Hi everyone -

I've got an 6.0 liter 03 PSD that I just started having issues with. The CEL came on a few months ago, and after going through three OBD scanners to find one that'd work with the truck, found that it was throwing a P2285 code, but the truck would run fine, with the exception of an initial idle surge on cold start (it would flash to around 1200rpm quickly, and then drop back down to normal idle) - other than that, I didn't have any issues with the truck.

I took it into the dealership to have the exhaust gas pressure sensor delete PCM update done to it, thinking that they would see any errors in the PCM and see if they caused issues. Of course, the CEL went off on it's own the night before taking it into the dealership and apparently didn't throw any codes at them when they updated the PCM. Since that time, the CEL came on once for a short period of time, but then went out again.

Okay, so that's a long backstory - here's the current issue: Driving home from work last night (about 30 miles), the truck started surging at highway speeds - it would momentarily feel like the accelerator was being floored for less than 1/2 second every couple seconds, but the transmission wouldn't change gears or anything. And when it wasn't surging, it'd start to feel like it was losing power. Getting off the highway, it was even worse! At idle, the engine would surge up to 1500RPM, and then drop down to around 500RPM erratically. This happened at every stop light I stopped at.

Anyway, I stopped at the auto parts store and picked up a few things. After 20 minutes in the parking lot, the problem appeared to be worse! On the way from the auto parts store to my home, the truck surged the entire time, and actually stalled out on me at a stop light.

The oil is relatively new, Ford brand Diesel 20W50, with less than 1,000 miles on it - the truck has 76,000 miles on it. I changed the Fuel filters last night (The old filters had around 8,000 miles on them) with new Ford filters and also changed the air filter (which was overdue) with a new Ford filter. This is frustrating - I have an event this weekend that I need to use my truck for and tow with, and there's no way I can tow while it's acting up like this.

So, at this point I think that it's the ICP - I'm taking it to the dealership tomorrow morning, but I may be out of my warranty. If that's the case, I'm not paying them to replace this for me - I will end up replacing it myself. I would suspect an issue with the exhaust gas pressure sensor, but it's supposed to be programmed out of the equation with my current PCM code. If it isn't either of these issues, then it looks like the HPOP is the next thing on the list? I'm having a hard time finding information on this - what is it, and how hard is it to replace? Any other ideas for what my problem would be? Any help is greatly appreciated :-) Thanks guys...

 

Why would it be out of warranty? Should take no more than 30mins for a qualified tech to swap it out with a new one.

 

I had this exact same problem recently. However mine was a bit worse, since I have had my truck it has surged and I thought that was normal. Well recently it started to surge worse and completely shut off and would not restart. Also as I would be driving the truck it would just completely shut off. I had codes P2284, P2285, P2290, P2614 and P2617 and some of these codes were because I had to pull the ICP connector off the ICP sensor to get the truck to restart and run. The stupid thing is that with the connector off the ICP the truck ran better than it ever had with no surging so I couldn't see it being high pressure oil problems and I knew it had to be the ICP connector or sensor. Well I replaced the sensor and was waiting for a new connector in the mail and it was still doing it with the new ICP. When I finally got the new connector and put the new connector in I also protected the wires around the ICP because I thought maybe there was wiring chafing issues on the icp wires that were in the injector harness. After doing those two things I have not had one problem, it has not shut down or even surged and it is amazing because the truck has surged since I got it about a year ago. Also it is interesting to note that the ICP connector had been previously updated before I got the truck with the new connector that has all purple wires. Got the new ICP sensor off ebay $50 and $10 for a new connector off ebay well worth it to have my truck run right. This is just my experience sorry if it is a bit long.

 

doubledee: The truck is an early 03 - I have to check with the dealer, but I think it was built in November of 2002 - if that's the case, and it was sold soon after that, I might be out of the 5yr/100K warranty, wouldn't I?

gtdan: Thanks for the confirmation and sharing your issues - I've read a lot about people having oil leaks and generally bad engine conditions, but nobody has mentioned that their engine speed erratically surges with this issue. I was also going to ask about just pulling the plug on the ICP to see if this issue of mine will subside, at least to get my truck to the dealership, but you answered my question about that, too - thanks :-)

I'm going to see if I can pull the plug on the ICP and determine whether or not that improves the condition. It will help me diagnose my issue anyway.

 

My diesel manual does not mention 20W-50. Is this a CI-4+ or CJ4 oil?

 

yes you are right. I would not pull the plug on your ICP. I'm pretty sure your truck needs it to actually run.

 

The ICP will default if you unhook it.

 

Default to what?

 

ICP Injection Control Pressure sensor sends a signal to the PCM which adjusts the IPR Injection Pressure Regulator.

If you unhook the ICP, the PCM will use a default reading. The FICM also uses a signal from the ICP to adjust fuel timing.

 

I see, I see. So you can actually still drive with it unhooked but wouldn't the truck run like crap?

 

In spite of my efforts last night, I wasn't able to get to the ICP sensor on the truck, let alone unplug the ICP. In all fairness, I only had about an hour of time to do it in, and without removing some stuff from the engine bay, there was no way I was going to be able to get to it. I've found two methods for getting to the ICP - one is from the top, and the other is from the bottom of the engine bay. I'm sort of lanky and have long monkey-like arms, but there's absolutely no way I can reach around the transmission, remove a heat shield and then remove the ICP - you'd have to be an ogre to accomplish that.

Anyway, to add insult to injury, I took my truck in for service this morning to find out that my 76K mile truck was out of warranty on February 17th, 2008. :-\ So, I picked up a new ICP sensor, and harness pigtail, and will work on getting to that ICP (from the top of the engine bay) tonight.

FTE rocks - you guys have the answers to all the issues I've had with my truck. This site is an invaluable resource for Ford truck owners :-)

 

fwiw, my tech did it while up on a lift then bitched at me for bringing in a hot tranny. lol good luck on replacing it.

 

You can just pull the turbo, that works...

 

Bismic: Sorry, I got the weight wrong (I'm thinking of my racecar...) I'm running Ford Motorcraft 15W40.

Maxium: Pulling the turbo seems a little bit extreme for getting at this sensor - hopefully I won't have to do that. It's bad enough that the sensor is prone to failure, let alone the fact that the failure mode is to leak oil into the wiring harness, ruining it too, don't you think?

 

The ICP and it's connector would be my guess too but I would also check the engine harness for chaffing and just for fun pull and clean the egr. good luck.