well, i'm finally getting a better understanding of whats going on here, and its not air intrusion.
in my other thread on the IDI side here, the point came up that the cold start timing advance solenoid may be included in the problem. i diagnosed that its recieving power when its not supposed to, and intermittently, and caused my whole deal whenever it is energized. for the last 2 days i've had it unplugged where its wire connects at the IP, and it hasn't gone into "super" mode once in that time, except when i plugged that wire back in for a couple miles to further prove my diagnosis, at which time it was in "super" mode the entire time until i unplugged it again.

i bought but have yet to install the replacement tank selector valve. with its wire connector it cost 150, compared to an exact fit from the stealership for 350. it'll require that i change all my connections there to simple hose clamp connections, as the valve isn't compatible with the connectors on the original lines

well, i'm finally getting a better understanding of whats going on here, and its not air intrusion.
in my other thread on the IDI side here, the point came up that the cold start timing advance solenoid may be included in the problem. i diagnosed that its recieving power when its not supposed to, and intermittently, and caused my whole deal whenever it is energized. for the last 2 days i've had it unplugged where its wire connects at the IP, and it hasn't gone into "super" mode once in that time, except when i plugged that wire back in for a couple miles to further prove my diagnosis, at which time it was in "super" mode the entire time until i unplugged it again.

i bought but have yet to install the replacement tank selector valve. with its wire connector it cost 150, compared to an exact fit from the stealership for 350. it'll require that i change all my connections there to simple hose clamp connections, as the valve isn't compatible with the connectors on the original lines

well boys, i've been out of the WMO game for awhile cause my blue-jean filters all clogged up, and my oil transfer pump made from a PS pump went bad on me.
tonight i went out and assembled an engine oil pump with some fittings and a 6.9 filter head with used filter from the junkyard onto a piece of plywood, and got back into the game. i realize this filter isn't quite as fine as we would find ideal, but i'm not too worried about it. IMO, my IP is on its way out, and i plan to replace it and the injectors as soon as my budget allows. for months now, my timing has randomly jumped between advanced and retarded, and repeated searching for leaks has found nothing. so it has been decided that the advance mechanism in the IP is failing, so i may as well burn free fuel until i get the new IP, even if i don't have a filter quite as fine as would be ideal.
when i do go for a new IP, i'll be sending one of my two spares that i pulled from the junkyard in to a rebuilder, and have it rebuilt. my plan is to consume all the waste oil i currently have in stock before i swap the IP, and run on straight #2 for quite some time after that

thought i'd give y'all an update here
i'd been playing with pretty strong WMO mixes lately trying to consume what i have left, and i got to a concentration that didn't want to flow through too well in this weather, around 75% WMO, so i had that in the rear tank and clean #2 in the front tank, switching back and forth trying to burn the oil without starving my pump out. when running on the front tank i was getting some fairly loud clatter on and off, such as when sucking some air in the fuel line.

well yesterday i was on the freeway and smelled a little bit of coolant. temp gage was right on 195, exhaust was clear, so i blamed the car i saw on the shoulder in the distance. another mile later, i suddenly start pumping a lot of white smoke out of the exhaust, and the temp is at 200. i pull into a parking lot off the next exit, now at 220, and shut it down. i dumped in 2 gallons of coolant i had on hand, and drove to my appointment a mile away, still blowing tons of smoke.

well long story short, blown head gasket AND blown radiator. i'm not sure which caused which, but i can't help but wonder if the fuel caused the timing games and caused the head gasket to fail... thats a lot of speculation, and i don't honestly know if thats how things happened, but i figured i'd post here and let you guys consider. another equally valid possibility is that the radiator failed first, which goes with the fact that i smelled coolant first, and that caused the head gasket to go.

just wanted to give fair info for anyone else considering burning too strong of a mix - it might have caused the problem

in any case, my thread on the repair is here just lost a head gasket - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

WMO doesn't cause head gasket failure :-roll

i agree that it won't cause it by itself, but i was exploring the question that maybe it was causing my weird timing games, and i have heard of gas engines losing head gaskets for too much timing advance.
hopefully not, but i thought i'd throw it around to try to explore the options of what might have caused my failure. you say it can't. great. i hadn't heard of it either.
as i said, approaching that conclusion was a lot of speculation, and a chain of events: thick fuel ==> pump starves, sucks air ==>super-advanced timing at times ==> bad things happen

I too agree, WMO can't cause a blown head gasket.....but it can ruin an ip with thick mixtures like you found out. I said it before and ill say it again.......DONT GET GREEDY with WMO.

Diesel Rod

Some guys are hell bent to use 100% wmo. I feel much better thinning down with 20% K1. Unless someone wants to make a compatible pump :-X0A6

i think i'll pump most of whats in that tank back into the oil barrel, and go back to adding it a gallon at a time. i had no problem back then, but i guess greed got the better of me

Always premix your fuel.

you mean mix before filtering, before pouring it in the truck, or what?

my oil barrel has some gasoline mixed in to it, so its not super thick. i filter it into gallon bottles, then pour it through a funnel into the truck.
are you suggesting i would be better mixing that oil into a 5 gallon can of diesel before adding it to the truck - and if yes, why? does it not mix in by itself?

It will sort of mix in the truck's fuel tank, but not very well when it's cold. The sloshing will help if you drive it right away. I always put the K1 in my little 20 gallon barrel, then add wmo. Then it goes into my fuel tank. I plan to premix in a 55 gallon drum and use air pressure to fill my truck.

ok got it. i usually pour it in when i get home at night, then warm up the truck on the clean tank and switch over after a few miles. i guess it makes sense that it wouldn't have that much mixing opportunity unless i'm really bouncing around. every container i have past about a gallon has had dirty oil in it, so unless i clean something out, i'll probably stick to how i've been doing it, but not in nearly as strong a quantity

thought i'd give a quick update over here on the fuel side of my issues

i decided to drain the WMO mix out of the rear tank today, as i'm stuck waiting on engine parts anyway. so i pulled off the line from that tank to the selector valve, hooked that to the inlet of my transfer pump, and went for it. the pump was making bad noises, and i found large amounts of air mixed into the fuel it was pumping out. so i moved from there back to the tank, pulling directly off the top of the sending unit, and still had that much air in the line. so i was blaming the fuel for the symptoms of a bad pickup tube inside the tank.

I know the PSD trucks have a by-pass valve, its possible the IDI trucks got it also.

It is a few inches up from the tank floor in the pickup-assembly. It's purpose is that if you get frozen water or gelled fuel in the bottom of the tank it will open and start pulling fuel above the thick stuff and hopefully keep you on the road till you can get home.

Its still possible that the thick WMO caused the by-pass to open.

Diesel Rod