Today i got under the hood of my 89 351. The truck runs great it just likes to leave little puddles, upon following the trail i found a leaky pass. side valve cover. not bad right? Wrong. I started trying to pull stuff apart, breaking hoses, leaking green stuff everywhere (rad. fluid) It was so overwhelming. Ive got the TB off and all the millions of cord and wires hooked to it, but there still seems to be like these black bars and all this junks everywhere. So i thought i would jump ahead and make sure i could get the torx bolt out of the intake. I couldnt... I broke the handle on the tool i was trying to use and didnt even budge it. If someone knows a tool the works good for this please lmk. So once i found i couldnt get the torx bolt out i slammed the hood and walked away. So now i have a disassembled truck and nothing to drive this weekend. crap.

So basically i want to know how you guys keep track of all the worthless junk under the hood of the efi trucks and how you get around in there. I tried to label stuff but i dont think its gonna help much.

Thanks
Jacob

 

as for organization, if there are lots of little parts(nuts, buts, ext) i label them in sandwich bags. As for the electrical plugs, tag them, get 2 tags with a number 1 on them and put one of the male end and one on the female end.

for the torx, try getting one that you use on a ratchet. they have them at most auto parts stores. looks like a socket but with a torx bit on the end.

 

I rarely need to work on my stuff to that level anymore, so I can get lost easily too. Tags id'ing and describing things taped on to loose ends, digital pix to remember what it's supposed to look like, take notes. It slows things down at first, but helps in the long run.

Deeeeep breaths. If you feel yourself getting frustrated or frantic/pissed, just walk away and do whatever calms you down.

The breaking of stuff may have less to do with you than how old and brittle most of the pieces are. So don't kick yourself too hard.

Some items are easy with the right tool, and even then take a trick or to. That's where taking your time and posting here a lot (when something is stuck for you) will help.

Take your time. You're not a professional mechanic, so don't expect to be as good as one.

 

Patience, you are lucky you are working on a truck and not a car, you have a lot more room to work with.

If hoses and other things began breaking, then they probably needed to be replaced anyway. Better to have such things happen in your driveway rather than when you are on the highway or trail.

There aren't that many hoses to deal with, there should be a vacuum hose diagram on the underside of the hood, or on top of the core support which tells you where everything goes. If not, I'm sure you could ask someone here to take a pic of their truck and post it (I would, but I'm working in Japan for the next year).

As for electrical plugs, they are easy. You can tell by the length of each harness and the type of plug where they go.

One of the most important things you should have in your tool box is a can of PB Breaker penetrating oil. Get some, and spray it on your stubborn torx bolt (or any other bolt that you suspect will give you a problem), let it sit for awhile, and then turn your wrench.

In order to remove bolts, nuts, screws, etc. without stripping or breaking things, always make sure the torx bit (or screwdriver tip) is fully seated (all the way in), or that the bolt, nut, or whatever, has it's drive edges in contact with the tool. The tool should be used at as straight an angle as possible, with the edge of the socket, wrench, or whatever, level with the base of the bolt, nut, or whatever. I'm always amazed (and amazing) when I see someone struggle hopelessly with a wrench for 5 minutes to get a bolt broken loose, and I manage to get it to move with a single twist.

Take a look at your torx bit and see what the drive edges look like near the tip. If they are stripped or worn, you can probably grind the end down slightly until you get to where they are straighter and less worn.

Always get the best tools you can afford. Cheap tools will let you down every time. I use Snap On tools (if you think they are expensive there, you should try buying them here in Japan) only. If you don't want to pay too much for them, get them used at a pawnshop, or on Ebay. Craftsman tools are very good, but not great. A Snap on 12 point socket is less likely to strip (or break) than a Craftsman 6 point. I've broken enough tools over the years to have learned my lesson many times over.

If you have any tools in your box that say "made in Taiwan" or "made in China", you are asking for trouble, and your vocabulary of swear words is probably pretty big.

 

I have the same truck ('89 351) and I just did the valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, upper intake gasket, new PCV valve and I cleaned out the throttle body. This was my first big job ever on any vehicle (I have done oil changes). I echo some of the advice above: tag everything even if you're sure where it goes, use PB Blaster. Also, I laid the parts out on the side I took them off of and in order that I took them off with the baggie of bolts for each with them.

