Engine squeak/squeal

[rwilliam99]

I don't know what we are doing wrong, but when I put the wire from the starter relay to the dizzy end of the resistor, we get no spark. If I leave it off, we get the engine to run. At this point, I'm tempted to just leave it as is, since it seems to work that way.

Once we got it running, we ran into more issues - The thermostat doesn't appear to be opening, so it ran hot and we had to shut it off. We also appear to have an exhaust leak at the new header somewhere. The darn truck is fighting at every step!

[fordman]

something i was thinking. is since the wiring probelm wasnt were we all thought it might be is if you just removed that new wire and put the wiring all back stock the way it was. it should then run like it did before. a thermostat isn't hard to replace. just another thing to do.

[rwilliam99]

That thought crossed my mind as well, unfortunately, it won't be easy to do since I cut the wires pretty close to the plug(s), and there isn't a whole lot of spare length in those wires.

[fordman]

one thing that i s apain but can be done with enough patience. is to take the wire ancd clip out of the socket that it was cut from like the ignition switch and put a new end on the old wire to hook it back up. but if you've cut it close to a molded plug you wont be able to make that happen unless you bypass the molded plug at the firewall connection.

[Dragon]

I never start a new engine with a thermostat. Remove it and put it in a pan of water and turn it on It will open up as the water reached the setting temp.

Headers or iron manifolds. Sorry to say with headers money solves a lot. Cheap is headaches. Headers need to be fired up shut down and cooled off and retorqued. Several times but now if the gasket is leaking replace it. Don't try and reuse it.

[rwilliam99]

This isn't a new engine, only a new intake, carb, header and radiator. It was working fine before the accident. It must have gotten stuck in the accident.

Back to the troubleshooting tonight......

[rwilliam99]

Found out the cause of the thermostat issue.....There was an air bubble that needed to be burped. It is working fine now. Still experimenting with the wiring issue. At least it is running now!

[rwilliam99]

Well, to anyone who is interested in this ongoing saga.....An update.

The truck actually moved last night! There are two existing issues that are going to get fixed today - an engine tick, which sounds like a mis-adjusted valve and the passenger front brake sticks a bit, so it pulls a little bit when braking. It did that before the accident on and off, but I think it is stickier now since it has been sitting for a couple of months. The valve adjustment is probably due to two new pushrods that my son's friend installed. He checked the valve lash, and while doing that, found two pushrods that were bent a little bit, so replaced them.

As far as the resistor goes, we could never get it to work with the wire from the starter solenoid connected. When that was connected and the key turned on, the resistor lit up like a toaster. Disconnected, it works and starts fine. Checking the wires, they seem to work fine individually. When the key is on, the wire from the switch is getting power, and after going through the resistor, is something like 8 volts (maybe a little less). The wire from the starter solenoid only gets voltage when it is in the start position. I even had my brother over here to help, and he couldn't figure it out either. We tried to hook up the plug just like it was before, but the resistance wire was bad, and we couldn't splice in another wire there anyway, since I didn't leave enough wire on the plug. There isn't a whole lot of spare wire under the dash there....Anyway, I figure if it is working, I'm going to leave it.

The only other odd thing is that the ALT light is now on all the time, however the alternator is charging the battery, so something is off there.....Again, for the time being, if things are working, I'm going to leave it. At least it will be mobile again!

Thank you again for all the advice and help during this long process.....

[Dragon]

There are two existing issues that are going to get fixed today - an engine tick, which sounds like a mis-adjusted valve.

Passenger front brake sticks a bit, so it pulls a little bit when braking. It did that before the accident on and off, but I think it is stickier now since it has been sitting for a couple of months.

You have that one adjusted closer to the drum than the others. Sticking would stop it from pulling to that side.

The valve adjustment is probably due to two new pushrods that my son's friend installed. He checked the valve lash, and while doing that, found two pushrods that were bent a little bit, so replaced them.

Sounds like the wrong length pushrods.

As far as the resistor goes, we could never get it to work with the wire from the starter solenoid connected. When that was connected and the key turned on, the resistor lit up like a toaster. Disconnected, it works and starts fine. Checking the wires, they seem to work fine individually. When the key is on, the wire from the switch is getting power, and after going through the resistor, is something like 8 volts (maybe a little less). The wire from the starter solenoid only gets voltage when it is in the start position.

If the resistance wire was bad you would get nothing if the resistor was bad. The starter solenoid feed goes to the coil + terminal. If it makes the resistor heat up you have a short somewhere that allows it to back feed through the wiring system to ground.

The only other odd thing is that the ALT light is now on all the time, however the alternator is charging the battery, so something is off there.

