Lets start out with troubleshooting.
I was driving up to an intersection at lunch time last week and the engine just died. No stumbling, sputtering or struggling, just turned off. It turned over fine but would not start. I fiddled some with no success and called a co-worker to give me a tow back to work (1/2 mile, I didn't get very far). I fiddled some more in the parking lot but gave up when the 40mph winds were blowing the sideways rain drops up my nose! I got it towed home and continued my troubleshooting the next day. I have two fuel filters: 1 is pre lift pump and 2 is post lift pump. 1 was full of diesel and 2 was more than half empty. The lift pump seemed to prime fine but the engine still didn't fire. I cracked a banjo bolt before filter 2 and tested the lift pump. The pressure seemed fine but at the end of the pump I got some bubbles from the line. I figured it was a hole in the diaphram on my lift pump and air was getting in. I thought about a piston style pump but due to time and funding I just replaced it with another diaphram style pump.
I also took out the fuel cut-off solenoid thinking that was why the engine just stopped without any stumbling. I should have tried a hot 12v to it first but I didn't, here's what it looks like.
If the solenoid is faulty and you need to take this out so you can get diesel to your injection pump just take the plunger and spring out and reinstall the body back in the hole.
Don't forget to put the o-ring back on the solenoid or it won't seal and you'll get air sucked in the injection pump and that will lead to air in your injection lines. I did find this out the hard way and cost me a couple hours of head scratching.
Once I figured out air was coming in and no amount of bleeding the injectors was going help I put the o-ring back in and re-bled. I went through a charge on the battery and had to wait while a battery charger gave it juice for a few more turnovers for the bleeding process. I finally got enough air out of the line that it started. It stumbled for 10-15 seconds, ran rough for 20 seconds while it purged the rest of the air out and then started purring again. I turned it off and made sure it would start back up and it did. I then re-installed the plunger on the fuel cut-off solenoid and found it was working fine.
The other culprit I didn't consider is that I actually ran out of diesel. Since the rear quarter cut I hadn't drilled a new hole for the fuel sender wire to pass through the body and connect with the harness so my fuel gauge wasn't working. I figured I was getting close but was going off of mileage. What I forgot to consider is the difference in the tire size
(from 35s to 38s) When I drilled a hole and connected it back up the gauge read empty. However, it's one of those areas where it's degrees of emptiness but apparently I was close to the last degree. I put 2 gallons in to make it to a diesel station so I wouldn't have to do this again. So I'm not absolutely sure the lift pump was shot. The air bubbles were compelling enough for me and now I've got a spare I can carry around. So it turned into an exercise to get to know my engine better and what to do if I ever run out of diesel again. Moral is, don't run out of diesel!
With that experience and success under my belt I turned to getting the lock-up wired. When I called transgo several months ago about wiring up the solenoid in the tranny I was told to step down the voltage. Well, another tried that out and it didn't work. He talked to his tranny guys and ended up running straight 12v to it and it worked fine so that's what I planned. I went to radio shack thinking they'd have the biggest selection of switches but only found toggle style switches that were rated for 12v. I ended up getting and automotive toggle rated for 12v/20amp. I also picked up LEDs with a built-in resistor so all I'd have to do it wire it in with the switch. I bought two LEDS thinking I'd put one in the dash eventually. Cost me $7
I took my shifter apart, decided on a location, drilled some holes and put them in.
Pulled a 12v source from the fuse block and wired it up.
Found some connectors that would fit the tranny pins and hooked them up. I want to finish this up better but for tryouts this will do.
Put it all back together and went for a quick test. I flick the switch and the lock-up engages. I'll do a little learning on when it should and shouldn't be engaged but sure makes it feel like a direct connection between the engine and the tires. Success.
