Should I fix it or sell it?

[dpaqu]

Ok, long post but bear with me.

I bought an extended cab 86 F-250 XL with a C6 in November for 500$. The OD has rolled so it probably has 153,000 maybe 253,000. Miles. It started with no block heater in 13-degree weather and I witnessed no blow by when I removed the oil fill cap. I bought it. It drove well for the first 500 miles I had it. It has been doing the surging thing for the last 500 miles I found that it was leaking diesel fuel around the lift pump area and was trying to figure out were exactly so I could fix it.

Last night I thought I would take it out for a spin instead of surging the truck just dies. It restarted fine after maybe 15 seconds of cranking. After the third time it died while I was trying to get home the starter quit.

My buddy and a friend of his towed it back to my place were my buddies friend offered me 600 for the truck. I feel like I should probably sell it.

I am no great mechanic but I think I can replace the starter and find the air leak. I can only hope its not the injection pump. On the other hand, this truck is seriously rusty. The front fenders are gone the bed has been replaced and needs to be replaced again. Structurally it is mostly solid thought one of the radius are mounting brackets has rust pinholes in it. It also leaves a milkshake mix of oil and coolant on the ground wherever I park it and diesel fumes seem to always find there way into the cabin even though I can’t find any exhaust leaks.


Sell it or keep it?



Other factors.

Oh yeah I live in a duplex and the owner gets anxious whenever I start pulling vehicles apart. I also do the work outside which is a pain cause I live in Detroit.

I am pretty bummed, I really wanted to drive to the after holiday get together with this thing.

 

[Compu Doc]

You'd be a fool to sell it for $600. I'd fix it if I were you. First off if your lift pump is leaking forget about where it is leaking and replace it. Best bet is to replace it with an electric such as the holley red pump.

As for your starter you can only crank these engines for no more than 30 seconds with a 2 minute colling off period. Replace the starter with the Mitsubishi offset gear reduction starter. By running with a bad lift pump you can ruin the injection pump. Your not talking much money to rerplace the lift pump and starter.

 

[h2odrx]

should be an easy fix, have you changed the filters? fluids? leaks are easy just get new hose? replace the pump or get the elec like doc said!

 

[argve]

Sounds like the biggest thing you have going for you is a fuel leak which is letting air into the system - as said you can replace the lift pump they really aren't that much money - yes an electric is nice but if you are budget minded a stock lift pump will do just fine even on a hot rodded truck. Now for the starter it's pretty easy to swap out as well as mentioned just get a Denso gear reduction starter. In a lot of cases it will be cheaper to take your old starter to rebuild shop and have them rebuild it - sometimes it's as much as 60 to 70 bucks cheaper.

 

[oldmisterbill]

Keep it till you know what U have.The milkshake of oil & coolent would be my biggest concern. Where do U live?that may help someone from the site get together with U to help U.
A little story-In 1994 I had 4 chevy plow trucke running it was snowing every couple days.I needed a truck and was told about a ford deisel,with a plow.I laughed it off-no way was I going to deal with a deisel that had sat for months and then face getting it started when it snowed.Well in desperation I bought it and made one of the best investments ever.It needed some work but I was able to plow with it the 3rd night it was home.It was and still has a lot of fond memories even though it is a parts truck now(still could be put back into service reasonably).Take ur time don't jump to get rid of it-your loss may be someone elses big gain.

 

[dpaqu]

I saw this link in a previous post. I honestly thought it would cost more.


“should be an easy fix, have you changed the filters? fluids? leaks are easy just get new hose? replace the pump or get the elec like doc said!”


Yes I have replaced the oil and fuel filter.

I have noticed that the fuel/water separator thing is missing or I just don’t know what I’m looking for. The previous owner has done something funny with the Fuel tanks. The rear tank is not hooked up anymore. I bought the truck from the owners son after his father had his 3rd stroke in 6 years and was no longer lucid so what exactly was done is something of a mystery to me even as I lay under the truck staring at it.

“Best bet is to replace it with an electric such as the holley red pump.”

Are those of you running the electric pumps only running one tank? I will have to search the threads and see what is involved with such a mod.

It sounds like maybe I should replace the whole fuel delivery system from the injection pump back.

Oldmisterbill

I live in the Downriver Detroit metro area. If I could entice someone with some beer they are more than welcome to come on by and have a look.


I am with you on the coolant/milkshake thing. I think the back of the block (rear main seal, cylinder heads?) is leaking oil and coolant. It does use coolant albeit real slowly. I have never seen coolant on the ground just the milkshake mix. The dipstick reads black oil. The exhaust smoke is blue on startup then it runs clean.



I’m don’t really want to get rid of it but…. I dunno

There is something about these trucks, I can’t put my finger on it but they just seem honest or something.

Hope everyone is having fun at the get together.

 

[archangel]

I am with you on the coolant/milkshake thing. I think the back of the block (rear main seal, cylinder heads?) is leaking oil and coolant. It does use coolant albeit real slowly. I have never seen coolant on the ground just the milkshake mix. The dipstick reads black oil. The exhaust smoke is blue on startup then it runs clean.

The oil in the coolant most likely comes from the oil cooler because of a leaking o ring.
The oil is at a high enough pressure to leak through, but the coolant is not.
I never saw one neglected long enough for the coolant to start leaking into the oil from there.

Just drain the coolant, and oil, pull the oil cooler off the side of the block, pull the ends off, replace the o rings, press it back together (yeah, it's a pain so use a press) and bolt it back on, replace the oil, have the coolant system flushed before adding fresh coolant and add the DCA 60 L, it's also called DCA 4.

Before you are done you should also check it with the Fleet-guard 3 way test strips for the Nitrates and Molybdate levels as you do not want the cooling system side of the block to eat a hole into the piston cylinder wall on #8, and then after you sleeve #8 a month later it stars leaking into #7!

 

[dpaqu]

I haven’t noticed any oil in the coolant. Just the two mixed together on the ground. I will double check when I get out of work. I will post pics too as soon as I figure that all out.

 

[dpaqu]

Never posted pics before hope this works.

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Yes that is duct tape and no, I did not put it there.

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Pushing this thing up that litle dirt hill is a killer.

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I just started a page on car domain

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2980551

No oil in visible to me from the radiator cap. I noticed the power steering pump puked fluid out the fill cap. Probably when I towed it with a strap.

Yeah my "normal" friends think i'm nuts.

 

[h2odrx]

I noticed the power steering pump puked fluid out the fill cap. Probably when I towed it with a strap.

Yeah my "normal" friends think i'm nuts.

All FORD PS Pumps will do that if you turn the wheel when it is not running.

 

[archangel]

DAMN! That truck looks worse than mine!

But mine is a Diesel and someone must have trashed the old bed and swapped it out because the fuel doors say to use Unleaded!

Then they trashed this bed as well and used HUGE amounts of Bondo to try and straighten it out!

OH, and the high beam switch is gone * because the floor rusted away on that side and you can see a stripe of pavement through a hole in the floor about one inch wide and 14 inches long just inside and along the door!

* I moved it to the dash when I did the head light relay conversion so each high and low beam has it's own relay, and DAMN are they bright with less than 12 inches of power and ground wire between the batteries and the head lights!