I'm up at my folks' picking up my dad's old '90. The truck just doesn't have the power it used to have. It has about 190k on it, and when the throttle lever is depressed to the floor, the pump lever is up against the throttle limiting screw. I believe I am getting full throttle as it came from the factory. I could probably back out the screw to the point just before end of travel within the pump, but that shouldn't be the reason why I am lacking the power it used to have. At idle, or just above idle, the truck just seems to run rough. It accelerates smoothly, but it just seems like it only has half throttle. It just has no pull. During acceleration, it will puff out patches of smoke here and there, but I'm not sure exactly what color yet. I've only driven it about 10 miles after working on it today. I spent all day cleaning out the utility body, changing shocks, flushing radiator and heater core, changing oil, changing air and fuel filter, greasing the zerks, etc., etc. It doesn't seem white, it seems to go between blue, grey, and black. I'll certainly know by the end of the day tomorrow; I'm driving it about 675 miles back to my home in Corona, CA.

Any ideas?

If the pump is shot, does anybody know a good pump shop in the Orange County, Western Riverside County area? I don't want to put too much money into this truck, because it's my dad's old truck and he's not the best at preventative maintenance or keeping a trucking looking good. The panels are straight, but it's kind of rough to look at. It's just a temp vehicle until I can pick up a newer used CTD w/ extra cab.

I do plan on replacing the muffler and tailpipe, as it is crimped above the axle, but will more than likely keep the 3" size. I'll probably do a small bit of pump boosting, but nothing that would require larger exhaust than 3" (I don't think). How much tweaking can you do before actually NEEDING to go to 3.5" or higher?

 

Before you condemn the injection pump, replace the lift pump. You can get them online for less than $40. A retarded timing setting will cause the truck to run sluggishly, you could have that checked or just do the quick and dirty 1/8" bump. The low speed roughness may be because the idle is set too low, it drops over time due to wear on the screw and lever. You may also have one or more clogged injectors, best way to check for that is to start the truck cold and feel the exhaust manifold runners at each cylinder. One that stays cool longer than the others isn't getting its share of fuel. The injection pump is going to set you back around $800, so try the little stuff first.

If you want cheap exhaust, here's what I'd recommend: Cut the stock system near the back of the trans, get a 3" to 4" adapter, run the 4" muffler of your choice (Summit Racing has a 4" race bullet for less than $40), then use a 4" 90 degree elbow to dump the exhaust in front of the rear tire. The whole setup should cost around $100, or less if you don't want a muffler.

 

This is Roy's dad. In a previous thread my son said that he was to come up to Northern Cal to pick up my 1990 Dodge. He left this morning for Corona, CA and has broken down in Kettleman City, CA just south of Fresno.

This pickup has had a failed fuil shut off solenoid for the past six or seven years. It failed in the open position so I installed a kill cable through the dash. Just gave that info as a background.

He had a front tire tread separate that shook the truck half to death. After changing the tire, the engine will turn over fine but well not fire.

Could this miserable solenoid be the problem or could all that shaking have caused some other problem.

Any good injector shops in that area.

Tim Avery

PS Forgive me of using my sons name an password.

 

When you installed the manual shutoff cable, did you pull the shutoff solenoid and remove the plunger, or is the plunger still in the pump? It could have been shaken loose if it's still in there. It's also possible that a fuel line cracked, there's an air leak and the truck is air bound.

You might want to post about this in the "Help" section, there may be a member close enough to be of some help.

 

I am positive that the plunger is in. Roy manuslly stroked the fuil pump and he is certain that there is plenty of fuil to the injector. By the way, he flew comercial and brought no tools.

Tim

 

bump to get you to the top of the page, hopefully someone local can help you out

 

Well, I'm home and back at work. Spunbearing drove around 300 miles, according to Mapquest, to bail me out. Add at least another 100 miles for running me around and dropping off the trailer. He picked up the trailer, chains, binders, come along, etc. in Arroyo Grande. The trailer was borderline big enough, with the hooks about two inches to the front and rear of the front and rear tires respectively. The rental yard told Jeff that it was only a 6000 GVRW trailer, but it was a tandem axle and had a 2 5/16" ball, so we went for it. I showed Jeff how **** rententive I am by how long it took me to anchor my truck to the trailer, but it paid off, as the chains stayed extremely tight.

