3B-T possible edic motor/fuel supply issues? Pretty severe... (1 Viewer)

[theglobb]

Hey there I have a 1987 BJ75 Troopy that has a turbo'd 3B in it, about a week ago going up a hill in 2nd gear my engine started to lag, like majorly lag. I lost boost pretty fast, went from 18psi to 7psi in a matter of moments, pulled over to the side of the road checked my oil, turbo, and anything else and could tell nothing was wrong, visually at least. I got back in, started it and it drove like a champ for a week. Well tonight it happened again, I had probably driven 50 trouble-free miles today alone and 200 or so in the past week and tonight, on an incline, I was gaining momentum and then BOOM, all my power was just sucked away, almost like something was either blocking the intake or fuel system. I pulled over and it idled fine, just a bit high, maybe 200-300rpms higher than usual. The RPMs have been getting slightly higher every day since the first incident a week ago. I got back in and it was driving fine for about a minute and then started lugging and sucking my boost away rapidly. Then at random points while I was limping it home it would run like a top with no issue and other times I would be in 5th gear and within 30 seconds would end up in 2nd gear just because it cut off most of my fuel. Seems to happen more often when the engine is under heavy load, or maybe on an incline. Here are a few videos of while the issue was happening.



My guess was the EDIC was acting up/had a bad ground or something so I disconnected the rod from my injection pump in case it was trying to shut off the engine intermittently, yet the problem still persists with the rod totally disconnected. I don't think it would be a clogged filter because it is happening randomly, just goes from running amazing to horrible in a matter of seconds. My knowledge of the EDIC system is limited so if someone else has any clue as to what could be causing this it would be greatly appreciated! Need to drive 6 hours home from college next weekend for spring break and right now it's not looking like that's gonna be happening. Here's a video after I disconnected the EDIC rod.


I'll appreciate any advice/feedback on this issue. I still think it has to be something electrical... only thing that would be keeping my engine from running is a lack of air or fuel... and there's nothing blocking the intake so it has to be fuel/EDIC related I would think. Thanks!

 

[OTBT]

My first guess would not be the EDIC - the basic three states of the rod position are: off, over-injection (starting) and on. Reading your description of the problem I agree that it seems fuel related. Having said that, I would suspect water in the fuel, or dirt. Do you have a water separator (like a Racor) before your fuel filter ? The other question I would look at is when the last time you changed the fulel filters ? Did you recently get fuel somewhere unusual ?

Another issue with diesel fuel is biological - namely algae - that can prosper in diesel. A good solution is to use a fuel treatment like truckers use , available pretty well anywhere diesel is sold or NAPA or where ever.

Something else crosses my mind as I type this, and that is the diaphragm in the injection pump may be getting ready to fail. It is fairly simple for any diesel shop to replace it, but I would not feel comfortable doing it myself.

BTW - what colour is the exhaust when this happens ?

Good Luck ... Glenn

 

[theglobb]

My first guess would not be the EDIC - the basic three states of the rod position are: off, over-injection (starting) and on. Reading your description of the problem I agree that it seems fuel related. Having said that, I would suspect water in the fuel, or dirt. Do you have a water separator (like a Racor) before your fuel filter ? The other question I would look at is when the last time you changed the fulel filters ? Did you recently get fuel somewhere unusual ?

Another issue with diesel fuel is biological - namely algae - that can prosper in diesel. A good solution is to use a fuel treatment like truckers use , available pretty well anywhere diesel is sold or NAPA or where ever.

Something else crosses my mind as I type this, and that is the diaphragm in the injection pump may be getting ready to fail. It is fairly simple for any diesel shop to replace it, but I would not feel comfortable doing it myself.

BTW - what colour is the exhaust when this happens ?

Good Luck ... Glenn

I was tired last night, after a bit of reading and reflection/just thinking stuff through I believe it is in fact the diaphragm... I do have a racor with about 15,000 miles on it, same for my OEM fuel filter. I checked both and they didn't seem bad, I replaced the 2 filters with spares I had and the problem still persists. I use diesel additive/treatment during every fill-up that should prevent algae from growing unless it's faulty, as well as adding lubricity to the diesel in place of sulfur etc etc.

I had the idea of the diaphragm in the back of my mind but I really didn't want it to be that, just some clogged filter or EDIC ground issue. Was really hoping a funky ground would be making the EDIC switch back and forth randomly to off and back to on, causing the fuel delivery issue, that obviously isn't the case. I have the 3B tuned to not really ever smoke, except on startup, or if it's pegged at 20psi in low range 2nd gear, never have really seen any smoke color other than on startup, even when the problem happens there is no visible smoke.

Reasons I believe it's the diaphragm: the filters are fine, the EDIC functions fine, and in the video, below you can watch me suck on the venturi lines trying to build vacuum but it just feels like I'm sucking through a straw, also the idle has been getting higher and higher consistently throughout the past month.



Below are photos of the outside and inside of the fuel filter, I forgot to take one of the racor.

I've also noticed my IP wet with diesel in the past 3 weeks but nothing enough to cause a drip, just like wet. A year ago it was pissing out diesel and I just needed to tighten one of the lines but the 17mm lines are tight and I don't have a wrench big enough to get what I'm assuming are 21mm's to tighten. I think this is a separate issue because it is wet above the diaphragm and to the left of it too...


Time to find the diaphragm, I might try to limp the troopy 6 hours home to work on it, who knows that may turn into 12 hours with the random fuel cutoff. Thanks so much for the info!!

 

[iliketrucks]

Post number 9 in this thread 3B diaphragm replacement - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/3b-diaphragm-replacement.182948/ says you can test it by sucking on the venturi line. In any case it's probably wise to replace it if it's old/original. I hope it does the trick for you, I have read high idle is a symptom...

And to maintain the new one: 3B diaphragm oil - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/3b-diaphragm-oil.1151270/

 

[theglobb]

Post number 9 in this thread 3B diaphragm replacement - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/3b-diaphragm-replacement.182948/ says you can test it by sucking on the venturi line. In any case it's probably wise to replace it if it's old/original. I hope it does the trick for you, I have read high idle is a symptom...

And to maintain the new one: 3B diaphragm oil - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/3b-diaphragm-oil.1151270/

Yup! sucked on it and held no vacuum, thanks for the links as well as how to maintain it whenever I replace it.