M1009 ongoing troubleshooting

[chief1983]

My M1009 hasn't been running quite right lately, so I've been digging in and checking all the things I've found mentioned in the TM and online. Too hard to start when cold, ticking sound near oilpan that's grown very pronounced lately, engine sounds much louder than normal most of the time but that sound does occasionally cut out.

Flex plate and torque converter all look good, no loose bolts/cracks. Power steering mounts are fine. Haven't cracked open the valve cover yet, that's on my todo list. Did find a missing nut on the starter bracket, came in just now to check the TM for what should go on (locknut, washer, etc, proper torque, although I don't think I can get a torque wrench in there) and thought I'd make an update so anyone might have other things for me to check, if none of the things I'm doing clear up everything. Still plan to check fuel pump pressure to see if that's related to my cold start woes, lift pump could be shot.

One of my glow plugs was unhooked when I got the truck, with the resistor setup would 7/8 of the glow plugs on lead to enough overvoltage to ruin them? Everything else about the GP system _seems_ to be working correctly, but I got a new set of Wellman 070s only to find no one here seems to recommend those due to swelling. Haven't taken out the old ones yet. Proper way to check voltage to glow plugs without disconnecting them and overvolting the rest is...? It's quite sad, I really should be more competent with a multimeter.

I attached a pic that shows the locknut and washer that were missing, going to go install a new one and see if that helps the noise. Also installing an oil pressure gauge to make sure my oil pump is at least still working enough to pump oil through the engine. Pics of that install will be in my thread about the Equus pressure gauge.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/cucv/65406-want-install-equus-6244-oil-pressure-gauge.html

 

[mistaken1]

Glow plug system troubleshooting.......

 

[chief1983]

Well I guess I should say I was more thinking of things that aren't mentioned in the TM. Any tricks or tribal knowledge.

 

[chief1983]

Anyway, I managed to upload some video of the torque converter area and engine bay while running. Unfortunately, the audio pickup isn't very good on my cell phone, and doesn't really sound quite like it does in person. But maybe if someone takes a peek at these there might be something I'm missing.

I put a new nut and washer on the front starter bracket stud, I'm not sure if that actually helped or hurt the noise. I'm afraid that missing nut might have caused a shim to come loose. I'm also concerned the terrible clicking sound I'm hearing is actually coming from inside the torque converter at this point, and that the loud noise when I rev (not in the clips) is also coming from it. I've been hitting up youtube for vids of failing torque converters to see if there's anything that sounds like mine.

http://swc.fs2downloads.com/files/private/Blazer Torque Converter.mp4
http://swc.fs2downloads.com/files/private/Blazer Engine.mp4

 

[1stSarge]

Really, the troubleshooting guide that mistaken posted is a great place to start. One plug disconnected will over voltage the other plugs. The glow plug controller will attempt to limit this, but understand that is a stop-gap measure that the controller performs.

Learn the meter. You simply HAVE to, there is no way around it if you are going to do anything electrical on your truck.

The voltage to each plug could be anywhere from 10-15 volts. If it is over approximately 12.5 volts, the controller will cycle the relay on and off during the glow periods.

If you have a hard time understanding the troubleshooting procedure, or have other questions, post up.

I had kinda of the same problem on the torque converter, turned out to be loose bolts to the flex plate.