Sounds like a short in the Alt light system. Wire 904 goes to the VR and the light relay in the VR could be stuck closed. I am reverencing the same diagram you did wiring-1969charging2.jpg The accident force vector could have been bent the arms inside the VR forwards jamming one or shorting one. The arms are pointing up and their left side is pointing forward.

[rwilliam99]

Passenger front brake sticks a bit, so it pulls a little bit when braking. It did that before the accident on and off, but I think it is stickier now since it has been sitting for a couple of months.

You have that one adjusted closer to the drum than the others. Sticking would stop it from pulling to that side.

Fixed this one. Just an adjustment seems to have cured it.

The valve adjustment is probably due to two new pushrods that my son's friend installed. He checked the valve lash, and while doing that, found two pushrods that were bent a little bit, so replaced them.

Sounds like the wrong length pushrods.

Replaced the pushrods, and replaced all the adjuster nuts since a couple of them were worn out. This is fixed now...

As far as the resistor goes, we could never get it to work with the wire from the starter solenoid connected. When that was connected and the key turned on, the resistor lit up like a toaster. Disconnected, it works and starts fine. Checking the wires, they seem to work fine individually. When the key is on, the wire from the switch is getting power, and after going through the resistor, is something like 8 volts (maybe a little less). The wire from the starter solenoid only gets voltage when it is in the start position.

If the resistance wire was bad you would get nothing if the resistor was bad. The starter solenoid feed goes to the coil + terminal. If it makes the resistor heat up you have a short somewhere that allows it to back feed through the wiring system to ground.

That is what my brother thought, and what must be happening. Since the truck is starting fine, we are going to leave this for now. Maybe we will re-visit this later.

The only other odd thing is that the ALT light is now on all the time, however the alternator is charging the battery, so something is off there.

Sounds like a short in the Alt light system. Wire 904 goes to the VR and the light relay in the VR could be stuck closed. I am reverencing the same diagram you did wiring-1969charging2.jpg The accident force vector could have been bent the arms inside the VR forwards jamming one or shorting one. The arms are pointing up and their left side is pointing forward.

I will take a look at the wires tomorrow, but the VR was new right before the accident. Could still be messed up, though. At least the alternator is charging.

The last item (I hope) is once we took it for a drive, now we appear to have some sort of suspension issue. It drives fine, and looks fine when going forward, but after backing up, the passenger wheel (the one that hit the ditch) is tilted wrong. (camber). Driving a couple of feet forward the wheel straightens out again. As I said it drives fine, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't that way before the accident. It also looks like the passenger side might be sitting a little bit lower (1/2" or so) than the drivers side, but that could also be a fender alignment issue. The wheel seems tight when trying to move it by hand, and it seems as tight as the other side which doesn't have the problem. We checked the wheel bearings and those seem OK. Since I'm not too familiar with the front suspension on these trucks, I'm not sure what else to look at. Nothing visibly looks broken/bent/missing that I can see, and I would think that if it were serious, it would drive funny.

Any suggestions on what to look at?

[Dragon]

Damaged radius arm bushings will cause that, the back side is trashed so as you back up the i-beam shifts forward as you drive forward it is pushed back in place. My racers were always jumping through the air and the bushings survived being hammered backwards but the least used back bushing failed faster. Same on my truck I have now, the back bushing on the radius arms has been trashed.

[rwilliam99]

I think I see what you are talking about. In this part blowup, I think the parts you are talking about are 3B186 and 3B203 (probably really the 3B203 bushings, I'd guess).

Is this something to worry about, safety wise or is it OK to leave this go for a little while? My son wants to start driving the truck again, but we want to make sure it is safe to do so. Based on my test drive, I think it should be OK.

[Dragon]

Shoot mine are real shot and I still drive mine. Toe is out but caster and camber are still in specs and I drive it every day to work with 600 lbs of tools in the back and 2 ladders on top plus wire. I have sheared part 3b905 off the frame in a race and the bushings were good.

[rwilliam99]

I took a look at them yesterday, both after driving forward and also when the wheel was cocked, but the bushing looks OK to me. It is old and cracked, but I don't see any real significant play in the bushing. Is there something else that could cause the odd camber in reverse?

Also, my son drove the truck to work yesterday, and had a problem with the throttle cable sticking (new since we replaced the manifold/carb), but we got that sorted out and it is working well now. I think the only real issues are the camber issue and the alternator light, but at least it is mobile now!

[Dragon]

Did you also look at the I - Beam busing on the other side 3B177? The bushing can be worn in inside where you cannot see it allowing the axle to tip front to back as well as forward or back. Pick the truck up with a jack right in front of the bushings and watch for movement. A good bushing will lift the truck with almost no movement of the radius arm before the truck lifts.