ok, got shutoff off the truck, boot is mangled and stuck inside between spring and main shaft of unit. question is can i put it back together without the boot untill i get a replacement?

 

Many use a piece of bicycle tire inner tube with a couple cable ties to clamp in place.

 

I've been running mine without a boot for over 400k miles. Every now and then (maybe once a year) I have to remove it, clean it up and reinstall. Takes about 30 minutes. Use a shotgun bore brush for the inside and 500 w/d sandpaper on the plunger. A little dry lube to finish. Be very careful of dropping the little clip pin that holds the rod to the lever.

 

You should be able to pick one up at any autoparts.
Blue is the amperage color code.
If I'm not mistaken the color code is the same as for regular blade type automotive fuses which would make the blue link 15 amps.

 

If you want to keep an eye on your pressure while you're driving you can easily install a pressure gauge in the cab. On infidel's recommendation I ordered one similar to this:

Pressure Gauge

Listing of several gauges.



Unfortunately they are out of the 60 psi one that I got but 35 should be adequate for 90% of us. I simply drilled and tapped directly into the top of the banjo bolt on the inlet of the inj pump to accept a 1/8" NPT fitting. I screwed a brass needle valve into that hole and attached the same type of plastic tubing that you'd use on a mechanical oil pressure gauge to connect the valve to the gauge inside the truck. It will be in there for 2 years in January without a single issue. The only mistake I made was thinking I had to leave the valve open a little and the gauge fluctuated a bit when I first did it. I just closed the valve firmly by hand and now I still get quick and accurate readings but no pulsing on the gauge as pulsing will quickly destroy it. If you need a picture of how I did this I can snap one for you.

John

 

I would not trust the ******* on this one. They have riped me several times.
When my 96 4x4 was acting up the ******* said it was` the lift pump.I took
it to a reputable diesel truck shop they tested ,it was the fuel injection pump
was shot. When the injector pump was out of truck for rebuilding they found that the fuelshut off was bad. To start with the truck was having intermitently starting and loss of power problems. Talking around after the truck was fixed someone said that a week spring in the fuel shut off solenoid could give the same symptom so maybe this was the problem to start with?

 

Solenoid cleaned and back together - minus boot. Cycled grids one time, fiired right up. Now i can go to work. Is that a plus? hmmm I guess no work no pay.
Anyhow thanks to everyone for all the input. Big thanks to the folks at Foster's who talked me thru how to test the solenoid while on the phone so I could know what to order. All this and it didn't cost me 600 bucks.
thanks again,
Howard