questions about living with a Detroit.

[greywuuf]

it has probably become obvious to most of you by now that I am new to the care and feeding of "bigger" trucks and I find myself keeping what I thought was a "parts truck" at my home as an occasional use vehicle. nothing to taxing for the old girl, just hauling trash and maybe next week some new furniture ( this flat bed thing is pretty handy )

So anyway, got me 5 gallons of Delo 100.... need to pop the end off the "lubri-finer" and see if there is a replaceable element in there or what... and I can get on with the lube and filter change ( or clean/service .. whatever is appropriate)

this 6v53 Natural had not been run in years, so far I have run about 10 gallons of fresh fuel through her and got her up to temp and down the road twice ( still does to much idling and never any real load on her ) I need to flush out the cooling system and maybe break down and take the radiator in for a rodding and seal job but she seems to be working as advertised. she is hard to start down when the temp is low ( freezing or below ) but with just a whiff of ether she fires immediately.... so not overly concerned there. What does concern me is SMOKE.... quite a bit of it, and it appears to be grey diesel smoke... not blue oil burn and not the weird steamy grey smoke of antifreeze... just smells like diesel. worse when cold and always on accel....also from an idle ( which is set too high.. about 700 and a little ) she responds to throttle real well up to about 1000 rpm, then there is a dead spot...not a bog... just no response at all.... for a pretty good ways on the pedal and then she carries on. so some one please talk to me about these beasts.... is this "normal" indicators of a common problem... is it a "could be anything" problem.... do the injectors deteriorate ( we run a LOT of winter weight #1 fuel up here and it was real hard on injectors in say my dodge cummins pickup and the Powestrokes is it possible running the rack and setting the pump up correctly ( idle speed and no load etc ) will help .....does it sound like just a tired motor or time for a blower rebuild ?. any one care to share their experience with reviving and living with a well used old DD ?

[63 & 64 Bowties]

One thing I can maybe help with is the throttle dead spot.
I haven't driven a DD since the 70's and 80's but I do remember what you're describing. I think it's normal, when empty anyway. When under load/pull it won't be so noticeable but empty, I remember what you're describing. The DD's I drove back then were all fairly new and they all did it.

[greywuuf]

Thank you for the response, I find it very reassuring......I kind of get the feeling that these were mostly operated "toggle switch " style....either off the "gas" or to the floor, so it was probably not an issue. I got the coolant flushed and changed and the oil and filter changed. Been dinking with little things.... Changing bulbs, cleaning up wires and switches kind of stuff. I plan on driving it this weekend, Maybe I will take the go-pro and make a ride along video....people seem to enjoy the nostalgia trips.

[greywuuf]

Also, this is a very strange truck, it has the same transmission (Spicer 5 speed) and rear end ratios ( 5.57) as my tandem truck ....which is a 48k truck. This truck has a GVW of only 25.5 k. With a flat bed and no hitch ....I don't forsee ever actually loading it down much.

[hugger6933]

I think there is always gonna be a dead no load spot but if your able to run the rack it should help the drivability issue to some degree. You are pretty much on about the "deeteroids" that they are on or off more like and electric switch than a fuel burning engine.[or so it seems ] You are right youll never load that motor enough to make it think it isn't loaded at all. I remember back in the day when I worked Diesel I had a F600 truck come to me that had something stupid like a 6:50 rear and I changed it out to like a 7:17 [it has been almost 30 years so give me a break] and it had a 3406 cat and a 10 speed little road ranger. Man I would like to have a C60 set up similar to that it was fun little truck to drive it was awesome up to about 45 MPH

[jdl71]

I can't provide any answers, but would love to see the go pro video should you chose to do it. I love the sound of the those old Detroits.

[greywuuf]

Mine is not quite that bad....the tandem sticker in the glove box said it came with 5.57:1 rears.....(may or may not be what it has now) but it and the single both tach out right at 50 mph......so geared pretty similar....

The video is going to have to wait on a bigger battery, Temps fell to about zero and the group 31 I have won't spin the fresh 40 weight fast enough (at all) so...we are having a "no start" condition today.

[jdl71]

Only one battery? Sorry, but I'm pretty ignorant about diesels other than my Duramax.

[greywuuf]

yup, this one has a single battery ( no idea how they came )
it has a box big enough for an 8D ( the big truck batteries that we all just call "Cat Batteries" up here... they seem to be available in 1100 CCA and 1400CCA capacities.... the group 31 that I bought used for 25-30 bucks to bring it home with... was enough when the oil was old and thin and when the weather was warm ( it is more like a standard automotive battery... and is about 900 CCA ) but now it has fresh Straight 40 weight in it and the temp are down... it just flat wont turn... even with a big battery I may have to put some heat to it....something I need to do anyway....

[greywuuf]

single very large battery

[jdl71]

Wonder if you could use a car battery or two in parallel to get enough amps to get it to turn over?

[greywuuf]

Originally Posted by jdl71

Wonder if you could use a car battery or two in parallel to get enough amps to get it to turn over?

Sure, you can
I was using a single large automotive battery, but with lead acid systems Size is basically capacity.... a pair of small batteries can equal or exceed the amperage of a large one... but are drained faster.....the 8d's have been on trucks for 30 or 40 years or more and it is pretty much a one time investment for me.... just bought it and am done now. it did start it, but starting it cold with high oil pressure pointed out a bad o ring seal on my filter housing and also was too much for the old solenoid.... so I have a few more little things to correct.... and Then i am off for a drive ! ( and possible video ... I bought a cool camera mount )