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Stalling troubleshooting

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ArdWrknTrk

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Administrator

Using a high detergent EOCI diesel oil will help immensely in keeping internals clean.

Unlike Gary I'm not afraid of MMO or Rislone.
It dissolves deposits, not breaks them off in chunks.
If you have gasoline in there, I'm pretty sure deposits are not a problem anymore!

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

red1980F150

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Lol, noted. I was thinking about Diesel oil in it anyway because of the extra additives in it. I'll be sure to pull the dipstick and smell the oil tomorrow. I had been losing a ton of oil until I changed the PCV, but the past several days it's been very steady, so I think the oil loss has slowed considerably unless I'm just leaking more fuel in

I put 2 quarts of 20W-50 V-twin oil in it as it leaked the normal oil out... because it's all I had laying around, but that's probably really good stuff, if not a little too thick.

My younger brother bought a used 2010ish Silverado at auction. He had so much sludge in it that when he removed the oil plug nothing came out, had to punch through the sludge with a screwdriver!

John

Red 1980 F150 Custom - Standard cab, long bed, 4WD
302 v8, Auto transmission
Almost completely stock, quite clean but not perfect.

ArdWrknTrk

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Administrator

Harley oil should have a good amount of ZDDP in it.

That's really saying something for Chevy engines!
Can you imagine how long it's been?
Or maybe the PO only brought it to some jiffylube place where they never remove the plug and suck it out through the dipstick?

Still crazy that an engine that sludged had any life in it.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

red1980F150

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

There was definitely some concern, we bought it 2 states over and had to drive it 500 miles home. Oil pressure was dropping throughout the trip. We weren't sure if it would make it.

The worst thing I've seen done to an engine with oil, where the engine was remarkably fine afterward, was something my older brother and I collaborated on as idiot teenagers.

His first car was a 1990 Ford Escort with a 90 hp 1.9l 4 cyl, and it was handed down as my first car. Neither of us changed the oil. After 14,000 miles it was so sludged up that the camshaft was so difficult to turn that it stripped out the timing belt while going down the road (fortunately it was a belt!). We bathed it in ATF, worked it loose, changed the oil and put a new timing belt on and it fired right up like nothing ever happened. I usually don't admit to that story but it's a good one

John

Red 1980 F150 Custom - Standard cab, long bed, 4WD
302 v8, Auto transmission
Almost completely stock, quite clean but not perfect.

Gary Lewis

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Administrator

You got lucky on that little 4-banger.

On the truck, drive it and change oil. Drive it and change oil. You should see things clean up and, hopefully, the blow by will decrease.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

red1980F150

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Well Gentlemen, it's running much better, it idles fine now in gear at stops and doesn't die when I shift into gear anymore. I changed the oil again on Thursday morning. Initially I thought it looked okay but there's just a little bit of water in it that you can't notice until the oil is sitting in the drain pan. That leads to a question, I've noticed some water on the breather hose that goes back into the air cleaner. Is that normal on a carbureted engine (condensation)? If not then I might have a bigger issue. I suppose if the PO ran it a bunch with water and old oil that could be a good reason to have significant engine wear. But, generally speaking, I'm really pleased with how much better it's running at the moment.

John

Red 1980 F150 Custom - Standard cab, long bed, 4WD
302 v8, Auto transmission
Almost completely stock, quite clean but not perfect.

Gary Lewis

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Administrator

Condensation is a by-product of combustion, and since the rings don't seal perfectly you'll have some in the crankcase. The key is to drive the vehicle long enough, and have a hot enough thermostat in it, to get the oil warm enough to boil the moisture off periodically. So you may not have a problem at all, especially if you haven't been taking 20+ mile drives to get it truly warm.

And I'm really glad it is running so well. Keep on driving it and you are going to love it. But, have you checked to see how warm it is getting? Use an infrared thermometer pointed at the thermostat housing to actually find out instead of relying on the factory gauge.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

red1980F150

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Thanks Gary, I'm glad to hear that. My younger brother said something similar but he's not an expert, probably saw it on a forum as well, so I wanted to get your advice.

I have an infrared thermometer at work I can borrow, I'll use that. I have noticed on the factory gauge that the temp tends to stay a little low, probably closer to 1/3rd of the way up the gauge rather than half. So it's definitely possible she's not getting warm enough. The current time of year probably doesn't help things with the colder ambient temps.

I actually have a calibrated scientific-grade infrared camera, it might be fun to take a little video with that.

John

Red 1980 F150 Custom - Standard cab, long bed, 4WD
302 v8, Auto transmission
Almost completely stock, quite clean but not perfect.

Gary Lewis

Re: Stalling troubleshooting

Administrator

The factory gauges are notoriously inaccurate. There are lots of reasons for that, but Ford probably took that into account when they decided not to put degrees on the gauge. So just because it shows in the lower 1/3 doesn't really mean much.

But checking with the infrared thermometer will help a lot. And your camera would be cool. Or, hot?

To put a video on here I upload it to Youtube and then get the "embed" code. Then tick the box in the upper left that says "Message is in HTML Format" and paste the embed code in.

Note that having ticked that box that just hitting "enter" on your keyboard won't get you a line space when you post or preview. To do that click on Formatting and then Line Feed.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile