Back story. Hopefully nobody thinks I screwed over Selador with this pile.

My dad bought that truck new in 1992 at Van Cleve Ford in Morton. Who in their right mind buys an XLT with power everything and carpet for a shovel operator’s crummy? That would be my father. He likes things nice even when they get beat down like a ghetto hooker.

It lived its life in the woods. Most of the miles are off highway. It’s probably been stuck more times than most trucks are ever off pavement. Probably a dozen sets of hubs. Don’t even ask on the ball joints, tie rods, brakes—which appear to be broken again—lights, tires, good lord.

Selador is only showing you the good side—the driver side has remnants of an into-the-ditch session that required walking the shovel about seven miles down the road to retrieve it from, well ok so it wasn’t a ditch so much as it was the steep embankment of a Weyerhaeuser main line next to a thankfully very almost-dry Vesta Creek but hey, there were no salmon running and I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations is long past for any environmental issues....

My dad let his crews pick their favorite color and ordered rigs as close to match as he could. Simple things to keep employees happy. Everything got a nickname. The Mexican truck. The great pumpkin. The little red wagon. The atomic blueberry. Etc. That truck is the Wazzu truck because the guy he bought it for had a kid going to WSU. So it’s always the Wazzu truck to me. Go Cougs.

Unfortunately the guy my dad bought it for died in a motorcycle accident in 1994 so I bought it from the company and it was my first pickup. Ballin. 16yo kid with a nearly new if not beat to hell diesel pickup? Yessir I was a god like figure at one time but I made good money as a youngster running equipment and working in the shop between band, baseball, and school work.

Ended up selling it back to my dad in 1999 and he sold it to another local logger who finished it off. I traded a broken tilt deck trailer for it to save it from going to Sideline Auto Wrecking in 2013 and it’s been sitting around my dad’s place ever since with a grand plan on how to fix it up. Life happens.

At any rate. I got my license in that truck. My first non chaperoned date in that truck. Hey it’s Grays Harbor County, chicks dig diesel trucks past present n future. Montesano logger’s daughters can hang right in there with Bellevue’s finest but I digress.

Better Jeff get it than a scrapyard. I just hope it’s not a complete piece of shit.

Cheers. Carry on.

Damn, Dan . . . you've got a lot of history in that truck! Very cool.

Let's hope Selador can bring it back to life!

Selador may want to change the back seat coverings, cuz you just know Dan360 laid pipe in that thing

Yea, it's totaled



Maybe it's just me but; It's awesome to have a backstory on vehicles. I'm of the camp that keeps them past their expiry date

Looks like this is turning into a group build too. That's what I love about this site

And THAT is why I am trying hard to get this back on the road.

It's like finding the sweetest old dog at the rescue pound, and hoping you can give it a better few years left of it's life, than the rough first years.

I like the back story. Reminds me of parts of my own life. That helps, too.


No back seat to this one. Regular cab.

Good thing it's got a tilt wheel, too. Otherwise, the steering wheel would be pushing in my stomach. No idea why this one is like that, and my other one has lots of room. Both have tilt. Both regular cabs. Both 250 xlt lariats. Etc.

Thing is, the engine compartment is the same. On the old truck, you can climb right into the engine compartment. Same engine. Identical. But on this one, it's like it's shoehorned in there. And the trucks are physically the same size.

~~~

I am getting zero fuel to the injectors. I put 6 gallons in the tank, so that isn't the problem.

700 dollars for a replacement fuel injector pump might turn this truck into a parts truck right off the bat! Wow! I thought it was going to be expensive to replace the glow plugs. They DO need replaced. But that injector pump...

Going to have to test further back from there, before I give up.

I have an idea. There is a schraeder valve on the top of the fuel filter housing. I think I'll pull the insides out of that, then connect a vacuum pump, (hand pump), with a brake bleeder canister, to that valve and see if I can pull any fuel up into there.

If I can get fuel up that far, then I'll turn it over for a bit to see if it makes it to the injectors.

~~~

Ok, I did that. (Started writing this way earlier. LOL)

Worked better than I expected.

What came out of there was skanky as sewer water. Really hard to pull fuel through there, too.

Replaced the valve stem, then cranked. Still absolutely nothing.

So I removed the valve stem again, and tightened the injector caps, and cranked again.

Still nothing.



Since I did get fuel through there, I believe fuel will make it through the system from the tank to there.

But... I think the filter is super clogged. And it's probable that the lift pump is shot.



So tomorrow, I'll be heading to town again. Got to get a fuel filter.

My preference is to replace the lift pump with an electric pump. So I'll get one of those as well. And a relay, and fuse holder and some wire, etc...

Wish me luck.

~~~

Ok, chains asked me to start making a list of the parts needed.

I'll do that.

First I'll explain why I am not just taking the parts from my old truck to fix this one.

First of all, the old one runs. I have no idea what I am going to find even after I get this one running. For instance, the engine could be shot. "and he sold it to another local logger who finished it off." Who knows how much life is left in this.

If I break down on the road somewhere, I want to be able to get a ride home, and then go and tow my own truck back home. Got to have them both running, for that.

And if one DOES break down, well I've been caught unprepared too many times. I hate going months or longer, having to get someone else with a truck to come give me a ride, and/or to haul water from town, etc. Where I live, it's like pulling teeth to get someone to do.

I want to have a backup truck. Can't do that if I take all the parts off the backup, and put them on this one.

I'm going to get the electric pump and stuff to wire it up. Along with the fuel filter tomorrow.

But it does need the glow plugs. Ford part # F2TZ-12A342-A
Injectors. F2TZ9F527A
Tcc solenoid valve. F2VY-7G136-A
Trans fluid change kit. (Gasket and filter.) (A4OD)
Man, I really REALLY hope it doesn't need the injector pump. I think that number is: FOTZ9A543A

And I'll go ahead and replace those headlight housings if I can find suitable replacements. Probably going to need some mounting hardware on at least the driver's side, as well.


One thing... If you have these parts around, and just want to help get the truck on the road, that's cool by me.

But I'm not a charity. And if I start to feel like one, I am not going to be nice about my reactions.

If I can help you you out, great. (Wait till I do the headlights and the manual glow plug control. Maybe someone will want me to do the same on their truck?) If you can help me out, great. And yes, I can even see wanting to be a part of getting a cool old truck back on the road. That's part of why I agreed to do this about the parts. I do understand. I would want to, too. Nothing to do with the owner. Just the truck. LOL

So, all that said... Dan... Thank you SO much for the COOL old truck! This challenge has the blood flowing in my veins again! I love it. I really hope the next time you see it, you can be proud of it. Maybe I'll drive down and let you and your dad have a look at it by the end of the summer. I'll bring some burgers for the grill!

And thank you Scott and Chains! I do appreciate it.

Woke up this morning, and just had to keep plugging away at this. Can't just drive into town and get parts unless i am positive that I need them.

Starting at the injectors... No fuel at the injectors.

Back to the fuel filter. No fuel there. Except what I pulled out of the filter itself yesterday. Pulled the valve stem seal and left it out. No amount of cranking brings fuel out of it.

At this point, I put 4 gallons of diesel in the back tank, and switched the tank valve to the back tank.

Cranked a while again. Still no fuel.

I decide that maybe the filter is holding the fuel back, so I disconnect the inlet line that goes to the filter housing. Crank some more. Still no fuel.

Moved down to the fuel pump. Removed the inlet line. Dry as a bone. Hook up the vacuum pump. Pull a vacuum.

Once a good solid vacuum is developed... Something comes out of the line into the brake bleeder cup, then some crappy fuel. Then good fuel starts flowing.

Yay!!!

But then... Uh oh!

It just keeps flowing on it's own. Fast!

I get the fuel line back on the fuel pump, but before I can get it tightened up again, fuel starts flowing fast, out of the line that enters the fuel filter housing.

Finish the line at the pump quickly. Reconnect the line to the filter housing. Before I can get that finished, now it's flowing out the schraeder valve that has no core.

Find the core. Stuff it in there. But when I reach for the screwdriver that I had used before to remove the core... The fuel pushes the core out, and it is lost forever. Tiny part. Yep gone in the bottomless pit of engine compartment.

So, I rush to the old truck, and take off a valve stem cap. Rush back to this one, and put just the cap on there.

Crisis stemmed! LOL

Yeah, I could have just crimped the line down there at the lift pump, if I had had some vise grips with me. I didn't have vise grips. Would have lost most of the tank of fuel in the time it would have taken me to go find them. LOL

~~~

Now. I still wanted to see if the pump would actually pump the fuel, out to toward the Injection pump or not.

So, I take the cap off that schraeder valve again, and crank the engine over.

Yeah, great spurts under pressure from that stem.

