oh. the snap tool. got it.

 

dave, you got any ideas on this thread?

 

OK first, what air intrusion is and does.

Fuel tank tops, below the top of the frame.
Almost all of the fuel system on the engine, well above the frame.

A vacuum holds the fuel up in the engine.

Air leaks in, vacuum broken, fuel returns to lowest possible level, IE the tank.
So you will not see fuel on the engine.

The return lines, return tee's and the O rings under the tee's that seal them to the injector is the

usual place for this to happen.

Also why not leaks when the engine is running, air molecules are tiny compared to a fuel molecule.
Also, the return system is open to the fuel tank, no pressure on the return lines.

How to check, let the truck sit for the normal amount of time that it will be hard to start.
Before you do anything, remove the fuel filter and see if it is completely full.

My best analogy of air intrusion is a glass of water and a drinking straw.
Stick the straw in the glass, put your finger over the end of the straw.
Pick the straw up out of the glass, water stays in the straw.
With air intrusion, move your finger letting air in the straw and the water returns to the glass.
Same principal as what is happening with air intrusion on a diesel engine.

As a side note recently mine has been firing right up every morning.
Drive it an hour, turn it off, and it would fire right back up with 5 seconds on the starter.
Let it sit for an hour or two, a real pain to start.
Let the engine get cold, fire up right now.

Last night I worked till midnight going through all of my electrical cables and connections.
Battery system, charging system, starting system and all my electrical add ons connections.
Today, same as yesterday when I tried to start it after sitting two hours.

I just finished installing a new starter on my truck this evening.
The old one sounded fine, thought it was cranking over plenty fast.

If I go up there right now, turn the key to start and the engine is running before you can let go of

the key.

All along I was thinking about time for a new starter when it was a bit hard to start.
I had most of the stuff I used last night here, so before I went out and spent money I cleaned

everything up and reworked all the electrical connections.
My investment was 4 hours of my time.

This evening I went out to NAPA and plunked 292 dollars down for a new Mitsubishi gear reduction

starter.
Since I had already gone through everything electrical I could last night and there was no

improvement I did not feel bad as I dropped the money on the counter this evening.

And as soon as I hit start, I realized how slow the old starter was cranking.
Back to 1/2 revolution of the engine before it starts.

As far as timing, since the engien started and ran, I don't think timing is your issue.
As far as timing has to be right on if you did not remove the IP drive gear and IP drive gear cover, no it does not.
Yes, there is a dowel pin that gets the IP and gear in time, but you can loosen the IP nuts and rotate the IP about 1/2" in either direction.

If the timing mark on the IP neck and the neck on the back of the IP drive gear cover are either in line or the IP mark is slightly (1/16" or so) to the passenger side of the mark on the gear cover, you should be close and the engine should run.
Every day it gets harder to find a shop that has the equipment to set IDI timing and even harder to find a shop that has the equipment and someone that knows how to use it.

After the engine is starting and running close to right, I can tell you how to set the timing yourself.
Right now, time for bed for me though.

 

ok so what does it mean if its full? that means that theres not air intrusion cuz theres a vacuum still.\

ill check that out in the morning. i have a feeling its gonna be full.

but,,,, with ur starter goin bad dave u say it would start fine in the morning, or after a it gets cold.

but mine is hard to start when its cold. \
its better when its hot and gets worse as time goes on, past a couple hours, then its the same trying to start it after 3 hours or 24 hours.

 

If you line the timing marks from your IP to the mark on the housing, it should be close enough for you vehicle to run properly. A lot of guys will line them up this way, and then take them into a shop where they will hook up and finish timing them. If you turn the pump or make the mark on your IP go towards the passenger side, you are advancing the timing. If you go the other way with the mark on the pump, you are retarding the pump. Most guys will advance the timing a few degrees. I can't think this is the problem as your vehicle started up right away after the new pump was installed and started with no problems shortly there after. It was just after it had sat for a while that it wouldn't start well which tells me you have a problem other than timing. I still wonder if you don't have a worn injector that is letting loose of the fuel after your vehicle sits for a while.

 

Did you check your fuel filter? Was it full right to the top and over-filling as you pulled it off? Or was it half empty?
What's the status with your starter? Is it turning the motor over fast enough on a cold start?
A warm or hot start will have enough heat remaining inside the engine to ignite the fuel easily. The cooler it gets-the longer you crank to build more heat.
So in post #9 you said you checked your return lines and tee's and did not see any visible leakage. When you installed the IP; did you move the return lines? If you accidently bumped them or anything...they're probably due to be replaced. Chances of getting a hard o-ring to re-seal is pretty slim.
The hardest part about tracking down air intrusion is that you just can't see it. If you see rubber lines even with hairline cracks...you can bet there's air entering there. As stated-air molecules are smaller than fuel molecules. So, air is entering long before you even see fuel come out.
What's the staus with the fuel/water seperator? Try to bypass it and see what happens...they are notorious for air infiltration.

 

Easy start when warm, harder starts the longer it sits or when cold point to either air intrusion or glow plug problems normally.


The water seperator problem was 86 and older trucks.