Hey guys,
Long time lurker, first time poster. Ol' Stinky was bringing me and my daughter home last night when something happened that I haven't seen here yet (just for a base line, I've read the entire 1st gen forum, plus the humor thread - whew). I pulled out from a side road onto the highway and rolled into the throttle like always and the truck dropped 2 or 3 cylinders and laid down a smoke cloud James Bond would have been proud of. I backed out, it picked up all six and I soft pedaled it up to speed until I had a place to pull off. It didn't want to idle, and sounded like the timing was way retarded (no rattle at all) but it was 6 degrees outside, so we had to go. On the way home it would just do 60mph, and sounded OK though the pyro was up about 100 deg from normal and boost was up a couple lbs. Got in the driveway, it dies at idle. I'm thinking gelled fuel. Put the kid in the house, grabbed the additive, double dosed, tried to start, nothing. Cranks like the fuel is shut off. After some messing around, I get it going and head down to the station to top up. Runs OK. Fuel up, go for a drive. The truck intermittantly runs good, then just lays down, with the smoke cloud and the retarded timing sound. When the truck lays down, the pyro takes off. Back out of the throttle, it picks up until the next time. Went home, it dies in the driveway and won't restart. So from the cloud I'd say there is plenty of fuel but I'm thinking something is causing late injection. Any ideas? Air, lift pump, ksb? Thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like the gov springs let go. Don't try to force it to run, it will cause damage. Have it repaired at an injection shop. When you reinstall the pump, advance the timing a few deg. It will make you a lot happier.

 

Wow. Strange. I hate intermittent problems.

I dragged out the 92 Service Manual. Just taking it from the smoke-cloud (black, I'm assuming) and missing/low performance part of the problem, the diagnostics say:

Improper fuel - doesn't seem likely, since it runs fine sometimes.
Air in fuel system - Hmmm.....
Intercooler blocked or leaking - you said boost was ok.
Restricted injector lines - doesn't seem likely, since it runs fine sometimes.
Incorrect injection pump timing - doesn't seem likely, since it runs fine sometimes.
Restricted injector nozzle - doesn't seem likely, since it runs fine sometimes.
Clogged air filter - Hmmm....easy to change.
Air Fuel Control Tube broken or leaking - Hmmm..... I hope it's this easy.
Low Manifold Pressure - you said boost was ok.
..then there are a couple of out-to-lunch ones and the last is:
Injection Pump Malfunction - Hmmm....

That's all I can offer. Wish it was more.

DBF

 

I was thinking maybe ice on the air filter? I had a gasser Ford Ranger one time that would ice up the throat of the carb under hard pulls while I was in Germany and would act the same way. Just a thought.

 

Try changing the fuel filter and with the new filter, fill it up with some of that emergency meltdown fuel additive, not the regular anti-gel. Power service brand it's a red bottle. Then dump the rest in the fuel tank. Sounds like gelled fuel and or ice (moisture) in the fuel system. If you can get it to start after this, let it idle for awhile. Let the meltdown stuff run through the system.

 

I had this problem once the plug end on the fuel shut off selenoid was shorting out and the simple shake of the engine would make. It start cuting down on cylinders and roll out cloud of smoke then die. I took some time to find this one out wish u luck let us know what u fined. Cut off the end of the wire and put on a new end give it a try.

 

Thanks for the replies. It finally quite snowing so I took a half day to try and sort it out. Figured I'd start with the simple stuff so I popped the plug on the fuel filter and pumped the lever. Lots of bubbles. Pumped it until the flow was relatively clean, closed the bleeder and gave her a spin. Cranked a bit and started. Held it at a high idle till it mostly cleared out then shut it down. Hopefully it'll start again when I get ready to take it to the shop. Too cold and wet in the driveway. Now I'm going to get a lift pump (lots of miles, probably needs it anyway), and some of Bill's emergency additive and head to the shop. Guess I'll be inspecting the fuel lines as well. The part I don't get is the smoke cloud and the higher egts... Guess we'll see. Hope this does it, the wallet is getting pretty thin this time of year, don't even want to think about buying a pump.

 

You were starving the injection pump for fuel, which results in drastically retarded timing and fuel starvation. This causes missing and lots of smoke. Hopefully if you clean up the supply (tank, lines, filter) you will be okay. Bad solenoid connection will also do it as mentioned above.

If you are lucky, the springs in the pump are fine. Good luck!

 

tboling made a good point. Make sure you have a good connection at the run solenoid on the pump. Had a buddies truck do the same thing.

 

My first thought was bad fuel/iceing. Since fussing with the drain seemed to help, I'd still change the whole thing out. Might have ice in the water seperator from not draining it. Keep anothewr handy in case you haven't run off the bad fuel yet. If it still acts up, at least you've narrowed it down after that.

 

My job sent me out to Arizona (Surprise!) for a week, so I'm just now able to update my tale of woe. Long story short, filter didn't help, lift pump didn't help, overboarded fuel line helped. Then leaving the shop tonight, after replacing the transfer case output bearing, Ol' Stinky just stops running at the gate. No fuel. That new lift pump? You guessed it. Good thing I never throw anything away. Put the old one back on and came home. Guess I'll be making some calls in the morning. Anywho, thanks for the help.