Put the cap back on.

~~~

Ok, so at this point...

I am getting some fuel leaking at the injectors. But not, it seems, under pressure.

And with everything buttoned back up, it's still not starting.

Trying to think now of the possible reasons it is not starting...

*Glow plugs. It's been my experience that even if the plugs are bad, if you crank it over long enough it will start anyway. It is not doing that, so I am not sure that it is the glow plugs. However I DO know that the glow plugs are not working. It has the click of death going on.

*Injector pump. Ok, this one, I am just not sure what to do about. There is a fuel shutoff solenoid that I will test tomorrow. But if that were not working, there would be no fuel at the injectors no matter what. Still, I'll test it.

*Compression. Maybe the engine is just too tired. Who knows. I don't have the compression tester kit for a diesel.

I went to town today. Probably my last trip for quite a while. Picked up the glow plugs. Hoping that installing these gets it to start. I'll know by tomorrow night.

While there I picked up the majority of the things I will need to make the glow plugs manual, instead of automatic. If I install those, and it starts, then I will do the conversion soon. Those glow plugs aren't cheap, and I want to make them last as long as possible.

It was a good day. Kind of fun. Yes, I was actually laughing out loud at my own predicament with the fuel, even as it was happening.

I hope this works. I have pretty much already run out of resources for this month.

Also hope the brakes start working when the engine runs and the vacuum pump starts creating a vacuum for the brake booster.

That's it for the day. I am beat. But I had fun.

I could be wrong, but I think the injection system requires oil pressure to run the injectors. If it’s sat for a while, it might take a little bit for them to get pumped back up.

I heard someone else say something about oil pressure. But they were talking about engine oil pressure. As in, it won't run if it's low on oil. I don't think that has anything to do with the injectors, though. But I'll check the level tomorrow.

Are you talking about pressure building up in the injector pump? If so, that's why I am concerned that maybe the IP is bad. I am getting some fuel leaking at the injectors, but it's obviously not under pressure.

I'll just keep charging those batteries up, and keep trying. LOL Maybe the glow plugs will make enough of a difference in the equation.

If it's the IP, then the project will just have to wait for the budget to catch up. Although I'll be able to work on other parts of the truck in the meantime.

I just heard the story of how this truck was already AT the junkyard, and Dan went and rescued it. Then the jobs he did with it after that.

Want to say again... Thank you VERY much Dan, for rescuing this beauty from the dump, and giving me a chance to get her going again!

~~~


It was a gallon low on oil! LOL Glad I caught that before I ran it for a while.

Still didn't get it started. Almost, but not quite. I'll get to that.

Let's start with the pic.

First thing I did this morning, was to go through the system again, to be sure that fuel was actually getting to the injector pump.

Now, only a pound or even less of pressure needs to make it to the injector pump. That injector pump will actually create a suction, when working correctly.



In this first picture...

3 is the inlet line to the fuel filter housing. Disconnect that... Fuel is running out of that even without cranking the engine. Reconnect.

4 is the schraeder valve. I removed the cap, and had the valve core ready, along with the tool for the core. Then put the metal cap back on anyway, just for kicks and grins. (Tool is 3.79 at Oreiley's. Probably could have made my own for free from an old screwdriver.)


1 and 2 are the line that goes from the fuel filter housing, down to the injector pump. At number 2, I disconnected the line, and then cranked the engine. Fuel was pumped out of there at well above a sufficient rate. Reconnected.

5 is a funky kind of connector that has been kludged into the glow plug wiring harness. I didn't like all that bare metal just hanging out like that, so when I put it back, I cut a piece of plastic electrical conduit to sit down around it. Ran that over the disconnected wire. Reconnected the wire. And then slipped the conduit down over it. Yeah, probably doesn't make any difference. But it just gives me peace of mind. Eventually I'll look for a new wiring harness for the glow plugs.


Now I am trying like mad, to get some fuel to come out of each of the injectors.

At this point, I am not just testing the lift pump. (To test the lift pump, you don't have to have the key in the ignition. Just crank it with the satarter solenoid.) I am starting to test the injector pump.

#6 in the pic is the connector for the shutoff valve solenoid. If you want fuel to flow, you have to provide electricity to that valve. More on that, in a bit.



Next pic.

In both of these pics you can see that the connector for that valve is disconnected. That is for two reasons.

First, to test the valve, you turn the ignition key on, to the run position. Then you come out to the front of the truck, and you disconnect and reconnect that fitting. If it clicks when you connect/disconnect/reconnect/etc... Then the valve is working. This one worked.

