Still no Start, I'm stumped

[scjarena]

History: Bought 1990 F350 Project truck with 7.3 and about 125K miles. Previous owner gave up when fuel pump went out. I put in new fuel pump, fixed leaks in fuel housing, replaced injector o-rings, got truck running. Discovered it had a cracked head, so I replaced head. I put everything together and have been trying to start ever since. fuel is squirting out of all injector fittings when I unscrew them. I now rigged a extra fuel can with hose going directly to lift pump just to make sure I don't have old diesel. When I pulled the injector pump, I unbolted it from the gear, I don't think I could have got it out of time, or could I? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Oh, I've also tried the block heater now with still no success. I do hear engine firing a couple times, but not enough to get running. It is smoking some out of the intake. Is there any way the timing could be off?

 

[icanfixall]

Sounds like the injection pump is out of gear time. Probably a mistake made by the other owner. Hers what you can do to check the gear timing. Remove that leom shaped thin steel cover on the injection pump gear housing. Now hand crank the engine till the timing marks lines up on the damper tab. Depending on how dirty the engine is you may not be able to see the tab top dead center mark. At the damper tab there are 2 tubes attached to it. The one you want to line up the damper line with is the short fat one. Right thru the middle of that is the top dead center mark. Once this is done look into the opening where the lemon shaped cover was. The drive pin will be in the 4 o clock position like my pics show it. If its now there then the drive pin will be at the 11 o clock position. Just turn the crank one more turn. Now see if its all lined up. Might use a square to insure the gear is straight up and down. One tooth off can make a big difference in timing. Post back what you find. If you can post a pic please do. It helps me and many others actually see what you are looking at. hers a pic of the gears timed correctly. This is with the water pump and gear cover plate removed during rebuilds.

 

[BDCarrillo]

How fast is it turning over?

The block heater can help a bit, but do check on the glowplugs after verifying the timing.

 

[TahoeTom]

When you removed the pump did you note the relationship of the static timing marks where the IP meets the gear cover? With the marks aligned it should run but it won't be properly timed. If they were offset before you should have installed the pump with the same offset. You will need a meter or a pulse adapter and an adjustable timing light to correctly set timing. The engine has to run before you can check timing. Usually the marks are offset 1/16" or more with the pump rotated toward the passenger side (advanced). A small degree of offset makes a difference in timing. If the gear cover wasn't removed the gear could not have moved out of time.

 

[icanfixall]

The above is correct about the gear moving off the timing marks. It can't happen but.. You inherited this from some other shadetree mechanic and who knows what they did to it thinking they could make it run. This is why I explained the gear timing marks and supplied pics.

 

[scjarena]

Thanks for the info and the pics. At first I didn't know about the marks on the IP. It was rotated some clockwise (drivers side) according to the marks. I adjusted it till they lined up. Maybe I took a risk, but I disabled the glowplugs and sprayed a very small amount of ether in and within a few seconds it was running. It makes me really nervous using ether but I only use a very slight amount and thats all it took. Nothing like the sweet smell of diesel exhaust in the shop. Ha.

 

[icanfixall]

Glad you have it running now. Sounds like the timing was really retarded and thats why it would not start. Might want to remember that cranking speed has lots to do with starting. Our idi engines are a compression type ignition. In another words we compress air and inject diesel into that air. The faster the engine cranks the hotter that air is. So getting the engine spinning fast makes for a quicker start.