Gary Lewis

Probably just the reason I need one. On the FPM's, can you add tubing to get to the bottom? Or do you have to lower the whole FPM?

I've never seen that style of tank. In fact, unless it is a diesel unit, which I've also never seen, I don't see it in the catalog. Anyway, that fitting at the bottom seems to work much better at keeping the radiator full, so I'm glad you have that one. And that thread seems to answer your question. Good job! Let us know how it goes, please.

That's wild! Apparently it kept getting damp and just disintegrated.

I hadn't heard of the 22 gallon tank either until I saw it in the catalog. As for unicorns, now you can see why I don't tell people what part number tank they have. Instead, I give them a link to that page and let them work it out. That's 'cause it is way too complex and mistakes are easy and costly. Bill - I'll have to do that trick of ensuring the pickup goes to the bottom of the 38 gallon Bronco tank I'm installing on Big Blue. But I saw that another guy looked through the filler opening and was able to see the pickup, so know how to do it.

As shown here (Fuel Tanks) an 18 gallon tank was never used. Your rear (aft-axle) tank should be a 19 gallon unit, so if it quits at 16.5 gallons then the pickup is not going all the way to the bottom. And your front (midship) should also be a 19 gallon unit unless your truck is a SuperCab, which seems to have gotten a 16.5 gallon tank for some reason.

The top is glued on, but you may be able to pry it loose. I have been successful doing that on one, but not others. As for cleaning, if you don't get the top off you might try something like bb's and some detergent. But don't use lead shot as it'll mark the inside. Don't ask. However, if I remember right the 84's still had the hose that entered at the top and hung loosely. My advice would be to find one from an '85 or '86 that has the hose attached at the bottom. They really do a better job of keeping the radiator full. Info on them is here: Cooling System/Coolant Recovery & Windshield Washer Reservoirs.

Looks like a success all the way around.

Well, Bill, what's the verdict? Is the rattle gone? And, what did you score in the Pick-n-Pull run?

Wow! Excellent job! Those things look great. And, that was a creative way of getting the pulley off. My pulley puller does a good job, but I'll have to remember that trick.

Well I am home now and the connector line is indeed 5/16", and a whopping 3" long. I have no idea if that is the original line, but that's how I bought it. I do plan on replacing the fuel tank and the hard steel line if it looks bad, but I'm trying to wait until I take the box off the truck to get at some of those projects. Thanks for the help guys. There should be a hose from the tank to the hard line, and you should replace that one as well, like Jim suggested. I’ve seen those lines ooze gas right through the sidewall.

That’s my remembrance as well, but I can’t prove it with the catalog.

Beautiful family. Glad you are close to yours. Levi and Ray Ray (Little Ray?) sure are growing up. Oddly enough, we are in Florida visiting our son, DiL, and granddaughter. And our daughter and grandtwins are in our house, having left here yesterday.

This is the color the General Lee should have been - Hemi Orange.

That is a beauty! There’s your Bullnose, Ray.

Good morning! The catalog is so confusing on fuel lines/hoses. I don't find much specific application info, and even what little that is there is weird. And they list sizes from 1/4" ID to 1/2" ID. But, I believe the one you want is either 5/16" or 3/8", so I would grab a piece of both just to be sure.

That is impressive. I know Mercedes has always led the way in diesel tech. There are some very long living Mercedes engines still alive out there. I think 300,000 miles is just getting broke in. What is sad though, we are getting all these really sweet engines, and they will all be obsolete in a few years. Everything will be electric once they get the graphene battery technology figured out, and install all the charging stations. Combustion engines will be like a landline telephone, or a VHS video tape. Aint never coming back. Only folks like us will still be tinkering with such "dirty" technology. I'm not sure the batteries are all that close to being perfected. As we've learned with lithium ion, storing that much energy in one place can have consequences. They'll get it sorted, but it will be a while. And even then towing is going to require 3x as much energy, or more, so "dirty" engines will be with us for quite a while.

Yep, 1969.

Sometimes it is difficult to get the bezel back as far as it is supposed to go because the top screws aren't grabbing into the dash pad as they are supposed to do. You don't want to really tighten them down too much as you can break the tabs, but they do need to snug down pretty well. I've had to lift the front edge of the dash pad to get the bezel to go back in all the way as it seems the upper tabs catch on the pad. So lift the tab and push on the bezel to see if that helps.

Janey's 2014 GLK has a 2.1L 4-banger diesel with twin turbos and it kicks out 369 ft-lbs at 1600 RPM. And we've averaged over 35 MPG in 50K miles.

12 degrees should be a good start, but you could try 14. I think we had kick back with David’s at 14, but could be wrong. To check power to the ignition in Start, pull the wire off the solenoid and check power when you turn the key to both the coil as well as the DS-II box. Should have full battery voltage in Start to the coil.

You don’t always get fuel out of the line. Might be the pump, or it might be the carb. But it doesn’t mean there’s a problem. Hope the gaskets do it.

Oh. And on not starting while cranking, that could be not enough static timing. Or, it could be a bad connection from the Start circuit to the coil.

We were talking about when you start the engine. If you get too much static timing it will fire before the piston gets up and try to spin the engine backward. That’s “kick back”.

David is right - start with the static timing and advance that until you get to 14 degrees or it starts to kick back on starting. Then play with the vacuum advance.

That's quite acceptable MPG, but I suspect more is available. If the vacuum advance is adjustable give it all it has and then start dialing it back if it pings. Anyway, have a fun trip!