3B REBUILD: It's all easy except for the easy stuff. (1 Viewer)

[code 621]

Its been a tough year for the 3B powered 60...Things seemed like they were going well. I had just returned from a trip to the coast across the Rockies and back to the prairies when a knock started that was felt in the clutch pedal. I kept fiddling with the range selector as it felt like the T.C. was in-between gears. It got worse. I idled across town back to my garage.
I delivered the block to the machine shop, who informed me that the crank was broken. Luckily I had a spare 3B so I stripped the crank from that. Replaced the cam shaft w/new import unit from 4Wheel auto. The rebuild Kit came from Engine Australia. The Kit clearly states that it is not intended for Turbo applications. Sales dude recommended ceramic coating to help with heat dispersal for a reasonable fee. Cool --they arrived 2 tone coated. He was stoked. I hope nobody sees them for a LONG time. Besides @gerg said it worked for him. Good enough for me.
The assembly was detailed but not difficult.

First serious challenge: Lining up the block to the mounted tranny. I didn't take the tranny out with the block. Probably should have. Wish I had. By the time a guy has the block in position- has a bolt in one side of the bell housing- has already spent a couple hours rolling around in the ice trying to push a heavy chunk around- all niceties go away. It actually took me 3 evenings of pushing, pulling, and forcing to finally get it to pop into place. When it finally goes on the tranny input shaft there is no drama - it just slips on. Sigh.

Second and Current serious challenge: Purging Air from the fuel system.
I have an upgraded fuel filter system that consists of a pair of Clarcore (Stanadyne) filters. A 30 micron w/ water separator bowl and a 3 micron final. ( supplied by GCL in Edmonton ) I have a Bosh primer pump. I have run this filter set up for years w/ only issue centered around the locking ring being hard to get locked. I had a simple brass valve on the head of the final filter to purge air. After 2 days of pumping (with my special pump extender handle), loosing injector lines, cranking, tightning injector lines, cranking, pumping, tightning hose clamps, spraying diesel everywhere...if it hadn't started I would have capitchulated 2 tool throwing freak outs ago.
Got it started the first time. Cool. Sounds great. Right as I started driving down the alley it quit. spent the rest of the short daylight hours getting it back to the driveway.
I repeated the whole thing the next day. Another diesel soaked afternoon down - trying to find the air leak. The third afternoon (today) I took the whole filter setup apart and re-did all the seals @ the threaded fuel line connections. Double checked that the hand pump was pushing fuel. It started. I rev-ed it up. Sounds good. I didn't want to Idle too long. Research on Ih8mud & others say not to idle new rebuild more than 2 minutes. Rev-ed it a couple more times. Down the alley I went. Left turn & gaining confidence. Left turn down the Drive & feeling like I've won...it died in front of the house. Rest of the afternoon spent towing it around to the alley and getting back into work spot. Bummer. I went to the hardware for a replacement bleeder valve and brass fittings. Guy in plumbing section says "I'm a diesel guy too". I clearly reeked of fuel.

Got to come to terms with this pin hole air leak!

 

[duncanrm]

I am guessing some of the hard line banjos were disturbed during the rebuild.. if so, were the copper crush washers replaced on those when refitted (one either side of each banjo).

 

[code 621]

Good suggestion. I didn't disturb the 'in' side of the primer pump. Maybe I'll open that up and replace the copper washers. all others were replaced. Thanks

 

[code 621]

I was reading through @drdalloway 's post & responses from @duncanrm & @roscoFJ73 . Sounds like he has (had) the same problem.

duncanrm's Lift Pump Video was helpful in deciding that both of my pumps are OK. I removed the lift pump from truck and from parts engine -- Defiantly don't have the spring issue he showed in video. I took the lift pump from my spare block & cleaned it a bit - put my bosh priming pump on it & put it all back together with new copper washers & clamps on all the fuel lines. I was easily able to push fuel through both filters and crank fuel to the injectors. I used the backup pump just because it looked cleaner.
I got it to fire a couple times. cough and sputter. By then the battery was getting slow so I put the battery on charge and came in for lunch. I'm ready for some success.

 

[roscoFJ73]

A short piece of clear hose which can be placed between 2 points can help you pin point the location of the air leak.
A fuel container in the engine bay can tell you if the injection pump, injector lines and injector are ok.
You could have a small split in the end of a hose around the hose clamp.

 

[code 621]

Thanks for the response @roscoFJ73 -- I'm starting to run out of time and I appreciate your input as work and a million other things are calling. Your Input and Mud in general is priceless.
Here's the plan:
Fuel source in the engine bay w/ no filters. Pump fuel from a bottle straight into the lift pump. Test drive successfully. Replace filter set up. Drive off into the sunset.

Got it to start this afternoon. Same scenario as OP. Ran for about 10 min/2KM driving. This time, while still in the alley, I pumped the prime pump and opened the bleeder and tons of very fine bubbles flowed out. Towed it back to my garage for 3rd time.

 

[roscoFJ73]

I would try running the fuel from a larger container, like 4-5 litres or what ever you call them there, and see if it runs longer.
When I have these problems I drive up and down the street so Im never far away. Neighbours scratch their heads.

 

[stevebradford]

I had a similar situation three different times it would run for a few minutes and die and run fine again once primed and bled.

Once when I forgot to reinstall the rubber hose at the back end of the injector excess fuel pipe.

Again when that same rubber hose got an invisible crack in it that you could only see when the hose was flexed.

And another time when an aluminum washer between an injector and that same excess fuel rail was weeping although that time it would only pull air in when the motor cooled down.

My cousin used that aftermarket cam from 4wheel and it started losing chunks of metal on the lobes with brand new lifters at 7000 kilometres. He had to pull it and reuse a good original one.

As Rosco said clear hose will let you find where your air is getting in. Good luck!

 

[gerg]

Never underestimate the power of the little rubber return hose. It should not have been so whimsically conceived.

 

[brownbear]

My feelings, you don't need all the extra filters. You live in Canada, we have clean fuel. But if you are travelling south, or up north off drums it's different.
I just would want to bypass all the filters till it is sorted.

The only way I get air out of my engine when disturbed or opened fuel system is running. I put it on a high idle. I crack one injector line at a time at the injector. With a rag around the injector. I do this many many times. Then it may require driving and more cracking. Being that a 3b doesn't have a return line to the tank it just keeps circulating air and can be frustrating to remove it all.

As for the overhaul, don't use synthetic oil for about 5K KMS (50 hours of use). Let the engine break in with a standard mineral oil.

 

[code 621]

Helpful input gentlemen! Heading out to the garage to execute these suggestions. That little return hose is an easy one - just gonna replace. I got a male to male union so I can bypass the filters and new fittings and plugs for my filter heads for after the bypass test as well as new 'O' rings.
Copy the natural oil / break in period. Planning on running for a couple hours then change once I get past this bubble challenge.

 

[code 621]

Turns out that little hose was in somewhat rough shape. One end was a bit stretched -- Replaced. I hooked up my bypass so that the system was limited to: fuel in to lift pump - fuel line from lift pump to injector. Quick / easy prime. Quick / easy start. Messy but relatively easy bleed @ injector. Unfortunately this did not solve the issue. Now it only runs for a couple minutes. I switched from Bosh hand pump to original back up. That didn't do it. After the couple minutes of running the fuel line after the lift pump has bubbles in it. Could the O ring between the lift pump and the injector body be the source?

 

[REDREEFER]

May I suggest a rusted out fuel pick up tube at the fuel tank? Pretty common cause of the problem you describe.

 

[brownbear]

Hey it might not be air causing it to shut down. How about oil pressure? There is a low oil pressure cut off.

Also you may want to unhook the edic arm to ensure it isn't activating shut down. I don't have my FSM handy to know if the oil pressure cut off is normally open circuit that closes with low pressure or if it is normally closed circuit that opens.. The switch may be faulty even if you have oil pressure. Depending on the circuit either pulling the connect will by pass it, or you have to jump the connector.

It shuts it down with the edic arm, so pulling the arm will keep it running if this is the fault. Hard to see it when driving..

 

[code 621]

OK. That fits in w/ the fellas above suggested running it from a separate source. I wasn't able to make that happen today. But I am running out of sources of bubbles. Fuel pick up. Fuel line. Prime pump. Lift pump. Bubbles.

All that said 20 KM ago, before the crank broke, it all worked fine.

@brownbear - defiantly has bubbles. Pressure release/spurt of bubbly fuel then several pumps until clear fuel flow when I crack the line to injectors. And @ First Start up plenty of oil came from my turbo oil line that I hadn't tightened. Switch is another question tho.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Once you have a separate fuel supply, you can isolate certain things.

 

[code 621]

Cleaned out a outboard gas can I had in the shed - filled it with new fuel --primed, bled, cracked & it ran perfect. Drove around the neighbourhood for 45 min. The hood only blew up once. Great. Backed it in and made a tarp tent & fired up the garage heat and dropped the fuel tank. The pick up cover had surface rust that wire brushed off easily. (California truck) The assembly came out easily and the tank is almost perfect inside. Some tiny dots from the truck sitting 1/3 full since the crank broke in June. The tube(s) didn't have a screen. Reinstalled the assembly / painted the cover. Replaced the rubber fuel line that connects pick up to hard line & doubled up the spring hose clamp w/ a strap unit. Replaced the jumper where the sediment filter used to be. Sprayed a couple cans of Fluid Film and I guess I'm putting the tank back in. I couldn't find any thing amiss & I got to do some housekeeping. Seems like there is 1 more jumper hose under the hood from frame rail to the hard line that crosses the fire wall. I'll have to get in that 1 too. As I type that...maybe I damaged that one when installing engine?
What else is there?
Which tube of the pick up assembly is the longer w/ the 90* hook @ the end? line towards the front of truck? Should have paid closer attention.

 

[code 621]

Borrowed from @roscoFJ73 's 2006 or 08 post

Borrowed from Les Addison on 4wdAction site

"Air leaking into fuel systems can be very difficult to find as some times it wont show a fuel leaking joint, and can cause all sorts of problems. It can be done easily with the right tools. All you need to do is to get a few short pieces of clear plastic hose to suit the sizes of your system, and a couple of brass joiners. Start from the fuel tank, install the clear hose, start the engine and check if there are bubbles. Repeat this sequence at all joints.Throw away fuel filters are prone to suck air from the rolled edges, CAV types can, through the rubber gaskets,and O rings ,tapered brass barbs, and sometimes cracked aluminium housings. Make sure you fit the clear hose to the return line from the injector pump to the tank as air can be sucked through worn or faulty seals. It pays to check the fuel cap for faulty vent action as this causes a vacuum in the system which may suck air at a faulty joint and will sometimes draw fuel from the lift pump/ injector pump causing shut down after a short run then hard starting. Les "

 

[code 621]

I'm betting (from photos I can find) that the line towards back of truck is the long one. If it wasn't such a blind puzzle to get back in I'd just take it apart again.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Which line is that?