WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[ArdWrknTrk]

any chance that the choke is being kept from opening fully?

I have confirmed the choke is fully open once warmed up.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Then disregard all I’ve said. It doesn’t seem like you have a vacuum leak or it would be lean, not rich.

And with the float level not leaking out the inspection hole it isn’t that - unless it is the secondaries. And I don’t know how to test that.

So, is there any chance the new PV is leaking? Maybe through the valve and not the diaphragm?

The reason I started with "vacuum leak" was because of the rotten vacuum cap laying on the intake when I first pulled the air cleaner.

I replaced all the vacuum caps in the Advance parking lot, then started the truck and hosed down the spacer + both intake gaskets.

I had my hopes up until I went to leave..

[Gary Lewis]

The reason I started with "vacuum leak" was because of the rotten vacuum cap laying on the intake when I first pulled the air cleaner.

I replaced all the vacuum caps in the Advance parking lot, then started the truck and hosed down the spacer + both intake gaskets.

I had my hopes up until I went to leave..

Jim - That makes sense. But if it is rich I'm doubting you still have a vacuum leak.

As for what I did to my truck today, I changed out the thermostat. Scotty had recommended a 180F but it wasn't letting us get toasty in the cab very quickly, so I changed it out for a 195F since we plan to take in on a trip in a week or two.

Things went pretty smoothly, but there were some high points and low points. The first high point was in draining the system enough to pull the thermostat out. Luckily I have one of the nice drain valves that Scott found, and that made for a mess-less draining process.

A "middle" point was in using the heater hose at the heater core to fill the system to get all of the air out. That went pretty well, but since I have a vacuum-operated shutoff valve on the other hose and it was closed since there was no vacuum to open it, I probably didn't get the system quite full. I thought about using the Mityvac to open the valve, but I was holding a hose and a funnel with one hand and didn't dare let go of them to go get the Mityvac. So it is what it is.

The "low" point wasn't very low, but it sure could have been. I wondered what the torque spec is for the thermostat housing bolts, so went to the shop manual. Found it in the Radiators section, and was blown away that it said the 460's bolts are to be torqued to 23 - 28 lb-ft.

So I started tightening and found that my gut feel was that 10 lb-ft was enough. But I could tell that I was squishing the gasket up until 15 lb-ft, at which point it got solid, so I quit.

Then I checked the Engine section of the FSM and found that it said the spec is from 10 - 15 lb-ft. So I scanned the Radiators section in and put it on the Radiators page, but marked it up as shown with the Engines specs.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - That makes sense. But if it is rich I'm doubting you still have a vacuum leak.

As for what I did to my truck today, I changed out the thermostat. Scotty had recommended a 180F but it wasn't letting us get toasty in the cab very quickly, so I changed it out for a 195F since we plan to take in on a trip in a week or two.

Things went pretty smoothly, but there were some high points and low points. The first high point was in draining the system enough to pull the thermostat out. Luckily I have one of the nice drain valves that Scott found, and that made for a mess-less draining process.

A "middle" point was in using the heater hose at the heater core to fill the system to get all of the air out. That went pretty well, but since I have a vacuum-operated shutoff valve on the other hose and it was closed since there was no vacuum to open it, I probably didn't get the system quite full. I thought about using the Mityvac to open the valve, but I was holding a hose and a funnel with one hand and didn't dare let go of them to go get the Mityvac. So it is what it is.

The "low" point wasn't very low, but it sure could have been. I wondered what the torque spec is for the thermostat housing bolts, so went to the shop manual. Found it in the Radiators section, and was blown away that it said the 460's bolts are to be torqued to 23 - 28 lb-ft.

So I started tightening and found that my gut feel was that 10 lb-ft was enough. But I could tell that I was squishing the gasket up until 15 lb-ft, at which point it got solid, so I quit.

Then I checked the Engine section of the FSM and found that it said the spec is from 10 - 15 lb-ft. So I scanned the Radiators section in and put it on the Radiators page, but marked it up as shown with the Engines specs.

Make a service note to pull vacuum on the heater core bypass before refilling the system.

Yeah I wouldn't want to try 26 lb-ft with an aluminum intake.

