Timing the injection pump

[Ford420ci6point9]

So i took my first idi injection pump out, now i need to put it back in. I took the timing gear out and since i cant see the cam gear what is the easiest way to correctly mesh the gears so that its correctly timed, do i have to pull all the accessory drive and harmonic balancer and front cover just to see the cam gear? or is there an easier way, ay help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
~Hayden

 

[aggiediesel01]

Here's the very short version; pull #1 glow plug. Rotate till coming up to tdc on compression. Line up the timing marks on the harmonic balancer with the timing probe holder mark. Use a dental mirror or polished butter knife or oring pick and see or feel for the mark on the front of the cam gear to make sure you know which valley it's at and that its straight up in the middle. Then scribe a line across the middle of your pump gear and the timing mark all the way across. Using a square on the top edge of the water pump plate, align the scribed line on the pump gear vertically with the square and use a light of some kind to look down the in tiny gap to make sure your pump gear is dropping into the cam gear correctly. Then reseal your pump gear housing to the block and reinstall the pump. It's easier said than done but it's not impossible. Several on here have written up much more detailed versions what to do. If this isn't enough detail to figure it out the poke around using the search function and the better ones should turn up.

 

[gandalf]

My first question would be, why did you remove the IP the way you did? We, on this forum, strongly recommend the method Mel gave in his article about Fuel Injection Servicing. This method eliminates the possibility of the problem you've created.

That being said, I'll try to paste together several old forum responses to save you from this. My initial warning is that this may be long.
Both posts are by men either not too active or from a previous forum. Both are/were very good. I'll include the post heading so as to give proper credit.

cdnsarguy
Member


Reged: 01/11/03
Posts: 10594
Loc: Neepawa, Manitoba Canada

Re: How to find TDC [Re: awysh]
#2707968 - 12/19/05 10:00 PM

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Ziggsters info.......

The timing mark is found on a little plate that is on the front of the engine on the passenger side. The plate is mounted so it is very close to the main pulley on the lower front of the engine which is mounted on the vibration damper. On the side of the vibration damper, is a line, which when lined up with the line marked (O) on the plate, tells you that the #1 piston is at TDC(top dead center) You can see the line on the damper, and it points to the line on the plate with the (barely visible)O mark on it.You'll have to find a way to turn your engine over by hand. Make sure you remove the power wire to the injection pump(so the engine won't start)and then rotate the engine until you can line up the marks.

The engine rotates in a clockwise direction as seen from the front of the truck, and for every 1/4 turn of the engine(crank) each next piston will arrive at TDC. So, When the line on the vibration damper is at the 2 oclock position, cylinders 2 and 5 will be at TDC. When the mark is at the 5 oclock position, cylinders 7 and 6 will be at TDC, 8 oclock has cylinders 3 and 8 at TDC, and back to 11oclock, 1 and 4 will be at TDC.

Cylinder numbers are assigned 1,3,5,7 on the left(passenger) bank from front of truck to back, and 2,4,6,8 on the driver's side, front to back. Firing order is 1,2,7,3,4,5,6,8.

ziggster40

Member




Member # 1458



Reged: 05/24/99

Posts: 2559

Loc: Victoria,B.C.,Canada

How to align the inj. pump gear after cover removed!!
#1612546 - 01/25/04 06:50 PM

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I just remembered that on friday when I went over to visit Paul at DAS he mentioned to me a way to get the pump gear aligned once the cover has been removed that sounds a lot easier than screwing around with a flashlight and mirror on a stick and stuff.

What you do is lift off the injection pump cover and then the gear. Find the "y" mark at the bottom which points to the tooth that is supposed to align with a dot on the cam gear below(the one you can't see when it's assembled. From that tooth, you count up the gear towards the top on both sides 19 teeth. Put a mark on the 19th tooth on each side, then scribe a line between the two. This line will now run across the front of the gear, and be just above the deck when the gear is lowered into position. You can easily tell if it is out one tooth or not as the line will not be level with the top of the block. You can then lower the cover onto the gear all the while watching the mark to see it doesn't move. Too easy!!

Should look kinda like this.....pic here..

Hope that helps someone, I haven't tried it myself yet, but you can bet I will soon.

You must be registered for see images attach

I hope this helps. I did a quick and dirty cut and paste job, not even taking the time or effort to clean out the extraneous crap.

 

[Ford420ci6point9]

My first question would be, why did you remove the IP the way you did? We, on this forum, strongly recommend the method Mel gave in his article about Fuel Injection Servicing. This method eliminates the possibility of the problem you've created.

That being said, I'll try to paste together several old forum responses to save you from this. My initial warning is that this may be long.
Both posts are by men either not too active or from a previous forum. Both are/were very good. I'll include the post heading so as to give proper credit.

cdnsarguy
Member


Reged: 01/11/03
Posts: 10594
Loc: Neepawa, Manitoba Canada

Re: How to find TDC [Re: awysh]
#2707968 - 12/19/05 10:00 PM

Edit

Reply

Quote


Ziggsters info.......

The timing mark is found on a little plate that is on the front of the engine on the passenger side. The plate is mounted so it is very close to the main pulley on the lower front of the engine which is mounted on the vibration damper. On the side of the vibration damper, is a line, which when lined up with the line marked (O) on the plate, tells you that the #1 piston is at TDC(top dead center) You can see the line on the damper, and it points to the line on the plate with the (barely visible)O mark on it.You'll have to find a way to turn your engine over by hand. Make sure you remove the power wire to the injection pump(so the engine won't start)and then rotate the engine until you can line up the marks.

