Yay! Finally! We have main Engine Ignition !

[dementinator]

Hi there ,perhaps you may remember me ,the dude from England ,who couldnt get his 1989 F250 IDI started..

Well after wrestling with Air Leak probs in the fuel system ,and still having limited sucess ,the problem has finally been solved and the old girl is singing a happy IDI tune..

Turns out my diagnosis of the engine turning over too slowly was correct ,I wrongly assumed that the starter motor ,having been rebuilt twice ,was not at fault ,it was ,strangely, of the 4 brushes only 2 were contacting the commutator ,the remaining pair were pushed back and not touching ,therefore only half the coils were recieving juice ,this had happened before and the previous owner returned the starter to the rebuilders and they fitted a new end plate and brush holders.

This time I ordered a nice shiny new starter complete ,rebuilding rarely seems to work ,fitted it after a few hours swearing ,drinking coffee and swearing again ,got in cab ,turned key ,she flew over like a sewing machine and fired up after just a few secs ,this after sitting for 4 weeks...problem solved sanity restored and my ass installed on the bridge and test drive in progress....

Let me just say how amazed I was at how these buses drive ,I am used to American vehicles and driven many ,usually 38ft RVs ,I kinda expected it to have the turing circle of the Queen Mary 2 and be a little loud and rough ,wow! shes quite a smoothy I must say ,pretty quiet ,comfy ,quick enough and quite manoeverable.... very impressed... love it..

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So ,gonna join the UK American Vehicle club ,take her to some events...

A great day!
BTW Has anyone else ever had this kinda starter motor prob? seems wierd how this happened twice ...

 

[sassyrel]

must have been a bad brush holder--may have gotten hot once before--and deformed the sides that hold the brush in alignment--

 

[rubberfish]

Good looking truck man. Glad it's going again.
You must really stick out like a dogs nuts
driving that big beast around town eh?

 

[dementinator]

Well I have to say ,she sure does stand out from all the Mitsibshi L200s ,Isuzu Rodeos and Ford Rangers we have here thats for sure..

Mind you ,theres quite a following for these trucks now in the UK ,theres quite a few late model Fords ,Chevys etc on the roads despite our ludicrous gas prices ,most will be Diesel I reckon!

I just love the simple "barn door" type of engineering on these type of vehicles ,none of this electronic frippery found on newer cars ,good honest reliable easy to fix kinda stuff.

This truck will be a much loved addition to my fleet ,although I have to say my main love is my 1954 Series One Land Rover ,bet you guys havent got any of those running around! the Landy is the vehicle I learned to drive in and my Grandma bought it for my mom back in 1962 ,and in over 40 years and 100,000s miles shes never let me down ,I was practically born and raised in that truc ,even learned to double declutch seeing as the transmission is a simple 4 speed non synchro type ,not many 35yr olds know about such things! hehe ,the simpe stuff is the best and her tiny 2 liter 4 banger may only give her about 65 horses ,but they are reliable horses that wont quit!

All this is a tad off topic ,I apologise and it wont happen again ,just wanted you to know how much I love this F250! A quick pic of my Land Rover now for you all to laugh at! hehe

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[towcat]

hey!
welcome to the site!
I gotta ask...what's the tax like on the displacement of the motor? I started turning wrenches years ago on birtish cars and still have a love for MG Midgets even though I can't fit in them anymore I do want to get and restore another Jag E-type convertible when the money eventually allows;p
The town I am "vacationing" in has an aussie company with four E-series vans, at least they're IDI diesels outside of that, the place is overrun by *** diesels

 

[adrianspeeder]

Hey man thats awesome fer both pics! Crazy license plates ya got there.

Get a pic of it squashin' a mini cooper or somethin'.

There are two british guys over on f150online with ford trucks, maybe they are nearby, i'll get ya the contact info.

Adrianspeeder

 

[spencnaz]

Try driving a converted US Army M35 grain truck with no syncros. I don't know of anyone my age here in the Seattle area that can drive those old tanks without syncros.

 

[dementinator]

Our "Road Tax" system is pretty simple really , the only vehicles that get reduced tax are those fitted with teeny weeny engines from 1 liter to 1.5 liter ,after that its around £250 per year $490 or so ,so the F250 costs the same as any vehicle with a 2 liter engine practically,its the same as our 05 range rover with its 4.4 liter V8.

Our biggest expense is fuel ,costing around $9 a gallon ,Insurance aint too bad as I have "classic" insurance about $190 per year for the Land Rover and $300 for the F250...

Our Licence plates have changed many times over the years ,the Land Rover has a "non prefix" plate , they didnt give the year of the vehicle ,just the county it was registered in "MVJ" meaning Herefordshire ,in 62 we got prefix plates where the last letter denoted the year of registration ,A being 1963 and so on ,changed again when we ran out of letters ,the year letter then moved to the beginning ,hence 'E' denotes 1989.. Changed again in 2001 ,gets kinda complicated then.

I love driving older stuff ,you really have to DO things ,you get a sense of accomplishment when you have done a crunchless on the move downshift in the Landy! The 05 Rangey is lovely ,really fast and smooth ,but not as fun as the F250 or Landy....not as much character ,but then thats new motors for you..

I did notice when on my annual 3 week visit to the US that there are many land rover vehciles there ,mainly Range Rovers and Discoveries (LR3) . New minis seem to have infiltrated your shores now.

Likewise ,we have more US cars than we did ,Big trucks , Chrysler 300s ,Mustangs even Hummers ,and many many huge A Class RVs..make a nice change from all the Beemers and Merc ,Peugeots ,small fords etc...

 

[DieselChemist]

I can agree with you on the sense of accomplishment with the crunchless shifting of the old vehicles. My 1928 Model A is a 3 spd with no synchros, upshifting I can do with out grinding but downshifting is a different story. The gears are spread out you pretty much have to get to a slow roll to downshift into 2nd without leaving a few pounds of metal in the bottom of the tranny. That is a nice looking land rover.

 

[zigg]

Congrats on gettin' that beast runnin. It's a good feeling eh?!

bet you guys havent got any of those running around!

Actually, they're not as rare as you'd think. There's one looks almost identical living on the block behind me, someone's daily driver, and here in Victoria,BC,Canada, and Oak bay specifically(fondly nicknamed "behind the tweed curtain") for it's similarity to Britain, there's lots of them around. We are actually seeing a lot of "left hand drive" rigs too. I've seen Toyota forerunners,range rovers, mitsubishi mini vans, and Toyota LE vans for some reason I can't explain. Someone's bringin' em in from somewhere, and I think they're cool, I just wouldn't want to try to find parts for one...

Anyway, again, congrat's, and welcome...

Zigg

 

[Agnem]

Glad to hear you got it going! We really enjoy hearing from our foreign contingient. I've got an aquaintance in Bath who is an American living in England for like 30+ years now. I'm sure he'd love to see your truck. At $9.00 a gallon, it's a good thing you don't really have that far to drive.

 

[dementinator]

thats true! Although the UK is pretty small ,its suprising how the miles still clock up ,in my other Ford Diesel vehicle ,a "transit van" which is a 1 ton payload panel van ,I cover about 30,000 a year ,good job it returns over 30mpg! The F250 is more for fun as much as anything and possible to tow a fifth wheel RV ,I am looking for one to import from the US ,when I am next there in sept ,will have to have a good look around ,maybe pick up some spares for the Truck too ,I want some new horns as the originals are somewhat feeble ,like a damp fart! The truck deserves something with a little more beef! something off an ocean liner perhaps?

I can see me going thru Las Vegas or LAX airport loaded down to the bumpstops with stuff!!! hehehe