What did I do to my 1st gen today or nothing ever happens to me.
 

Nothing exciting ever happens to me,
For the last few weeks, my daughter has been pretty sick where she had to spend some time in the hospital and since she usually goes to work with me we always do most everything together, other that staying at the hospital with her sleeping on a chair, we have not really been anywhere it has been a little stressed, so Tuesday we are on our way to the Worlds Famous Hat for a Pastrami and Orange Bang when as I was cruising down the I-210 freeway, we pulled off the off ramp and the first thing I see was the OIL light was on and went off once the RPM's were increased, my Autometer oil pressure gauge was also reading low and since we were only 2 blocks from the Hat we pulled into the parking, figure we would go eat and then come out and see what the problem was after it cooled down.

I had just changed the oil in January when I replaced the head gasket, head and turbocharger and I did not see any oil leaks when I just replaced the power steering hose and transmission lines so in the parking lot, I checked it out, checking the obvious first, I pulled the dipstick and I see the oil level is about 1 inch past the full mark and appears thin but it is still slippery to the touch and although it smelled like diesel fuel, you could still small the Rotella
Dang,

I like when there is an easy diagnosis :}

I was about 10 miles from home and debating whether or not to call for a wrecker for a ride home.

The traffic was very light at 10:00 P.M. the truck was running with no noticeable increase in rattles so I decided to chance driving it home.
Got home around 10:30 P.M. and proceeded to look for some answers, I am hoping for it to be the fuel pump and not the seal on the injection pump although I have spare parts to replace the seal.

It took about 10 minutes to get the fuel pump removed to find fuel running down the back side of the pump where it could leak into the crankcase.

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I got the old gasket off the block and got it ready to replace once I get a new one tomorrow,

I had previously replaced the 2 bolts with studs using M8-1.25x50 mm studs (I actually made these but I have all stainless steel hardware that I got from King Bolt to replace them with.) this makes it alot easier to install the fuel pump over the cam lobe without fighting the bolts trying to line them up.

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Then went under and drained all of my fresh new oil into my drain pan.

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When I pulled the drain plug I has a gush of thinned out oil spewing into my drain pan, let it drain for about an hour and then replaced the plug.

I am still retrieving shrapnel from when my vacuum pump exploded 10 years ago.

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This morning, my wife picked up 3 gallons of Rotella T1, a Wix filter and I took care of the fuel pump.

I replaced the new fuel pump letting the store and the manager know that I was not happy that the junk wasted about $80.00 worth of oil and filter and could have cost in excess of $10,000.00 for a recon.

About the fuel pump,

I just bought it in November of 2017,

It was one of those needed it on Saturday Night things, the only place I could get one was from Pep Boys, It was from Spectra, Yes it was made in China.

It failed within 5 months, it should have lasted at least six.
They are on my list along with A1-Cardone.

I got home this evening and installed the new fuel pump,

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I removed the valve covers and poured one of the gallon bottles of oil into the head so the oil could run down the pushrod and onto the cam, just because I could.

I replaced the oil filter but first I had to get the old one off, there is never enough room to get my hands around this thing, maybe something is in the way.

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and loaded another 2 gallons of Rotella T1 into the engine.

I disconnected the wire to the FSS and then cranked the engine till I had 20 PSI of oil on the gauge, reconnected the wire cranked it over and the engine came to life pretty much instantly,

The engine still runs smooth and quiet just like before.

I hope no problems show up in the future, without pulling a bearing, I would not what else to check for premature wear, any ideas?

I usually have a mess when I try to clean out my drain pan but with diesels fuel added it wiped out easy using only paper towels, I hope it cleaned the inside of my engine and does not try and clog anything like the pickup.

When I poured all of the oil back into the gallon jugs, I had about a half a gallon extra.

If I was one of those kind of people, I could put this back into my fuel tank.

Tonight when I took it for a ride, after it warmed up, I had around 50-PSI at an idle.

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This is how much I drained out.

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Another little evening project completed,


BTW
Does anyone still make a reliable mechanical fuel pump?