His '93 D250, Getrag 360, 3.54's pulled rather well. According to the registration papers, my truck weighs in at 5500 lbs., though it is probably heavier. DMV registration papers rarely say what the truck actually weighs, in order to save on weight fees.

While waiting for Jeff, I bought a plastic fuel can, 3/8" fuel line, a few wrenches, a screwdriver, and a new fuel filter. I changed the filter, set the fuel can on the battery, and ran fuel line directly to the lift pump. I cracked the high pressure lines at the injectors and bled everything. There wasn't a whole lot of fuel squirting out between the lines and the nut. After tightening down the lines, the truck still would not start. I could barely smell diesel burning, but I wasn't even getting any smoke from the exhaust. My intake was free and clear, because I checked that all out too. Oh, I also removed the plunger and spring from the fuel shut-off solenoid. Sounded like an injector pump to me. Rather strange that it finally took a dump when I through the tread off my right front tire. I had low power the entire trip, so I knew there was something wrong with it.

Anyway, my truck is now at Diesel Injection Systems in Santa Maria, CA. Larry told me yesterday that it was the pump, and that it would probably be ready for me to make the 240 mile trip to pick it up on Friday. Before leaving Santa Maria, I'll put on four new tires. Wow, what an expensive first week of owning/borrowing the truck.

I'll let everybody know how it's running after the weekend. I'm real excited to drive it with Larry's magic touches done to the pump.

Thanks to all that helped out, and especially to spunbearing.

 

Oh dear. I just got word that exhaust push rods 4, 5, & 6 are severely bent, and push rods 1, 2, & 3 are slightly bent. I didn't overspeed the engine, so I don't know how it could have happened. Larry said he hasn't seen an indication of the cam timing being off. Wow, this is really starting to add up. I kind of wish I would have picked up a truck with less miles and tighter fitting doors, and just put a utility body on it.

 

Well, replacing the push-rods shouldn't be too expensive . . . but HOW did that happen?
I have heard of the cam gear busting off in accidents due to some kind of shock load (one fellow blamed it on the auxilliary drive for the PS pump), but I don't see how the push-rods would get bent without something else serious happening.

Did you ask your father what he did to the poor truck??

I'm curious to hear the end of this.

Good luck,

Alec

P.S. Kudos to the good Samaritans out in CA!

 

No, it shouldn't be too expensive. It should only add an hour to the one hour job of adjusting the valves. One of my real good friends is the manager of the Coburg, OR Cummins NW branch, and he said "my" price for rods through him are 1.75 each, so I can't imagine the everyday price being more than $5 per rod.

As far as how it happened, I wish I knew. I've never experienced a front end shake quite like this one. It was, wow, extremely shaky. The steering wheel shook violently from side to side, and it was real hairy getting that truck to the side of the road. It all smoothed out as soon as tread was completely seperated and thrown clear of the casing. They weren't even recaps. Even though it shook like that, it's hard to believe that it could have caused any engine damage. I'm almost thinking that the shop should remove the gear cover and inspect in there. I know he's trying to keep the hours down to a minimum, but there had to be some sort of cause. He was thinking it could have been brought on by overspeeding the engine, but there wasn't any overspeeding going on, at least not by me. And if the push rods were already bent, I can't imagine I would have been able to make it the 450 miles I did, plus the 200 or so prior by my father when he took it to the shop for steering and A/C work.

 

The pushrods have probably been bent for years, and were a big part of the low power you were experiencing. Somebody probably dropped 'er in 3rd at about 55 mph and floated the valves real good. They run fine with bent pushrods, they're just down on power.

