NOTE: This got WAAAY longer than planned.. feel free to skip the story for the summary at the end.



Hey all. I bought a 99 F550 with the 7.3L and an auto tranny. About 138k when I bought it. The thing was a former construction company rig and was hammered pretty bad.. Maintenance was certainly not a concern of theirs so who knows what they did/didnt do to this thing. But anyway, I got what I thought was a good deal at the time and I'm stuck with it now.

So, I bought it in Washington with the intent to use it as my transportation when I move to Tennessee.. I'm in Tennessee now, and it did get me most the way here.....

Probably in Idaho is when I began having problems. I would begin losing power on the hills once the engine temp was up to temp. .. I could feel it happing a bit through different vibrations, but nothing extreme... it just felt like it was slightly stumbling, but it was very slight in feel... I could hear it easier than feel it. The engine would get a louder clatter/tappy sound... Usually at this point I would have to drop to 55 or 60 and it would hold that okay.. along wiht this my Service Engine Soon light would pop on... After maybe 10 or 20 seconds of keeping the throttle below the point where the engine begin to loose power, the light would turn off.

As my trip progressed this got worse. I got in the habit of pulling over and letting it sit for a while ever hour or so... in addition the speeds I could steadily hold began to drop. At one point I noticed my oil was about a quart low. I filled it up and things seemed to improve substantially. I was pretty happy that it was so minor, and began trying to make up time cruising about 75 plus... then my happiness was shattered as I began to notice a return of the problem about half an hour in as I was passing(or trying to pass) a semi.. I got just past his nose, but couldnt hold the speed and had to drop back and let him pass me, then fall in behind.. again things deteriorated. I replaced to modules in the parking lots of 2 different Ford dealers.. the Cam Angle Sensor and another thing I forget the name of.. umm.. oh, I think it was something like the ICP valve or module or some such thing... neither of those helped, but it was throwing codes indicating them as a problem.

By the time I was in Illinois I was pretty bad off... I couldnt hold a speed beyond 55 even on flat areas if I was at full temp. As I was sitting on an offramp letting the engine cool for the 3000th time, I noticed infront of me was "Doc's Diesel Repair" .. I puttered on up and after wipin the oil from my dip stick on his fingers and smear'n it around he said "you're fixn to have a real bad day" There was metal in my oil and while he said he wasnt very familiar with these engines (He's a big rig repairman, exclusively) he didnt expect I had much life left in the engine. Said it wasnt bronze or copper, it was iron. After BS'n with'm for a while he changed my oil quick(which I had also changed just before leavin on the trip) and in doing so, he was supprised with how little metal came out in it.. however my pan is a bit dented up at the drain plug, so the low areas around it could be pooling metal. That supprised him, but he still thought I was likely workin on a boat anchor. It was pretty much tow it now or tow it later, so I figured I'd just push it as far as I could. After time things progressed in the negative direction as normal... By the time I got to Nashville I was topping out at 40mph.. and on some of the hills, I would crest them around 15mph.. I stayed in the far right and left my hazards on all the time... thankfully traffic was light since it was around 2 or 3 AM. I parked the truck at the pay parking at Nashville Airport and rented a car for the remaining 3 hour drive.. having only 3 or 4 hours of broken sleep each of the 2 previous nights, that last section of driving was less than safe, but I made it to my destination, Knoxville, slept for a whole hour, woke up, dry heaved a bit, and went to my new job. .. I had intended on arriving 2 full days prior to work beginning.. that was cutting it a bit closer than planned.

Anyway, my truck is now sitting in the backyard of my girlfriend's mom's house in Nashville and I'm tryin to figure out what to do.. if I should hit up the Nashville Diesel Repair school to see if they want a project, sell it to CarMaand likely get raped), or poke at it myself a bit more..



So A summary without the novel:
Problem: Began losing power on hills or under load, progressively has gotten worse to the point of not being able to maintain freeway speeds on flat ground even. Engine just gets more clattery/tappy sounding, and more throttle does nothing. However things run okay for a while when cold.

Metal grit in the oil.. not a lot, but a few random pieces.

Side note, it does miss heavily if I rev it up fast while in neutral. Doesnt miss much at all otherwise.

What I've done and other notes:
1: New Cam Angle Sensor (engine was throwing a code for this)
2: New ICP thingy (engine was throwing a code for this)
3: Oil is full
4: Engine is chipped with some sort of Diablo Performance Tuning thing by the previous owner
5: New Fuel Filter at engine that I havent tried yet.

