I bought a 93 Ford F250 7.3L IDI diesel about two weeks ago. I drove her 90 miles home and she ran like a dream until we went to get off the interstate and she just died on the exit ramp. We were barely able to get her restarted to get her on the side of the ramp.

Towed her home, cracked the injector lines, replaced the fuel filter and various other things. Checked the lift pump, made sure fuel was going to and Coming out of the injection pump, etc. All looked good. We happened upon a YouTube video of a guy replacing the glow plug controller relay. We had an extra one so why not. We replaced it and she fired right up. We took her on two trips of about 15 miles each. She ran great until the end of the second trip. Turning on to my road she just died, no warning, and just like before.

We towed her home again. Bought a new glow plug controller relay but nothing. She will crank but not fire. Tinkered her on her some more for a few days with no results. Today I went out, it's about 60 degrees or so and tried to start her. Crank but no fire. I turned the key off, waited 20 seconds and tried to start her again. This time, I pressed on the gas pedal to give some extra fuel. She fired! I have since let her cool back down and started her again. So what's wrong with her! I need to tow a fifth wheel home this weekend and can't have her dying on me!

 

Are you getting white smoke from the tailpipe while cranking? Glow plugs are only to get it running and will not cause a stall. Have you tried the other tank? How much fuel is in it?

 

Plugging the block heater in would help eliminate the glow plug problem but glow plugs wont cause the truck to stall out. Maybe the wired for the fuel solenoid is damaged or the connector or the solenoid itself? The truck shouldnt just shut off unless the fuel to it is completely blocked, or water has made its way to the injection pump.

Have you checked the fuel filter for water? Unscrew it, try not to spill it, dump it into a clear glass and see if you can see water at the bottom. Top off with some diesel or water if you dont see anything. I pulled a 1 gallon pitcher from the 90 gallon fuel tank for my generator i had recently filled up to check for water since it wouldnt start, didnt see any, spent another hour trying to get generator to run before running new line to a gas can and getting it to start. Added some fuel to the 1 gallon pitcher and found it was all water. I removed 7 gallons of water from that tank that came from a heavy traffic Royal Farms too. (generator is on trailer, if it went into a car the car would have gone nowhere)

 

I realize by plugging the heater plug eliminates the glow plugs. It's just weird how I changed the glow plug relay control and she fired right up the first time.

Everything points to fuel. There is no smoke when she is cranking. At this point I think it's the fuel injector solenoid or the injection pump but how do I check that now that she is running again? Wait till she dies again? If it's the injector pump would she not start at all or run?

Could the fuel injection solenoid be getting heated up during driving then shut off?

Sorry if I don't make sense. I'm a 20 something year old woman cutting her teeth so to speak with this truck.

 

The front tank is a quarter full and the rear tank half full. We have tried switching to tank.

Isn't there a manual way to open the fuel injection solenoid?

 

We changed the fuel filter and didn't notice any water. I'll check it tomorrow morning.

 

Where you running the front tank when it died? Its common for the pickup tube inside the fuel tank to break so you "run out" of fuel around 1/4 tank. Once you run an idi out of fuel its a bear to restart. You need to bleed the system which requires a lot of cranking. Dont crank it more than 15-20 seconds with 1-2 minute cooldown between cranking or youll burn up the starter.

 

You are going to need to drive it ntil it acts up again then diagnose it. The first thing id check would be the fuel shutoff solenoid on the injection pump. Of the two onw wire connectors on the inj pump, I believe its the front one. With the key on, you'll can unhook it and reconnect it while listening for a click. You can try this now while its running right to hear how its suppsed to be.

 

Thank you. I figured I would have to wait till she breaks down again. Lord knows it'll happen tomorrow when I have a fifth wheel hooked onto it.

Thank you for your input. I suspected the solenoid after talking to several people today. After this weekend she can sit and I can tinker on her all I want and need too.

 

It was probably just coincidence that it started after replacing the glow plug relay/controller.

Or, one possibility is that in the time it took to do that, the engine cooled off enough for it to start. Your injection pump may be heat-stroking. Next time this happens, have some TEPID (NOT COLD, just "room temperature") water handy, and pour some over the IP cover. If that allows it to start, that indicates an IP that's on its way out (fails when hot).

 

If it should start once the injection pump cools down then why did she not start for a week?

That's a good idea (the water) I'll make sure to take some water with me tomorrow.

 

Oh, sorry, I missed that part.

 

on the sun visor it tells you to step on the throttle when starting. so step on the throttle when cranking especially when it quits on you... it could still be a worn out ignition switch this is common

 

Um, the "throttle" (there isn't one, actually) does NOTHING while cranking; the PCM ignores it. I'd love to see a visor on an OEM OBS PSD with this on the starting instructions.

 

We are talking idi, not power stroke.