newbee ????????

[fine6.9]

Need some help. Going to dig in to redoing my son's 86 F-250 with a 6.9. Two problems we need to address are: One, fuel gage will not work for front or rear tank? Two, starter does not always engage the flywheel everytime.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Chad.

 

[Papabear]

first off as far as the starter is concerned i would take it off and bench test it it may just be the nose cone in which case you can usually get a rebuild kit for about 20% of the cost of a reman starter and if your handy with tools you can rebuild the nose cone in about 1.5hrs

and with the fuel gauge issue i will assume you have already checked the fuse panel and the tank selector switch as it isusually one of these 2 things and for the price ($2 tops)i would just change the switch and if that doesn't resolve the issue the next easiest step is to grab a wiring diagram and to do a continuity test on the wires in search of a broken one than the next step would be to bench test the gauge and if the gauge fails it is just a matter of replacing it. my money is on either fuse or tank selector switch.

 

[icanfixall]

All the 6.9 & 7.3 idi motors start and stop on one of three places on the flywheel gear. Those areas wear out faster so thats why the starter has trouble ingaging it. On some early 7.3 flywheels you can heat up the gear and remove it. Then you clock it till you have new teeth in the worn areas and heat it up then install it again. They are not welded on like some flexplates. It gives you twice as much life from the same gear. A new gear cane be bought from Napa for around $35.00 too. There is a front and back to the gear also. Non't think you can just flip it over and get even more use from it. They are beveled on one side for the starter to easily enter them.

 

[fine6.9]

Thanks for the info guys, I will dig into it this weekend!

 

[schultediesel]

starting problem

another thing you may want to check with the starting issue is your battery cables. mine would do that to me occasionaly.

 

[Agnem]

Your fuel tank gauge issue is most likely the fuel tank selector valve, mounted on the frame rail. It has a 5 wire plug. wires 1 and 2 are for the motor. Wires 3, 4, and 5 are for a single pole double throw switch in the unit. The common (hinge in relay parlance) wire goes to the gauge, while the other poles are from the tanks. Schematics are located in my webshots album links in my sig.