Re-lubricating “Washed Down” Engine Top End, 1983 6.9 Diesel.
 

The truck had sat for years, was cranking very slow, and wouldn’t fire.
I tried to get some oil into the cylinders by splashing some 2 stroke mixed gasoline fuel into the air intake and also put some into the air filter.
Later, I solved the cranking problem with a new starter, but the engine wouldn’t fire again, even when I added a little starting fluid.

I tracked down a free-lance diesel mechanic who sounded familiar with the problem.
He told he would call the next morning before coming over.
It has been a week and I haven’t spoken to him again.
I called a few times since and talked to his wife, but he hasn’t called back.


Obviously, it looks like he may never come and the only option available to me is try to get it started, myself.

Here is what we discussed:
He said I had “washed down” the cylinders with the gasoline and the top end would have to be re-lubricated for the engine to produce enough compression to fire.

The procedure was to make a solution, about 1 gallon, of ¼ light oil (“like Marvel Mystery Oil”) with ¾ diesel.
He said while cranking the engine, stream in about ½-pencil diameter of the solution until smoke comes out the exhaust.
Then let it sit for three hours.

I asked him if maybe I should do this part of the procedure before he came.
He said that would be fine.
Then I asked him if it was alright to do this with the 1 fresh 810ah battery that I had bought the week before, when I’d started working on the truck.
He said both batteries were needed because the procedure might damage the starter with one battery.

He said he could bring another battery.
I told him then he didn’t need to give me the rest of the procedure and I wouldn’t touch it.
I wanted him to come and do the whole thing.
Then we scheduled the meeting.




Questions:
1. Does his diagnosis of low compression because of the gasoline wash sound correct?
2. Can anyone vouch for this procedure or suggest an alternate one?
3. What action should follow the 3 hour wait?
4. I have a surplus of two stroke engine oil. Could the 2 stroke oil be used as the oil component of the diesel/oil mixture for the procedure?
Thanks,
Dale

first make sure glow plugs are working. These idi's wont start for spit without them number 2 air intrusion is a big issue with these. Fill the fuel filter with atf and get 2 good batteries and try to star it.

Ok,,,,i am.no master diesel mechanic....but washed down cyl? Never heard such a thing....if your idi lost prime....it is a pita to get it primed, i even use an electric fp and still will almost crank the batts dead getting it primed....some will tell ya to crack all the lines loose at the injectors to bleed the air out....guess what, you still have to crank and crank it over to achive this...now there are many on here that condem my method, but i have used it many times on many trucks including mine and never had any problems, i see you have the 6.9, i assume you know how to jump the starter solenoid, take the top of the air cleaner and take out the fuel filter and replace the top, make sure its snug, take any ducting off the air cleaner so all you have is the air cleaner snout, next take a bathtowel that you dont want amd fold it in half, turn it fold it in half again, hold center of folded towel in your hand, pour gas in the center of the towel till you can feel it bleed through, turn on ignition, make sure its in park or neutral, hold towel over aircleaner snout and jump your solenoid, you never wanna pour gas into the intake plenum of a diesel, but a diesel will start and run temporarily on gas fumes, when i loose. Prime in mine this is the only way i have found to prime it without a battery charger or another vehicle, ether will not start an idi that has lost prime....been there done that, it will eventually start after it gets prime, but it takes alot of cranking and you wil run batteries dead before it primes, you can only crank it for about 20 seconds at a time and have to take a 2to5 min break at that to keep from burning the starter up, been there, i have taken like 6 back to autozone now, the gas on a rag will help, but there are some on here that condem it, i have been doing it for 15 years or so now,

The only thing that keeps an idi from running is fuel, thats all nothing else yes its that simple, fuel, if the hole gets fuel it will run, i have seen aircleaners so plugged up they were breathing through the crankcase, but still ran, if your idi wont start, it dont have fuel, i had a 6.2 i could start with 4 spun rod bearings,a spun main bearing and a hole in one piston, it obviously didnt run good, but did run

This sounds like a good way to hydrolock the engine and ruin it bending rods.

This mechanic sounds like an idiot. That might work on a gas engine but can easily damage a diesel a diesel engine.

First thing you should do is read the new owner faq if you haven't already:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...owner-faq.html

Next, read up on the glow plug system:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...old-style.html

Make sure you have 2 good, fully charged batteries, make sure the battery cables and all connections through to the starter are in good shape. What condition is the fuel in? You might want to temporarily run it off a jug of fresh diesel.

After you know the glow plug and starter are working nicely, make sure you have good fuel flow throw the filter. If you don't know if the fuel filter is good, replace it (fill with fresh diesel before installing).

Check to make sure the FSS (Fuel Shutoff Solenoid) is working. With the key on, remove the top front wire connection on the injector pump. When you remove and replace the connector you should hear the solenoid click.

You probably did wash the cylinders, Hopefully there is no damage due to turning over without oil.
When I bought my 86 IDI It had been setting for 16 years, I pulled all of the Glowplugs and gave them a couple of pumps of oil out of an oilcan to lubricate the cylinders.

Adding some oil to the cylinder (in small amounts) will help protect an engine that has had all of the oil drain out of the cylinders through setting or in your case from gasoline. It will help the engine build compression and start easier.

You will need to ensure all of the glowplugs are working!! Use a testlight to check all of them by clipping the testlight wire to the battery and touching the terminals of all of the glowplugs with the harness disconnected. This will let you know if they are good.

