If you have some patience and time, and don't mind wrenching, we can walk you through this stuff rather than pay a dealership. The big thing with these trucks for maintenance is time, and if you don't mind doing it yourself, that's where you really save your dollars in the long run.

When searching for a goofy problem that is going to take time, I hate paying someone else for those sorts of things.

Being an '87, does it have the water separator on the firewall? If so, before doing anything else, takes the lines off that and join them together to bypass it. Should be almost zero cost, and one of the first, and worst places for air intrusion depending on what's been done (or not done) to it.

 

can you post a pic of the seperator? i have no clue wat im looking for

 

I can't as I don't have one on any of my trucks. The fuel lie will go into it though, they were mounted on the driver's side firewall and I think (but not certain) they switched the filter system when they went from the 6.9 to the 7.3. There's a spot on them that the idea is to be able to drain the water, seems that they never seal properly after a few years.

If it is still on your truck, and hooked in, I would bypass it for now, and keep an eye out for a later style 7.3 filter base to upgrade your truck to.

 

cpetersen, can you smell fuel when your truck is not running? Is your block wet? Does your motor drip fluids? Is your engine valley wet? Are your return lines wet? Are your glow plugs sitting in puddles of fuel?

 

uhhhh? this is my first diesel and iv never worked on one i can smell fuel for a couple minutes but then it stops the bottom of the block is wet but that is from oil it leaks maybe a dime size of oil sitting over night but the return lines and glow plugs tell you the truth i have no clue where those are

 

I thought mine was oil, but it turned out to be fuel.

Pop the hood and remove your air cleaner housing and air cleaner. This will allow you to view the top of the motor and see what's going on. You'll see your valve covers, 4 inline injectors on each side. They'll have plastic caps on them and tubing running in-between each cap connecting them inline. Then as you keep viewing towards the center of the motor, you'll see wires going down to connectors which connect to glow plugs. There are 4 glow plugs in-line on each side. The valley is the center of the motor if you were to draw a line from the injector pump straight back to the back of the block.

Look for wet areas. Start the truck w/o the air cleaner there and look for fuel leaks.

 

The water separator is between the brake booster and left (US drivers side) fender mounted on the firewall, It has a pull ring on top that you do not want to pull!

Toss it! It is garbage and will cause you nothing but trouble!

Use something like Racor - Parker PF BF811 6.9L Ford Spinon

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Is their a member in the area as Peterson? It sounds to me like he needs someone to show him the major componants,and I bet he could solve all this,I know im way yonder to far away but somebody might be close.........

 

i think the '87 6.9 was the first year of the good updated fuel/water separator.
and it just sounds like an injector install kit is in order.

big white filter just in front of the air cleaner shown in pic from this angle.


remove your air cleaner.
look along the valve covers,and your going to see rubber fuel hose connected to cheap junky plastic caps lol.
(see the new black hose,with red clips just behind my yellow dip stick and white fuel filter?)
look at them,the line and and the caps for any wetness.
even if you dont see wet,just get an injector install kit,and replace all the caps/o rings and fuel line.everything you need comes in the kit.
but buy Vition O-rings sold separately and dont use the standard ones that come in the kit.
(someone will grab ya a couple links to each im sure.)
good luck.

replace the fuel filter every 60k miles,and right now too since you don't know its history.
on the bottom of that filter is a drain.drain that whenever you see water in fuel light come on,and every oil change.

latter one search for electric fuel pump mod.
thank the maker i knew better and went with one before hitting the road.id been stranded a few times and worn out/likely replaced starter by now and who else knows what.i may spring a leak,but im starting inside 2 seconds and running all the time.

 

thatnks rick i took off the air cleaner and there is nothing leaking down there and nothing is wet that i saw but the braided line that comes from where the air cleaner is to i think the glow plugs that is leaking on top i think it has the wrong size clamp on it obecause i can move it around with my fingers but i cant on the bottom

 

so there is a drain on the bottom of my fuel filter? the one i just put on doe not have one its solid across

 

Not on your filter,I think XLT has a different setup than yours,If you look on the drivers side firewall,on the right side of the brake booster,and down under all the cruise control stuff you should see it,its a round silver thing with a pull ring on top,it dosent look like a fuel filter and is really hard to see at first being is all that crap is all piled in that spot.I replaced mine with a new header and filter unit,when it gets daylight Ill get you some pictures and part numbers.

 

This is what an old style Fuel Water Separator looks like out of the truck ...


Ignore the scrap heap it's hanging off ...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Thanks festus,thats the pic he is looking for,Replace that with this,NAPA part#4309 [base] NAPA part # 3123 [filter] This filter has a drain valve at the bottom.Also it would be wise to replace the rubber fuel lines that connect all this. All this is about 50$ and you will not have anymore problems with it. Also very good chance this is where your dying problem is!

 

cpeterson i just pm'd a guy that is somewhat close to you and gave him the link to this thread.so i we may be able to get you hooked up