Here is some background on this "problem" truck (sorry for its long length).

It's a 1979 Ford F350 1-ton dually. I bought it six months ago as a surplus rescue rig at a local fire department. The truck was abused, sat for months without use, in last 10 years only 6,000 miles put on it. Original engine - 460cid, Rebuilt C6. I have full records on all the repairs - lots of repairs. The truck has had the carb replaced at least 3 times (I just replaced it again with an edelbrock) starter, alternator, batteries changed frequently. Fair amount of electrical problems, lights going out, lightbar didn't work that often.
When I got the truck, it was difficult to start, I had to pump the pedal about 225 times to start it, it was "cold blooded," gutless, not very reliable. Very poor fuel economy of 4.7mpg ON HIGHWAY. Hard to warm up, died frequently.
To date, I have had the engine gaskets replaced, replaced the carb, added the necesary vacuum lines, installed new oil, air, and crank filters. Also, I have put just over 3500 miles on it, and it runs A LOT better. But I am still running into a few bugs.

Every now and then, when you shut the truck off, it lets out a galloping roar, followed by white smoke shooting up out of the carburetor. I have changed the plugs and the rotor cap, the wires and distributor and cap are pretty new (only about 5000 miles on them).
Also, when the carburetor is pumped, the stream inside the venturis used to be strong, but now fuel only dribbles out, could this be the fuel pump? Have replaced fuel filter as well.
Third, the truck seems to stumble and surge at traffic lights from time to time.
Fourth, I am getting poor gas mileage. I am used to getting 8-10mpg with the family 78 F250, but my truck is only getting 7.3mpg at best, I was wondering if this could also be the fuel pump or a carburation problem?
Also, I was checking the ATF, now the instruction manuals say that the ATF should be red, but the fluid in my transmission resembles fresh motor oil, is it possible the tranny was filled with the wrong ATF? I was reading in P M that has happened. I was wondering this because the transmission shifts a little funny compared to our 78 with the same trans. Just wondering what you guys think...

 

the brown tranny fluid is almost a sure bet that youre getting ready to replace it again ,, that usually means stuff is getting to hot and its cooking the tranny,, smell it and see if it has a slight burnt smell to it,, the white smoke sonds like a timing problem,and that could be causing youre poor gas milage and it getting a little warm or over heated which could also be causing the stumbling at idle

 

The transmision fluid is burned, it needs changed badly, and keep your fingers crossed.

Your engine may be suffering from a lack of fuel delivery. That roar and smoke is a run-on condition that can happen under these conditions. The fuel pump may be weak from sitting and you could have a clogged fuel filter even tho you just changed it due to crud that built up in the tank and lines.

Check your fuel pressure and delivery according to the manual.

An excessively lean condition will give you lousy gas mileage just like a rich one will.

Good luck, and welcome to FTE!

 

One problem you may be having is excessive carbon buildup in the engine. Typically FD vehicles get cranked and run at idle or unloaded for 15 minutes or so per day. It may not get driven hard once a week. There is a prduct called RXP that is sold around here to help clean carbon out to pass emission tests. It works very well. I would buy 6 or 8 bottles of it and run 1 per tank, one after the other. This will clean it enough so that you can really tell what you are up against.

Check fuel pressures and lines near the tank. Replace rubber lines because they probably have dry rot.

 

your carb probably needs to be tuned to fit your more correctly. Some fuel additives may help get some of that carbon out. You can also warm the motor up and TRICKLE water into it to break up the carbon, just don't put in too much, or you will have bigger problems.

 

Thanks for the input.

Although I think that I need to clarify some things.

The transmission was rebuilt 10,000 miles ago.

Now, I installed a trans cooler, when I did, I noticed the fluid to be a deep red color. But, when I check it with the dipstick, it more resembles SAE 30 oil (being a golden color). Could this just be the weight of the particles?

And torqe1st, I am sorry if I made you angry about looking at some of the older threads, these things keep moving around and a lot of them have similar titles, I guess I just got carried away. They are for reading, not responding.

 

Let's hope they put ther correct fluid in it?

Have you smelled it yet?

 

Yeah, I smelled it. When I put the cooler on, it had a very distinct petroleum smell. When I checked it with the dipstick the other day, I couldn't smell it, but then again - I am sorry but I can't smell that good. I found out who did the rebuild, and I told my mechanic (about the only person I can trust) and he said he wasn't very confident in their work. So it could be the wrong fluid. Could the filter need changing as well?

 

Colossus-

I wasn't in the least bit angry, I was just reminding you of the age of the posts since you hadn't noticed. Thanks for turning your email on.

 

I turned it on .

I just haven't gotten around to explaining it to him yet.

I don't think he was aware that the system is Completely Safe as it is FTE controlled and it is also the only way Moderators can contact him privately.

Unless he would rather hear from me everytime.


Colossus.

Did the fluid have a burnt smell to it?

You said it had a brown look to it.

There are a lot of people who think these C6's take F-type fluid when they actually take Dexron II.

 

The fluid didn't smell burnt, it just had the distinct petroleum odor. Yeah, I read in the manual that it takes Dextron II, but there's no way to really find out what they actually put in it. I went back through records and it just says "added transmission fluid at....(date).

 

I had a problem with my fuel filter too. My 79 F-350 sat quite a few years and now I have a rust sediment problem. I found out there was two fuel filters. One just before it hit the fuel pump and one just outside the main tank. The one at the main tank was filled heavy with particles, which prevented the fuel from reaching the next filter.

 

Well, more about the transmission. I was going back over the paperwork on the rebuild, and it has all the usual stuff that goes into a rebuild - seals and all that other stuff - but I did find something that baffled me. In it's own category was:

W/R/F: F

Does anyone know what that means. I am guessing it means Type F - which would be the wrong fluid.

Other than that, the truck did start to burn oil today, so I used some Bardalls and it fixed it. Apparently that thing has been eating stopleak over the years. Also, the brakes were completely replaced about 13,000 miles ago. Do you think they would need to be looked at anytime soon?

 

i work in a shop that rebuilds transmissions. if the transmission was rebuilt fairly recently then it should have gotten some Dextron mercon III. Any transmission rebuilt now can work with Dextron mercon III.

 

Tranny was rebuilt in October 1994.