Broken down BJ40 in Medford, OR (2 Viewers)

[Sean Allan]

It's not quite over...

Hey guys,

As per my previous post, we discovered that it was bad fuel (gasoline instead of diesel), however I now believe that I have some kind of engine damage as I'm getting a loud knock-knock-knocking.

So... we drained the tank of about 10gal of diesel/gasoline mix: thanks for the disposal suggestions, I'll see if the local FD will take it away from the Toyota dealership.

We installed a new fuel filter and we purged all the air which took alot of a lot of priming pump pumping and then cracking the injector feed tubes when we finally got it to idle. We managed to get all the bad fuel out of the lines, and we managed to get the beast to run!

BUT... now I have a horrible knocking noise and I fear that running on this gasoline/diesel mixture has led to serious internal engine damage. Opinons: do you think the higher explosive pop of gasoline would kill a 3B driving from Roseburg (farther than Canyonville!) all the way to Sunny Valley? What possible failures could have resulted from running on a gasoline/diesel mixture for nearly 40miles?

Do diesel and gasoline mix freely? or do they seperate out into two seperate liquids floating on one another?

What should I do next? The engine is clearly not a runner, and will not make it either to home (vancouver) or Baja. Yes, I should probably go on a Jetboat ride to take my mind off of the truck, but I would just rather go surfing in Baja.

1) Replace Engine: um... Steve T. how much did you want for a 3B engine?

2) Find a diesel mechanic to disassemble and fix problem(s) as a result of running on gas.

3) Buy another American Cruiser and tow mine home after driving down to the baja to go an surf and take my mind of of the truck.

As usual, I hope I'm keeping you guys all entertained, thanks for you input.

I'm now stuck in the Windmill Inn in Roseburg. We decided that we should take this issue up with the Shell station in Roseburg that gave us the incorrect fuel, we'll go and see how the cards play out tomorrow.

Call me if you have any great suggestions or ideas (541)-673-0901 rm 108

Regards,
Sean Allan & Ros Boyce

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Sean, sorry to hear that the engine might be damaged!

I'm in Seattle, let me know if I can help in any way!

If you need to bring it back to B.C., consider renting a big U-Haul, etc. truck and loading the BJ40 into the bed for the trip back north.

Good luck!

Alan

 

[crushers]

Hey guys,

As per my previous post, we discovered that it was bad fuel (gasoline instead of diesel), however I now believe that I have some kind of engine damage as I'm getting a loud knock-knock-knocking.

So... we drained the tank of about 10gal of diesel/gasoline mix: thanks for the disposal suggestions, I'll see if the local FD will take it away from the Toyota dealership.

We installed a new fuel filter and we purged all the air which took alot of a lot of priming pump pumping and then cracking the injector feed tubes when we finally got it to idle. We managed to get all the bad fuel out of the lines, and we managed to get the beast to run!

BUT... now I have a horrible knocking noise and I fear that running on this gasoline/diesel mixture has led to serious internal engine damage. Opinons: do you think the higher explosive pop of gasoline would kill a 3B driving from Roseburg (farther than Canyonville!) all the way to Sunny Valley? What possible failures could have resulted from running on a gasoline/diesel mixture for nearly 40miles?

Do diesel and gasoline mix freely? or do they seperate out into two seperate liquids floating on one another?

What should I do next? The engine is clearly not a runner, and will not make it either to home (vancouver) or Baja. Yes, I should probably go on a Jetboat ride to take my mind off of the truck, but I would just rather go surfing in Baja.

1) Replace Engine: um... Steve T. how much did you want for a 3B engine?

2) Find a diesel mechanic to disassemble and fix problem(s) as a result of running on gas.

3) Buy another American Cruiser and tow mine home after driving down to the baja to go an surf and take my mind of of the truck.

As usual, I hope I'm keeping you guys all entertained, thanks for you input.

I'm now stuck in the Windmill Inn in Roseburg. We decided that we should take this issue up with the Shell station in Roseburg that gave us the incorrect fuel, we'll go and see how the cards play out tomorrow.

Call me if you have any great suggestions or ideas (541)-673-0901 rm 108

Regards,
Sean Allan & Ros Boyce

where is the knocking sound coming from? the fuel injector pump area, the bottom end, the head area? could you still have some residue gas in there that is causing the problems? could it be air in the lines? is it a hard knock or a "tin" thin metal knock?
i would apprach the shell about a rental to get the truck back home or shipping by transport back home and reapirs to be covered at a later time. rent a vehicle for the remainder of the trip.
sorry to hear of the continued problems.

 

[crushers]

if you need valves i should have some kicking around here and the head gasket is a dealer item. i am having a hard time trying to picture a bent valve though...
cheers

 

[cruiser_guy]

I will say, when my pre-cup went, it started with a knock that I couldn't place. I was lucky in that the 'cup dropped during idle and didn't do really serious damage but it did start as a knock.
Maybe Wayne or others would know if running a gas/diesel mix would increase EGT's and thereby the likelyhood of cracking things like head and/or pre-cup.
I'd be tempted to pull the head and take a look.

 

[crushers]

i would run it for a bit and make sure it isn't still contaminated fuel...mind you i am here and you are there so i can not hear the knock so take this advice with a grain of salt...

since i have been lucky and have not had this happen to me, i really don't know if the egts would be increased or not...

cheers

 

[Behemoth60]

since i have been lucky and have not had this happen to me, i really don't know if the egts would be increased or not...

I've likewise never had this happen. Theory would suggest that gasoline would NOT make higher EGT's, as gas has LESS energy in it than diesel.