Those bolts are just too small.

My heat is great in the truck (and I spend some time in there getting home on frosty mornings)

4-5 miles and the needle is at N where it always sits.

Speaking of gauges, id noticed low oil pressure at hot idle.

I changed the sender (why oh why does the replacement use a different wrench size?) and it's back to normal function.

[Gary Lewis]

Make a service note to pull vacuum on the heater core bypass before refilling the system.

Yeah I wouldn't want to try 26 lb-ft with an aluminum intake.

Those bolts are just too small.

My heat is great in the truck (and I spend some time in there getting home on frosty mornings)

4-5 miles and the needle is at N where it always sits.

Speaking of gauges, id noticed low oil pressure at hot idle.

I changed the sender (why oh why does the replacement use a different wrench size?) and it's back to normal function.

So what 'stat do you have?

As for the sender, you are lucky if it didn't leak. One of my friends brought his 91 F150 over some time ago and its sender was squirting oil. And other friends just had their sending unit fail on Sunday - squirting oil. Anyway, glad you caught it and got it fixed.

[ArdWrknTrk]

So what 'stat do you have?

As for the sender, you are lucky if it didn't leak. One of my friends brought his 91 F150 over some time ago and its sender was squirting oil. And other friends just had their sending unit fail on Sunday - squirting oil. Anyway, glad you caught it and got it fixed.

It's a Motorcraft 19x° thermostat* (I haven't changed it since I dropped the engine in 2008.

I had a sender leak early in the life of this truck (92'ish) but not a problem since.

I put everything new in '08 and I guess everything is failing at once. 🤣

[Gary Lewis]

It's a Motorcraft 19x° thermostat* (I haven't changed it since I dropped the engine in 2008.

I had a sender leak early in the life of this truck (92'ish) but not a problem since.

I put everything new in '08 and I guess everything is failing at once. 🤣

Good to know about the 'stat. I'll expect nice, hot air for a change.

As for everything failing at the same time, it happens that way. All of the almost 80 fluorescent bulbs in the shop started failing at the same time, and that fits perfectly with the statistics problem I had back in school. Everything has a bell curve predicting when it'll fail, and when you have a bunch of the same things they tend to fail at roughly the same time.

So now I have new LEDs that'll all fail at the same time - but maybe many, many years from now.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Good to know about the 'stat. I'll expect nice, hot air for a change.

As for everything failing at the same time, it happens that way. All of the almost 80 fluorescent bulbs in the shop started failing at the same time, and that fits perfectly with the statistics problem I had back in school. Everything has a bell curve predicting when it'll fail, and when you have a bunch of the same things they tend to fail at roughly the same time.

So now I have new LEDs that'll all fail at the same time - but maybe many, many years from now.

I keep my control set on def+floor

If I have it on vent I get cooked.

LED's lifetime is an order of magnitude greater than incandescent, as long as they aren't overdriven hard.

There's no filament being constantly jostled and heat cycled.

[Gary Lewis]

I keep my control set on def+floor

If I have it on vent I get cooked.

LED's lifetime is an order of magnitude greater than incandescent, as long as they aren't overdriven hard.

There's no filament being constantly jostled and heat cycled.

I hope we get that kind of heat. I can always turn it down, but heretofore that has never been needed. I think tomorrow, after I cycle the thermostat a couple of times to ensure I have the system full, I'm going to pull the blower motor and check it out, lube it, etc.

As for LEDs, I'm hoping that I'll not see them die, save for a few with infant mortality.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I hope we get that kind of heat. I can always turn it down, but heretofore that has never been needed. I think tomorrow, after I cycle the thermostat a couple of times to ensure I have the system full, I'm going to pull the blower motor and check it out, lube it, etc.

As for LEDs, I'm hoping that I'll not see them die, save for a few with infant mortality.

We're expecting snow coming in overnight and all day tomorrow, with temps dropping into the teens this week.

It's going to be busy, I can tell. 🙄

It will take a bit for you to get that 460 block up to temp.

Not as bad as the winter I had to be driving in -19°. (Jeff may be chuckling in Canuk)

I don't think the thermostat ever opened because the heater core was shedding heat so fast.