As I reported last month I had trouble with my driver side turbo. My truck was in the shop for 3 weeks. I drove it and it is wonderful. But my Mileage kept getting worse. 16mpg on the interstate and 13.5 around town. They asked me to drive it for 1500 miles and see if it was going through the relearn process. The Mileage still kept getting worse. Runs great plenty of power. I called them and took it back to the shop Monday. Tech couldn't figure out anything, but he had a hunch. He took the passenger side CAT off and took it for a drive. He said it immediately got 4mpg better in town and had a lot more power. They order new CATs. Should get it back next week.

My question is why am I going through Catalytic converters? This is the 3rd on driver side and second on passenger. What causes them to go bad? I love this truck, but frustrated. I am glad my dealer Interstate Ford in Miamisburg, OH is doing so much to get things fixed. Service man calls everyday with an update.

Thanks,
Chris

 

I don't know the problem why this was happened with your truck bu i think you can change the repair shop and check any other experts.
If your problem is not solved then i advice you to sell it and buy another model or same this again.

 

It's great to see that there are some good dealers out there that are easy to work with. Hope they find the root of the problem.

 

A fuel strategy that is running too rich will ruin cat converters. May also explain why your fuel mileage went way down.

 

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I hope this fixes it and I don't have anymore issues.

 

My thoughts exactly, too rich on the mix or incomplete combustion making it down to the cats.

If it was an older vehicle I'd suspect a fouled plug but you've got plenty of power and with all the computers in these things I'm sure it'd light up like a christmas tree if a cylinder wasn't firing from lack of spark. Strange though if the cats are failing you're not getting an exhaust backpressure code since your ebp would probably go up considerably once the cat clogged up.

On 7.3L's, there is an exhaust backpressure sensor that has a great effect on mileage and performance since the (much less advanced in 2001) computer bases the fuel delivery in part on EBP data. I'm not nearly as familiar with these newer trucks, but might suggest they look into an exhaust backpressure sensor if these trucks have one, maybe two due to the TT's. If it's providing faulty data or the tube that leads to it is clogged the computer interprets that as lack of backpressure and adds fuel to increase the exhaust backpressure. The sensor on the 7.3L is pre-turbo, so it's a way to increase turbo rpms. Of course, if the pressure is fine and the sensor is just clogged with soot or faulty, you just end up burning more fuel for no reason, and mileage suffers. Performance doesn't though, which made me think of it based on your problem description. Like I said, not as familiar with these and how it's set up, but questions are free.

Pretty rare to be going through cats like that, not to mention expensive. I know you're under warranty right now, but you're probably antsy to get it solved all the same.

 

Got my truck back tonight. Right now it is running great. I hope it keeps it up. No smell from the exhaust anymore. Plenty of power Mileage was good on the way home. It didn't bounce around as much as it usually does. I sure hope this fixes it. I love this truck.

 

You've been a really good sport through all of your issues. Reps sent for being patient and as reasonable as any human could be.

I probably would have the slung the keys across the sales room floor by now and told them not to bring it back till it's right.