New old '83 F250 in the North

Greetings gentlemen,

Firstly, I have loved browsing this community in the last few days, I hope to learn a lot and to share what I have learned from this process too. I am a mid-20s guy in Prince George, Canada. I do not have a lot of experience fixing vehicles but I do have some understanding of mechanics from my time as a machinist (currently almost done getting my commercial pilot license too).

The Truck:

A 1983 F250 4x4 with the 6.9 IDI diesel engine.

The Good:

- Runs and steers reasonably well, little to no blow-by.
- Seems to have been taken care of over the years.
- Frame appears (?) to be saveable.
- No major electrical issues.
- No major interior faults.
- Shifts well
- 4x4 works well

The Bad:

- Does not cold start without ether, will replace glow plugs and also planning a manual relay bypass, but do not know much about electric circuits.
- Driver door barely opens from botched bodywork by the last owner.
- No idea how many miles, ODO reads 18k but not sure about the hundreds.
- Fenders very rusted, cannot afford new panels right away, trying to think of how to fix them until I can.
- New rattle from driver front wheel or suspension, not sure where its coming from, only happens when going over bumps at high speed, could be the locking hub? (worried about safety here)
- Previous owner seems to have disconnected fuel-water separator, no idea how to re-fit it.
- High frequency, low volume rattle on shifter stick at certain RPMs (any idea?)
- Speedo under-reads by 10 (easy fix?)
- Fuel gauges, coolant temp gauge inaccurate!
- Headlights very temperamental, they work but its a mystery how I get them on each time.
- Spongy brakes, sometimes they work well, other times the pedal sinks almost all the way down, master cylinder leaks (pictured) from the top, new gasket ordered but probably need new cylinder.
- light oil leaks from engine in multiple spots.

The Idea & The Catch

The idea is to never sell this truck, they do not make them like this any more and I want to save this truck. The problem is that I do not have a garage for another year, nor do I have many tools or knowledge. I need to fix the safety related issues first, such as the door (body shop), brakes and lights so that the truck can pass an inspection and be safe on the road. Brakes and body work are my main concern at the moment. I have also never undercoated a vehicle but need to do this soon as winter is coming fast.

Further pictures:

Welcome!
Glad you joined and enjoy all the photos.
Definitely feel free to start a Project thread (it's another folder on the forum) where we can follow along.

I found out (and used) about Woolwax (FluidFilm) from another member that lives up North and I'd give that some serious consideration before going the undercoating route.
Though you may be referring to that when you say 'undercoating'.

WELCOME!  Glad you joined.  

Lots of thoughts, but lets start simple.  We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we can add you if you'd like.  Just city/province, not address.

Second, you've run afoul of the picture-orientation problem on this forum.  The software is old school and doesn't correct for when you rotate your camera/phone and take a pic.  In the olden days it was obvious which side of a camera was "up" so everyone knew how to hold their camera.  But now we use our phones and don't know that there is an "up", "down", and "sideways".  So the cameras now embed orientation in the metadata of the pic and newer software re-orients the picture.  Not so our forum.

The way around that is to open your pic in some editing software and then save it.  That is usually enough to re-orient it.  But if not then you'll need to rotate the pic and save it.

As for the truck, it looks like it has a lot of promise but also has several things needing sorted.  But this intro folder isn't the best place to discuss what is needed since fewer people will see it here than in the main section.  Not that it is wrong or a bad place, just not the best place.

Still, I'll attempt to answer a few questions.

Rattle: It might be the locking hub, but may also be the wheel bearings.  Jack the wheel up and try to tilt it in/out by grabbing it top and bottom.  Is there slack?

Speedo: It isn't usual for the speed to be consistently off 10 MPH.  But it is easy to be off that much at one point, especially if someone has put larger tires on.  So what tires do you have?  And check to see if it is off the same everywhere or just 10 MPH at one point.  The fix may be a simple driven-gear change on the speedo cable.  Read here: Documentation/Driveline/Speedometer Gears, Cables, & Sensors.

Headlights: Tell us more about what you do to get them to come on?

Brakes: Is the master cylinder full of brake fluid?  If so, then check the vacuum hose that goes to the big round chamber behind the master cylinder, which is the booster.  The hose may have a leak.
 Or the vacuum pump on the engine may be going bad - and we'll have to let those familiar with those pumps on diesel engines speak to that.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the tips and the forum advice, I will make a project post next time I have a little bit of free time.

Gary, your tips regarding my issues have already been very insightful and I will try those things in the next couple of days.

Feel free to add me to the map! (Prince George, British Columbia)

The brake master is full but it's also very clearly leaking from the top, the part that seals on the gasket is pretty corroded and I have not noticed any other symptoms of vacuum issues, still I will follow what you recommended.

I downloaded a GPS speedometer and will compare it to my gauge tomorrow too, just had a bad moment on the drive home from work where my turn signals stopped working, then I park and they work again.