 

are you getting any major skmoke from the tailpipe? if so what color?

I am thinking (due to the missing at idle) under valve cover harness, or possible a bad injector. Now if you start telling me that you are seeing heavy white smoke at speed, then it may be more serious like a blown head gasket.

 

have you checked the turbo wheel for dusting,chips..grab the nut and try to wiggle the wheel up, down and side to side..then push it in and out..there should be no play at all..the wheel should be tight and spin freely..loss of power and chips in oil lead me to think its the turbo gone bad...

 

Fuel pressure....?......

 

Good news (sort of): It starts and runs, so It ain't dead yet. if you aren't leaving a nasty cloud of smoke (any color) the problems are relatively cheap and minor.

I'm thinking that the metal shavings AREN't iron, unless you used a magnet and they stuck. except for crank, cam and lifter stuff, there aint much removable in the way of shavings that doesn't cause a noticable flaw in the block (think of con rods through the side) or really loud noises.

change the oil again if it got dark, use magnet on flakes you find. tear apart the filter to see what is in there. Look carefully for the bypass thingey on the block side of the engine to see if that was still there so you ARENT bypassing the filter. {kwikordead had this problem} there is a ton of things that change when at operating temp, and I'll bet you filled some of them up with residue. lifters and injectors being the ones that come to mind first.

get rid of the diablo chip until you fix it

take off the top of the HPOP, look for crud on the bottom, clean that out.

let us know what you discover, since now the symptoms are too vague to really pin the problem down.

 

I'd try a new fuel filter and inspect the turbo exhaust side wheel. If I remember correctly it is a cast lron wheel and iron from it coming apart will go to the sump. I would also get some fuel & oil additives to try and clean/lube everything up. Check fuel pressure when it is acting up and a boost gage to see what kind of boost your are getting. Also check your up pipes for leaks to the turbo and see if your air filter is fairly clean.

 

I'd try a new fuel filter and inspect the turbo exhaust side wheel. If I remember correctly it is a cast lron wheel and iron from it coming apart will go to the sump. I would also get some fuel & oil additives to try and clean/lube everything up. Check fuel pressure when it is acting up and a boost gage to see what kind of boost your are getting. Also check your up pipes for leaks to the turbo and see if your air filter is fairly clean. I'd also look at the air side piping coming off the turbo, If this truck was abused your most likely source of oil consumption, especially if the air filter is neglected is through the turbo shaft seals and this will show up in the air side tubing coming off the turbo.

 

That is very, very wrong. The turbine wheel is made of exotic metals that are much stronger and lighter than cast iron. The turbine housing it spins inside of however is made of cast iron. If parts of the turbine wheel go opposite directions, its just going to pass out the exhaust. What you may be thinking is the bearing materials inside which do pass into the sump when parts of it break. Jtharvey just found a piece of his bearing on his drain plug from a turbo failure that happened a long long time ago.

 

I have a truck in my shop now with the same type of problem. Almost a year ago it was filled with gasoline and run. It got so hot it trashed the turbo. The trash went through the injectors. A new set of injectors were installed. Three months later we had to replace another injector. Now three injectors are dead. All have been removed and sent out to be cleaned and repaired as necessary.

 

Subscribing to this thread.
Mech, all this fallout of your customer's truck is after replacing the turbo and the injectors?
Sounds like that metal got into everything and it's becoming a nightmare for him.

 

I put a new oil filter on before I left Washington, but I'll crack it appart when I get the chance.. I'd be curious to see whats inside.


I did put a new fuel filter in (are there two?) ontop of the block, but after I did so, a guy told me you need to drain that resevoir of any fuel, to be sure you get any water out that has collected in it... and as such, my new filter will need to be replaced when I do it properly, like that. Can anybody confirm/deny this? Having just moved to a way lower paying job my budget isnt ideal, so I'm trying to avoid buying too much.. which is why this whole truck problem is extra SUPER exciting.

Ok, I'll check the turbo to see if I can feel any slop in it.

Also, whats the under valve-cover harness?
And where can I locate the high pressure oil pump? Whats a new one cost? I cant imagine it'd be cheap.


Ya, Diesels are a new animal for me. I'm not very familiar at all. I recently found out that if I lose the prime, I can just crank the engine long enough to blow the air out?? I thought I needed to somehow manually pump it. Thats how it always was on the tractors.. That'd be nice to have it all automagical like that.


Unfortunately my truck is in Nashville and I'm in Knoxville, 3 hours away. But when I head back I'll have my list of things to check. I'll keep you all updated. Thanks guys!

