1985 1900S new toy, and looking for manual

Hi folks,

Im about to acquire my first heavy truck, a 1985 (I believe) 1900S. DT466 and a automatic, I’m assuming Allison trans. The good thing is, I am in communication with almost all the previous owners. The guy who originally bought it is dead, so I can’t talk to him. It’s been sitting for about 10 years, and I’m getting it on the cheap. The story is, it broke down on the highway, got towed to where it is now, and has been there ever since, and the current owner wants it gone. I’m going to go have a look at it today, maybe poke around it a little (see if the engine is free, maybe start draining oil, etc). I have the book for the 466, but I don’t have the book for the truck. Is Navistar my only source for the service book, or does Haynes or someone else publish a book for it? Thanks!
 

DMiller

Well-known member
What was complaint of the breakdown? What was failure? Yes will be a Allison. I presume Hydraulic Brakes?
 
Yep juice brakes. I don't know the nature of the failure at the moment, but knowing the owner (one of my current customers), it went down to poor maintenance. He doesn't believe in preventative maintenance, but is sure happy to pay me for reactive maintenance :). I plan on getting new oil and batteries in there, then doing a compression check. While the injectors are out, I'll test em, and I bet that they are going to need a rebuild. I bet all I have to do is rebuild those injectors, and it'll fire right up. The current owner says that it just kinda got weaker and weaker as time went on, until finally it just died, and he gave up on it. I dunno, it could be anything, but this is my wild guess at the moment.
 

DMiller

Well-known member
Nozzles won't be the problem, unless absolute junk, usually do not drift like that over time. Pull the fuel filter drain it and bottom of tank, most times cheapskates used Old Fuel and it algae's up really bad, if did will be Black Goo. You are probably going to have to change most of the lines and some of the tubing on the brakes when get it running. Will be Bendix Disc and a Mess sitting ten years.

1985 SHOULD have inline Bosch Pump on it, if Rotary is a AMBAC and those ARE problematic. Another possible, if had spun a bearing and he just kept running it may be locked tighter than Dick's Hatband, try turning it over by hand before accepting it. Close to 4 grand for a scrapper take out or 7-8 grand to overhaul NO Crankshaft change.
 
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I stopped to take a quick peek. Didn’t get hardly anything accomplished because weather moved in and my enthusiasm waned. Fuel in the separator was full and clean. It does have an inline pump. That’s all I know at the moment. I didn’t even get the batteries out.
 
I stopped by again. I drained the oil, and wow was that nasty. Like syrup. I left a bucket under there to drain as much of that sludge as possible before I go back to plug it up today before it snows. No sign of water in the oil, and the level was right, so no sign of fuel either. I sumped the fuel tank and the fuel was a bit more yellow than I am used to seeing, but otherwise seems fine. No signs of water or separation or algae in the fuel. I pulled the batteries and as of yesterday afternoon, one of em had been taking a charge and survived a load test, so at least one battery might still be ok. I pulled the injectors and tested em. They all open at about 2500 psi but I’m not getting the “chatter” and some holes are plugged, and 2 of them leak. Nozzles are only about 10 bucks each, so I’m going to get new nozzles and rebuild em. The engine is not seized and the turbo looks good. The turbo doesn’t spin quite as easily as I’d like. It’s possible the shaft is all coked up, or maybe just running new oil in there will free it up, I don’t know yet.

So, as soon as I can either get a charge on the old batteries, or get new ones, it’s time to fill it with new oil and do a compression check. I’ll have new fuel filters in there by then, and doing the compressions will give the fuel system a chance to flush out so I won’t have to prime it so much. Also, that will start showing some oil pressure.

We’re supposed to get snow on Saturday, so I’m going to try to get the oil and filters done before then. They way they have that thing parked, it’s hard enough getting under it when it’s dry outside. Gonna be a total PITA if it’s snowy / muddy too. I took some vids too, I’ll try to post up on my YouTube channel this weekend so I can link to em here.

that’s all for now
 

DMiller

Well-known member
As stated nozzles will not do as he noted
Yellow fuel could be biological or could be biofuel either way if old is junk and will not run well on it.
Goo in oil pan is a bad sign
Good luck on getting it to crank over
 

As promised, here's my vid. Probably the first of several. I had hoped to get all the filters changed out before the snow today, but I didn't get that far. Sometimes life gets in the way of my screwing around, and I don't like it!
 
I kinda wonder about that myself. If the oil is that nasty, I wonder what the oil journals in the crank look like. I am hoping that the oil is that sludgy from just sitting. I hope that when it was shut down, the oil was still flowing, and had time to settle out before it turned into maple syrup. I’ve never seen oil that bad, and I’ve been a mechanic for almost 30 years :), albeit only 5 or 6 of those in and around big diesels.

What causes that kind of “sludging up” of the oil? What’s in it? Maybe that’s the million dollar question...
 

DMiller

Well-known member
Oil does NOT sludge to this on its own, That goo you see is typical of those engines that are never serviced where the oil is run to extreme miles. Sad to say if it does turn over it will probably Knock Severely once running. Any and all contaminates in reasonably fresh oil changes will settle to the bottom in a length of time, will not remain Road Oil in appearance.
 
Well, I can certainly believe the “never serviced” part. This guy is my primary customer for just that reason. Either the engine is trashed already, or adding a little kerosene to the oil might clean it up a little. I can’t play with it at the moment cuz we just got dumped on. I’ll try again in a week or so.
 
I got er running today. Compressions were all over the place, but it runs. I'm replacing the fuel line that goes form the fuel filters to the Bosch pump. It's maybe a foot and a half long. My problem is the fuel fittings at the pump have been boogered by previous mechanics. I took the fittings and the flex hose out. The way it goes back together, I don't see how it's even possible with 1 person. Its like one guy has to be lying on the ground turning the hose, and the other guy on top the engine guiding it in. Totally silly way they got that. I'd like to change the fitting to a banjo fitting or a swivel fitting or something that would facilitate one person getting it back together. Any ideas?
 
I took that fuel line to a local hot rod shop, and they set me up with a pretty goofy solution, but if it works, it’ll be much better than OEM. The problem with that line is, the fitting on the hose is 1/4 npt, and it goes into an npt angle adaptor, and then into another adaptor that screws into the pump housing. That fitting on the hose is NOT a swivel fitting. So you have to torque the pump housing adaptor first, then the 1/4 npt angle adaptor, and then screw the hose in. If you come at it from the top, you can barely get your fingers on it, and you can’t get enough grip on it to turn the whole hose. If you come at it from below (where you can turn the hose), you can’t see the 1/4 angle fitting, so it takes 2 people to install the stupid hose.

Im heading up again today because I want to hear it run. I’ll try that hose the speed shop guys have me and report what I find. Here’s yesterday’s video:


 

DMiller

Well-known member
Air in Fuel System, old fuel. Compression may return to near normal when splash lubrication takes hold where that old goo is gone. Changed enough of those fuel lines in the 80s/90s.
 
I made some progress today. The goofy fuel line situation is a decent fix. I’m not crazy about the hose clamps. I might make a better hose now that I know what fittings it needs. I like the flare fitting on the pump end, that seems like a much better way to do it. I’m sure you’re right about the air and bad fuel. By the end of the afternoon today, it was running pretty well. Still has a miss, and still smoking a lot, but starts much easier and idles fairly well. Next is fill the cooling system, and run it till it gets hot.

 
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