Join Our Ford Truck Forum Today

Document your Ford truck project here and inspire others! Login/Register to view the site with fewer ads.

New Truck New Problem

flareside_thunder

Florida Chapter member
7,812
246
Hey all i just traded my 80 for an 89 F-250 SC longbed 4x4 dual tanks with a 7.3 NA and a zf 5 speed.The truck runs alright but now whitesmokes and you have to feather the throttle to keep it from stalling.My buddy who I got it from said it needed an injector pump.Any thoughts on what else it could be.Is it possible for me to rebuild this injector pump because I haven't found a kit for it yet.I was also told an E350 pump will give it more power and better mileage..Any thoughts?I've also read something about marine injectors.Can You elaborate on that for me?I'm just glad to have a diesel now....Thank in advance.

PS is this a Navistar or IDI?
 

Skandocious

Post Whores Make Me Sick
19,076
655
California
89 is IDI. And I do belive white smoke on a dieselmeans not enough fuel supply but don't quote me on that. So an injector pump could very well be the problem.
 

F 150Cobra

"Wild HoRsE" Got Torque?
3,642
104
Aruba
89 is IDI. And I do belive white smoke on a dieselmeans not enough fuel supply but don't quote me on that. So an injector pump could very well be the problem.

your correct.. and black smoke means not enough air supplied on a stock diesel, clogged air filters,
we just fixed a toyota van diesel... it only reved a little bit and when it got to its max rev it start blowing white smoke.. we tested the injectors, pump , change filters its revved a little higher.. but then we took out the fuel tank and saw all that goo and stuff that plugged the pickup fillter and gots the line glogged.. and now she runs good and revs good no white smoke and we had a similair problem on a E350 Van powerstroke diesel also.. the lines and pickup filter was glogged in the tank,

you might wanna try it out. its free ;) flush the lines and chek the pickup filter in the tank
 

flareside_thunder

Florida Chapter member
7,812
246
wow dude thanks...i appreciate it Jurgen....turns out it's got a brand new ff on it and a spare in the toolbox...lol but now i don't have a big enuff battery to start her heh heh...oh well.
 

flareside_thunder

Florida Chapter member
7,812
246
Welp got a diesel mechanic buddy of mine over to the house the other day....didn't even think about it but the injectors probly have crap in them...soooooooooo bought new ones...not reman today on ebay 108 bucks shipped...cheap cheap cheap...should be here tuesday...it also cut the white smoke in half when I tightened the filter to pump supply line down.....(duh)I'll keep ya'll updated.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
You could have just air intrusion causing the smoke, bad injector, low compression on one cylinder... If it starts fine cold though, then the air intrusion is less of a chance. Black smoke isn't always caused by filter issues either, if the pump has been cranked up and no turbo... I get a light haze from mine when I get on it up a hill or such, but not the rolling black the exhaust temps would skyrocket doing that. Basically, it is more fuel than air supplied to fully burn it. Opening up the intake and exhaust helps too, the factory didn't let it breathe good enough.
BTW, It is both a Navistar/International and IDI, the IDI is the injection type, Navistar is the manufacturer.
 

flareside_thunder

Florida Chapter member
7,812
246
Thanks for the info Fellro...I know for a fact it's not the injectors i just spent 108 bucks on new ones and it's still doing it...given the amount of times the PO had run it out of fuel, and the fact the fuel gauges don't work, I'll pull the bed off and clean the tanks out good and go ahead and replace the senders...if that doesn't fix it...I'm gonna replace the rubber fuel lines in the system...the main leakage point that i KNOW of is the fuel return going into the filter....I've got a sneaking suspision of a mix of water and crud in the tanks somaybe that'll help...if not I gotta hunt me down a pre powerstroke injector pump for a 7.3 from an E350 or Larger...supposedly more power right outta the box...but no luck on finding it as of yet...and with all the rain lately I'm not able to start pulling the bed off...I barely got the injectors swapped before the downpour.it also starts very poorly cold..and it's a hard starter when it's warm but the leakdown is emmense via the return as aforementioned..the "soup bowl" has been torched out by PO there is no cat, although I don't know if they came factory with them or not.I also tried to remove the muffler previously but to no avail...too rusty.....If I'm lucky enough to run across a single semi stack...i'm throwin it on there - the heat shield.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
The bed isn't really necessary to be removed to get to the tanks, I have dropped mine out the bottom, and ans rusty as those bolts likely are, it will be about as much trouble to pull the bed as it is to get the tanks out the bottom. I haven't had to drop my front one yet, I take the sender out with the tank in place, but I also can remove my exhaust to be able to sit up and look in to where the sender is. The rear definitely has to be pulled.. Something else that might come into play, does it do it all the time, or when the tanks are low, like half or less? The plastic sump in the tank tends to crack and break off, but will cause air leaks until it comes off completely.
There shouldn't be any difference between an E350 pump and one from an F series, so you could look a little broader that way, as the E series was less common to have diesels.But if the return lines are leaking, then you can get air in that way as well, the return line kit can be found for around $25 or so.
 

flareside_thunder

Florida Chapter member
7,812
246
yes but I have an ultimatum for pulling the bed off...I'll be pulling the bad Tcase out and having to take some measurements for a rear driveshaft....the parts store doesn't even carry the sender and as for fuel level...i have no idea...I only got 5 gallons worth in it now.....
 

1970Custom

They call me Spuds
14,107
447
Middleton, ID

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
The mechanical pump is on the side of the block, passenger front. Senders aren't readilay available for the diesels, I got some from Whitney and made them work. I had seen that there were some available somewhere, just would have to go back and find where that was... I'm certain it was on oilburners.net, just would have to go back and look. If you go there, do a search on my posts and you will find what I have talked about, I haven't been real regular there. Good place, just haven't had time and ambition..
 

flareside_thunder

Florida Chapter member
7,812
246
That's why i couldn't find it...i was looking on driverside.....so used to gas engines lol.....oilburners I've skimmed through and such but haven't really read and read I'll check it out thanks guys....
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
Another good diesel site is thedieselgarage.com... used to be fairly active, but with school and work and everything else going on, just haven't gotten back there much, down to mostly two sites I stick with now, and a few less active sites...
 

flareside_thunder

Florida Chapter member
7,812
246
Yea I checked that one out but i think that one has a premium and i'm too broke as it is..i did however, register on oilburners...talk about an active site..lotsa good info too.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
Diesel garage is free too, no premium required last I knew.. Just checked, still free (I never paid for it anyway...)
 
Last edited:

Ford Truck Articles

Top