In theory, a diesel engine is ominverous and can burn pretty much any fuel.

The reason that gas is bad is becuase it has no lubrication properties like diesel, and the injection pump and injectors rely on the lubricity of the diesel to keep them lubed. The other bad thing about gas is that it vapourizes very easily and could easily be vapourizing in the lines whereas the diesel remains liquid until forced through the injectors nozzles. If it is vapourizing in the lines, it would be exploding out through the nozzle ahead of TDC and easily cause a knock.

Other than injector pump failure, I am not certain of any damage that gas would do to the motor itself. Although anything is possible. There's a gazzillion things that could be causing a knock.

My advice... if it's broken, then it's broken and driving it a bit probably won't make it too much worse than it already is. If it's not broken and just a bit of residual fuel causing the knock, then drive it for a few hours and see if it clears up. If the engine siezes in the interim, well, them's the breaks. You sound committed to a major overhaul now anyway.

As someone said to me after I ran my 3B at >2,000F EGT's for a week... "The 3B's a tough little rattler that's hard to kill". Indeed, I am still running that engine at 20PSI boost 4 years later! I would be a bit surprised if your engine really is a gonner. Drive it, my friend. Drive it till it dies, then go for a jet boat ride.

Peter Straub

 

[ridgerunner]

I topped off my tank with gas once (though the pump said diesel) and had a hell of a time figuring it out. My engine (though not a toyota) has not suffered any irreparable damage, and after I replaced the fuel and ran it for a while, all symptoms went away. As Peter said, if it's trashed, what do you have to lose?

 

[andrewfarmer]

did you drain the injector pump - if not you're probably still running on some petrol.
Run it for at least 20 minutes to get rid of any residues...

 

[Mud_Guppie]

I vote for left over gas or air in the lines, drive it for a bit and see what happens, then go on that boat ride
the guy who bought my FJ45 paid $1100 usd to get it shipped from my place in BC to his place in LA, Cali.
it would be cheaper for you because you're closer and there is no paperwork for customs

if it does die, bring it home and fix it right
I have at least 3 running B engines and 1 only 3B that I would be willing to sell for an install, the rest have something to be fixed.

good luck!!!

 

[1FE pig]

I would trade a 3B for the fj45 in sunnyside ,WA.

 

[mallred]

I would trade a 3B for the fj45 in sunnyside ,WA.

WTF ! Did I miss something ?

 

[Sean Allan]

STILL not over

It's still not over!

We did a little touring in a rental car and went back to Roseburg where we got the "suspected" bad fuel. Well it looks like they did give us diesel. The reciept they gave us says so, and it comes from the pump that the fuel was dispensed with.

So this changes the situation a bit.

Now the situation reads like this. High mileage B engine with a fresh rebuild head all of a sudden starts going knock knock knock while on a long highway drive. The knock sounds like something from the head, it's definitely a clack clack clack. I don't think it's the bottom bearings, as I can turn the engine freely by hand. I've had the valve cover off, and used the proper feeler gauges to check the valve clearances (all good). I fear it's the dreaded "dropped pre-cup" but the ones I put in there several months ago where brand new and in terrific shape.

Nobody here (in Medford) has expressed any interest in repairing this, so we've put the vehicle in storage and we are tossing around our plans.

Anybody got a vehicle I can rent? borrow? buy? If and when I return to Vancouver, I'm going to have to buy a diesel pickup truck and head back to Medford to tow my beloved cruiser home.

Anybody got a trailer going from South to North?

I think I definitely am going to be needing a 3B engine (this is an excellent time to upgrade from B to 3B)

Crap this is going to be expensive. I'm going to be in debt for years.


Thank you

to everyone for your posts and all your help. Cruiser folk shore are nice :0)

Regards,
Sean Allan & Ros Boyce
(in rainy Medford, OR)

 

[Sean Allan]

you want me to try and bring back the FJ45 in Sunnyside WA while I'm busy towing rigs all accross the country? It might just be worth it, if the 3B you have is in super primo shape.

HAHA sean.

 

[crushers]

dropped a precup?

 

[wesintl]

Gas and diesel mix. I think some truckers regularly add 5-10 gal of gas to 100 gal as a cheap antigel solution. I had to use a jerry can that had gas in it the previous night filled with diesel cause I didn't think i'd need an extra can while hunting. My buddies forgot to tell me I was going to do all the driving in camp. ;( no ill effects

Does it idle at all? Was/is oil pressure good? Do you have oil at the rockers?

 

[1FE pig]

you want me to try and bring back the FJ45.
No silly,You just need to get the pallit off the back of the truck.

 

[cruiser_guy]

What I did was rent a U-Haul van and tow dolly and brought the truck back with that. The first thing I would do is pull the head and look. That will make it clear if it is the dreaded pre-cup. You could even do that in Medford on your own if no one else will do it. I've pulled lots of heads and many pre-cups were cracked but the dangerous ones are the ones cracked in such a way that part of the pre-cup can break off and fall into the combustion chamber. If you've got a bad one I imagine it would be very loose and there would be marks on the piston and around the pre-cup in the head.
Do you have a pyrometer on the truck? If so have you had it hot (1200+)?

 

[PabloCruise]

O-k, WTF is a pre-cup?

 

[red66toy]

It's still not over!



Anybody got a vehicle I can rent? borrow? buy? If and when I return to Vancouver, I'm going to have to buy a diesel pickup truck and head back to Medford to tow my beloved cruiser home.

I dont know why you would buy a truck just to tow your cruiser home. Just ship it, I am sure it is much cheaper than buying a new truck.