Hi,

A short time ago, I bought an F350 that has a 7.3l PSD in it. I am going through quite the learning curve, as I have never had a diesel vehicle before. Much has been learned, but now again, I am stumped. Would anybody have any ideas on the long winded description below?

Background Information
* 1995 F350 7.3l Powerstroke with an E4OD transmission
* Air filter is new. Air intake is unobstructed.
* New fuel filter and o-ring 4,000 miles ago
* New 15-40 Diesel oil and filter 3,000 miles ago
* Both Autocraft P/N65-1 batteries were replaced one year ago. Cables look good.
* New electrical transducer on the driver side of the fuel filter (It was leaking) 4,000 miles ago
* Drove to Alabama a few weeks ago. Alternately used the front and back fuel tanks, as I have, since I got the truck last March.
* 30 miles before arriving home from Alabama, topped off the tanks
* After arriving home, pressure washed the truck, all around, inside the wheel wells, and underneath. Drove it into the garage, and poured one bottle of Seafoam into each tank.
* Neighbor gave me a Launch brand CreaderV. Plugged it into the truck, under the dash, and it said "No fault codes".
* Installed a new glow plug relay
* Moved the truck in and out of the garage a couple of times to access other things.


Symptoms of initial failure
* Did not wait for glow plugs. Truck started up instantly, and sounded fine. Not totally smooth, but as smooth as it has ever been since I owned it.
* Idled 5 minutes while closing doors, etc.
* Came out of driveway, and it drove as usual
* Slowed down after driving about 1000 feet, to about 15 MPH for a person on a bicycle
* When trying to resume speed, the truck would not rev up. It loped terribly, and made no difference how much the accelerator pedal was pushed. No visible black exhaust smoke. The "Check Engine" light (CEL) was illuminated.
* Put into 1st gear, while still loping. Truck was creeping along for about 1/4 of a mile, but barely
* Came to a complete stop, and suddenly, all was well. The engine was running smoothly, and the CEL went off.
* Drove 1/2 mile, stopped at a stop sign, and then accelerated to 50 MPH for next leg. All was well.
* Drove 1 mile, stopped at a stop sign, and then accelerated to 50 MPH for the next leg. All was well.
* Repeated the above step, one more time.
* After about 2 miles, at 50 MPH, the CEL came on, and the truck instantly stopped running. No sputtering. No unusual sounds. Coasted to a stop.
* When the truck stopped, the CEL was off, and the CEL did not come on at any time for the rest of the evening.


Troubleshooting
* Switched from front fuel tank to rear fuel tank - Engine cranked strongly, but would not even sputter. Tachometer was indicating an RPM that was very low, while cranking.
* Turned key completely on and off a few times. Tried to restart. Same result.
* Opened fuel filter drain to release some fuel. Fuel came out at what appeared to be a normal rate. Only partially drained the filter. Still would not start.
* Repeated the above step a few times. Same result.
* Disconnected the negative terminal of both batteries, and waited 15 second. Reconnected the cables and still would not start. Tachometer still showed signs of life.
* Tried restarting several times with no luck for the next half hour.
* After about an hour, the truck fired up instantly, and sounded smooth. Let it idle for about 30 seconds, then put it into Drive. Went about 75 feet, and it died instantly. No sputtering. No loping.
* Tried draining the fuel filter a number of times, and continued to try to start the engine. No sputtering. Nothing.
* Switched to the front fuel tank.
* Drained the fuel filter some more. Tried starting. Nothing.
* 20 minutes later, was talking to tow truck driver, and decided to try one more time. It started right up, and ran smoothly. About a minute later, it shut off abruptly, as though the key was turned off. It would not restart.
* Towed the truck home. Took about 20 minutes. Tried to restart, once at home. No luck.
* Did nothing to the truck, but waited 20 more minutes. The truck would sputter while cranking, but would not run at all, once the key was released.
* 10 minutes later, the truck seemed to run properly, but only when the key was in the "Start" position. As soon as the key was in the "Run" position, the engine immediately died, without sputtering.
* Plugged the Launch CreaderV into the connector under the dash, and one time, it would read "No Fault Codes Stored". Retried it again, and it read "communication error". This happened several times.
* I tried to use the code clearing feature of the Launch CreaderV, and it would just say that the codes were not cleared.
* Went back to the diagnostic mode of the CreaderV, and it would vary from "No Fault Codes Stored", to "communication error", to
PWM....KWP...ISO...KWP5BPS, and then just stay there. I may have missed a few of the acronyms.
* 10 minutes later, the truck started immediately and ran smoothly. Idle was 600 rpm. Oil pressure was normal, and so was voltage. For about 2 minutes, it stayed on, as I drove it to the garage. It then sputtered, and died.
* Would not restart.
* 10 minutes later, the truck started immediately. I finished driving it to the garage, and left the engine on. It idled smoothly for 20 minutes.
* Wiggled injector/glow plug electrical connectors on both valve covers while idling. No changes. Still idled nicely.
* Increased engine speed to 1100 rpm, and the engine died instantly. Restarted immediately, ran nicely for 5 seconds, and then abruptly died. No sputtering.
* Would not restart. Checked codes, and the message was "No Fault Codes Stored".
* 10 minutes later, the truck immediately started and was smooth. Let it idle for 10 minutes and switched fuel tanks. Ran smoothly for another 3 minutes. Put into Reverse and Drive. Still idled smoothly. Increased idle to 1300 rpm and held it there for 1 minute. Still ran fine. Turned it off for the night.
* Next morning, the truck fired up immediately and sounded fine. Revved it up to 2000 rpm for a few moments, and then turned the engine off.


