My list of excuses for getting very little work done on the truck the past two weekends. A 20 mile hike over a mountain, Snake training the dogs (totally unnecessary), another birthday bbq, Mothers Day brunch, a flute quartet concert, feeding cows, moving a horse trailer with a gannon, and bleeding the fuel system on a Dodge Diesel. That and my normal work schedule.
All that aside, I still managed to sneak some 59 time in. I ran another diesel purge, and there was almost no rust particle residue in the pan. I decided it would live or die on the filter, and put the truck back together. I used the old oil pan gasket because I am going to drop it one more time in a couple of weeks. Filled it with just good old fashioned oil (and some seafoam) installed a new filter, and let her run for about an hour. Seemed ok to me.
I figured that the loose groundwire was probably attached to the starter bolt, and I forgot to put it back on when we cleaned the starter, so I remedied that. I put a new clip on the temperature gauge wire, but I am still not sure if the gauge is working. The old timers tell me the truck takes a while to heat up, and that I probably need to replace the thermostat. We will see.
I put the valve cover back on with a new gasket and everything. I figured there was nothing left for me to see in there, and it is only 4 screws anyway. I did the cap and rotor and plugs and wires. Still have the points and condenser(?) to add. I ran another test fire, and she popped right off, did not even need the battery charger.
I was sitting there pretty proud of myself, basking in my accomplishments, and then my father wandered over. He twisted the cap around a bit, revved the motor a bit, and pronounced "you are missing on a cylinder" He started popping wires off of the distributor cap one at a time, and decided it was the 3 cylinder. I was late for the flute concert, so we left it that. I am going to run compression tests today after work. One theory is that a bit of rust is holding a valve open.
I have also been spraying the bolts that hold the saddle gas tank on the side of the truck with penetrating oil whenever I walk by. I demolished the rotting wood planks at the front of the bed, and plan to work on the gas tank as my next project.
https://twoheelers.tumblr.com/post/160629106679/the-engine-is-what-it-is-at-this-point-on-to-theWe popped a plate off the top, and shone a light in. It does not look that bad all things considered. Some light rust at a highwater mark. I'll pop the endoscope in to get a better view. More concerning is that someone rotatated the tank slightly for better fill tube access, and the petcock drain is no longer centered. There is a swamp of sludge at the bottom. At the least I need to loosen the straps enough to rotate it plumb, and drain the tank fully. We will see what the scope says. My cousin that I hiked the mountain with thinks he may have some newer aluminum saddle tanks laying around. I may go that route.
The current plan is, no more plans. Our social lives are interfering with our truck and garden and goose hobbies, so we are not making any plans. I will still help grandpa with whatever he needs around the ranch, and I will help my uncle/cousin try to figure out why the ranch truck Cummins will not fire. Beyond that, I am all Chevy all the time. The general thought process is that today, I will run a compression test on all cylinders. Assuming I am not pulling the motor out of the truck after that, I will move on to the other items. I'll run the truck once a day while playing with fuel tanks and the brake system. Then the lights. If all is still functioning when that is done in a week or so, I will drop the oil pan one more time. Change the oil and filter, and go for a test drive.
