We Have a Running Engine

The engine. It's running. But it wasn't without its trials and tribulations to get it there. I talked about the wiring harnesses. Those were a sound investment. In order to get the engine running, we needed to wire it up. There were a few more wires than Rich was used too. Each wire was color coded, titled, and number marked.

In conjunction with the directions, and the wire number, that wire could be traced back to the computer, or in some cases back to the fuse block. Most of the wiring harness was 'plug-and-play' though there were some connections that had to be made. Once all of the wires were accounted for, and most were in their homes, we attempted to hear the fuel pump kick on. It didn't. This wasn't a total devastation, because the pump had been sitting for quite a long time.

The pump came off of Richs' 1989 F250, which was put on it recently before Rich got it, so it wasn't old. We gave it a few love taps, made sure all of the wire connections were properly seated, and tried again. This time the fuel pump kicked-on. This fuel pump it very distinctive, it's got a 'noticeable buzz' to it. We ran the fuel pump a few times to equalize the pressure in the lines. For grins Rich had me turn the key from "ON" to "START." He wasn't expecting anything except the click of the starter. What he got was an engine that was trying to turn over. This was a pleasant surprise. Rich was SURE there were going to be many more issues with the EFI than what we had encountered. And the small things that we have encountered were things like having to make new brackets for the power steering pump, the adjustment on the alternator, and finding the right size belt. Also there were a few wires that we were unsure where they went and what they were needed for.

Now we know the engine will turn over. Rich then says "Ok, let's see if it will run." This time it took some work for it to turn over. The fuel needed to travel from the tank into the fuel rails and into the engine - it's a ways. After all of that, it ran. Then it didn't. This is where we pushed it just a little too hard, and found out we had a problem.

This is where I had the sinking feeling. When the smoke started to poor out of the pipes, I looked at it; my thought was "gosh, that's not normal." The I see the smoke pouring out of the engine, with Rich yelling "turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!" My initial thought was something was on fire, then find the extinguisher. Nothing was on fire. At this point we didn't have any idea what was wrong. One thought was a dip-stick came out- no. another thought- it's an old engine, it'll do that-no. It could be paint burning off-no. After some discussion we decided to give it another go. This time we got our answer. Water. Water everywhere. Water where water shouldn't be. It looked like a blown head gasket. Water was puking out everywhere. I was really disappointed. I didn't really understand the severity of what happened or in this case didn't happen (wasn't a blown head gasket). Once we talked about everything and thought things through we determined it probably wasn't a blow head gasket. We couldn't figure out where the water was coming from. We knew where it was pouring out of the engine, but we didn't know where it was originating. We were able to track it down to a vacuum line on the air intake was connected to a water line. Looking back, we didn't mark vacuum lines. We knew there were vacuum lines connected from the vacuum distribution block, but we didn't know exactly where they went.

So, with that, we began to clean up all of the coolant that was puked all over the shop floor. We took off the air intake and got as much water out of it as we could. We then traced the vacuum lines, and the water lines. Once we were confidant all of the lines were where they were supposed to go, we bolted the air intake back onto the block. We then connected the vacuum lines to vacuum lines and water lines to water lines. With everything back onto the intake that is supposed to be there, we began to turn over the engine.

One turn of the key didn't do it. The second turn gave a little more than the first but not much. The third time I turned the key, with a few coughs of disapproval, she fired right up. And she ran strong with some persuasion of fuel.

Things are starting to really come together. We are both working very hard to get this truck back onto the road. I couldn't be more appreciative of Rich lending his, (I started to list time, tools, expertise etc.) and decided that he is really lending, well, everything. There is still a whole lot to do to get the truck back on the road.

Until next time -