I hate starting a new thread on this but I also just closed an thread in which I said the problem was fixed. After several months with no problem, it has come back just days after I said it was fixed.

To summarize, my engine will just "reboot" while I'm driving along. It doesn't matter if I'm accelerating or on cruise control. I can be towing or driving completely empty. There is nothing that I can find that is common to the problem.

It just suddenly stalls out and will go back to normal speed as soon as I pump the accelerator. If I don't pump the accelerator within a few seconds, it will completely die and I'll have to slip it into neutral and restart while coasting. the only codes that are stored are B1203, B1352, B1359 and P0500.

When it dies, all of my idiot lights will light up as if I have just turned on the key. I've reached up under the dash and shaken every wire and connector that I can reach while the engine is idling and nothing I can do will cause it to hesitate or die. I've punched, shaken and tugged on the IDM. As of today, I have replaced the ICP, CPS, UVCH and the ICP pigtail. It took me all day but I did all of them and no change.

It might run several miles without a problem or it might do it 12 times in a tenth of a mile. I've been fighting this problem off and on since March. that's 9 months and it has never been as bad as it was the last two days. usually, it would do it once or twice in a day. I could almost live with that, except I just retired and bought a travel trailer. Doesn't that figure?

It really seems like it must be some kind of electrical issue, but I don't know how to proceed with checking. AE doesn't seem to be giving me any help. I'm still running 5.4 but I've sent them a query as to the cost of upgrading.

Any ideas or help will be greatly appreciated. My dad was a diesel mechanic and nobody in the family (including him) owned one until just after he died. Never got the chance to learn anything about them from him. He taught us plenty about gas engines though.

This problem is very frustrating. Sorry for the rambling.

 

Moved to the 1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel forum.

 

I've tried unplugging the bowl heater and that made no difference. Problem is still there. I've also inspected the IDM and PCM for any signs of corrosion or water intrusion. Although dusty on the outsides, the plug and contacts look shiny new.

I'm going to start looking at the ignition switch now to see if I can find anything there.

 

Check your 42 pin connector at drivers side VC for rubbed wires and dirty pins.And also check the CPS plug and wires.

 

I called myself having checked that big plug when I had it off yesterday replacing the UVCH (hoping against hope). It looked clean and like new on the inside. The outside was dusty but I saw no sign of wear.

I have gotten my AE s/w now running correctly and giving me full info. Not sure which things might have value but here's what I have noted:

Vehicle Power Voltage holding at 13.9
Injector Control Pressure Duty Cycle varied from around 8 to 25%. Most of the time this was between 10-11%. Hard to tell but it looks like most of the higher recorded Duty Cycles were around the time the engine would cut out.
ICP Volts never got out of range. Spent most of the time under 1v. It did spike to 4.18 once and that was just as it cut out.
ICP pressure mostly stayed around 400-600 PSI. A couple of times it spiked around 2,000 PSI.
EPC stayed around 5-10 PSI while below 1,000 RPM. Above 1,000 RPM, it would avg out around 80 PSI.
EPC voltage avgd around 9 below 1,000 RPM and around 10-12 above that.

I also replaced the ignition switch just to rule it out. If I don't find the problem tonight, I think I'm turning it over to a professional. I'm at wit's end.

 

Do you have a chip in it? If the chip doesn't have a good clean connection it will do this. Mine had the mechanic and fte baffled for over a month.

 

I don't have much to offer since I am no expert. But I had a similar problem and could not figure it out. After changing all sorts of things and doing the quarter thing and checking it again, I decided to check the fuel pump. I was going to take it out. So I went under the truck to pull it and saw it would be easier to unplug the wires about a foot forward of the pump. There was a plug there for some reason. When I moved up to get at it I noticed the wires from the plug going forward were laying on the brake lines (or fuel lines, don't remember which). They had gotten loose and were bouncing on the metal lines. It wore a small hole in the wire and was shorting out. When things moved a certain way the fuel pump cut out.

You will probably find something like this either the same place or somewhere it got loose. If I remember right, isn't there a potential problem with wires in the steering column? I wish you luck with it. Try not to drink too much.

 

No chip in my truck. I decided a long time ago to stay as close to stock as I could with all future trucks. My Ol' 88 F350 was a hell of a dependable truck right up until I did a mod on it. It took me several months to get everything balanced back on it so it would once again be dependable. I still occasionally see it on the road or my kids will report having seen it somewhere. Still going strong.

Anyway... This truck is as stock as you get (not counting the pillar gauges). I've shaken so many wires and plugs and connectors today and have the scratches all over my arms and hands to prove it. I do have a friend in town visiting tomorrow and guess what he drives... A '99 F250 same as mine. I plan to park next to him while he's working on a trike in the morning and swap my IDM and PCM modules with his truck to see what happens. He was in town all day yesterday and today as well. I sure wish I had thought of asking him about this yesterday.

 

I'm really starting to wonder about things now. On 12/29, I ended my day (around 10pm) by giving everything under the hood another good shaking. I then cranked the truck and had it continue to try dying on me every few hundred feet. I parked it for the night. Got up the next morning and drove it about a mile and a quarter to my mother's house where I met a friend with a virtually identical '99 truck. My truck ran fine from here to there. (Imagine.) I swapped the IDM's on our trucks. I then drove my truck just under 500 trouble free miles. You'd think this meant I had found the problem, except that his truck has been running fine (though not near so far) with my IDM in his truck. I'll be switching them back in the morning to see if my problem comes back. If not... maybe it means there is a short somewhere in the harness and maybe it doesn't. I'm still really confused and stumped.

 

With the conjunction of codes you are getting my guess would be that your short/issue is behind the gauge cluster. Just a shot in the dark but it is atleast somewhere els to look.

 

Thanks. I'll be looking again just as soon as it starts to act up. For right now, it's running great again. I'd rather it was either fixed or acting up. This "in between" and waiting for it to start up again is maddening. of course, I'd also like for it to at least run great for the next week or so to get me past a point where I really need my baby running well. ;-)

 

At this point, I'm afraid to say anything. I've now got 290,000 miles and haven't had a problem in a long time. I just replied to someone that it had been at least 10,000 trouble free miles but I think it's closer to 20,000. The last thing that I did was a whole lot of jiggling, tugging, pulling and pushing (and some small amount of cursing) at the wiring harness.

This all leads me to believe that the problem is a short or bad connection somewhere. The greatest amount of my attention was devoted to where the wiring harness crosses the driver's side valve cover. I just hope that mentioning it's running great doesn't curse me with the start of the problem all over again.

I got so confident in how things have been going that I bought and installed a new exhaust system and chipped the ECM. I'll post more info on that in another thread where I asked for suggestions on how to proceed with making a '99 worth keeping even longer. I do love my truck.

 

Try pulling the PCM and GEM(generic electronic module). The gem controls all your interior components including your ignition switch, dash lights ect. A common problem with these trucks are poor windshield seals causing water to drip down the a pillar straight down onto your PCM and gem causing corrosion are arcing. The gem is bolted on the back side of the PCM. Pull and inspect of damage. FYI. GEM's are almost impossible to find right now.