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[86ford69]

Hey there fellas. Just joined today and wanted to say howdie. I have a 86 6.9 that I have had for a year and a half now and I do love it but it's getting pricey. I paid $1700 for it outta Fl and have spent about 3 grand on 2 t cases and about ten sets of gps before I switched to the ac60gs which by the way work great! The problem I'm having not is lots of whiteish grey smoke at idle and most of the time even when it warm. I had a pretty good ping and pop at cold idle also. I think I took care of this by replacing the copper washers on the bottom of the injectors and cleaning the number four injector of all the crux that was built up just below the threads and around the tip. I have replaced all lines and caps along with new fuel filter along with oil and air filter without the last six months. My big problem is that the truck eats oil like dang crazy. I replaced the cdr not long ago with no difference. I eat up about two quarts of mob delvac 15w 40 in say 100 miles! I really hope my rings aren't shot. I also have a pretty good tap and rattle coming from the passenger side valve cover. This prolly has something to do with the oil consumption but I just haven't removed it yet. Im in the process of replacing both spindles and all hub bearings and seals.

 

[DragRag]

Welcome to the site. How many miles on your engine? I have an 86' with a touch under 300k on it and it leaks and burns a lot to. I think I am just going to put a lower mileage used engine it from another truck and be done myself. Doesn't mean you have the same issues as I do, but you can check to see by running a compression test for starters. let us know on the engines mileage in total if you have a clue. Best to check the compression through the glow plug tap of course.

 

[86ford69]

Thanks brother. I'm pretty sure it close to 300,000. I can't be certain. But with the oil consumption and other issues it's getting up there. I plan on doing a compression test as soon as infer it back on the road when the spindle job is done.

 

[jonathan]

what is a a60g glow plug conversion? btw welcome to our form

 

[86ford69]

I did lots of research on another forum and found that we can use ac60g flow plugs from the chevy 6.5s. Only things I had to do was crimp the ends a lil tighter and use some thread sealer as they are a touch smaller in the thread area. I have a push button system and the most I ever go is twenty seconds. I was having big problem with eating gps like crazy. I even ate up a $100 set of zd9s! These ac60gs work great.

 

[Silver Burner]

WOW! You run your GP's for 20 seconds?? You should be able to start your rig on one 5-7second burn if it's above 45 or 50 out. No wonder you ate a set of ZD-9's! Sorry dude, not trying to rip, I'm just surprised is all. BTW, welcome to the site! You'll find more knowledge here then anyplace else on the net. That's a fact.

 

[86ford69]

I only run the ac60gs for that amount of time. All the other plugs I have used never got run for more than 8 seconds. I still haven't found out what was eating the old plugs. Oy thing that was not changed out was the gp relay. But the ac60gs work great. I just believe my motor is finally on it's last leg. It's getting pretty hard to start and making some noise and eating oil like crazy.

 

[DragRag]

Timing over advanced will eat plugs, could be the case for you.

 

[86ford69]

Yeah I thought about that. That could exain the rough starts and clouds of smoke and ate up gps. I have a few projects going right now but the timing is deff next on the list.

 

[Knuckledragger]

The constant smoke may mean a blown head gasket, not uncommon for the 6.9 engine. High oil consumption could be a valve stem leak, the engines will suck oil from the crankcase if allowed to do so. If you have clattering noises, that may be rocker arms damaged by wiggling valves with worn stems.

Or you could have a main seal leak. Been under the truck lately? is it wet? The oil pumps don't make a lot of pressure, but they really move a lot of oil around.

The good news is that a head gasket repair is not horribly expensive, and can be done in the truck if you care to. Try a compression test before anything else, that will verify or eliminate some issues. Or easier yet, with the engine running at idle, crack one injector nut at a time and listen for reduced RPM. If the RPM does not change, you have a dead cylinder. If the compression is up, you have a dead injector. Compression down, blown head gasket, worn or burned (very unlikely in these engines) valve or broken rings (also unlikely).

 

[86ford69]

I did crack each injector with it running and the motor did down a lil and then came back up after it was tightened. There is a tiny amount of oil around the rear main but not enough to make it drip. Just a touch of wetness. The oy real leaks under the truck is from the tranny and t case area cus I am missing two bolts my buddy lost when we changed the bell housing. The other leak is from the whell cylinder on the passenger side rear.

 

[GOOSE]

Welcome to the site and thank you very much for serving our country. A compression test is worth every penny spent and every minute it takes. Have you checked for blow by?

 

[86ford69]

Thank you very much. A compression test is deff on the list. Just gotta get the new spindles on so I can get her over to my buddies shop.

 

[86ford69]

Thank you very much. A compression test is deff on the list. Just gotta get the new spindles on so I can get her over to my buddies shop.

 

[BlueOvalBud]

Welcome to Oilburners, I'm also a newbie here on this forum.

Missing bolts in the transmission/t-case/bellhousing area? I would get those replaced ASAP. These engines produce a lot of torque...I would want all the bolts in there.

As for the oil burning issue, if you've got high mileage and the CDR didn't help...maybe it's just worn out and on it's last legs.

How much blow-by do you have when you take the oil filler cap off?