Done.

After almost exactly 5 weeks of struggling, groaning, straining, aching, dreading, getting discouraged, and finally seeing things coming together... I have finished all my recent maintenance/repair activities and my truck is now sitting, once again, in the parking lot outside my office while I work!!

I have a new level of throttle response which I have either not had before or have slowly lost over the past 8 years, and the truck is driving amazingly. I still have what I call a micro-vibration, an it is more noticeable under load, and is present a all speeds, so I am thinking along the lines of either weak injector(s), universal joint(s), or a need to flush and replace the tranny fluid and/or rear end fluid. More on that in another thread, once I start the process of digging into that troubleshooting exercise.

Long journey, and it was all happening while the home life was in a bit of turmoil as well (various reasons, most of which is settling down now and getting resolved in a really positive manner), but the end result is a much improved running condition for the truck, and I am not losing any oil!

I'll snap and post a few pics once I get the engine cleaned back up this weekend.

I appreciate you guys' input at multiple and various points over the past weeks. THANKS!



BRIEF RECAP...
I won't rehash the whole ordeal because you can find those minutiae in the following threads...

Initial maintenance/repair discussion...
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ce-please.html

Mid/Post-repair issues...
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-leak-bad.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-question.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-question.html

GPR Relocation Mod...
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...te-relays.html

However, below is a list of what I accomplished in this storm of activities.

REPLACED:
- EBPV turbo pedestal & outlet with NON-EBPV parts (and bolts, orings, clamps, etc.), and YES, I did install the resistor in the EBPV actuator plug.
- EBPV sensor, and YES, I did also clean out the EBPV tube.
- OEM up pipes with a pair of "excellent condition" used IH bellowed pipes, and YES, I also replaced all the associated bolts and metal gaskets at the collector and manifold flanges.
- Passenger side fuel line.
- UVC harnesses, both sides - no obvious indication of wear/rubbing on the originals.
- VC gaskets, both sides - originals were not yet leaking, so this was proactive.
- 8 new Beru glow plugs, proactive.
- OEM GPR replaced with Stancor - original had JUST failed right before starting the work.
- HPOP hoses, proactive.
- New IPR valve & solenoid - was suspecting the old one, but not confirmed as bad, sort of proactive.
- Fuel bowl drain valve assembly - old one had already been repaired and was not leaking, but had lost the handle, so I just installed a completely new unit.
- All fuel line sleeves.
- Fuel bowl FPR housing - I stripped the housing threads when putting everything back together, so this was a self-induced problem created by my own repair efforts.
- Dip stick tube - another self-induced problem created by my own repair efforts.
- Spider plenum boots, proactive.
- New pressure side oil bypass filter hose - yet one more self-induced problem during the repairs, but the hose had become brittle, so I will also go ahead and replaced the return hose in the next week or two.
- Overall, lost and replaced some 3+ gallons of oil through the trial and error efforts on KEEPING the pedestal orings from moving out of position while re-installing the turbo.

ADJUSTMENTS and MODIFICATIONS...
- tightened all heater hoses
- re-torqued injectors & rocker arm bolts
- removed AIH relay from the truck
- relocated the NEW Stancor GPR to the passenger fender
- topped off the coolant reservoir

DISCOVERIES...
- The new GPR location is wonderful, but the larger relay being hard mounted on the body allows for a very loud "thunk" type of click when it kicks on and off, so I will try to insert a rubber "pounding" or "isolating" pad between the GPR bracket and the fender.
- If time is available when replacing pedestal orings, I would recommend using a tiny, tiny, thin film of high-temp RTV on the pedestal orings to keep them stuck in place while installing the turbo -- this will minimize any potential to have one of the orings slip out of position, and you won;t know that this has happened until you start the truck and oil is pumped (very quickly) to the ground!!
- I still have a very, very minor coolant leak somewhere near the front of the engine, and have not yet been able to discover the source... will watch closely. I hope it's not my Lifetime Warranty Advance Auto water pump which has about 3 years and 60K miles on it.
- My front tires need to be replaced, and much sooner than I had thought because my son noticed a small nail in the corner of the tread on my PS front tire. The rears were replaced this past summer, and I was hoping to wait until early summer this year for the fronts, but it will have to be in the next month or so.
- Long reach magnetic pickup tools are some of the most wonderful inventions.

