate. There is a "showerhead" pickup on the bottom that is made of some plastic that apparently does not like living in diesel, so they crumble after about 20 years. the result is that you only get to use 3/4 of you tank before running out. IF (and this a big if) you need to remove tanks, the easiest process is to remove the bed first. It is not as tough as it sounds. The sender for the front tank can be removed without taking the tank out. Once that is out, you will know if the showerhead has crumbled.

If you take the tanks out to clean them, don't forget the fuel lines. The plastic from the showerhead tends to get picked up and can make problems later. Disconnect the fuel lines to the tank switching valve on the frame and blow them out with air.

You can use anything you want to clean out the tanks, but I advise against using water. Diesel fuel is not like gasoline, it does not evaporate very quickly. We do not have the gelling or algae problems in southern California that other areas do, so you really only need to get out the broken showerhead pieces. No need for a sanitary cleaning, unless that is your thing.

Good luck, and keep asking questions. This forum is populated by helpful people.

 

[FC350]

I replaced the fuel filter right away with the proper procedure.

The rear tank is gel'd with both white goo and gold varnish and has some sediment. The front tank doesn't seem to bad. The fuel filter had the gold varnish too. Actually everything except the front tank filler neck that I've touched has gold varnish.

The bed is already off. How do I remove the sending unit?

Sounds like I should replace the shower head weather it's brocken or not. What can I rig up?

thanks

 

[burtcheca]

Hi Carl,
Welcome to the place where people care about each other and their trucks!
Burt.

 

[Knuckledragger]

Sending unit removal is simple. There is a tool you can get to turn the ring, or you can use a drift, punch, screwdriver or something else being smacked with a hammer to turn it. But before starting, be sure to blow off the area so you don't drop dirt into the tank. Once the ring has been turned off the retaining tabs, pull the unit out of the tank carefully. You will have to do some monkeying with it to avoid denting the float or bending the float arm. Keep track of the O ring on the tank for reinstall.

The popular method to replace the showerhead is to attach a length of fuel line to the pickup tube after cutting a notch in the pickup end. I made a special replacement

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=42130&highlight=sending+unit

but that is only because I had nothing else to do.

 

[Cucamongan]

Hi Carl,

It sounds like your onto the right track.

I dont have much advice to give, So i'll leave that to the other resident experts

I do have to say, dont bother buying the Harbor Freight Diesel Engine Compression tester set, its crap. The glow plug adaptor did not fit, even after i modified it.

also, the bullet style glow plugs are the newer style compared to the spade style. What brand of glow plugs are in the truck? If they are not Beru or Motorcraft, pull them out and throw them away, because they will swell at the tip and not be easily removed (break the tip off and have to pull the head to get it out)

Im sure the other guys will chime in. (im surprised Gary has not posted yet)

 

[FC350]

Sending unit removal is simple. There is a tool you can get to turn the ring, or you can use a drift, punch, screwdriver or something else being smacked with a hammer to turn it. But before starting, be sure to blow off the area so you don't drop dirt into the tank. Once the ring has been turned off the retaining tabs, pull the unit out of the tank carefully. You will have to do some monkeying with it to avoid denting the float or bending the float arm. Keep track of the O ring on the tank for reinstall.

The popular method to replace the showerhead is to attach a length of fuel line to the pickup tube after cutting a notch in the pickup end. I made a special replacement

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=42130&highlight=sending+unit

but that is only because I had nothing else to do.

Sounds good. I love it when the hammer comes out for precision work. I will probably get started on friday and spend a little more time on Sat. Thanks for the link.

Hi Carl,

It sounds like your onto the right track.

I dont have much advice to give, So i'll leave that to the other resident experts

I do have to say, dont bother buying the Harbor Freight Diesel Engine Compression tester set, its crap. The glow plug adaptor did not fit, even after i modified it.

also, the bullet style glow plugs are the newer style compared to the spade style. What brand of glow plugs are in the truck? If they are not Beru or Motorcraft, pull them out and throw them away, because they will swell at the tip and not be easily removed (break the tip off and have to pull the head to get it out)

Im sure the other guys will chime in. (im surprised Gary has not posted yet)

I figured as much on the HF test equipment. I have learned to be very selective while shopping there.

I'll check on the GP's. I read about that nightmare earlier, but still haven't gotten around to checking. I've been avoiding running it very much until I get these kinks straightend out. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[FC350]

Hi Carl,
Welcome to the place where people care about each other and their trucks!
Burt.

You guys sure do make friends fast. Honestly I never really paid attention to Any trucks newer than 1979. I used to have a nice 73 F250 with an FE big block. I loved it but ended up selling it. I have always like diesel but was intimidated. Once I got this truck home and rev'd the motor and heard how beautiful this diesel sounds... I am hooked.

I love the fact that I am restoring a 25 year old Socal vehicle. I'm accustomed to 60 year old jeeps. It's so easy to work on.

Thanks everybody!

 

[towcat]

post some pics of what you are working with. we can help with the ID.
as far as feul system goes, I am scraping out a '86 CC dually in the next couple of weeks. it's picked over pretty good already but the feul system and tanks are still here. if you can make a road trip to norkal, I can be extremely reasonable on the parts.

 

[Machman49]

very helpful thread. its good to know what things could go wrong so i can fix them before they go wrong.

 

[towcat]

very helpful thread. its good to know what things could go wrong so i can fix them before they go wrong.

actually there's very little to go "wrong" but fuel contamination can happento any diesel not just IDI's how squeaky clean you want to scrub is up to you.