 

Dang, I forgot to address a few things...

1: No smoke other than a pretty faint amount of blue when I first start it. .. and of course black when I get on it hard.

2: The shavings/grit seem to be magnetized, the're sticking to the tip of the dipstick. I'll check more tho with a strong magnet (which by the way if anybody wants a really strong little magnet, the're easy to find in a dead computer hardrive... just pull it apart.)

3: What's the bypass thingey on the block side of the engine?

4: Can I just remove the Diablo chip? I thought when a rig was "chipped" a piece a memory was flashed with new information.. or is that just one way a person can alter the computers settings? If I can remove it, where would I find it?

5: What are my options for Boost and Fuel pressure checking? Just buyin guages?

6: I bought some oil additive from.. I think the brand is Lucas... its supposed to improve lubrication, minimize smoking, etc... I figured if my oil is getting too thin and leaking somewhere, this might help indicate that if it helps at all. .. I also got some injector cleaner. I havent put either in yet, but prolly will in a week when I head to Nashville again

 

On the backside of the fuel filter housing there is a yellow lever. Turn it toward the rear of the truck to drain the fuel.


Here's a thread with some pictures. Your truck may or may not have this problem as well. It's a common occourance with the powerstroke engine, but the symptoms are not similar to what you are going through right now.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/2...or-wiring.html

Yes you can crank it through. But it's best to cycle the ignition key a few times before you crank the starter. You will hear the fuel pump buzzing on the frame rail under the driver's seat for about 20 seconds then shut off.
Do that three or four times before attempting to start the engine after you've changed the fuel filter or run out of fuel and are trying to restore fuel pressure. With practice you will learn the difference in sound between a fuel pump that is filling the bowl back up with no resistance and when it gets full.
The tone of the pump will drop slightly and smooth out like an electric motor under a load.

 

1. Sounds normal to me. Don't worry about it.
2. Huge worry to me. I would be exploring ways to get some of those hard drive magnets into the oil pan somehow.
)IDEA( I found somewhere a long time ago, some magnets of the strength that equals those hard drive magnets. I was trying to fix a cruise control for a customer that had the pickup magnets attached to a CV joint on one of the drive axles. It was a common design for aftermarket CC units 20 years ago. They were shaped like little tiny hockey pucks and would fit perfectly on the top of the drain plug. I have no idea where to get some today, but if you were to be able to shape one of your HD magnets and stick it to your drain plug, that might work for you.
I have a couple of those HD magnets stuck to my tool box for whatever and you are right, they are strong.
3. That would be the oil cooler. Every 7.3 has them from the factory.
4. Remove the chip. You will lose a lot of power and all the black smoke will go away, but it must be removed from the truck for proper diagnosis and repair. You will lose a lot of power because the fuel map will change in the computer. But Ford programmed a fair amount in, plenty to get the truck up to speed on the highway.
All the black smoke will go away, the blue on cold start will remain.
5. Self explanitory.
6. Do not under any circumstance use oil additive on a Powerstroke. The injectors are powered by very high pressure engine oil and the additive will only create a foaming situation. The HPOP will get a very bad case of indigestion and you will have even worst driveability problems than what you are having now!

 

Alright, after a bit of delay I have info from closer inspection (the 550 is a 3 hour drive from where I live.. It takes a serious time commitment to get over there. ) NOTE: I have pics, but am not at a comp I can upload from right now... will later.

1: I can hear an exhaust leak frome somewhere around the block

2: The turbo spins free, but does have a little wobble if I pull on the nut up and down or side to side. Not much, but some.

3: The turbo blades are chipped/worn.. one has like a 1/4+ inch chunk missing from a corner.

4: Are the stock turbos in these Garrett? thats what's in mine... just curious.

5: Air from Turbo TO intercooler has a ghetto splice with orange stuff(RTV I'm guessing), what looks like maybe duct tape, and 3 hose claps .. the line itself is smushed to about 2/3rds of its normal diameter, and there looks to be some pretty serious air leakage from there.

6: I got an oil sample and am sending it to Blackstone.. I'll post results

7: test drove it.. ... problem didnt magically go away on its own... dang it.



To rehash, Power isnt all that bad and it seems to run fine when Idling, and light driving... I can even hammer down and it goes pretty good... but ones it gets hot, like from freeway driving or hard hills it has severe power loss with missing and throws a code.
... so while the turbo and its components need some lovin, doesnt it look like something else is in play here with the power being available at lower temps?