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I hang at junkyards for grin and giggles and 1 month ago found 4 powerstroke engines in ambulances and bought all four. One engine was inside of an ambulance and had a head off that had lost a valve. Sucker went right through the piston. I slipped on tranny fluid carelessly left by some nerd and did a face-plant into the open valve cover of the engine. Hey, there is some sharpe stuff in there! Drove myself to the hospital where I received two nice scars right over the third eye. Dead center of my forehead. Took 30 stitches to sew me up and loss of alot of blood. I was so pissed I bought that engine as one of the four I mentioned earlier. I tore it down and have it on the rack ready to torture with a blow torch and some other implements of destruction! Well, after tearing it down I said to myself that this is one awesome engine. I decided to reprieve it and study the sucker. Bought the original Ford manuals, a bunch of Rotunda tools and decided find a truck with a bad motor since I had tons of parts. Anyway, found a 1999/2000 Econoline 13 passenger bus with 128K miles on it.

Question:

Went to fill the tire and found the oil dip stick hangin outside the tube that guides it into the pan. Since this is a cut-a-way bus using an Econoline F350 Superduty they lengthened the tube but used a larger tube at the front and leaving a gap where the two connect. The dealer told me that the engine was making terrible noises and I know why. I drained the oil to discover 7 quarts overfill. When you start it it makes ping noises and a pile of diesel fuel comes out the exhaust pipe. I also found oil in the radiator overfill but not much. I figured blown head gasket. Ford mechanic says that the oil in the radiator says breached oil cooler unit and the turbo is probably leaking the oil causing the tons of white oily smoke that happens when you start it. I took the turbo off. No oil in the intake side. Lots a oil on the exhaust side. Stuck my finger in the exhaust manifold and it came out soaking wet with burnt smelling diesel fuel or oil. Can't really tell. Initially it blew diesel fuel out in a hugh pool so figure its diesel maybe mixed with some oil or its picking up oil residue somewhere in the exhaust. I figure head gasket but a read somewhere about hydro-lock where injector cups get breached and it bends rods and all sorts of horrible things. Before I go on much further, anyone out there got any ideas before I go coo-coo and tear the head off and get into something I don't need to get into. I already bought the head gasket, new bolts for the exchange if need be. Just need a push in the right direction. Also, bought Rotunda 7.3 tool kit, compression gauges and Megahelic gauge setup for starters. Would appreciate any input. Thanks, JCx12
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Don't have much knowledge on this subject. Here is a bump.

 

They are right on the Oil in degass bottle. Look to the oil cooler on the driverside of the motor at the bottom.

White smoke at startup i would check the glow plug system.

 

I am going to pull the glow plugs tomorrow and check compression. I read where I can test the glow plugs accordingly using the following advice:

Does the smoke smell like fuel? I bet you have a few bad glowplugs , easy test, take a 12v test light, clip one lead to the positive post and touch the top the each plug with the other end, remove the wire from the glow plug first. if it lights the plug is good, no light bad plug, replace only with motorcraft DZ9.

Any info you get, or if you are familiar with a similar case where tons of diesel leaks out the exhaust pipe causing a puddle the size of Lake Erie, I would most certainly heed the advise. What's up with dat anyway?

Best Regards,

JCx12

 

Partailly, You will want to Ohm the plugs. You can do it through the gasket connector or the plug itself and a block ground. 0.1 -2.0 ohms is a good plug.

Fuel in exhaust: Bag Glow plugs + a little low compression = Fuel getting dumped into cylinder but not igniting and then getting pushed out the exhaust.

 

Thanks for the update. Never thought about checking the plugs through the connector. That's good advice! This is a learning curve for me and I am in it strong. My job affords me the time to sit around with nothing to do. I bought the Ford Econoline Workshop Manual Vol. I and II, the Diesel Supplement, the ATSG Automatic Transmission Service Group manual for 4R100 and two thick books by Edgar J. Kates titled Diesel and High Compression Gas Engines. Heavy stuff! I'm in this for the long haul. This bus is just an experiment. I mean, I need the bus for my work and play and you can check it out in the gallery under Econoline Cut-A-Way if you have the interest. I truly appreciate the help and I plan to help others when I get going. I listened to the Ford mechanic who had me check the turbo out suspecting oil from a clogged seal. One thing you should note and this is a problem. The Econoline model is great to work on from one standpoint but bad from another. One problem I see is that people have an issue with working on the rear of the Powerstroke because the firewall interferes. Econoline doesn't have that because you can peal off the engine compartment enclosure and have instant access to the rear of the motor and transmission. Love it! Bad thing is you can not easily get the motor out because the engine sits back so far on the frame and the engine compartment is only tall enough to accommodate the motor, wires and such with maybe two inches of play. I'm looking at taking the head off with great trepidation. No room to speak of and when I tore down the motor that put the stitches in my head I discovered that there are two pin guides on the sucker that have to be cleared. There is room but barely! Second off, I have to take out the radiator, Fan assembly, alternator, idler assembly, bumper and anything else in my way that keeps me from my objective. Also, I will have a problem hitching the cherry picker to the head to lift it with the bracket. The sucker is heavy! In essence I want to avoid pulling the head if possible. If that is not possible, then I will just have to go for it. Finally, my truck is pouring a lot of fluid. Initially, I ended up with a very large puddle of clear diesel fluid where my exhaust pipe makes a final curve before it exits to the back of the vehicle (lowest point). Now I am getting what looks like oil mixed with it and it smells burnt. I’m not sure? That seems like a lot of fluid to me and more than what would be discharged by an injector gone renegade. I think by taking off the glow plugs and running the engine, I might see what floods out the hole in the bad cylinder. Also, To access this I had to pull the turbo. There is a couple of holes with o-ring gaskets that push up oil to lube the turbo when I crank it. Do you know if they make a cover plate for that or will I have to manufacture my own to stem the flow. Anyway, I’m here Sunday and going to get mad at it today and see what I find. Thanks and keep me updated. Best Regards, JCx12