I apologize for being so wordy, but I am not sure what may be relevant with a diesel, and what may not.

Thank you for any suggestions that you may have.

Greg
　

 

experts will be here to help you soon. more words the better, excellent.

 

First - that font size is irritating. I nearly had to go into the next office in order to read it. At that size, there's very little one can read on the screen at one time.

Your CReader will not communicate with your truck. You need a Snap-On MT2500 or Modis/Solus, an AeroForce Interceptor gauge, or AutoEnginuity software. There's also some recent development on using a smartphone with the Torque app and providing some special configuration. But without the specific codes associated with the CE light, it's a crap-shoot. If the pressure washing included the engine bay, it may have damaged one or more sensor connectors. Might be worth disconnecting each (one at a time) and drying them out with compressed or "canned" air.

 

Did you pressure wash under the hood.
P.S. Nice write up. Very thorough.

 

Except for the random stalling, most of your symptoms could be caused by a faulty Idle Validation Switch (IVS). When you let off the accelerator pedal, the IVS cuts the signal coming from the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). If the ECU receives a signal from the TPS but the IVS has not been closed, it will throw a CEL. The CEL will go away once the IVS starts working again.

 

Hey Greg, thanks for the thorough writeup. All of that is good info.

Yes, the font size is a little big, but I think that's probably just the way it copied into the forum from MS Word where you wrote it up. It seems lately that the grammar/font/punctuation ***** have been more vocal than usual on this site and it has apparently prompted some people to be so hesitant and fearful to post that they've taken up drafting their posts multiple times for fear of being lambasted for every error in their post. Come on guys, not every one is as comfortable with technology as those of us who have grown up with it are. I thought we were here to help everyone, regardless of their level of tech savvy or grammatical acumen.This kind of griping isn't productive and it isn't the kind of place that the OBS section of FTE has come to be known as. You want to whine about the way others post, PSN will be happy to have you...

Sorry for the little sidebar there Greg, I just tripped on my soapbox as I was typing your response.

As others have indicated, we need to know if you pressure washed the engine bay or not.

I don't think this is an IVS or TPS issue.

And I would agree that unfortunately the scanner you borrowed from your buddy probably won't do much for reading the codes on your truck. This sounds to me like either a failed ICPor IPR to me. Unplug the ICP and see if it will fire.

Here's a picture for reference.





If you get in a bind and need someone to read the codes on the truck, email, text or call me and I'll find a time when it works to run up your way and scan your truck with Torque. I can't guarantee that it will work on your 95 but it should and it would save you from having to pay to have it towed and scanned. I'd be happy to do so, and in fact, this weekend there will be a couple other FTE'ers in town that would probably love to run up your way and meet you.

Edit: Sorry if my little rant comes across too strong, but this is the second time today that someone new here has been strung up for their typing ability, and that's not the way FTE is, in my opinion. No disrespect meant to madpogue, because he is one who certainly knows his stuff! We could all learn from guys like him.

 

Nate, X2 on the rant,

Do you think this could have anything to do with his CPS? The fact it will run for a bit, then just die like the key was switched off is why I ask.

Not trying to derail, just want to learn somthing here. I'll read it through again.

 

Thomas, I actually had the CPS in my reply as a possibel place to start, but I took it out for the following reasons. The fact that the tach still moves and the CEL came on both point towards it being something else. Generally the CPS failing won't set the Check Engine Light, and a majority of the time when the CPS fails you won't get a tach reading (although sometimes you still will). Neither of these absolutely proves to me that it is or is not the CPS but this sure does sound an awful lot like a sticking IPR.

The first thing we need to know though is whether the engine "got hosed"! If it did get the pressure washer then we look for wet connectors or a flooded IDM.

 

Understood, Nate. Just thought I'd throw it in. We will see what the OP says.

 

Thank you for all the replies.

I have been with a customer for the last few hours, and could not get back to the board. Also, I only have access to the internet while at work, which means that within the hour, I will be leaving, and not be able to see any more responses until tomorrow morning.

I did not pressure wash under the hood. I made some oblique passes in the direction of the radiator, to clean the chrome on the front of the truck.

One place that I focused on, was the area within the wheel wells - all four of them. This could have exposed both the front and the rear fuel tank filler lines to high pressure. It also may have allowed some moisture to work its way into the engine compartment.

After washing, the truck started right up.

 

The IDM is bolted to the drivers inner fender, just above the plastic wheel well. It might be beneficial to see if any water got into it.

 

It wouldn't be a terrible idea to check the IDM (3 8mm bolts hold it to the inside of the driver side fender and one 10mm bolt loosens the wiring connector) for water, but I still think the IPR may be the place to look.

 

Last night, I saw what I believe is the IDM (Injector Drive Module? I don't have the Ford 1995 Supplement acronym list with me, so I am only guessing.). It was a silverish module about the size of a thick paperback book, that was mounted on the aft side of the engine compartment, on the inner fender, on the driver's side. I wiggled the wire connection on the fore side, and it seemed solid. While the engine was running, I wiggled it some more, and the engine did not die.

 

Also, the sheetmetal on this truck has virtually no rust on it anywhere. That is, there are no rust holes on any panels that would allow the water to pass through. Since I am very unfamiliar with the whole diesel concept, about the only things that I could look for, where places that water could get through. The IDM looked to be well shielded from anywhere that I sprayed.

 

Yes, that's the IDM. And it's not as shielded as you might think. It's not completely sealed; there's an air vent on the "front cover" (to use the book analogy). Even rain seeping past the hood seam has been known to get into them. Not one of Ford's shining moments, wrt. design. So remove it as DIYMechanic suggests, and physically shake it next to your ear, and listen for water.