Hillbilly Hauler, or.. my first diesel

[Beagle]

I just pulled the trigger on a stealth pump ... 3-5 week backorder. Shiny! Yay. Backorder..Boo.


Meanwhile, I have o-rings on the way. I've been using the Lightning as a tow truck again and it's fine but the 13.5-14 mpg loaded isn't what I consider great. Sad thing is, by the time this stuff shows up, I'll have moved almost everything. I've got a 40' container that would be an interesting deal to move. It's tary weight is like 8700 pounds.

I think I have the seat deal figured out - I'm pulling the power seats out of a Lincoln LSC, might as well try them. They aren't any bigger than the Lightning's buckets (thicker) so I think they will fit okay. We'll see. Can't be worse than the factory torture rack... errr... bench. (Edit - I just thought about this, I can probably use the 2k Lightning's seats. They need to have all the smoke damage cleaned off or recovered, but I think they are savable.)

The downpipe is next, and I still need to call Hypermax and see if they can tell me which chip I have. I'm not putting it back in until I know. I don't want to be pulling a trailer with something that's going to skyrocket the EGT's.

I know ordering the bigger pump first is doing things backwards, but I don't think it will hurt anything. I have sent many many emails to Santa in hopes of 130cc tranny saver injectors...

[milner351]

sweet!

Yea - my '97 had Beans tranny saver injectors, straight pipe exhaust, pa2818 intake, and a tune courtesy of a calibrator at work.

The first guy that drove it bought it for my asking price - that thing was "fast" for a 4x4 pickup.

I'm eventually going to put stainless magnaflow exhaust on the '01, and have the same guy at work put an improved calibration in it - but - with an automatic - I'm going to stay pretty conservative, MPG and durability are the goal.

[Beagle]

... baldwin pa2818 trash can air filter. The stock air filter box lid has been known to get loose thanks to folks stripping the threaded inserts in the base.

take a look at the turbo on the inlet side - if it looks as if it's seen some solid particles.... pull the turbo and replace it.

roger - I was thinking rear main until I saw what it took to replace one and then I thought... no way. I also figured on doing the HPOP o-rings but I'll look in the valley closer first. There really wasn't any fuel showing up there, but I wasn't micro-inspecting it.

I did some quick troubleshooting (HA! yah, googled it) and found the o-ring kits and some testimony for an Adrenaline pump from some folks where quite a few guys were seeing 10-20% mpg improvement on stock parts / tunes. Interesting ideas, but I'm just gonna seal it up and use it. I'm pretty sure the puddle was diesel because the oil hasn't changed and the atf hasn't changed which leaves coolant or fuel.. and it did confuse me a little being blackish, my oil looks like honey. I figured it wasn't crankcase oil. I was teasing about it not smelling like diesel - hell, everything smelled (Smelt?) like diesel.

The air-cleaner on it now is probably as big as Baldwin, PA. I can't remember it's name, but it's about the size of a 13 gallon bathroom trashcan, and it's new. Well, it was until my belt disentregrated courtesy of Mr. Vacuum pump spewing molten bearing lava and belt fragments throughout the engine compartment and out the fender wells ( sparks, that's why I stopped it the last time. Booo sparks.) It needs to be ducted for cold air, but frankly, the thing runs so cool I don't see ducting changing much except helping keep it clean. I wiped the dipstick with my finger when I checked it after driving 100 miles. The turbo sounds good, runs smooth, spools easy. There's no indication that it has ingested anything.

I was kidding about hot rodding it. The 1600.00 hot rod pumps broke me of that idea pronto before I even started looking at intercoolers or staged injectors or any of the other crap I'm supposed to have if I'm a cool and hip diesel owner. Lol. I just want to seal it up and tow some junk with it. It runs pretty good now.

[milner351]

Buick - this is a powerstroke - the pump is just a pump - not the fuel control device.

The HPOP is gear driven directly off the cam gear. It takes low pressure fuel from the fuel filter housing - pressurizes it - and sends it through high pressure hoses to the fuel galleys in the cylinder heads. From there, the HEUI injectors meter the fuel directly into the combustion chamber.

Lots and Lots of O-rings - and no place for rubber - viton only, use the green o-rings from the "ac seal kit" if need be - but don't use any plain black rubber - they'll not last well at all.

[SuperBuickGuy]

ah the joy of leaks. I know this story very, very, very well. look at the side of the pump (where the advance lever is) and see if it's dripping fuel there. Bright side - if it's still running, it's just a side seal. There is kind of a downside, it's costs about the same to replace the seals on the pump as it does to get the pump rebuilt. But, please, for the love of fiats, do not do what I did and buy a pump from anyone outside of your county. That way, if the pump goes bad you don't have someone who only speaks Spanish in Arizona telling your twice that they've never had that problem with their pumps (probably I misunderstood - I thought he meant "ever" he probably meant "today")... I'd have saved literally thousands buying the most expensive pump I found in the Seattle.

