Firsr time 4BT owner, advice on lift pump swap?

[Karl H]

Hi, I've been lurking for a while and appreciate the know-how on this forum, but this is my first post

I have a 4BT with a VE pump, and it looks like the original diaphram transfer pump failed. The priming lever moves with no resistance and just hangs loose. And after removing the fuel lines and the two mounting bolts, the pump body seems to be stuck/bound to the engine block. I'm thinking that maybe it's just the gasket adhering to both parts, but I don't want to damage anything. Any ideas?

Thanks for the great forum!

(I'm pretty sure that it's a low miles engine - it came in a stepvan from the snow-belt with no rust on the chassis and 50k on the odometer. And it was a factory-new repower that was installed when the van was several years old and likely already had >20k.)

[Edit: The site won't let me fix the typo in the title.]

 

[Karl H]

Never mind - I looked at the rocker geometry and figured it was safe to tap it outward from the top, and it came right off

 

[Ozymandias]

It depends of the position of the camshaft for that lever has resistance or not.
If it just dongles around the chance is high that it sits right on top of the lobe.

 

[Karl H]

Thanks @Ozymandias!

I should have written a lot more clearly (sorry, long day ), but I wasn't assuming the pump is bad just because the lever feels mushy.

The engine cut out silently while driving and couldn't be re-started even with manual priming. It had a similar break-down once before (about 1,000 miles ago) that was 'fixed' with a new fuel filter. It still felt a little sluggish at low RPM, like starting in a hill, but was definitely getting enough fuel at highway speeds. The priming lever felt mushy regardless of cam shaft position. The fuel tank, sender and lines are all new.

I stupidly forgot to plug the fuel line when I replaced the pump, so now I have to get all the air out and see if the new pump works. If not, I'm going to check the lines again for any big pieces of debris.

 

[Ozymandias]

Use pressured air to push the fuel all the way to the injection pump.
Crack the line at the pump entries, then take a shop towel and press it into the fuel filler together with the nozzle of the blow gun. Give slight and steady pressure and then just wait till the fuels starts to drip down from the engine block.

 

[Karl H]

Thanks! I try that tomorrow when I can bring the compressor and generator.

I was a little surprised that priming the pump or cranking the engine didn't cause any air or fuel to come out at the bleed screw.

 

[Karl H]

That got it running, thanks a lot

 

[Cummins12V98]

Woo-Hoo, another "Happy Ending" on the TDR.

 

[Ozymandias]

That got it running, thanks a lot

Sometimes the simplest thing are the best.
Bush mechanics.

Another one.... getting oil into an axle or transmission in a weird location where you can't reach with a can.
Put the canister on the ground, put a hose in and up into the axles fill hole, take shop towel and a vacuum cleaner and set the housing under vaccum through the vent or just the fill hole - oil or any other fluid goes up and in by itself. Only for non flammable liquids - never for a gas tank.
We used this method to fill a 100 gallon diesel fuel tank once out of barrels without a pump.

 

[Karl H]

Sometimes the simplest thing are the best.
Bush mechanics.

+100... but there wasn't much choice this time, because the break-down happened by the side of a road in Baja California

Thanks again for the advice on getting the lines purged

 

[AH64ID]

I’d love a 4BT with a VE pump.

 

[Karl H]

I’d love a 4BT with a VE pump.

I hear you, it took a long time to find a good one. I actually thought about putting a different engine in this truck, but there's really nothing comparable. A 6BT might squeeze in and it wouldn't shake as much, but it's borderline too heavy and would need a different transmission. And I don't think there are many low-miles ones left.