Thunderbirds
Active member
- 75
- 115
- 33
- Location
- Northern Black Hills South Dakota
Hey all,
we finally survived the transport fiasco and managed to get the M1123 to the house yesterday morning. Not to mention, no advance notice, a quick text saying "We're at the gate". Probably due to some really spotty cell phone reception within 60 miles, or no reception for 4 hours if driving through Wyoming/Nebraska to come up here. The haulers were amazingly nice folks, but didn't speak more than 4 sentences English together. We (actually my wife) managed to communicate and unload the truck by hand with the help of a slight down slope and gravity.
But its' here:
Installed batteries, added ATF to the power steering and tried to check oil level, but the entire dipstick tube came out of the engine compartment
. Looks like there has been some maintenance going on before someone decided to put the truck up for auction. Managed to confirm some oil was there, fired it up (took some 20 - 30 seconds to crank, thinking it has been sitting for so long but more to that later in the post) and crawled up the driveway. Power steering has almost non existent, and that was noted on the auction page.
Last night after work I started by doing some preliminary inspections. Looks like I am missing the CDR valve, just the hoses and bracket here (this is looking from the commander seat into the doghouse):
Later I changed the oil and filter. That was an adventure by itself. The filter was cranked on so hard and probably not changed in the last 10 years, the gasket was baked onto the engine block. It took quite a bit of work and 3 different wrench styles to get it off, and had to mangle it up in the process. replaced it with the old trusty WIX 51060.
But finally got it off, then changed the oil. Unfortunately it looked like the chocolate milk shake we all fear:
I am really hoping the water intrusion came from the CDR valve missing and the dipstick tube being pulled, and not a headgasket failure. Time will tell. There are signs around the head of some sloppy RTV work. More pictures to come on that.
Really didn't like the long cranking time earlier so I cleaned up some of the ground wires and ground points from the generator to the engine block and the two under the doghouse cover as well as the battery cable connectors:
Dang, that made such a difference, it turned over less than 2 seconds and was running! Cleaning the ground cables will work wonders, for all those who ask.
I also found two glow plug wires not connected to the plugs. Will need to dig into them tonight and ohm them out to see if it was just not hooked back up or bad plugs.
Now to some questions (I know this is what you gearheads been waiting for):
1. CDR valve, where to best get one from, or does anyone have an extra I can buy? What does it really do and what are symptoms should get better when installed? Mind you, it runs and drives without and the hoses not capped!
2. Glow plugs, should I just get a new set and put them in, or ohm them out and leave if they're good? I know Black Dog sells OEM, where else can I find a trusted source for non-chinese crap?
3. Oil pressure sits at 90 now, before the oilchange it was at roughly 35, or the needle didn't move, not sure. Is that Ok, or where to start looking?
4. Seal the dipstick tube at the oil pan, can I just use some JB Weld or are there better products out there? Figured some high temp stuff should do the trick. Mainly want to keep water out if I ever go fording.
5. Volt meter isn't moving, what part of the TM should I look, or other tips?
More information, pics and tales to come, but for now...
It's ALIVE! It's A L I V E <evil laugh> hahhahaha
we finally survived the transport fiasco and managed to get the M1123 to the house yesterday morning. Not to mention, no advance notice, a quick text saying "We're at the gate". Probably due to some really spotty cell phone reception within 60 miles, or no reception for 4 hours if driving through Wyoming/Nebraska to come up here. The haulers were amazingly nice folks, but didn't speak more than 4 sentences English together. We (actually my wife) managed to communicate and unload the truck by hand with the help of a slight down slope and gravity.
But its' here:
Installed batteries, added ATF to the power steering and tried to check oil level, but the entire dipstick tube came out of the engine compartment
. Looks like there has been some maintenance going on before someone decided to put the truck up for auction. Managed to confirm some oil was there, fired it up (took some 20 - 30 seconds to crank, thinking it has been sitting for so long but more to that later in the post) and crawled up the driveway. Power steering has almost non existent, and that was noted on the auction page.Last night after work I started by doing some preliminary inspections. Looks like I am missing the CDR valve, just the hoses and bracket here (this is looking from the commander seat into the doghouse):
Later I changed the oil and filter. That was an adventure by itself. The filter was cranked on so hard and probably not changed in the last 10 years, the gasket was baked onto the engine block. It took quite a bit of work and 3 different wrench styles to get it off, and had to mangle it up in the process. replaced it with the old trusty WIX 51060.
But finally got it off, then changed the oil. Unfortunately it looked like the chocolate milk shake we all fear:
I am really hoping the water intrusion came from the CDR valve missing and the dipstick tube being pulled, and not a headgasket failure.
Time will tell. There are signs around the head of some sloppy RTV work. More pictures to come on that.Really didn't like the long cranking time earlier so I cleaned up some of the ground wires and ground points from the generator to the engine block and the two under the doghouse cover as well as the battery cable connectors:
Dang, that made such a difference, it turned over less than 2 seconds and was running! Cleaning the ground cables will work wonders, for all those who ask
.I also found two glow plug wires not connected to the plugs. Will need to dig into them tonight and ohm them out to see if it was just not hooked back up or bad plugs.
Now to some questions (I know this is what you gearheads been waiting for):
1. CDR valve, where to best get one from, or does anyone have an extra I can buy? What does it really do and what are symptoms should get better when installed? Mind you, it runs and drives without and the hoses not capped!
2. Glow plugs, should I just get a new set and put them in, or ohm them out and leave if they're good? I know Black Dog sells OEM, where else can I find a trusted source for non-chinese crap?
3. Oil pressure sits at 90 now, before the oilchange it was at roughly 35, or the needle didn't move, not sure. Is that Ok, or where to start looking?
4. Seal the dipstick tube at the oil pan, can I just use some JB Weld or are there better products out there? Figured some high temp stuff should do the trick. Mainly want to keep water out if I ever go fording.
5. Volt meter isn't moving, what part of the TM should I look, or other tips?
More information, pics and tales to come, but for now...
It's ALIVE! It's A L I V E <evil laugh> hahhahaha
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