Faulty Fuel Injector causing mis at startup?

[eightynine4x4]

15w40 with lucas is going to flow like syrup on a cold start...but 15w40 warm with lucas will be equal to 10w40 warm with lucas.

Hell, maybe I’ll try 5W-40 if warmups still are noisy but warm is fine.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Finally an update here.
Have it all back together after setting the lifter preload, refurbishing / painting the valve covers, cleaning / painting the plenum, deleting the A/C, and rearranging some of the engine bay wiring.

Fired it up and it sounded just as bad but a little different. I’d say the rhythm of nosies have changed. It settled in and quieted down after a while, took it for a drive and it is all essentially the same overall. Still getting terrible hot starts, major misfires. Exactly as described earlier in this thread.

The oil pressure seems lower now though. I’m only getting 30psi at 2K instead of 38psi. Maybe the pump is indeed gradually failing.

I did this testing at night and noticed some exhaust coming from engine bay. When hood is up, exhaust isn’t visible at all. I couldn’t find it with flashlight. When hood is closed though, it seems to accumulate and come out all front edges of hood quite steadily. Both headlights have an even amount of visible exhaust. I did not notice this in the last two years, so am definitely confused and concerned. Part of me is wondering if it is just initial off gassing of the paint on plenum and valve covers. Hard to tell by smell, but I got pretty familiar with paint burning / cooking smell recently (whole other story) and it didn’t smell like that, which smells more like carb cleaner. This smelled like engine.

So this opens up another step, which is I’m next replacing the driver exhaust manifold and also Y pipe. Passenger manifold I did two years ago. It was brutal, not looking forward to driver side.

But I suppose that some engine noise and performance could be related to exhaust leaks. I had done a dish-soap leak test last year and didn’t find anything on drivers side, so am confused. I really don’t get it. But I have a small leak by cats and need the Y pipe replaced, so am moving forward. I suppose there’s a chance the y pipe leak by cats was drifting forward into engine bay and when hood was shut it was visibly accumulating. But I’ve monitored the y pipe leak before and this accumulation seems a whole lot larger quantity. But if in fact this exhaust is just from that, then I’m not thinking this y pipe replacement will have any impact on engine noise since it’s so far downstream.

After that’s done, I’m going to do a compression test. I would do one now, but I want to eliminate leaky exhaust as a factor in those results. I’m actually hoping to discover a head gasket issue, and with the manifolds fresh I will be able to pretty simply open it all up. But I’ve studied the symptoms of various head gasket issues and none of them line up with my trucks symptoms.

I’m entering the zone where if I wanted to just order a crate engine instead of rebuilding mine, I have all the peripheral / accessory work done or near done. I could just pop on the new oil pump and drop it in and save myself a whole season of rebuild work, including any mysteries that could amount to buying major components anyways. That is appealing.

But hey, at least my engine bay is looking better! Happy with the VHT cast iron in plenum, cast aluminum on fuel rail, and flat aluminum on valve covers.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

That "exhaust" smoke is most likely oil smoking off the manifolds.

Crate engine quality can be hit or miss, personally id rebuild what you got.

 

[RobbieD]

That really looks good. The cleanup and painting was time well spent.

It's disappointing that it's still not running as well as you'd like. Without going back through the thread, I'm curious if you've put a diagnostic vacuum gauge on it, to see if you can get more of an idea what may be going on.

I would expect some off gassing after cleaning and paint. Run it for a while and see if the running and visible exhaust improves any.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Yeah I suppose the smoking could be from various things just done. There aren’t any signs of oil leaks around the valve covers. No new oil on manifolds or side of heads. Hoping these nice gaskets continue to do the job. I did carefully flatten out the covers too. They had quite a bit of warping. Now it’s very minimal.

I wiped down various parts around heads/manifolds with a rag of Super Clean to get rid of a bunch of old oil so as to monitor any new leaks. Maybe some of that substance burns off when hot.

That really looks good. The cleanup and painting was time well spent.

It's disappointing that it's still not running as well as you'd like. Without going back through the thread, I'm curious if you've put a diagnostic vacuum gauge on it, to see if you can get more of an idea what may be going on.

I would expect some off gassing after cleaning and paint. Run it for a while and see if the running and visible exhaust improves any.

Yeah I’ve had a vacuum gauge hooked up to plenum for a year now. Vacuum seems good. 18-21 idle and behaves up and down as it’s supposed to regarding throttle and all that.