Your batteries (at least two) will need to be fully charged. Using only one battery drops the voltage to the starter causing it to pull more current and overheat. When I started mine I had a third battery connected with a jumpercable just to give it an edge.

EDIT: You may want to check you engine oil to make sure you did not have any gas seep past the rings and contaminate it.

I've tried some more things, but still, no fire.
 

Thanks for the replies.
I tried a lot of the suggestions, but I'm still familiarizing myself with the system and not sure I've done everything right.

After consulting with another local International diesel owner I've met, I set up a gravity-feed diesel fuel tank to the supply side of the fuel filter and removed the pressure fittings from the injectors.
The gravity tank is 1 gallon and suspended near the lip of the open hood.

Fuel from the gravity tank flowed freely through the fuel filter and I'm getting fresh fuel from the discharge-side of the filter.
I reconnected the discharge-side fuel line.
I seem to have bled all the air out of the fuel filter.


I cranked and seemed to get ample fuel from the mechanical pump, which I diverted into a collection bucket.
The diversion line is clear and the fuel flowing through it into the bucket is air-free, FYI.

Some fuel appeared around a few of the injectors, which I had been told to expect.

I reconnected these injector fittings, but fuel continued to collect around them.
I called the local guy and he said these leaks are probably injector o-rings.
He told me an expedient temporary repair might be to disassemble the return line (cups?) on these injectors and lubricate the o-rings with Vaseline.
I did this and the leaks seemed to stop.

However, I didn't see fuel anywhere else around the injectors, no vapor while cranking and little or no fuel showed up on blotter paper placed under a couple of the high-pressure injector lines I checked during cranking.

So I have a little fuel pressure from the gravity tank, fuel into the injector pump supply line, but I don't seem to be getting fuel at the injector supply fittings.

Is there a way to bleed at the injector pump or are the open injector fittings sufficient for this?

Does the system need more fuel supply pressure than I'm getting from my gravity tank?

Any suggestions?
Dale

first thing i would do is a compression test. this will tell you the condition of the engine.
under 300 compression, and the engine needs rebuilding. 300 to 400 is ok, over 400 is a very good engine.
if compression is good, next check the glow plug system.
you will also need 2 GOOD batteries. one will be ok for a warm engine, but you need 2 for a cold engine.

Do you have 12V at the fuel shut off solenoid wire? Can you hear the solenoid click when you disconnect and reconnect the wire with the key on? I know this troubleshooting guide is from some pump retailer but it is a decent tutorial for the fuel side of things:

http://www.biotrieb.org/fileadmin/us...b2_NOSTART.pdf

The procedure for re-priming the high pressure IP:
1. Make sure you have fuel to it.
2. Make sure both terminals on the top of the IP have power -- the terminal furthest from the lines is the fuel shut off solenoid, the other is the cold-idle advance, which helps in getting air bled out of the pump
3. Crack all 8 injector lines at the injectors(loosen the 5/8" nuts).
4. floor the accelerator/push the throttle linkage all the way towards the rear of the engine. This is *key*.
5. Crank the engine over, 10-30s at a time, letting things rest for a good 15 minutes or so -- basically, make sure not to overheat the starter.
6. Watch for fuel at the injector fittings; once you have fuel bubbling out at those fittings, tighten each.
7. Crank for another 15s or so; you should start seeing smoke/vapor from the tailpipe
8. Attempt to start the engine. This is when you use GPs or ether to get combustion happening.

Got any pics of what your working on?

Could this injector Pump have been damaged by sitting with bad fuel.
 

I don't have pictures, sorry.
I'm stuck at getting fuel at the injector in the 8 step procedure.
The manufacturer's troubleshooting link was informative.

I'm not sure I understand all the priming procedure and haven't tested power to the fuel shutoff valve yet (I don't have an internet connection at the repair site.)
But I have cranked the engine quite a bit and am beginning to wonder if there could be a malfunction in the high pressure side of the injector pump.

Since I last wrote, I reconnected the, apparently working, mechanical fuel pump supply line to the filter.
Then I disconnected the return line at the top front of the IP.

After some cranking, I did get what looks like a continuous stream of fuel from the injector return.
I reconnected the lines and cranked extensively, 2-3 minutes, now with the throttle full open.
I still haven't seen a trace of fuel at the injector connector.

Now: getting to the question in my title:
Starting out trying to get the truck started I siphoned the tank and there was bad-looking stuff in there.
I couldn't drain the OE water separator, because the drain was broken.
I removed the water separator and everything that poured out looked bad.
I thoroughly cleaned the water separator and reinstalled it.

My concern is that the last fuel that entered the injector pump ten years ago came out of that water separator and the truck has mostly sat since then.
Could there be a problem related to this that could not be solved by priming the system.
is there a test to determine if there could be such a problem or anything to learn by looking inside, at the shutoff valve, for example?
Thanks.
Dale

unless the injector pump was full of water, i don't think that would cause a problem.
to test the fuel shut off, turn the ignition on. go outside and remove the rear electrical plug and touch it to the terminal on the pump. it should click.
here is a little video showing what you will hear if the fuel shutoff is good
click on the picture to play the video:
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...h_DSCF0322.mp4

I thought tbe rear plug was the cold advance and the front one was the fss.

You're right. I had them confused.