Question: 1st Time Diesel Owner Questions

[oldblue92]

Ok so I took off early from work to look over the new truck and Dear Lord I found a squirrels nest in the aircleaner assembly. Truck was starving for air. Took it down the street drives alot better now

1)I've been looking for an engine diagram on this site but cant find one. Just something with basic parts identification.

Being this my first diesel i have know idea what some of this stuff is

2)What motor oil should I run with this high of miles

3)What type of trans fluid? 5-speed

4)Is that water separator filter the fuel filter?

5)Engine is warming up but gauge barley moves and no heat in the cab. Low on coolant so i added a bunch, res was crusty brown and icy also saw icey brown flouty's in the radiator . Ran the truck for about 30mins. down the road and back. No luck on the heat in the cab or gauge. Wonder if the heater core is frozen? 10DEG F. out side.

The guy who owned this truck must of been an idiot . Slushy radiator squirrels nest in the air cleaner. Hope the block is alright

[roadhog0]

1. There is a military manual under the FAQ
2. 10w40, works ok, little thick cold. I run 80 PSI cold idle on my fresh motor. 75 cruising warm. I use Delo400
3. Cant help ya there
4. Yup. You can ditch the box and do a spin on setup, doesnt leak as much!
5. Frozen heater core or stuck open thermostats. My truck with dual stats had brand new NAPA ones stick open in under 6 months and less than 1000 miles... Get some antifreeze in that baby!

[Landmine]

Flush your radiator and heater core, drain it, fill with water and soap. repeat.

[Fmiser]

Soap should only be needed if there is any evidence of oil. And use a low-suds soap - like dishwasher detergent.

Use acid to get the rust and/or calcium out. Citric acid works well. It's often available as a food canning supply.

Oil topics are almost as bad as politics! I'm not fond of Rotella. Their marketing seems better than their engineering. Dello 400 and Delvac 1300 are two top oils, especially in the heavy truck market. Synthetics are good, especially for cold weather because they are not as thick at sub-zero C. Mobil 1 and Amsoil are "true" group IV synthetics. The others that claim synthetic are group III and can only be sold as "synthetic" in the USA. While a group III is better than "dino" oil, it is not as good as group IV, but should cost less. I believe Castrol and Valvoline have some oils that are labeled as "made in germany" and are group IV.

Regarding the engine temp. Per chance, do you have a IR (no contact) thermometer? It's a handy tool for this sort of stuff. You can check the temp of the thermostat housing, the top of the radiator, the bottom of the radiator, the hoses, etc and knowing where it's hot and where it's not is helpful. But if I were to guess I'd say the thermostat is missing or not working right.

Can't help with the transmission oil. But synthetic is nice there too.

The fuel filter is also the water seperator. My experience is limited to my '85. It's a silver rectangle and it's leaking so I'm hunting alternatives.

[JLanzino]

Originally Posted by oldblue92

Its a 3500 dually. vin came back with 4:10 gears. What do I need to know about swaping a th400. The 5-speed is horrible.

The TH400 is a bullet prof transmission, but I would put a 700R4 behind it, if your going to be daily driving more than towing this will transmission will move, its all mechanical, & at 60MPH you'll be at 1800 RPM or lower, as long as maintained these transmissions last!

The TH400 is a 3 speed as where the 700R4 is a 4 Speed with OD

[happypunch]

Another thing to look into with the engine not heating up: fan clutch. I am going through the same thing and just put in a high quality acdelco tstat and the same thing, its not warming up. This morning I replaced my block heater and refilled with coolant, bleed the air out and took it for a drive. 10 minutes of idling and 5 miles of driving and the fan is still blowing, even though I replaced the clutch last year... might just take the fan off today and run it like that.

[smackzed]

Hey happy. I was in the same boat. Sunday no one open but a box store. Got a crappy t-stat and intsalled. I couldn't get a gasket so I used RTV sealant. So far this t-stat is working. Don't know if it's the t-stat or the rtv but I read a while ago that sometimes the gasket doesn't make a good seal, good enough for the housing not to leak but not enough for the coolant not to leak past the stat. Cheap and easy to try anyway