Update. Went to work on the 818 again today. Took everyone's advise on getting the fuel system primed. Opened the bleed valve near the engine air intake, had a friend hold a container under it, and started pumping the hand pump on the dash. Fuel started coming out of the bleeder valve right away, and continued coming out at a steady rate while pumping the hand pump. Continued doing this for a couple minutes and decided to try starting her up. She turned over strong, and burped some smoke out the exhaust, but still wouldn't catch. OK, time to try plan B. Screwed in the thumb screw on the fuel solenoid, removed the fuel filter canister to fill it with fuel, and found that it was almost empty. Filled the canister, reinstalled it, and did the hand pump thing again for about 30 seconds. Strong fuel flow with each pump. OK, time to try her again. Cranked on her again for a few seconds and she fired off, belching smoke. Fantastic! She continued running rough and at low idle, so I pushed the "go" pedal a little, and she revved up some. Continued to run rough for about a minute at about 800 or 900 rpm, then smoothed out.
All the gages looked good. Good oil and air pressure, temp coming up, charge gage shows a little low, but at this point I was so happy that the old girl ran, and didn't have something major wrong.
Boy, talk about a touchy throttle! The temp continued warming up rather fast, but OK. Sat there behind the wheel, trying to notice all the different sounds the Cummins 250 makes versus the multifuel deuce. Spun the wheel left and right with the pinky...pure bliss. Tried the heater on defrost, and noticed the spider web on the windshield started flapping, so the fan works. Noticed that the power steering pump was spitting fluid out the vent while turning the wheel to the right, so I think I over filled it.
Looked at the temp gage and saw it was pegged to the right, at 240 degrees. Crap! Shut her down with the emergency handle, and climbed up on the engine again. A quick touch check on the top of the engine showed it was just a little warm, but certainly not hot. Reached down and brushed the side of the engine with a few fingers. Could hold the fingers on the block for about 6 seconds before it got uncomfortable, so I don't think the temp gage was showing correctly. My deuce temp gage jumps all over the place, but the 818 temp gage slowly went to 240 degrees. Maybe it has the wrong sensor? Drained some coolant from the bottom of the radiator, and it was room temperature. Possibly a bad thermostat? Or maybe the gage is reading wrong, and the engine hadn't gotten warm enough to open the thermostat yet? I only ran the engine for about 15 minutes before it showed 240 degrees, and the outside temp was upper 70s.
So, before shutting down the engine, checked the brakes, and they felt firm and good. The air pack made the good woosh/hiss sound when releasing the brake pedal. After shutting down the engine, didn't hear any air leaks. Shifted back and forth between R and 1st to check the sprag. No sound. Hmmm. Kept going back and forth and started hearing the air valves begin to work. Kept it up and started hearing the hiss/THUNK. Great! Kept it up until the air tanks were empty. By that time, there was a strong hiss/THUNK every time.
Tried starting her again and no luck. Pumped the hand pump and there was very little resistance...just moving air. OK, progress was made. Got the 'ol girl running, and running good after a few rough minutes. As long as the rpm's were kept at or above 900 rpm, the truck ran great. So there must be an air leak somewhere. But, a small enough air leak for thinking about driving her to her new home.
The saga will continue. The EUC should come in sometime this week, hopefully.
Good Looking Truck!