 

Good Job Pete !!
I liked how you addressed all the issues and was proactive with others I think that was a wise move. You attention to details were a very nice touch.
I know you did NOT have fun doing all that you did but in the long run you'll be glad you did!

 

Congratulations on a job well done. I usually try to be proactive, or otherwise clean / replace little things like gaskets / o-rings even when not necessary if they're buried under much harder to remove items.

I'm learning that skipping such steps can only lead to rework about 18 months later...

 

Awesome job Pete. You can do anything now.

 

Thanks, guys.

I admit that I feel even more confident than ever before, but unless I have a new garage with double the space I have now, as well as an extra vehicle for mine to sit for a couple of months... there is NO way I'd even consider tackling either an engine or tranny rebuild. I also seriously doubt that I would consider either a rear axle or pumpkin job, either.

 

Wow, that is a lot of work! That would be a large job even for a diesel mechanic. You probably don't want to know how many hours you spent. The feeling of not having to worry about all the different issues that you took care of does reward you for your time, but of course, you never get the time back. Good example for the rest of us!


There are rubber isolators with studs on each side at many hardware stores. The isolators may be a convenient way to eliminate some of the clunking noise for the GPR.
Larry

 

Pete,
Really glad to see your back on the road. Hope that hand is getting better as well. Getting ready to do a marathon parts replacement myself and hope it doesn't take me as long. Need the truck running before turkey season gets here.


Enjoy your road time!!!

 

Wow Pete, that is a lot of work done. I know how it feels to have the frustration of the truck being down and the stresses it can put on you and others. It is very satisfying once you get her back up and running, but the little things you keep noticing that need to be addressed can grate on your nerves too. Keep up the good work and documentation. It helps us all.

 

The time could have been shortened, more than likely, to a max of two weeks except for the hand limitations and the other stuff going on at home.

Overall, I probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80 hours into it. in all honesty, though, I did not rush any part of it. It was my first time to do most of those items, and I've learned over the years that if I slow down a bit and double/triple think through the process, I tend to have fewer uh-ohs. Also, at least 20 hours was due to correcting self-inflicted mistakes. If I had to go through the entire process all over again, I could probably do it in less than 40 hours of work unless I had my 18 yo working with me, and then we could probably knock it down to 20-25 hours of work.

Thanks, Paul. The hand (left) is improving slowly... very slowly... but, fortunately, I'm right-handed.

I had a bad accident last fall on 11/13 (details not necessary), and literally shattered the 5th metacarpal bone in my left hand (the bone behind the pinky finger on the outside of the hand, opposite the thumb). A stabilizing plate was surgically implanted over that bone in the back of my hand on 11/24, and it will have to be removed sometime in the next several months. The surgeon described the plate as being "anchored at both ends of the metacarpal bone with a bunch of kibbles and bits between the anchor points". The fragments were too small to pin together, but they all "fell into position" when the surgeon set the finger, so we are hoping to see them all bond well enough on their own to avoid bone grafting.

At this point, the pinky and ring finger joints are pretty frozen up, and the lack of use has even created a severe weakness in my wrist. The PT is not really gaining a whole lot of ground right now, but I'm not really losing ground, either. The last xrays showed that the bone fragments are beginning to bond together and that the bone structure is looking "more robust" than it did a month ago. Even though the physical therapist says that I should expect additional surgery down the road to free up those two finger joints, I'm trying to follow the surgeon's advice to aggressively stretch the fingers and joints (6 hours, daily) to try and loosen them back up to avoid any need for extra surgery.

 

Way to go Pete- Glad your up & running again - You got after a bunch of stuff while you were in there - How's the back feel ?

 

Bill, the back is feeling great. I had a spinal procedure last January (facet block) which relieved TONS of stress fr over a month. Couple that with having also gotten a brand new mattress, and I have not had any back issues since. All the work on the truck put more stress on my legs and hips than my back, but I took it slow enough to where I only hurt for 1-2 days at the most following a 12-14 hour long effort under the hood.

 

Hand injuries/surgeries suck!! (Major) hand Injuries/surgeries are life changing.
The fact that you can still wrench so soon after surgery is encouraging.
Who needs PT!