 

[eightynine4x4]

That "exhaust" smoke is most likely oil smoking off the manifolds.

Crate engine quality can be hit or miss, personally id rebuild what you got.

Did another round of warmup and was able to finally see that it is in fact oil burning off the drivers side manifold.
I'm hoping it's oil that seeped it's way down onto the manifold while i had the valve covers off for two weeks, or something like that. This never happened prior to the work I just did. I don't think the new valve cover is leaking, and it doesn't appear to be while running, but i suppose if it never fully burns off from here on then it's gotta be seeping out steadily and I need to correct that.
Regardless i'm going to spray some Deep Creep onto those bolts and get that manifold off so that I can redo the manifold and Y pipe soon. Once I have the exhaust tight I'll have fingers crossed that the issues of harsh air inside cab are gone.

Did a KOEO test and the O2 sensor #41 O is gone. Now it's just 86 O / "Adaptive Fuel Limit Reached, or 3-4 shift solenoid circuit failure". Previously it made sense that it was the adaptive fuel limit reached, since the O2 could have been making the ECM thinking the truck was running lean and sending more fuel. But now that the O2 is registering, maybe my code O 86 is in fact the 3-4 shift solenoid failure? I wonder what the symptom would be. I do get 4th gear but not as easily as I expect sometimes. I wonder if that can be half failing and causing this code.

I didn't do the full KOER test since i only want to get the engine hot for short bits of time and incrementally burn off the oil, now that i know what it is. But when i took the short drive yesterday, i did NOT get a check engine light. So i'm assuming that if i ran the KOER test that I might not see the O2 sensor issue 41 R "HEGO (HO2S) sensor signal out of range / always lean .. or .. No HO2S switching detected."

So if that is the case and i get no 41 R code when running, that would leave me with just 13 R, "RPM at idle out of range / low"

Yesterday i turned the idle control screw back up the two full turns to where it was when i got the truck. I had made the adjustment when doing the idle check test linked previously, but now I'm wondering if that's even doable with the weird running condition of the truck so decided to put it back to where it was.

 

[RonD]

The anti-diesel screw(mistaken for idle screw, lol) should be adjusted after engine is warmed up and idling
Unplug IAC valve
Adjust anti-diesel screw until engine is barely running, under 650rpm or so
Its adjusted

Plug IAC Valve back in and idle should go up to "target" idle RPMs in computers memory

 

[eightynine4x4]

The anti-diesel screw(mistaken for idle screw, lol) should be adjusted after engine is warmed up and idling
Unplug IAC valve
Adjust anti-diesel screw until engine is barely running, under 650rpm or so
Its adjusted

Plug IAC Valve back in and idle should go up to "target" idle RPMs in computers memory

Thanks Ron!
I did that all, including IAC being disconnected, but I think for 700 ish. I had to turn the screw down two full turns to bring it down to that. I could have gone down further but didn't know that the point was to get it just barely running. Reminds me of tuning each carb on my motorcycle.
But my confusion now is... what is error code 13 R pointing us to? I had that code when the screw was up higher, and also had that code when screw was down to 700. But if the code is telling me my idle is LOW, i should be turning that screw up, no?

Also, "anti diesel?"

 

[RonD]

Idle is only controlled by the computer and IAC Valve on a fuel injected engine

Anti-diesel screw name comes from the old days when gasoline engines could have "run on" or "dieseling"
Which means after shutting off the key when engine is hot, it keeps running without spark
The air fuel mix keeps self igniting(like a diesel engine) because some of the cylinders are hot enough to ignite Lean mix from carb, because throttle plate is still open a bit from idle screw so fuel could still be sucked from carb, but just enough for the lean mix

With fuel injection the injectors are shut off, along with spark, with key off, so should be impossible to have "run on" or "dieseling"
But what if there was a leaking injector or fuel pressure regulator........................then you could have "run on" or "dieseling" with a hot engine
So the Anti-diesel screw was there to allow throttle to close enough to prevent it, but not closed enough so engine would stall if IAC Valve failed, so barely running would be correct place
But as long as its below minimum "target" warm engine idle then its fine, this allows IAC Valve and computer to control minimum idle, anti-diesel screw won't interfere with it

 

[eightynine4x4]

Idle is only controlled by the computer and IAC Valve on a fuel injected engine

Anti-diesel screw name comes from the old days when gasoline engines could have "run on" or "dieseling"
Which means after shutting off the key when engine is hot, it keeps running without spark
The air fuel mix keeps self igniting(like a diesel engine) because some of the cylinders are hot enough to ignite Lean mix from carb, because throttle plate is still open a bit from idle screw so fuel could still be sucked from carb, but just enough for the lean mix

