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Maintenance questions

Schwind

Schwind

split loyalties
Messages
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Location
Sigourney, Iowa Lost Texan
I have been collection things from a maintenance perspective for my truck for a few months now and I just got the last or what I thought were going to be the last pieces in today. But when my gauges got here today the boost gauge only has a vacuum line tap and I will have to go and get paint for the A-pillar. The first question I have for anyone that can answer it is where can I get a 1/8” NPT fitting for the boost hook up at the intake plenum? what size drill bit is used for the 1/8" npt fitting. I put the calipers on the one from the EGT and it was about 8 mm, 4/10th of an inch, about 5/16" is this correct.

It’s suppose to rain here Wednesday through Saturday so this week is going to be no work, so the truck goes in the garage and gets torn down sorta. I don’t think that this truck has ever had any maintenance done to it other than fluid changes and PMD/FSD prior to me owning it. I have owned the truck for 2 years now and have only done what’s in my signature to it.


I have injectors, glow plugs and the gauges to put in. my question on the injectors is will both injector line brackets have to come off to insure that they don’t get bent? By both I mean the ones mounted to the valve covers and the ones mounted to the intake plenum. I have been spraying bolts with PB for about 3 weeks now, so hopefully they won’t be to much of a problem. I also know to try and remove the glows when the engine is hot. Any other tips or tricks that may apply would be greatly appreciated.

What else should I check or inspect while i have the passengers fender off.

Thanks,
Schwind
 
Remove, clean, and tighten the grounds at the frame near the starter. And be absolutely, positively, sure that the little bracket is firmly attached to the block and starter motor. I'd also be sure that the electrical connections to the starter are tight (disconnect the batts first). I also back off the starter motor bolts and retorque them whenever I'm in the area.
 
Lowes and HD don't carry 1/8 compression to NPT fittings anymore. Just got through chasing down 1/8" compression rings. Napa will be your best bet.
 
I assume you mean the passenger fender liner?

Are you going to remove the turbo to do the injectors? If so, get a new gasket for the oil return line and don't forget to pre-oil the turbo before the re-start. If not removing the turbo, get out your Houdini costume...:)

I found it handy to have a hemostat that I had because, uhm, well, because, well, my Dad is a doctor.....yea, that's it....no really, he is a doctor....

Anyway, I found the hemostat that's been kicking around my toolbox for 25+ years handy to get the glowplug connectors off thru the heat shield tubes.

Good luck with the project!
 
Well it’s done!!!

It didn’t take as long as I suspected to do it either. The new injectors and 60g glow plugs are in. The pyro installed pre-turbo in the manifold done while turbo was off. Stuffed a rag in the manifold and used the shop vac to get the metal shaving out. Don’t know if the PB was the reason but all the glows and injectors came out with out a problem. Also the bolts on the turbo were no problem. I think that the glow plugs were changed out at one time because they were all 9g glows. None of them were swollen or blown out. Don’t know if the new ones are the reason why but my glow plug light on the dash is brighter than before. The 60g’s should help come this winter at least that’s what I’m hoping.

As per Radioman’s suggestions, I re-cleaned the grounds and surfaces they attach to. I didn’t do a very good job on the firewall ground back in the spring as I thought I did, with the inner fender well off it was easy to do. Checked the bracket and starter bolts. Loosened and re-torqued. The starter cables were all tight.

JMJNet I did find the 1/8” NPT fitting for the boost gauge at Menard’s (local home depot/Lowe’s) $1.19. Drilled and tapped the upper intake while it was off. By the way the drill bit size for the 1/8” NPT fitting is 11/32” at least that’s what I used. I have no leaks so I guess it’s right. Re-installed with new upper intake gasket and EGR gasket.

As per minisub’s suggestions I did fish out my hemostats from the tool box and they did come in handy, unplugging and plugging back the glow plug wires in the heat shields. I did remove the turbo. I got heath’s injector installation kit. Which includes the turbo manifold gasket and the oil return line gasket. It was $40.00 plus shipping which wound up being $55.00 for me. But still $20.00 cheaper than O’Reilly’s injector line kit without the turbo gaskets.

The truck started right up after the third try after the injectors were installed. It did stumble for a little while but then cleared up. Guess it was the air in the system. After the initial start up I have no more puff of black smoke at start up. It is also harder to get black smoke at WOT. My suspicions of some if not all the injectors being old and worn out may have just been answered. Does this mean that the new injectors are more efficient (better fuel atomization)?

I have quite a wild EGT swing and don’t know if it is all right or not. At idle with engine at operating temp it is 250ish, just cruising down the road at 60 MPH it will swing from 475ish to 700. At WOT it will hit 900 easy. Can someone confirm these numbers or tell me if they are in range. The ambient temperature today was about 50F. I also have the factory exhaust/down pipe with cat and muffler.

My boost during acceleration is only 2 to 3 psi. at cruising it is between 3-4 psi. at WOT it hits 8 psi but never any higher. This is the truck with no load. Probably won’t hook it back up to the trailer till Monday. From what I have read these numbers seem right to me for factory PCM and Vacuum wastegate. Does anyone know what I can expect when I put the boost fooler on or where I should set it at. I may do that in the next few days if it continues to rain. I have it in the center console but I wanted to see what the factory settings were before I put it on.

Thanks for the advise I should be good for another 100,000 miles now. :rolleyes5:
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the ideal placement for the EGT PRE turbo?
 
EGT numbers seem right... Same with boost.

Pre turbo/post turbo is preference. They both show you the range you're working with, and when you are in the danger zones.

Pre turbo is faster readouts, faster cooldowns.

Post Turbo is a more accurate temp of your turbo itself, which is good for post driving cool-downs. (To avoid leaving 600df oil in your turbo when you shut-down)
 
Today was the first day that early morning temps were at freezing or a little below. I intentionally didn't plug the truck in last night so that I could see if the new glow plugs would help on initial start up in the morning. Man what a difference!!! the truck started on the first turn of the key. last year with the 9g's in I wouldn't have even tried without having the block heater plugged in. tonight it is suppose to be down in the 20's. I am really tempted to not plug the truck in again tonight to see how it does.
 
With everything functioning properly it should do fine with temps in the 20s.

Do it.

Might as well find out now rather than in December with the snow flying....
 
Schwind said:
Today was the first day that early morning temps were at freezing or a little below. I intentionally didn't plug the truck in last night so that I could see if the new glow plugs would help on initial start up in the morning. Man what a difference!!! the truck started on the first turn of the key. last year with the 9g's in I wouldn't have even tried without having the block heater plugged in. tonight it is suppose to be down in the 20's. I am really tempted to not plug the truck in again tonight to see how it does.
Click to expand...

I've started mine without plugging it in as low as -20, extremely rough running for about 20 seconds or so but ran like a champ. I probably won't ask that much from it again lol.
 
minisub said:
With everything functioning properly it should do fine with temps in the 20s.

Do it.

Might as well find out now rather than in December with the snow flying....
Click to expand...

Well the last 2 morning have been down in the twenties. Yesterday it was 24F and this morning was 28F. I didn't plug the truck in on either morning. It started right up on the first turn of the key. It hit almost immediately. These 60g's are great. Wish i would have changed them out sooner. I can't believe there is so much difference between them and the 9g's that were in.
 
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