started to run really sluggish and had a lopey idle barely running pretty much
i changed the fuel filter, started it back up and it seemed to be running great
i purged the air out and the filter housing barb then cracked the lines open some and closed them one by one once nothing but fuel squirted it out
seemed all fine but then a minute later died

now while trying to start it will only try when floored it will catch start to run then just stall and die as soon as you stop cranking

we tried for about a half hour and couldnt get it

i tried ether (i know i know dont use ether) but id been using it to start it because i have so many small return line leaks letting air into the system been using it for years with just a tiny quick burst to get it started with no problems ( yes glowplugs have been disabled long ago) and didnt work anyways controller on back of head bad

but when i tried the either i got a noise ive never heard before out of it like a knocking noise so i decided to give up till sunday thinking maybe i flooded it somehow

the choppy running from before was strange too like a bad miss on multiple cylinders u could even hear weird noises in the intake from it

im not sure wtf is going on this thing has so many problems that i dont know where to start anymore lol
any advice?

 

oh forgot to add its an 85 f350 with a 6.9 idi

 

i've heard of bad injectors producing a bit of a knocking, but for having not heard yours, i can't say for sure.
considering that you don't have glow plugs, a "tiny quick burst" as you describe should be safe - just don't try it with glow plugs that work!

how are all the fluids? low coolant? water-oil mixing? anything else that would point to BAD problems??
if it were still willing to run, i would advise loosening one injector line at a time to see if one of them changed your knocking - but that doesn't help much when it won't run much at all.
now that fact that it ran great for a brief minute after the filter change seems a little strange, and DOESN'T appear to point toward engine mechanical problems, but rather to fuel system problems.
do you know when your injection pump and injectors were last changed out? they have a service life of about 100k miles, and if they're past due, they could be causing your screwy issues here. if they've been used on alternative fuels, contaminated fuel, or whatever, that life could be shortened by a bit. if you're like most of us with high mileage and little history, it would be wise to change them as a first step toward solving this

 

while running i know i get some pretty decent blowby from the oil fill tube
it was a little low on coolant but not much added maybe a couple liters to top it off seemed like no oil water mix

yeah im pretty sure has high miles but odom has rolled and only the five digits so no way to be sure i know ive probably put about 30k on it since ive got it but its been about five years

ive had problems with the hard lines breaking over and over and over on it leading to the injectors but i finally got that issue worked out

at the moment i have zero money to replace ip or injectors
i replaced the lift pump cause it went out shortly after i got it and it helped out a lot with the problems i was having at the time

the weird knock noise was only after giving it a burst of ether to try to get it to stay running

the other weird noise it had been making was just while running before the filter change u could hear the miss in the intake and exhaust i hope i dont have valve issues but dont really know where to begin looking for that

basicly i need it to at least limp me to work monday or i will be walking and i have zero cash (had to even borrow the money to buy the filter)

so once again this old beast has left me in a tough spot i feel like starting it up rolling it over the scales at the local scrap yard pulling it around back park it walk back on the scale and ask them how much they will give me for the metal weight

grrr lol

 

your problem with the hard lines breaking was probably that you were missing the brackets that hold the lines against vibration. if you have that worked out, i'll move on.

i guess that using the ether to try to keep it running would cause the knock - and the need to do so may indicate that you aren't getting fuel - or not enough of it... rereading the original post sounds like you're just getting fuel not air up there... i wonder if the IP could be just totally worn out and not producing enough pressure to get the job done... i don't know for sure.
there should be a few more guys thinking/posting on this tomorrow, so i'm gonna call it a night

 

This sounds like a fuel delivery problem. How much fuel in the tank? If under a 1/4 tank, it could be the pickup tube in the tank has rotted off as they are known to do. I would do a fuel flow and pressure check at the filter schrader valve. It should have 5-7 lbs, and 1/3 pt. in 10 seconds, both while cranking.

 

i dont have the tools to do an actual reading but i know i get plenty of fuel out of the shrader valve while cranking and plenty up at the injectors while cranking, is it possible that i flooded it somehow by romping on it to try and purge the air when it first started? and if so is there an easy way to un-flood it?

 

You can't flood a diesel, no plugs to foul. I suspect air in the lines also. Is it cranking good and fast?

 

yeah it cranks good and fast it actually catches and is running untill i stop cranking its just so damn odd

as soon as i stop cranking seconds later it just falls on its face
im going to try it again some more tomorrow morning

is it possible that i might have plugged the injectors when i did this? because i took a shortcut and poor the fuel from the old filter into the new filter mixed with some deisel additive

 

while that isn't good practice, i doubt it plugged things up. most of the contaminants in your old filter were pushed up against/into the filter media, leaving little to freely pour out (or so i would expect). but that said, its wise to fill the filter with clean fuel, ATF, or the additive of your choice. personally i use ATF because i always have plenty on hand and its convenient.

when you say "as soon as i stop cranking seconds later it just falls on its face" i read that as attempting to run for 2-3 seconds AFTER you let off the starter, is that correct? if it were to just drop AS SOON AS you let off the starter, i would look for an electrical problem, but since it sounds like it tries for a few seconds, that sounds like its only running on a few cylinders, and it just isn't quite enough to keep it going by itself. does that sound right to you??

 

It is possible you are losing power to the fss when you stop cranking.

 

yeah it seems like it is trying but just not hitting on enough cylinders to stay running

 

just got done messing with it for a couple of hours, replaced some of the bad return lines between injectors

have to crank and hold it floored to even make it run for a split second after i stop cranking and even then it just dies right after the momentary run sounds like its running better then it has been recently but then it just dies ugh

i have strong fuel pressure at shrader valve and if i pop the lines open i get fuel squirt
im starting to think its not air in the system after all this cranking

im wondering if maybe ive got multiple clogged injectors or the ip has just became so weak that it cannot maintain enough pressure to open all the injectors ???

if i crank for around 30 seconds with it floored it seems to surge and pulse like trying to fire up and run but then die over and over again
the fuel shut of solenoid seems to be fine because if i unplug it i get nothing at all

just seems weird and too much of a coincidence that i change the fuel filter and it runs great and finally the ip decides this is its last minute of life

im going to be walking to work in the morning and maybe try it some more when i get home

fml

 

oh also forgot to add get white smoke when it catches and runs then turns to black as it dies if that is a clue to someone with alot more knowledge about my situation

 

White smoke is raw diesel fuel, black is partially burnt. Are your glow plugs working?