Can a piston lift pump leak fuel into the crankcase side if it fails?

Until next time.
Jim

Hey Jim.

I guess you have your own personalized what do I do thread.

Subscribed.... Because I can!


I installed a Cummins fuel pump. Cost me 3 times as much as the spectre pump, but I was told they make it to Cummins spec. Yeah....


Time will tell, albeit its been a couple years now, running it.

Dang Jim....glad you caught it early!

Prayers sent for a quick recovery for your daughter.

Jim:

IMHO the piston type pump cannot leak fuel into the crankcase because of how it is made. Assuming you get one with the correct pressure and don't blow the front seal out of the Inj pump like I did. [duhhh]

Edwin

Yes, on your daughter getting a speedy recovery from me, also.


Glad the repair on the truck was minor. I’m surprised, Jim, for how much you’re in tune with your truck and added cool mods to further protect the engine and the electrical components, that you have not upgraded to the piston lift pump yet. If you do decide, dieseltuff and nascar Mark should be your first choice.

Prayers for your daughter, Jim.

Thanks guys,

Thank you everyone for well wishes for Rebecca, she drives me crazy sometimes, no actually she drives me crazy all the time when it comes to her health.

Every time she gets sick.

The truck was pretty easy, I had it figured out as soon as I checked the dipstick, I have had my share of leaking fuel pumps and pan explosions,
when I used to have Chevy's,

Oil dilution can only come from a couple of places, lift pump, injection pump or injectors.

One of the things I would still like to install would be a Murphy Switch to at least sound an alarm at low oil pressure and a pre/post oiler.

This last month, I must have taken the wrong turn somewhere cause I sure feel like I have been drug through Hello :)

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Guess I should pay more attention.

Random..

Got my truck washed.

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Jim

My engine looked all clean and new like yours for a while after changing my head gasket too. Something makes me think yours always looks like that though.

-Niemand

Jim:

Tell Rebecca to get well soon or I will come over and shoot her with a straw paper! [laugh]

Edwin

Edwin,
I will tell her,

She always talks about the time we went to Norms.

We will have to do it again sometime, we had fun.

Now I have a wiring question,
What color is the wire to the fuel level gauge on the dash as it follows through the bulkhead connector to the tank pickup?

My gauge pretty much shows below empty when the ignition switch is on.

On the sender, any ideas what 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 and full resistance would be?

Does 10 ohms full to 75 ohms empty sound right?

An open should show an empty tank I am thinking.

I will pick up a couple of resistors to try and bypass my sender.

Jim

The diagram of my 89 shows a Gray wire is common ground.

The Dark Blue with a yellow stripe is to one end of the reostat.

Dark Green with black stripe is the low fuel switch. The switch is to the Dark Blue / yellow stripe.

I would think that full s/b closer to zero ohms.

https://remote.freeholdconsulting.co...utyTruckSM.pdf

The diagram is on the 517th page.

Edwin

The wiper of the reostat is the Grey ground.

Full= low resistance through the transmitter.
Empty= high resistance through the transmitter.
If your gauge is pegged full, you have an open in the circuit.
If your gauge is pegged empty, the wire is shorted to ground.

That's opposite. If the gauge is pegged full then you have a shorted sense.

Edwin

Fuel gauge:
Should I be able to reach the connector on the top of the tank from under the truck or do I have to drop the tank first, I have the under bed cooler that sits behind the cab.

Idle:
Also have an idle question, last night it feels like the idle dropped maybe a few RPM's,

I can tell when I come to a stop the truck shakes a bit, rest my foot on the pedal and it goes away.

Could low fuel pressure cause a drop in idle,

I just noticed this since the fuel pump ordeal and maybe the new pump is already pooping out,

Possible?

I do not have a fuel pressure gauge onboard, I need to order a banjo bolt fitting so I can install one.

Tonight I took the linkage apart and cleaned and lubed the bellcrank and spherical ends to the pump, now it moves easier.

Jim

Several years ago Wannadiesel told me that the Cummins OEM units are manufactured by Carter...