Second, I left that connector off, and put my own connector on it. The wire I used, has a spring clamp on the other end. I could connect to this valve. Then use the clamp to connect to the battery positive, only when I wanted to test the system. This way I didn't have to leave the key in the ignition, running down the batteries.

7 is the connectors going from the injector pump to the injectors. 8 of them, of course.

8 is the injectors themselves.

9 is part of the return system. Scavenges the unused fuel and returns it to both the fuel filter housing, and the fuel tank.

Now here is what I found.

With the valve opened up...

Crank. With the connectors at #7 cracked open... ZERO flow. So I completely disconnected one. Still zero flow.

Now, I had been seeing fuel leaking down the injectors at the right, there. Just the first two injectors.

With all of number 7 buttoned back up, I cracked all the injector caps themselves. (#8)

Zero leakage except at those first two.

About this time, I reaized that the leakage I was seeing at those first two injectors, is coming from the overflow system.

So, at this point, I am understanding (Or maybe misunderstanding.) ... The injector pump is probably shot.

No leakage at the injectors. No fuel even coming out of the pump itself.

No wonder she won't start.

~~~

Ok, so now I am getting frustrated. I want to see this engine run! My gut tells me it WILL run. I just have to figure it out. So, before the batteries get too low, and I have to stop for the day... (Man, sometimes I really wish I had a set of jumper cables. LOL In this case, two sets, so I could jumper both batteries from the running truck. LOL)

I decide to make it start with ether.

Yep. Jumps to life. For about a second.

But scares the crap out of me with a LOUD banging from the inside front of the engine!

LOL

Yeah, it's a diesel engine. It bangs when you use ether. I didn't know that. I was worried that the truck was abandoned because of major problems. (Got ahold of Dan and asked about it. That's how I got the story about him rescuing it OUT OF the junkyard... And it was still running, when parked. So yeah, it should be fine.)

Not only that, it probably had some diesel fuel in the front cylinders when I did that. Yeah, not being real nice to this engine right now. That's what frustration gets you.

~~~

There was plenty of 'day' left, and I wasn't ready to give up. Not much battery left, but hey, I could test the glow plugs.

Tested them. The front one, and back one on the passenger side didn't spark when I touched the 12v wire to them. All the rest sparked. Not the best test, but it gives you the really dead ones right away.

So I replaced those two. What is in the truck are autolites. Those are well known for ballooning up, in use, and then being impossible to remove without removing the heads. I didn't know they were autolites. Just that the two were dead. I pulled those. Lucky I decided to do this now. Barely got the back one out. Here's a pic.



I cleaned those two up. Then set them side by side, and a new motorcraft ZD9 on the right. You can see how the bottoms of the autolites were ballooning up. The one on the far left is the one that was most difficult to remove. The top was bent some, in my efforts.


Anyway, I only replaced those two for now. I just wanted to find out if the clicking of death would go away.

Buttoned everything back up. Got in. Turned the key...

Took a lot longer before the clicking started again. This was a bit encouraging. I quickly cycled them 3 or 4 times. Turned the key, waited until the clicking started. Turned it off, then right back on. Waited for the clicks again, turned it off. Repeat.

The thinking was, it was possible the system was working right until the clicks started. I knew at least two were now good. Maybe I'd get lucky, and if I cycled it enough, then enough of them would be hot, and maybe it would start.

Finally, I just turned the key and tried to start it.

It almost started!

Very very encouraging.

I buttoned everything up. Disconnected the negatives on the batteries. Left the charger on the main battery, and came inside.



Tomorrow, I'll swap the battery charger to the secondary for a while. Or maybe I'll go out there late tonight, and swap it.


Then I am going to swap ALL the glow plugs.

