I'm new to the Ford diesels, and I just bought a 1987 F250 4x4 with the 6.9 diesel and 4-speed manual. I'm having a host of wierd (and probably related) problems. Any assistance ya'll can provide would be most appreciated!

- Constant blue/white smoke (pretty severe quantities, it has smoked out whole city blocks before)
- Utterly gutless (won't go over 60 mph, and going up most hills now requires the use of 4-Low)
- Terrible fuel economy (10 mpg or less on the highway)
- Engine does not run smoothly (feels like it's running on 6 or 7 cylinders intermittently)

I threw some 'Engine Restore' into the oil, and that has helped the smoke issue. Now I just look like a really nasty-running truck instead of a forest fire. I changed the fuel filter as well, and that has helped slightly, but the problems persist! Does this truck have a primary filter, or just the spin-on? Also, I've been running massive amounts of injector cleaner through the diesel, and it has helped a tiny bit as well, but is there a better way to purge out the fuel lines, and is that likely the problem?

Like I said, any help would be appreciated! I've been browsing around the forum and havn't spotted the same set of problems, so I'm hoping there's help to be had.

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Edit: I forgot to add (dunno if it helps diagnose the problem or not) that the engine fires right up when you go to start it. I don't even have to wait for the glow plugs to cycle (but then, it hasn't been below 65 here yet)

 

I think its time for a compression check to make sure its not anything in the engine itself. Really dirty injectors or a bad injector pump could also cause the problems.

Any other history of the truck?

Miles on it?

other work done on it?

 

The blue/white smoke is burned oil, probably because the valve guides are worn out if it has a lot of mileage. My truck does it pretty good too. As for lose of power I agree with David85.

Adam

 

Truck only has ~137k miles on it. I just bought it at auction from the City of Redding not that long ago. As far as I can tell, the truck is stock. I don't know how well it was maintained, I just drove it home (400 miles) and have tried to tune it up a bit. The truck is burning oil at a pretty good rate (forgot that tidbit), just over a quart every 100 miles. I had to top up the oil every time I filled the tank (again... every 100 miles). The truck is pretty hacked in most respects: I'm only getting about 10 gallons on the front tank, rear tank doesn't work, key was replaced with a push button, only starts with a door open, etc....

What compression range should I be looking at on the motor?

 

I think 400-500psi but more importanly the cylinders should be within 10% of each other. Have you tryed adjusting the timing yet?

 

Negative... havn't tried adjusting the timing. I wasn't aware that I could do that. Are you referring to injector timing or cam timing, and are there any good resources online for instructions? I didn't see anything pertinent in the articles section of the forum.

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Edit: found the timing instructions for the IP, I assume that's what you were talking about. I'll do a compression test first and see where I need to go from there...

 

First what does it smell like is it a sweet smell like coolant or a fyule smell?

If compresion is good check your IP timing. If you have your original IP there should be a notch in the pump that coresponds with a notch in the IP gear cover for a starting point see how far from it it is and to wich side. If the iming seems ok next I would have the injectors pop tested.

Do you know any history of the truck from befor you got it? See if there is a tag on the top of the pump indicating its a reman may have been put in incorectly and they decided to sell the truck.

 

CAMiniTruck,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI diesel forum.

For the oil problem, the CDR probably needs serviced.

Do the injectors look like they were painted grey?
Do you see any black or white smoke?
That question has two parts, normal driving and again with the throttle on the floor pulling a hill.

 

Before my rebuild, my engine used oil at nearly that rate even with a new CDR if I ran it hard enough. If cleaning the CRD doesn't fix the problem, it could be dried out valve seals or badly worn valve guides. Considering how well the guides lasted in my truck and the fact that you only have 137k on yours, I would be more inclined to think the seals are at fault (but again, clean the CDR first to see if thats your problem).

Next thing I would do is dump 1L of diesel kleen or dex3 auto tranny fluid (cheap stuff NO synthetic) into the fuel tank that works to clean out the injection system a little better.

 

When you start the truck do you get a very loud rattling sound from the engine, which quietens down after about 1min.? It sounds to me, from your description, that your injector pump needs to be advanced. The fact that it starts so easily would lead me to think that your compression is probably OK. Just my two pennies.