I did break some brittle vacuum lines from the upper intake so I spliced them with some small diameter rubber hoses. I also broke off a bolt in the TB then broke an easy off in the broken bolt. It had to be drilled and rethreaded at a machine shop (only cost $20). I did this job off and on for over a week so I took my time. The torx bolt is in a tight spot so I taped a bit (35 or 40) to a 1/4" socket to fit it in there - be sure to blast it.

I usually get frustrated quickly with this kind of stuff but I took my time and did lots of reading in this forum and in the Haynes repair manual before I attempted it. I learned more that week than I have in a long time and the truck started right up (to my surprise). I hope this helps a bit.

Tom
1989 F-250 351

 

Before I got my 89 f150 I was driving mostly chevy 350's. Those are the easiest things in te world to work on, and it was a little different once I got into working under the hood of my truck too.

Masking tape and a marker can be your best buddy. Digital pictures help a ton too, and you can take as many as you want. Hell maybe even do a little video tape.

What ive found thats worked when getting frustrated, is two things. One grab a buddy and have a few beers well working on it. The beer calms ya a little and the conversation eases your frustrations.
The second thing is just to take a little break.

Hang in there bud, after awhile of doing repairs, and mods on it, youll be a great backyard mechanic

 

years of taking them apart and putting them back together will let you know what is what with out marking them. and as posted its 20 years old dont beat your self up about things breaking especailly plastic that gets hot under the hood , it happens

 

I know this doesn't help you today, but down the road it will pay off if you take the time to learn what each component you touch is and what it's job is. From knowing that I can take them apart and put back together now without labeling anything, even if I forget where something goes I can figure it out by knowing what the part or hose in question is for.

 

All advise given is great. I use wire markers to mark everything. There are page's of sticking labels that go from a-z and 0-15. Just mark where each side plugs into with same marker. They stick to everything and will not rub off. You can get them at lowe's or somewhere similiar. Also if unsure take cell phone pics.

 

Preppypro is right, have a buddy there if you can. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes and brains helps sort out a problem. I have a friend who is a wizard with anything mechanical...next to him I'm a Neanderthal. But he'll call me up when he's stumped and have me come over, and sometimes I can cut through the "overthinking" and help him out.

But more often he saves me .

 

Thanks for all the posts guys. In some ways all the advice made me feel stupid but i feel like i know more...lol. Anyway made a run to the big city today and got a can of PB blaster, 3/8" drive torx bit (hopefully it fits in the intake, seems like a tight fit) upper plenum gasket, a foot of the small radiator hose i busted, and a crankcase filter (there was a just a random piece of filter sitting under my air filter before doing nothing)

I sprayed down the intake bolts with some pb blaster right as it started to pour on me. stupid rain

 

Before you stick your extension down in the hole to get that middle torx bolt, use black electrical tape and tape the socket and extension together. It's tight down there and it's easy to lose the socket off the end of the extension when you are pulling it out. Then use a magnetic pick up tool to get the bolt.

 

I've never been able to get a 3/8" extention to work on the torx bit. You'll either need an adapter or a 1/4" drive bit. It'll help too to clean the bolt head out first as dirt and grease gathers in the "hole" and you'll end up rounding it off it's very tight.

 

They do make a special tool (socket/torx) to get that bolt, cheap about 5 bucks. Fits a 3/8 drive with a very looooooooooong shank on it, about 10".

In a pinch can also use a torx screw driver on it, because of its large size torx the handle is long enough and skinny enough to reach it, use chanel locks on the handle to break it loose.

On the other, in time you'll be able to look at a pile of bolts off a motor and know what each one is for just by looking at it.

 

Im fairly content with the progress i made today. I got the upper intake off and got the new gasket on the valve cover before the rain cut me shot again. The thing that caused me the most trouble and made me the angriest was the AIR setup that comes out of the manifolds. That tubing was all over the place and in all the wrong spots. Does all of that get deleted when you put on headers? If it does im buying a set.

Edit: As said in the above posts i could not get a 3/8" socket in to get the torx, i used a bunch of pb blaster and a multi bit screwdriver with a torx bit and a pair of channel locks

Again thanks for all the help and im sure i will need more tommorow when i try to put it all back together.