With fuel injection the injectors are shut off, along with spark, with key off, so should be impossible to have "run on" or "dieseling"
But what if there was a leaking injector or fuel pressure regulator........................then you could have "run on" or "dieseling" with a hot engine
So the Anti-diesel screw was there to allow throttle to close enough to prevent it, but not closed enough so engine would stall if IAC Valve failed, so barely running would be correct place
But as long as its below minimum "target" warm engine idle then its fine, this allows IAC Valve and computer to control minimum idle, anti-diesel screw won't interfere with it

Wow. You learn something new every day…
… from @RonD !!!
Amazing info, thank you! Makes total sense. I’ll go ahead and keep it set low. Maybe even lower.
I wish I knew what to do with the Low Idle RPM code though

 

[RonD]

After readjusting the anti-diesel screw re-run the Engine Running Diagnostic Self Test with engine warmed up to see if code 13 clears

The code can be during self test when the computer tests if it can go BELOW "target" idle, it couldn't, so it has "no play" in setting IAC Valve at the lower RPM range
So same as a vacuum leak to computer

 

[eightynine4x4]

I’m back in the unenviable task of removing an exhaust manifold from a 2.9. Had done the passenger side a couple years ago, which was its own nightmare, and now am doing the drivers side. This is so that I can finally have a sealed up exhaust. My Y pipe has an unfixable leak and the driver manifold is on its last leg. Maybe this will even improve some performance/sound by eliminating exhaust leaks.
Having bad luck with the bolts. 5 of 6 already twisted to pieces. One came out fine. Did all relevant prep.
Anyways I’ve got to go a similar approach as before.. have to break apart the manifold into segments and get each segment off differently. I’ve already got one segment off, which includes two bolts.
Last time I had good access with sawzall. But drivers side is much more difficult to get access to make cuts due to steering stuff and lots of other clutter.
So I’m considering taking a few cracks at certain spots of the remaining manifold, using a heavy duty chisel and lightly cracking it with a heavy hammer. Since it is cast, it does break if smacked. I actually learned that lesson accidentally last time, with no consequences since I chose to replace that one anyways. And I could practice on the section of manifold I already have off.
But my concern is the heads, which the manifold still has bolts going into.
How are these heads constructed? Are they also cast? Would they bust apart just as easily as these manifolds? I would be of course carefully aiming and directing energy either downward or away from heads. But I’m wondering if the bolts themselves could cause the heads to crack around the spots where the bolts are threaded in. Quite the terrifying approach, haha. But I’m down to desperate measures. However if the heads are machined out of something more solid, I think some focused cracking at the manifold is a little less risky.

Anybody have anything to say about this? I’ve already saw sawed the living daylights out of exhaust manifolds while connected to heads but that’s less of a jolt of energy.

Another thing I’ll be trying is just wedging the chisel flush down into the gasket between manifold and head, and tapping it down in to see if I can get the manifold to spread away from the head. All the bolts have no heads now, so there’s only internal rust keeping the manifold on the bolt shafts. But those “rust” connections can be quite strong, and I could end up not making any progress.

 

[RonD]

If the 6 bolts have no heads then a light tap with hammer would break any remaining rust free so manifold could slide back far enough to cut the bolts so you could clear the steering shaft
Rust does not hold anything well, lol, its very "flaky", anything that's rusted enough falls off no hammer needed

So I think a bolt is still holding it

 

[eightynine4x4]

If the 6 bolts have no heads then a light tap with hammer would break any remaining rust free so manifold could slide back far enough to cut the bolts so you could clear the steering shaft
Rust does not hold anything well, lol, its very "flaky", anything that's rusted enough falls off no hammer needed

So I think a bolt is still holding it

Yeah it’s a bolt or two. Headless bolts! One of the shafts is clearly fused in some way, to the inside of manifold hole. I already cut off about 1/2” depth of that spot in manifold. It reveals a perfectly smooth bolt shaft / hole adhesion, as if they are one. I think the high heat welds stuff over time.

So I know it’s my own risk to take, but you think the heads can handle the manifolds being shocked a little bit without cracking themselves? Would be an unfortunate way to get “cracked heads” haha.

 

[RonD]

I don't think you can break a head that way
Exhaust manifolds are cast iron but an iron alloy so not the same as cast iron in heads