Starting a new thread, rather than keeping it on my first thread. Long story short, I acquired a good condition 7.3 IDI. Drove it 1100 ish miles home with almost no issues, until the last few hours. The truck is now running rough, and smoking all the time. I did not lose any coolant, or oil. Will be keeping an eye on it. Truck has unknown history of IP and injectors. Has newer return lines (constant tension clamps are able to be moved by hand on a few (air intrusion?)). It has a facet 40290 pump. The previous owner never touched timing after replacing the factory mechanical pump. it has new glow plugs from rockauto within the last 6 months. I noticed after cracking some lines that #2 glow plugs allows some air by. Truck has 0 blowby. I did notice it ran a little on the cooler side, but probably a dummy gauge. It did fire up in -5C this morning without too much hassle. Will add anything if I forgot something. Attached is a video of a semi warm start.

 

what does the exhaust smoke smell like, oil, or diesel fuel?
my bet is it smells like diesel fuel and needs injectors.

 

Definitely heavy on the diesel smell. I picked up a regulator and lower psi pump just cause they had both in stock. They did not have any by pass regulators. For testing I know the deadhead will be fine, how about long term? Any way to tell if the injectors are bad without a bench test?

 

Short of the basic symptoms; Hard starts, white smoke out the exhaust even when warm, clicking/knocking, you'd have to pull them to have them tested. Since they're medium ware items that should be replaced, ideally, every 100k miles on these engines and their affordability, it's best to just change them. Ideally, the IP will get changed at the same time, but if it's running strong and no issues, you don't have too. If the IP is weak, it will struggle to pop the fresh injectors open and you'd know it's on it's last legs too.

Ideally, you've give the IDI a tune up every 100k, which includes:
1. Set of new or reman injectors. - I used to buy new Stanadyne G codes, until they stopped making them. Now I get remans from accurate diesel.
2. Injector install kit. - I use Delphi kits only w/ Vittion #111 o-rings sold separately from amazon.
3. Reman IP (w/ new TPS for E4OD equipped trucks). - I pushed one of Mel's Bull Moose IP's up over 150k, issue free on my F250.
4. Fresh air and fuel filter.
5. Set the timing to 8 BTDC (plus or minus 2 degrees.) - Requires specialized timing equipment. I prefer 7 BTDC on my turbo trucks.
6. Ohm out the glow plugs. Make sure they're all below 2 ohms. Replace them all together if you find a bad one. You'll be good for a decade on a new set of plugs. - Authentic Motorcraft/ Beru only. Install with anti-seize.

 

Gave all of the return line areas a good clean and found a leak yesterday. Not a big one, but a leak. Also found one small spot of seepage from an injector. Ordered a return kit, and found the Viton o rings locally. Will be replacing all of that. I also ordered an injection pop tester. When rebuilding injectors for these trucks what is needed? I see nozzles, shims and springs if broken. I have found the nozzles online, I assume most diesel shops will carry shims if I get the I.D. and O.D.?

 

For the engine to run fine for most of your trip home, sounds like there was a problem that was temporarily covered up. Check you radiator to make sure the coolant is coolant, and not kerosene. Also make sure there are no air bubbles when sitting, and when the engine is running. Air in your fuel line can do this as well.

 

I'm not sure which fuel pump you purchased but the Facet 40222 will run just fine with no regulator needed. NONE of the facet Dura-Lift pumps push enough volume at pressure to require a regulator. Folks also run Holley Red pumps without a regulator. Fewer connections in the fuel system = fewer points of failure. I blew out my fuel lines with compressed air at about 15psi and gained 1-2psi in fuel pressure--just be sure to remove the fuel cap on the tanks before running air back through the lines.

I know it's expensive but nothing beats a new IP and set of injectors from a reputable source. I like R&D IDI and have had zero issues with their IP and new injectors. Reman injectors may be fine but a new set doesn't cost much more and places like R&D IDI or Moose Diesel will pop test and pressure match the set.

 

Thanks for the replies. Been busy, but I now have a few weeks with the truck that I’m off work. Was messing around today and the truck definitely loses a bit of coolant. I’m sure there’s no real way to tell if it’s cavitation, until I pull things apart? I had it up and warm today with the cap off and I get minimal bubbles, but bubbles so I assume the head-gasket needs to be done… I don’t see anywhere where it’s leaking, or hissing once the truck gets shut off. Coolant and oil have not kissed yet. I have the pop tester coming in so will get a good idea of how the injectors are. Huge bummer, but it has to be done at some point! Anything to know about doing headgaskets? Just don’t want to pull it apart and see some holes… then the truck will probably be sitting a long time haha!

 

if you had cavitation, you would know!!!
the effected cylinder fills with coolant and hydro-locks after sitting overnight.
my bet is a seeping head gasket. you can buy a coolant test kit at any autoparts store.
https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=...BAgKEAs&adurl=
the "juice" will change color if there is hydrocarbons in the coolant system indicating a bad head gasket.

BUT it may not be that, all my trucks would loose coolant if filled to the top of the radiator, if i let them be, they would loose it until around 1-1 1/2 inches from the top and stop.

 

Hmm that’s interesting. I won’t top the coolant up, have a bit of a drive to make today and will do it with the truck. I’ll get her up in the rpms and see if the coolant will drop. It’s in that same ball park of an inch or so below the top. Sounds good about the cavitation. How prone are these trucks to warped/ cracked heads?

 

they usually dont, unless abused and overheated.

 

Pulled the injectors today. They all look good... However, my injection pop tester gauge is not working. Spray pattern seemed fine... It currently has stanadyne 718535 G codes. Maybe from factory. Was able to get into contact with the owner prior to the previous and he never touched injectors, could be original with 240k miles? They look to be in fantastic shape and very minimal carbon build it. Will probably bring these to a local shop and have them tested. Done with waiting for more junk to come in the mail!

 

Those injectors were used on the factory '93 & '94 turbo engines. Is that what you have?

 

Nope, mine is a n/a from 93. Weird that there in there. That makes me think at some point in time someone cracked em loose.

 

The factory ones would have been E code. You may want to check your IP numbers. Find out what that is too. You may want to investigate to find out if you have a factory '93/94 turbo engine swapped in and stripped of it's turbo, or if you just have turbo parts installed. If your truck came from the factory with an N/A engine, the 8th digit in your trucks VIN will be an "M".

Ford / Navistar Stanadyne IP Model #'s w/HP Ratings - Complete IDI Tuning Info

You really need to find out which engine you have, because they are balanced differently. They, as we know now, needlessly made the internals stronger on the less common '93 and '94 factory turbo engines and the crank is balanced very differently from the N/A engines and require different parts (balancer/flywheel/flexplate), should you ever need to change them.



If those parts are ever interchanged, the engines are strong and may last a while, but eventually, they would shake the engine right apart, I'm sure, so it's very, very important you find out what's going on to be 100% of what you have.