As for the headlights, pulling out the knob and pressing on the foot switch gives me high-beams. If I pull out the knob and do not press the foot switch, then I only get position lights

In any case, I shall retell these tales in an upcoming project thread.

Welcome!

You are now on the map.

As for the headlights, it sounds like your foot switch is failing.  It isn't uncommon given the location as it can get wet.

Gary, if he isn't getting vacuum the pedal would be hard, not soft and going to the floor.
Adjusting the drums in back is a good place to start.
I would check for ballooning rubber lines or maybe the master cylinder bypassing.

Fully functional brakes come even before an engine that runs (IMHO)

Jim - I agree that brakes trump the engine running well.

But I was keying off his statement of "Spongy brakes, sometimes they work well, other times the pedal sinks almost all the way down, master cylinder leaks (pictured) from the top, new gasket ordered but probably need new cylinder."  While I agree that the pedal would be hard if the vacuum was off/down, but sinking to the floor would be when the vacuum is working.  So vacuum could be part of the problem.

But beyond that, if the pedal goes to the floor then there are other problems.  Perhaps it is the rear brakes.  Perhaps there's air in the line.  Perhaps the master cylinder is bad.  So that problem needs to be solved, regardless of the vacuum/boost issue.

As for the leaking of the lid on the MC, that's usually only fixed by replacing the master or filing the existing one.  The issue, as I know you know, is that the master has rusted at the top.  So regardless of what gasket you use it'll leak.  I've been successful by filing the top of the MC smooth.  But that creates filings and you can't let those down into the MC.

What I did was to lower the level of the brake fluid and stuff paper towels in there.  Then when I was through filing I sucked both the filings and the paper towels out with a shop vac.  After that I had to bleed the brakes again.

I'd think if there's enough fluid to splash out the port in the bottom isn't sucking air.

You're right. If the rust isn't too bad you can file the master cylinder flat and bend the bail if the lid isn't tight.

If I was going to replace it, I'd buy the $58 later ('87 up) MC from U-Haul on eBay and never have to deal with rust again.

Hopefully it isn't leaking out the back into the booster.

I agree, I'd go with the later model MC.  In fact, I did.  And I'm not about to go back.

Your's came with the residual pressure check valve in the rear port, correct?
(because that's important, and you have to swap the lines front to back)

I just did a quick check of U-haul's storefront and didn't see it in the first 100 pages.  🙄

I hate to give out of date information....

Yes, it did.  And the lines swapped easily.

Would you kindly post a link to this MC you found on ebay? The gasket improved my situation (brakes work a lot better now, but still leaks from the MC lid) but the edges are pretty rusted so I think a new MC should be my next step.

I also would like to find motorcraft ZD-1 glowplugs to replace soon (I hate to keep starting this truck with cosby sauce) and set up my momentary switch to bypass the presumably broken glow plug controller.
  Do you know of any place that sells those plugs?

Another question which arises when searching rockauto for brake master cylinders is that they are divided by GVW over 8500lb and under 8500lb On my doorwell sticker my GVWR reads 8600lb so I assume I must find one suitable for:
-4x4
-2 piston front brakes
-GVW over 8500lb

As I said above, I can't find those master cylinders right now on U-haul's storefront.
I did post link in the marketplace thread back around Christmas. Maybe they are all sold?

I'm certainly not the IDI expert.  
Perhaps Gary can hail Jonathan to this thread?
I know he prefers Beru to the Motorcraft glow plugs but I don't know where he gets them or what he does about a crapped out glow plug controller.

Ah! my bad, I misread what you wrote.
Thanks for the advice so far anyway it has been massively useful to me.

Yep. Usually the break is o/u 7,000 lbs.
This is the difference between the "light duty" (15/16)250 and the heavier trucks  with a bigger (1 1/16") master cylinder bore.

I don't see any M/C on Rockauto with the valve in place.

Do you know the width of your rear brake shoes?
If it's a 250 I assume they're 2 1/2" but I'd .want to know.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,1983,f-250,6.9l+420cid+v8+diesel,1123669,brake+&+wheel+hub,master+cylinder,1836

In my limited wisdom, I believe the CENTRIC 13065047 is the only one on that website that explicitly states 4WD and weight above 8500lb. Rockauto seems to break between above or below 8500lb, and again my truck is 8600lb according to the sticker on the door  something tells me a truck considered "over 8500" would be a bit more than 200lbs heavier than the cutoff point.

I see now that the early cast iron master cylinders break at 8500.
This is so Ford can include 8,600 gvw trucks .under federal guidelines.

If you look at the later (87-93) masters with aluminum housings and plastic reservoirs the break moves down to exclude "light" 250's.

I realize all this pedantry may be confusing but it really matters when you start swapping parts to get a 'factory upgrade'