Hi, a newbie here. However, I've posted stuff on many a forum about other stuff in the past and people are always super helpful, so thanks in advance.
My skill level is "okay" amateur mechanic and trouble shooter.
I'm posting maybe a little prematurely, but hoping it might yield an couple easy answers before I dive in too far.
I have a ~'94 K3500,about 80,000 miles on it, a fair bit of customization from previous owners. For years it's been started usually with a squirt of starter fluid on the air filter--probably just bad glow plugs since I just checked the controller. (I have a new set ready to install). Once it starts, it's always run pretty well. Until....
A couple weekends ago I started it after not having run for prob 6 mo. and checked everything to go do a haul run. However, in the process I ran it out of fuel out in the sticks and had to put some red-dye in it to get back to civilization. I did get it started okay after bleeding, etc. it ran fine, and it seemed ready to go. Fueled up.
On the run, maybe 50 miles in, at some point it started acting weird, surging, basically, as it turned out, full on and full off depending on whether I touched the pedal. This was on the highway mostly, no stopping, so the surging was a little subdued and I'd say manageable. (Later, looking around at diagnostic websites, that appears to be a sign that the fuel injection pump has a problem.) Anyway, I pull into a gas station a bit later and take it out of gear and foot off the pedal, and it goes full throttle. I had to turn the key off to make it stop. I fueled it up, and it managed to start again after a little fussing, got it in gear, and continued, with surging and fingers crossed that I could limp home.
So I keep going since I'm pretty close to my destination, and a few miles short the engine quits. Some cops happened by and pushed me out of the intersection, and I let it sit for a while, waiting for a buddy. When he shows up we got it to start with a lot of starter fluid, but the best it would do is idle really rough and inconsistently. I had a spare PMD (it's remote mounted) and that didn't do anything either, so I declared it dead and had it towed back to a local shop to diagnose. Oh, and my girlfriend, who was along, was not pleased, needless to say.....
A week later they apparently threw a code reader on it and all they told me was that it had a "bad injection pump" and "bad lift pump", quoted north of $3500, and charged me $130. I'm going to throw a reader on it again myself as soon as I get my hands on one.
Anyway, it's supposed to have a DS4 on it and I got a set of the parts including a reman at my disposal. I proceeded to watch some pump installation videos and whatnot, and I feel pretty comfortable with doing the job. However, and here's where my questions lie:
I saw snippets of repairs that suggest it could be the optical sensor in the pump (replaceable, though some don't recommend it), which would be a lot easier since the pump can stay installed and more or less correctly timed. Also, the master fuel solenoid could be faulty. So I pulled off the top cover off the pump, and I found that the fuel was not all the way to the top in the chamber. I'm used to seeing that on other pumps I've had apart. A footnote: the lift pump seems to be fine since the fuel bleeder knob spits ample fuel out when I open it and crank. There is also a brass "T" valve installed in a fuel line somewhere and opening that yields fuel (I don't know if this is a customization on this vehicle).
So, is the fact the fuel chamber wasn't full indicative of anything?
Anything else that jumps out?
Secondarily, the turbo is spitting relatively a lot of oil into the intake, since it's basically "damp" through and through. It's a reman turbo that's in there, with less than 10k miles on it. Worn bushings I'm guessing? Is it a critical thing to have a little oil coming in, or do I put it on the todo list?
Okay, thanks!! I'll post more tomorrow.
My skill level is "okay" amateur mechanic and trouble shooter.
I'm posting maybe a little prematurely, but hoping it might yield an couple easy answers before I dive in too far.
I have a ~'94 K3500,about 80,000 miles on it, a fair bit of customization from previous owners. For years it's been started usually with a squirt of starter fluid on the air filter--probably just bad glow plugs since I just checked the controller. (I have a new set ready to install). Once it starts, it's always run pretty well. Until....
A couple weekends ago I started it after not having run for prob 6 mo. and checked everything to go do a haul run. However, in the process I ran it out of fuel out in the sticks and had to put some red-dye in it to get back to civilization. I did get it started okay after bleeding, etc. it ran fine, and it seemed ready to go. Fueled up.
On the run, maybe 50 miles in, at some point it started acting weird, surging, basically, as it turned out, full on and full off depending on whether I touched the pedal. This was on the highway mostly, no stopping, so the surging was a little subdued and I'd say manageable. (Later, looking around at diagnostic websites, that appears to be a sign that the fuel injection pump has a problem.) Anyway, I pull into a gas station a bit later and take it out of gear and foot off the pedal, and it goes full throttle. I had to turn the key off to make it stop. I fueled it up, and it managed to start again after a little fussing, got it in gear, and continued, with surging and fingers crossed that I could limp home.
So I keep going since I'm pretty close to my destination, and a few miles short the engine quits. Some cops happened by and pushed me out of the intersection, and I let it sit for a while, waiting for a buddy. When he shows up we got it to start with a lot of starter fluid, but the best it would do is idle really rough and inconsistently. I had a spare PMD (it's remote mounted) and that didn't do anything either, so I declared it dead and had it towed back to a local shop to diagnose. Oh, and my girlfriend, who was along, was not pleased, needless to say.....
A week later they apparently threw a code reader on it and all they told me was that it had a "bad injection pump" and "bad lift pump", quoted north of $3500, and charged me $130. I'm going to throw a reader on it again myself as soon as I get my hands on one.
Anyway, it's supposed to have a DS4 on it and I got a set of the parts including a reman at my disposal. I proceeded to watch some pump installation videos and whatnot, and I feel pretty comfortable with doing the job. However, and here's where my questions lie:
I saw snippets of repairs that suggest it could be the optical sensor in the pump (replaceable, though some don't recommend it), which would be a lot easier since the pump can stay installed and more or less correctly timed. Also, the master fuel solenoid could be faulty. So I pulled off the top cover off the pump, and I found that the fuel was not all the way to the top in the chamber. I'm used to seeing that on other pumps I've had apart. A footnote: the lift pump seems to be fine since the fuel bleeder knob spits ample fuel out when I open it and crank. There is also a brass "T" valve installed in a fuel line somewhere and opening that yields fuel (I don't know if this is a customization on this vehicle).
So, is the fact the fuel chamber wasn't full indicative of anything?
Anything else that jumps out?
Secondarily, the turbo is spitting relatively a lot of oil into the intake, since it's basically "damp" through and through. It's a reman turbo that's in there, with less than 10k miles on it. Worn bushings I'm guessing? Is it a critical thing to have a little oil coming in, or do I put it on the todo list?
Okay, thanks!! I'll post more tomorrow.