I got this 97 crew cab 4x4 3 months ago its got less than 60k miles no rust absolutely beautiful inside and out. Its been running fine until a few days ago I was pretty much idling down this back road when all of the sudden she starts gettin rough. it seemed like a gradual loss of cylinders I swear it sounded like it was hitting on only 1 cylinder when it shut down completely. I have not gotten it running since. had it towed home. this being my first diesel powered anything, I started browsing the owners manual while waiting for the towtruck driver to get out of bed. so wile looking through the manual I see the fuel bowl drain that seperates water from the fuel? so I pop the hood and start looking around for the pet **** for draining water off. I finaly find this in the dark, (snazzy little trap door) and open it. with the key on, I should get water or idealy fuel from the drain tube that runs down the right front of the engine (right?) well I get nothing when I open this drain. this is bad correct? also the title says its a 1997 but it was manufactuered oct 96 does this mean its pre OBDII? can I still get the truck to tell me whats wrong with some kind of scan tool? which tool? I'm a heavy tonnage refrigeration mechanic so I have no reservations what so ever about tearing this thing apart to get at any problems its having. also it had a new fuel filter and an oil change right after I bought it. (local ford dealer did it since I was injured at the time) I have been told that these engines particularly like bio diesel. I have been running B-5 since I bought it, and have only run pump straight petrolium diesel a couple times and even then used an additive. this is the right thing to do right?

 

B5 is a great fuel systems cleaner and is good for your rig. The down side is it will plug the fuel filters until the system is all cleaned out. Get a new filter and clean out the filter housing.
Check your fuel pressure. There is a schrader valve (looks like a tire valve) on the side of the filter housing. Have some one crank the engine while you depress the stem in the valve. Fuel should flow. You can check the pressure (40 psi min) with a tire gauge but be warned the gauge will be junk afterwards. Use a cheapy or get a fuel pressure gauge.

If your tach is not moving while cranking then it could be a bad CPS, cam position sensor...about $30 bucks at the dealer. It may even be under a re-call but back to your problem.

Your truck is OBD2 compliant...but doesn't have all the capabilities to help with your no-start.
The scanner needs to be capable of reading our diesels, not all of them do.

 

ok I will do that. thanks. but if my new fuel filter is plugged the fuel filter light would come on right? it is functioning because it came on back before i had the fuel filter changed the first time. and it tests fine while cranking. do you know if the filter light functions by pressure differential? if so then that would take me back to my initial idea that there's no pressure period. which would cause no filter light to come on at all because 0psi - 0psi = 0 pressure differential and no filter light. I will find out and post back later thanks again.

 

The fuel filter light is vacuum operated not pressure.

 

the tach pointer just lifts off of 0 while cranking so i guess it isn't the cam position sensor. going out to get a pressure guage

 

that fuel pressure test port points right at an engine lifting point. I cant get the schraeder adapter and the pressure gauge on there. I'm figuring it out and will post some pressures this evening. but I noticed when I pressed the schraeder core down that some air escaped should there be air in the system at this point? also when i pressed the core and allowed that air to escape that it almost wanted to fire up when i cranked it over and the oil pressure came up which is something new.

 

Try getting all the air out of the system. Air in fule will cause a hard start.
The tach should read 200 rpm while cranking. If the batteries are weak it will not start.

Not sure where you are trying to test the FP.

This is the FP test port on the driver side of fuel filter housing.

 

Is there fuel in the fuel bowl? I just had mine die due to a failed fuel pump.
The fuel pump is in the valley behind the fuel bowl but in front of the turbo.

 

Well I changed the cam position sensor anyways because every person I discuss this with says "I'd change that stupid thing anyways." so I have. and it did fire up. but I have realized that it is starving for fuel. I checked the fuel filter that was installed at the last oil change by the dealer, it was nearly black and had this green greasy margerine like substance plugging it up. this same substance fills the bottom of the filter housing up to the bottom of the filter cartridge. I might have 2 full tanks of contaminated fuel. I have gotten a clean drum and an electric oil pump and am going to spend this weekend getting to the bottom of this. including possibly dropping and cleaning both tanks. since I plan on putting another 300,000 miles plus on this truck, I bought the body and chassis shop manual and and the powertrain shop manual for it. I would still like to scan for and read any DTCs stored in the ECM.

 

That sounds like algae in the fuel. There are many algaecides that will get rid of it but it will take a lot of filters. Draining the tanks is the best option to avoid changing the filters 4-5 times......but you will still need to use the additive with fresh fuel. Any algae left in the tank will begin to grow again. Look here: http://www.powerservice.com/bk/

 

Looks like an algae problem for sure. When you have the filter out, look at the port on the top right side of the filter housing. There is a screen inside there that can plug up too. A q-tip and some PB Blaster will clean it out for you. When I do this, I open the drain valve in the fuel filter housing and just clean the inside of the housing at the same time. Be sure to have something under there to catch the stuff coming out of the drain.

 

I decided to take out the filter canister and fuel regulator. cleaned it out by inverting the filter can and hosing it out with Gumout. it came nice and clean. I can actually see the bottom now. took the fuel regulator off the filter can and cleaned that screen real good. it was plugged solid with that same greasy slime. doesn't look to have gotten in the fuel regulator though. so I got it all cleaned out. I drained both tanks with the electric oil pump (we use em for pumping oil into big refrigeration compressors) didnt take long at all to go from full to E using that thing. I took a sample into a clean glass jar, just after I started, and that fuel couldn't look more perfect. it sat on the shelf in the barn overnight and there's not a single spec on the bottom. so i decided to hold off on dropping the midship tank. got it all put back together with a fresh fuel filter, and it still does not run right. so I get out the fuel injection pressure tester and only have 10 psi comming back from the gallerys and its fluctuating. so the next question is do I replace the pump? or investigate the fuel regulator further? also, what do you treat algae with? I may have simply cleaned the system out by using B-5. I have run maybe 8 tanks full to the top of B-5 before having any issues. havent had the truck very long. and the only place all that crud had to go was the filter can. I just bought the truck so for all I know its never run bio diesel before. so these trucks dont like to run too good at fuel pressures below 45? what do you use to get the banjo fitting off of the pump up under the turbo? does a new pump come with new banjo fitting washers? are the HEUI injectors on these trucks rebuildable? just wondering cause Ive seen how much new ones are and I have yet to see what codes are hiding inside the PCM. the check engine light only comes on for lamp test, but I'm not sure that means there are no DTCs lurking. does anyone use anything other than autoenginuity?

 

If you have not already done so .. on the FPR there is a large bolt and if you unscrew it inside there is a spring that goes into a needle valve, both removable with needle nose pliers or I used a magnetic screwdriver. You might just have some gunk or crap inside where the needle valve is not seating. If that looks good then 10PSI cranking is not good so the high pressure side of the fuel pump might of gone south and needs replacing.

Look here ...http://www.o-f-i.com/index.php?page=...e_faq.htm#ford

 

Also new pump does not come with banjo washers. You can get new ones at Ford or International dealer, although they probably reusable but for the few dollars they cost me I just replaced them.

 

Banjo bolt requires 1 1/4 inch open end wrench IIRC . It's a tight fit and you can only get little bites but getting it off is easy. Getting it threaded back on to the new pump on each side of the fuel line banjo is .. well challenging. Small hands / fingers are a plus.