 

Now I'm really bummed. Some of the tappets are damaged, so they will need to be changed out. Larry admitted they are at their limit as far as what they can do. Santa Maria Diesel (a Cummins outfit) is across the street, and they said the best way to change the tappets is not through the cam hole, but from the bottom through the oil pan. Apparently, because the truck is a 4WD, the tranny, t-case, and engine bellhousing needs to be pulled in order to remove the oilpan. So, they're thinking it's easier to just pull the engine. After all, in order to pull the cam, they'd have to pull the radiator, grill, etc., so why not just yank the engine? The tappet could even be galled and the block might need the tappet cylinder to be honed out.

Here's the kicker, they're estimate is $1500. This is turning into project creep. I'm already into it for $350 at Diesel Injection Systems, plus I'll need a $900 injection pump. The Cummins outfit can install the new injection pump, so I'm looking right around $2750, minimum. WOW! I'll be talking to my dad this evening to see what we want to do.

It's just such a bummer, before repairs I'm personally already into it for around $1500. This would include airfare to my parent's house, two days off work, motel nights, tow truck, fuel, trailer, spunbearing's fuel and time. My dad's into it already at around $2000 for work that was done to the truck before I came up. A/C, steering, blah blah blah. Too bad, the mechanic didn't have time to adjust the valves. Then he'd see the 1/4 inch valve lash on a couple of the exhaust valves, and I wouldn't have come up for the truck.

 

Sorry to hear the bad news. How's the body on the truck? If it's not a rust bucket, it's worth fixing. Have you looked at what these trucks sell for? I guess the best question to ask yourself is "Can I get a better truck for what fixing this one will cost me?" It will give many years of good service once you get it back up to spec. I agree with Maria Diesel that pulling the motor is the way to go, less hours that way.

 

Yeah, you're probably right wannadiesel. I'd want my replacement to be a '96 - '98 12v, 4X4, Auto, Extra Cab, Long Bed. Then I'd want to buy a brand new utility body painted to match the truck. That's another $4000 to $4500 (if it's only a white truck) added to the price of the truck. Even more if the paint has to match green, silver, maroon, etc. of whatever color truck I'd find.

No, it's not a rust bucket. It has the typical peeling paint on the top of the cab. The paint on the utility body is peeling too. The ladder rack and rear bumper is rusty, but that is from poor painting on my dad's behalf. It's a real good solid truck. The only problem is the noise heard from inside the cab. I believe the driver's side door was sprung at one time, as it leaks some air at the top.

One nice thing about pulling the engine, is the oil leak that drips from the narrow opening on the bottom of the bell housing can be located and repaired. It only leaks after running the engine. It might leak a 5" diameter pool in about an hour. This one guy that works for my dad already changed the rear main about 5k to 10k miles ago, but it might still be leaking. Can the transmission leak from the input shaft?

Unfortunately, the truck does have 190k miles on it. I'm not sure if it has the original clutch, but I do know the transmission has never been worked on. The transmission feels solid, it doesn't pop out of gear, however it's a little noisy.

 

Well, I've done some hard thinking, and I'm seriously considering bailing out while I can. I'm looking at $3800 minimum to get everything going. Then it's $600 for tires. Then when that's all said and done, I'm sure my transmission will fail, and who knows, so will the clutch. I guess I could always replace the clutch while the engine is out, so add another $600 for parts and labor. Oh wait, I'm leaking oil at the rear main seal, so I'll have that fixed while the clutch is out. I'm not sure how much extra that will be, so I'll just guess at $150 for parts and labor. Erase the $3800 and put in $4550. With the tires and it's $5150. LOL, that must be a sign. I just don't see how pouring more money into this truck is a good idea. As much as I hate the idea of a truck payment, I'm thinking about selling my daily driver Honda car, and picking up a 2nd Gen 12V, 4X4, Auto, 3.54, Extra Cab, Long Bed, putting a utility body on it, and making it my daily driver.

Gosh I'm frustrated, I've already spent $2000 on lost wages during the break down, airfare, motels, towing, etc. I'll more than likely change my mind a couple hundred times between now and the end of the week, but I have to do something, because I really need a work truck.