Down for the count(10/31/04)

[NoSlack]

Went out to start the truck so I could back her up to the boat and the engine was locked up! Good battery voltage but the engine wouldn't turn over. I pop the hood and see the air cleaner cover had a puddle of water on it from the rain. I'm sure some of that water ran down through the bolt in the center of the cover and into the intake. At 14:1 compression on those old 6.9 diesels, there is no way it will turn over if there's water in a cylinder.

Looks like Sunday I'll be turning wrenches instead of pulling on some rockcod. If all goes well the water will blow out the glow plug holes and I'll be able to get her started. From there time will tell if anything else got damaged.

On the bright side for you guys, this might be a good time to kick off next years tournament and get an early lead while I'm down.

On the bright side for me, if I end up buying a new truck, I'll be traveling a lot farther from home to fish this year. Look for my Salmon and Seabass slot to get filled.

Charlie can you check with Drew Ford and see if they would like to sponsor the 2004 BOCA tournament. A 2005 F-350 Diesel 4X4 sure would go good with the new jacket.

Mike

[Nomad]

Who said anything about a "new" jacket - first place get's "a" jacket...

Right now it's a vintage 1970 Nehru jacket in lime green with a boca logo embroidered on it! I may upgrade and get some yellow patches for the elbows. Will look very stylish out on the water!

[NoSlack]

1970 lime green, sweet.

If you came through with those details earlier in the year, I'm sure we would have seen a better effort from likes of Russ and Marc.

Mike

[DOGHOUSE26]

Wouldn't it take alot of water to drain through the Air Cleaner housing to lock it up?

And the starter spins OK?

I've never encountered that on my 87 F350, where does the water get into the top of your air cleaner housing?

[NoSlack]

The starter engages but won't spin the engine. You can feel the torque when the starter hits, but nothing happens. It acts just like an old boat engine I had that sucked water in the pistons. Blew out the water, fired that on back up and she was still running great 2 years later when I sold it to by my current ride.

With the amount of water on top of the air cleaner, some had to seep down into the intake. With all the wind and rain we had it's hard to say how much got in there.

I'll pull the glow plugs in the morning and see if I can blow it out with the starter.

Mike

[NoSlack]

Time will tell but I think she's OK. Pulled the air cleaner and took a look into the intake manifold. Sure enough, there was an inch of rain water in the intake.

Broke out the shop vac, some small rubber hose and sucked it all out. Ran a rag in as far as I could to pick up the rest, then blew the rest out the glow plug holes while the enginge was cranking.

She fired right up like nothing ever happened.

I love my diesels if that was a gas engine, I'd still be picking up the pieces from the first time I tried to start it.

Mike

[DOGHOUSE26]

Mike,

How's the water getting on top of your air cleaner housing ? Is it dripping off the front cowl below the windshield wipers?

[NoSlack]

That's as good of guess as any. The whole time I was working on it this morning the dew was dripping right on the intake. I think the water is getting in the void below the wipers and working it's way through a seam in the sheet metal.

For now I fabed up a sheet metal deflector that goes over the air cleaned. That should shed the water until I find the source of the leak.

Mike

[Moo Fish]

undefinedEverybody uses the Blue Plastic Tarps.....rt