Ok I changed the oil in the differential...seemed as though it was fixed as the O/D light stopped flashing....then the motor started stalling at low RPMs and then the O/D light started flashing again so I ran diagnostics again and it came up with CPS code Imagine that huh? They should sell cases of those damn things....the 7.3 seems to eat cam position sensors. So I quess thats what I will be doing this morning is changing that out, wouldnt be so bad if it wasnt in such a bad spot

 

Well, Mark, you are certainly a ray of sunshine this morning...Thanks for your obviously professional input however. If you were a Ford Transmission engineer I suppose you know more about what your talking about than most.. But a little heads-up on what the correct hardware/software is would be helpful. To be honest, I am in fairly dire financial straits right now, and cannot afford to have the thing towed to the dealership, and then pay them an exhorbitant fee for 10 minutes work. It is like going to your general practitioner so he can charge you $100 to tell you to go to a specialist... Can you tell me what scanner/software we have to use so I don't just go around pissing money away on people who cannot help me?

 

CPS? Really? Strange.... I have no clue which way to go now. Can't work without my truck, so I would normally take the opportunity to go fishing...But I can't haul the boat without my truck either, so.... Any suggestions? LOL!!

 

with the 7.3 it seems as though one bad sensor ties into alot of other things. But ya know when towing you should take it out of overdrive. If I disengage my overdrive the O/D light doesnt seem to flash

 

You can tow in overdrive all you want as long as you keep your temperatures in control. I do all the time.

As far as pulling the codes, you need AE software, aeroforce scangauge, or snapon with capabilities to work with the psd. If you know someone with a superchips programmer for a psd, you can pull the codes with that also. Or like mentioned a good trans shop should be able to pull them.

 

Thanks Fordman.. I will see who has what for testing equioment now and go from there..Thanks again..

 

I have always left o/d engaged when towing as well, and have never had any problems. I don't use the rig for towing very often at all..

 

Finally got scanner to work. Apparently some poor connections on the battery were keeping the scanner from getting full power. I replaced the cables and ends and then scanned again. Got a PCM code..Believe it or not, un-hooking and then reconnecting the PCM appears to have fixed the problem...make any sense?

 

Disconnecting the battery will clear the code until the next time the PCM sees the problem. Then the code will be back.

 

So do I replace the PCM or what? Will one out of any '97 7.3 PSD work?

 

You can if you're into randomly replacing parts. Why do you think the PCM is the problem? I think you need to do some diagnostics to determine what's wrong. It is unlikely that the PCM is the problem.

Sometimes the cheapest way to fix a problem is to take it to a professional that know what he is doing.

 

No Mark, I am not into randomly replacing parts at all. The scanner, according to my neighbor the mechanic who was reading the thing, tells us it's the PCM..I am not 100% sure however that he is reading the thing correctly. Should there actually be an alpha-numeric or other type of code given? I mean I haven't even looked at the display on the scanner. This is all new stuff to me..I have owned this rig for 7 years, and this is the only major issue I have had with it.. Prior to that my F-150 which I never had an issue with, and prior to that, it was rigs without computers on board! Gotta luv technology...

 

I don't know of a code that tells you to replace the PCM. It sounds to me like he's guessing. There is an alphanumeric code displayed. With that code I might be able to help.

 

I wouldn't believe that scanner. Most likely it said something to the effect of "no communication with PCM" and your neighbor is taking that to mean that the PCM is bad. Unless the scanner being used is a high end model they frequently come up with that response. The PCM in a PSD powered OBS truck is not fully OBDII compliant and therefore it takes a pretty high end scanner to be able to read the codes. There are other codes as well that could lead someone who doesn't do a lot of work on a PSD to believe that the PCM is bad. I don't think you have a PCM problem at all, and I would take anything that Mark suggests very seriously. After all he was part of the team that designed transmissions for Ford during the time when these trucks were built. He is the guru on things like this.

 

^^^^ Need a Snap-On MT2500 with K2a card, Solus (?) scanner, AutoEnginuity software, or AeroForce ScanGauge.