The engine rotates in a clockwise direction as seen from the front of the truck, and for every 1/4 turn of the engine(crank) each next piston will arrive at TDC. So, When the line on the vibration damper is at the 2 oclock position, cylinders 2 and 5 will be at TDC. When the mark is at the 5 oclock position, cylinders 7 and 6 will be at TDC, 8 oclock has cylinders 3 and 8 at TDC, and back to 11oclock, 1 and 4 will be at TDC.

Cylinder numbers are assigned 1,3,5,7 on the left(passenger) bank from front of truck to back, and 2,4,6,8 on the driver's side, front to back. Firing order is 1,2,7,3,4,5,6,8.

ziggster40

Member




Member # 1458



Reged: 05/24/99

Posts: 2559

Loc: Victoria,B.C.,Canada

How to align the inj. pump gear after cover removed!!
#1612546 - 01/25/04 06:50 PM

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Reply

Quote


I just remembered that on friday when I went over to visit Paul at DAS he mentioned to me a way to get the pump gear aligned once the cover has been removed that sounds a lot easier than screwing around with a flashlight and mirror on a stick and stuff.

What you do is lift off the injection pump cover and then the gear. Find the "y" mark at the bottom which points to the tooth that is supposed to align with a dot on the cam gear below(the one you can't see when it's assembled. From that tooth, you count up the gear towards the top on both sides 19 teeth. Put a mark on the 19th tooth on each side, then scribe a line between the two. This line will now run across the front of the gear, and be just above the deck when the gear is lowered into position. You can easily tell if it is out one tooth or not as the line will not be level with the top of the block. You can then lower the cover onto the gear all the while watching the mark to see it doesn't move. Too easy!!

Should look kinda like this.....pic here..

Hope that helps someone, I haven't tried it myself yet, but you can bet I will soon.

You must be registered for see images attach

I hope this helps. I did a quick and dirty cut and paste job, not even taking the time or effort to clean out the extraneous crap.

I was stupid and over confident that i knew what i was doing and i did no research before pulling it out. that was 2 years ago i have learned since then to mark things and how timing and gear systems work, it didn't click in my brain that it was timed. i didn't even mark the injection lines or cover anything so yeah i screwed up. Point is im trying to un-screw-in-up. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Ford420ci6point9]

Oh sorry my bad i almost forgot that the front main seal is leaking very fast, i have some "rear main sealer" fluid i'm gonna try when i get it running, ive never done one of those on any engine i've ever owned so would i need to take off the front cover anyway? Thank you both for the advice.

 

[carsonlhammond]

Oh sorry my bad i almost forgot that the front main seal is leaking very fast, i have some "rear main sealer" fluid i'm gonna try when i get it running, ive never done one of those on any engine i've ever owned so would i need to take off the front cover anyway? Thank you both for the advice.

Yes the cover needs to come off anyway to do the front main. I would just do that since you’ll be fixing two things in one go rather than putting it back together and finding out that sealer stuff doesn’t do the job on these positive crankcase pressure loving beasts.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Yes the cover needs to come off anyway to do the front main. I would just do that since you’ll be fixing two things in one go rather than putting it back together and finding out that sealer stuff doesn’t do the job on these positive crankcase pressure loving beasts.

You can change the front seal with the cover on the engine, but it isn't easy. Since you have to retime the pump gear, then I see no good reason to even mess around with trying the seal change with the cover on the engine.

 

[carsonlhammond]

You can change the front seal with the cover on the engine, but it isn't easy. Since you have to retime the pump gear, then I see no good reason to even mess around with trying the seal change with the cover on the engine.

Ah, I wondered if it could, I thought it would be a real pain in the ass if even possible.

 

[ttman4]

You must be registered for see images attach

I hope this helps. I did a quick and dirty cut and paste job, not even taking the time or effort to clean out the extraneous crap.

Ken your whole post is good, thanks. I saved it into some of my 6.9-7.3 info I save. Actually I printed a copy & gonn'a put it with all my info I save, that info that when I need it I spend 1/2 Day hunting & asking myself "Where, where did I stick it??......."

 

[aggiediesel01]

Oh sorry my bad i almost forgot that the front main seal is leaking very fast, i have some "rear main sealer" fluid i'm gonna try when i get it running, ive never done one of those on any engine i've ever owned so would i need to take off the front cover anyway? Thank you both for the advice.

Pulling the front plate might make the timing easier but there are provisions replacing the seal in the truck. If you take the front cover off you'll have to deal with the resealing of the whole front cover which can be a real pain especially where the cover meets the pan. Fixing one leak to cause more is at best wasted effort. You'll likely need to get the replacement seal that also includes a wear sleeve. These are available for the front and rear main seals. Also be sure to use the sealant made for interacting with diesel and diesel oil. It's a motorcraft product called TA-31 RTV. Long term it's the only product that doesn't swell and come unstuck to the substrate where it's applied.

https://www.oilburners.net/threads/front-timing-cover-plate-question.87078/

These are also excellent "fix the timing gear in the truck" references.

https://www.nickpisca.com/diesel/en...and-crankshaft-gears-on-a-6-9-7-3-idi-engine/

http://www.blackwire.com/~bjordan/Tech/Timing_the_6.9-7.3_IDI_101.pdf

 

[TahoeTom]

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[TahoeTom]

I can vouch for the horizontal line method. In the picture I have a ruler behind the gear on top of the block. I made a line with the ruler and then checked the alignment one tooth off and it was very obvious the line was nowhere parallel to the top of the block. With the gear removed you could make a vertical line from the timing mark through the center line of the gear and then make a horizontal line at right angles to the vertical line.

If I remove a gear in the future I will clamp a straightedge to the gear when the timing is at TDC.

 

[jwsfarrier]

Hope this helps, but I was able reset my timing gear without taking the front cover off by placing a small inspection mirror where the gears meet. It took some work to find the right angle on the mirror ,but I was able to clock the gears properly . It helped to use a flashlight .