Then I'll try again, to actually start the truck. Wish me luck, say a prayer, whatever it is that you do!


~~~


Now, it's obvious that even if the injector pump still works, it is probably on it's last legs.

If I get this thing started.

Then get the brakes sorted.

Get it on the road, and feel it is going to be reliable...


I'll probably swap the pump and injectors between the two trucks.

If this one becomes reliable it will be my daily driver. No use in taking chances on the pump and injectors. These will work fine for the rare times the other one will be needed.


I do have the parts needed to do the manual glow plug 'upgrade'. Eventually I'll do that to one truck or the other.

You have been working hard Selador, great progress! The Heart almost beats, continue CPR.

If you think gypo loggers are hard on stuff you should see what oil patch Canuckistanians are capable of.

Very much NSFW the language could make a sailor blush but this will show what a 7.3 idi can handle.

I actually know this guy. Not sure if that’s beneficial to my standing to admit it but I’m the friend in low places to many of my high place friends, and have more than a few friends in low places of my own. This guy, well, you decide for yourself.




I can’t guarantee much in life other than death and having to wipe yer arse after Mexican food but the Wazzu truck ain’t dead yet. She’ll chooch again.

A real mechanic would have had all that done in about 15 minutes.

But then I never claimed to be a real mechanic.



That old who-er is so ugly, it's beautiful!

I've got a good feeling about tomorrow. Thinking I might even try to figger out how to make my kerosene powered camera do a video. When I traded my coal powered one in for this one they said this would do videos, but I've never figgered out how.

Got started this morning, with high hopes.

By afternoon, I was ready to shoot something.

Now, I have a plan again.



First, I cleaned some things up.

Then I replaced that funky connector on the rear glow plug, with a crimp on type bullet connector.


Then I replaced the rest of the glow plugs. One of the old ones came out easy-peasy. You can guess the brand. Motorcraft ZD9 just like what I put in. The rest were all difficult, and all autolite.


Ok, now I was ready to try to start it again.

Turned the key... Waited a bit... Yup. Still clicks. Probably the controller now. All new glow plugs. Can't be those. Good reason to go ahead with my glow plug control bypass, to give it a manual glow plug button.

Ok, so I decided to jumper the glow plug controller. Did this three times. About ten seconds each.

Tried to start it again.

No bueno.

Only real difference is that the batteries were near dead, after only three tries. Instead of the at least 15 tries I would get before. Obviously the glow plugs work. LOL

At that point I was pretty much to the conclusion that the injector Pump probably needs replaced.

I can't afford that. Not even a rebuilt or used one. So, it's gonna have to wait...


~~~~


So, yeah, some friends found out just how whiney I can be when I am completely frustrated and ready to shoot something. LOL

Gave it some time. Thought about it. Then started researching again.

Ok, three major points. Well, maybe 4.

1. The batteries work. I have been surprised at how well they have worked. But the question was asked... How fast do they turn the engine over? A: They probably turn it over adequately for a well running easy starting engine. But ok. Probably not fast enough for an engine that hasn't been started in years...

2. There is a major fuel leak in the return fuel system. This may be causing so much fuel to bypass, that not enough is getting to the IP, for it to 'prime' itself. Symptoms of this being the case are exactly what we have here. Fuel gets to the IP, but none at all comes out where it is supposed to go to the injectors.

3. There might be a screen in the fuel inlet of the IP. If so, that screen is likely clogged. I'll have to take the IP far enough apart to find out, and fix that, if it is.

Ok, 4. Take the top off the IP, and you might find that one of the parts inside is 'frozen' in place. If so, that causes exactly the same problem. Here is a vid that shows how someone fixed that... I can only hope the problem is that easy to solve. (Vid is only 2 minutes long.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzQ1zakyXDU


~~~

So my plan for tomorrow...

Take the front injector apart. I want some pieces. I want the o-rings that are down inside that barrel shaped part. And I want a piece of the fuel line.

I will go to town and get some replacement fuel line. Some o-rings. And some aviation type hose clamps. (Earlier today I added these things to my amazon wish list. Where they would stay until I could work them into the budget. But after what I have found out, it behooves me to just get these things locally.)

And I'll get two sets of cheapo jumper cables. In a pinch, they'll do. I'll use them to jumper both batteries between the trucks, and have the other truck running, the next time I try to start this one.




I may have some time left to get started at some of that, once I get home.

Whether I do, or not... When I DO... I plan to remove the top of the IP, and make sure that linkage is working.

Then look for a clogged screen.

Then I'll replace the return fuel lines, and the o-rings in the injector bodies.. And check again for leaks.

By that time, the batteries should be fully charged and between those, the other work I did, and the jumper cables, Hopefully this will be the time that she starts.

I think you are fixated OCD style on that Truck and i get it. Once i Focus on something, that's it.
You go brother, get that thing running.

Gonna see how much of this I can get done with stuff I already have. I might have the fuel line. I might have the o-rings. And I might be able to borrow jumper cables. Let's see how much of this I can get done without spending any more money.


And yes. I do that. To the point of not getting other stuff done. I have plenty of other projects that need done. LOL