[milner351]

NO NO NO!

back up the truck my friend.

there's a TON of connections in the valley of that engine that have to do with the fuel system.... when fuel leaks into the valley, there are two drain holes at the back of the valley that allow stuff to run down the back of the block and APPEAR like a rear main leak.

have no fear my friend - I would bet you a sixer of your favorite beverage you have a fuel leak - which explains your MPG loss - and your fluid leakage.

Once diesel mixes with muck - it looks and feels just like engine oil.

also - before you go throwing parts at this thing - go through with viton o-rings and make sure you have everything sealed up, and the fuel filter is fresh.

Talk to Rosewood diesel before you get into the injectors - he can set you up with a rebuild kit that comes with a manual that talks you through the process - and saves you a bunch o cash. about $800 if you want to send him your injectors for a stock rebuild. Beans diesel service is another good shop I've dealt with.

as for the pump - only up the pump if you're also going to up the injectors, and turbo, and programming.

I'd say you're better off getting the leak fixed, and doing a little program tweaking, does it still have the squished down pipe off the turbo? That would be the first high performance part I'd put in it. that and a baldwin pa2818 trash can air filter. The stock air filter box lid has been known to get loose thanks to folks stripping the threaded inserts in the base.

take a look at the turbo on the inlet side - if it looks as if it's seen some solid particles.... pull the turbo and replace it.

[Beagle]

Big Red Bastard diesel - 2
Beagle -1

Ah, the joy of it all. Put the vacuum pump on, no drama. Bearings fall out of pump when I pulled the pulley off. Reman 100.00 pump, few minutes to get it back on. Clackety clackety, all is well. Run to the car camp, stop for fuel. MPG is down. Huge puddle under truck when I get though filling it up. Looks like a rear main blowout. F*.

Check oil, it's full. Check ATF, it's full. What the hell? The stuff is dumping out from the inspection cover / tranny. Oily feeling, but doesn't smell like diesel. Hard to tell though since I just filled it and everything at the moment smells like diesel.

I'm guessing High pressure pump. Nice. It's as good a time as any to hotrod it, right? I was in for a shock when I started pricing juiced up pumps.

Oh, the other thing I found this weekend that should have been a clue to buy a newer truck? Hypermax chip in the glove compartment. I apparently didn't see that when I was looking at it. I crawled under it before I bought it, it was pretty clean. Not super clean, but now I'm suspecting the low price came with prior knowledge that this bitch was about to eat itself.

I'll get a better look at it next weekend if I can keep from buying the bigger injectors and fat pump. (riiighhhht, or trading it in. )

At least the BRB didn't want a ride home this time, but mpg dropped to 18.5 pulling a trailer with the Fiat on it and spraying down everything under and behind it with diesel.

[SuperBuickGuy]

a 7.3 PTSD? or does the T come after you buy the truck?

2nd only to "why you folks have those silly flags up", are comments about their college football teams - it's a sight to behold. (wife's family is in Fayetteville Arkansas).... to a west coaster like me, it's a new sight.

[CTX-SLPR]

Gig'em agggss, whooopp!!!!

[Mater]

next vehicle i buy is going to be a 7.3 PSD of some year

[milner351]

ah the vacuum pump - the super duties have an electric one on the passenger fender well.... I think I know why.

That's the only thing that put my '97 on the side of the road, no warning either.

I had a red truck with red interior once - and parted out a fox mustang with red interior - not my favorite either.... but green seats? Lordy - that'll be purdy! Test fit those seats carefully - I've had bad luck putting non truck seats in a truck, especially in a regular cab - watch the seat back thickness especially if you're taller than 6ft.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I feel for you on the pump issues ..... I spent more than the truck was worth resolving mine - but it runs now. That said, I'm watching for an army surplus 6.2 or 6.5 to come up for reasonable dollars so I have a backup.

What's an aggies? aren't they some kind of silly rock that gets stepped on by the Razorbacks?

[Beagle]

mpg is great for a 3 ton truck, about 15 in town and 23-24 on the road at 70. It's even better when it's on a rollback (grrr). It runs great, and it seems to care less about weight in it. First carnage: 1 vacuum pump, accessory drive belt. Maybe I'll buy the extended warranty. lol.

I kind of like the rubber mat, I get carpets filthy. It's pretty quiet inside. The seat is definitely getting replaced - I have a set of Explorer leather seats with lumbar and bolster controls that I got for another project, I'll use them. Green seats in a porn red truck, maybe santy clause came early. The interior is so red I'm seeing spots. Vinyl die in it's future. Red is not my favorite color for an interior. I'll probably go grey here, aggie colors.

The Lightning gets a lot of space around the roads here, I think it says "No Insurance" to folks. This truck says "No Insurance and driver is an illegal alien" - it gets all the space it needs.

The bed has some rust, I think it had a mat in it at some point. I'll get around to sand blasting it and rhino lining it maybe this winter if I don't sell it after doing my junk moving. I'm sort of looking for a Super Duty with a six speed.

[Huskinhano]

Like Milner said, where's the rust? Really nice looking truck, straight and shiny. Put a new seat and replace the rubber mat with carpet and you'll have a really sweet truck. How's it run?

[Mater]

grandpa has a goose neck on his 09 F350 best thing he did to the truck.