I appreciate the consideration. Yes - money is definitely a factor in all of my automotive thought processes. Unfortunately, that's what you get when all three of your vehicles are over 220K miles.

My 2 main and pressing issues are the glow plugs and leaking fuel. If I'm already going to be taking the fuel bowl out to clean / rebuild it, I may as well go ahead and perform FPR mods or preventive maintenance and install the fuel pressure gauge I've been sitting on for about 3-4 years.

 

Just read this and am going to follow.

 

Well...I finally got around to it, and since some of you may have cared how it turned out, I'll give you a rundown of the weekend.

Totally jobs completed...
- Fuel bowl o-rings replaced
- FRx crossover installed (used black fpr spring with new regulator)
- New glow plugs installed
- Meticulously cleaned valley / fuel bowl / intercooler pipes, boots, and clamps
- Passenger side fuel tube inspection -no signs of wear at the securing clamp.
- Glow plug relay checkout

Incomplete jobs (left to do)
- CCV mod
- Install new fuel filter (turns out I don't have the oem filter cap, so I couldn't use the racor filter element I bought yet)

Total time spent...way too long... About 18 total hours.

Setbacks / Lessons learned...
- Scared out my mind I was going to round off / break off the 2 passenger side valve cover bolts that need a swivel socket adapter (30 minute setback due to worrying)
- Couldn't get my socket to grab the hex portion of the passenger's side rear glow plug - turns out there was the head of a zip tie in just the right spot to prevent my socket from getting down around the hex part to grab the old glow plug for removal. I happened to get lucky blindly feeling around with my needle hose pliers and found the obstruction (2 hour setback)
- Couldn't get the compression clamps started on any of the fuel lines. Turns out the old sleeves hadn't completely disintegrated. Instead half of them were left in each of the 4 fuel line fittings at the fuel bowl. During fuel bowl removal, half of each of them came out in pieces. The other half needed to be surgically removed with a dental pick (2 hour setback).
- Air ratchet wrench seized up (only used once prior to this job). Still under warranty, so it will be replaced for free (30 minutes to 1 hour setback).
- Don't try to rebuild a fuel bowl in the room with your kids watching a popular trick shot show with 5 dudes from Texas. You'll get sucked in (1-2 hour setback).

Questions...
1.) I ohmed my glow plugs through my valve cover harness connector in finally check out of my cold start assistance system...they all read roughly 0.6 - 0.7 ohms (all good right)? Then I tested my existing glow plug relay - got erratic reading from side opposite the always on big terminal. I decide to switch my GP relay with my Air intake Heater relay (since I deleted my AIH sensor years ago. In testing it, I found between 10.5v - 10.6v volts when the GP's were called for. I bed a new GP relay I guess? I'm just confused. I probably haven't used the AIH relay since I've had the truck. Do they normally go out/bad?
2. Is the only fuel cap that will work with the racor fuel filter the oem filter cap or does Bob (o-rings) / Clay (riffraff) have aftermarket lids/caps that work with it?
3. If I do end up needing/getting a Stancor (or similar) GPR, I'm going to do away with the AIH relay for more space. What could I do with the AIH wires and the new GPR to avoid the soft code that I hear gets thrown when you remove the AIH heater relay?
4. When I get a new fuel bowl lid, which way does the top non-symmetrical o-ring go? The roughly flat part up toward the lid or down sitting on the lip in the fuel bowl?
5. I ordered the blue flouro o-ring upgrade for the fuel bowl drain valve. However I received 2 blue flouro ones for the innards of the drain valve and 1 black viton one for the top of the drain valve? Is there a flouro o-ring for the top? Also related to the drain valve...it's now much stickier than it was before. I know it's going to be somewhat stickier to move with the o-rings, but it's right enough I hesitate to operate for fear I'll break the yellow handle. Will this get easier to operate after the o-rings soak up some fuel?

Hope this helped someone. Feel free to take a stab at any or all of the questions. Would love answers. Thanks for the wonderful resource your community provides.

 

Yeah the blue ones on the valve are pretty stiff at first even with diesel as lube. Gets better tho.

 

My comments in red.

 

CNC Fab has been advertising a new relay that they claim is better and cheaper than the Stancor.

https://cncfab.us/i-30498014-western...t-56131k2.html

 

Update... I ended up purchasing the Stancor glow plug relay and tested it out. The full time hot post was 12.8v and the opposite post was roughly 0v before turning the key. After engaging the glow plugs, the full time hot post went to 11.5v and the opposite post was treading the same (11.5v). Is that a normal voltage drop to the always on terminal once the glow plugs are engaged?

Second question... I seem to have some dripping oil that sears to be coming from the passenger's side now. Could it be that the passenger's side valve cover gasket couldn't take being reused? I know people talk about reusing these gaskets, but has anyone had experience with them going bad? Or could it had gotten folded over and I didn't realize it?

Lastly, there was some liquid (I think was fuel) back in the valley again when I was changing my glow plug relay that I'm hoping came from reusing the fuel filter and fuel filter lid gasket until the OEM Racor lid and new beveled o-ring was delivered. We'll see.

 

That's about right for the voltage drop. I think mine dipped closer to 11VDC. Depending on the health of the batteries you could see high 10's for voltage. Those plugs draw lots of current and there's 8 of them.

Where is the oil dripping on the passenger's side? Typical weep hole from the valley along the flexplate housing or more forward? With the engine tilted slightly down in the rear I think the drops would fall off the rear of the head regardless of where the gasket was leaking (if it is the gasket). I know that when I finger-tighten the bolts while the engine is warming up for a hot torque I get some drops off the rear at the gasket because it's not tightened down.

If it's more forward you might also want to check your oil dipstick tube adapter (inboard of the starter). That's another place that might start weeping on you without warning.

If the fuel comes back after you clean it up I would check the fuel bowl lid and drain valve. They might be leaking by. I would also check the drain valve o-rings.