I have had this truck for a few weeks. I do not have a good history on this truck. the guy I got it from did not seem to know much about it. He got it from a local retired painter. It has 230K on it. It seems to run and start OK. So I got up and decided to take the truck because I'm trying to determine if it reliable or not. Its about 45F. It starts fine and idles fine I'm cleaning the windows. About the time I'm done the idle speed slows sightly it shudders a bit and stops! I try to restart is a bit. No sign of life I take a car to work. After work it's about 68F, I open the fuel filter to check for fuel. That makes a mess! I clean it up the mess and she fires right up. I take her for a little spin everything seems fine. The CEL never came on. What do you think? I figured fuel from the way it died, but after work she fires right up. I do not want to get stuck on the way to work! Where do I start? I just ordered over $200 worth of stuff from Amazon for this ride.
This is my first diesel, Stinky and loud! I have put a bit over 100 mile on her commuting by street mostly

 

Stinky, eh? While the diesel has a distinctive odor too it, it shouldn't be overwhelming since they reformulated the fuel in 2006/2007. If the truck isn't 100%, you can get smoke and stink.

I suggest clicking the OBDII tools link in my signature, and learn how to set up logging data. The last link in my signature explains very precisely what is needed for the truck to start - and an OBDII tool tells you which requirement is not met.

 

1. What's your oil level and when was your last oil change? The injectors in this truck need a few things and sufficient oil pressure is one of them. Clean oil is always better.

2. How good are your batteries and alternator?

3. When you want to pop the lid on your stock fuel filter housing, there is a yellow lever on the back side of the fuel bowl that will drain the bowl and relieve the pressure. There is a drain tube that runs down the passenger side of the engine block, and a few feet of 1/2" fuel hose will allow you to drain it cleanly in to a bottle, etc.

Update your profile to include your location; you may get lucky and have someone near you that has Auto Enginuity and can scan your truck or possibly ride with you to do some logging. Also, start with the basics, i.e. new filters, oil, etc. if you haven't already.

 

Thanks guys, I will have to set up the data logging.
Today it a bit warmer here in So Cal. I fired her up this AM and she was surging rump, rump, rump, rump. I gave her a bit of throttle and it settled down to a good idle. On the way after about 5 min, the CEL came on. The truck seemed to running fine at this time. By the time I got to work the light was off. After work, I will check for codes. This truck came with a super chips tuner and it set to safe tow.
The oil is fresh, clean, and up to the mark. It started perfectly, so I would assume the batteries are up to par. I Have not got around to finding where the fuel drain goes. I don't want to make a mess, but I do want to test the fuel flow. As for the odor, it smells like a old school bus depot when I fire her up. It stats and runs clean, no smoke.

 

On the way home after about 15 min the CEL came on. It was it was off when I got home. My superchips tuner indicates two codes P1280, and P1210.
ICP circuit out of range low.
Injector control pressure above expected level.

SO what do you think?
The fuel filter is new. My guess is the fuel pump might be going out. Thats just a guess!

I could be backword on this, it could be the system thinks the pressure is too high and it tried to back it all the way down and is out out of range but still believes its too high.

 

icp sensor may be taking a dive, unplug it and see how it reacts. when my icp sensor took a dive the truck would idle like crap i.e shudder and low rpm while in gear at a stop and die. caught the problem when it happened a 3rd time and hurried up and got under the hood and unplugged the icp sensor while it was idling poorly and almost like a light switch the engine computer went to default mode on that sensor and truck ran good.

needless to say replaced sensor and working great ever since.

YMMV

P.S. where in SoCal are you located?

 

Thanks for the feedback, I was just looking on Utube about that sensor. I looked it it, it's clean, no oil in the connector, and the wiring looks good. I will have to try the idle test on Thur.
I'm in Covina.

 

mind you i am just spit balling here, ideally you would want to get some sort of diagnostic tool and see what the sensors are doing.

no oil in the connector is good! but!! internally the sensor may be having problems.

 

That makes perfect sense, since the the IH T444e is a very common engine in a school bus. Our 7.3L is the "Fordized" T444E. Our HEUI injectors are going to have a very distinktive aroma, behavior, and sound to them.

I mentioned OBDII tools and logging - you mention "On the way home after about 15 min the CEL came on. It was it was off when I got home. My superchips tuner indicates two codes P1280, and P1210.
ICP circuit out of range low.
Injector control pressure above expected level.".

Ah.... tuned. That wasn't mentioned in the first post. Sliding back over to the OBDII tools assertion, this is a log of a truck experiencing both high and low ICP pressure during a WOT run on a tune:

This is a slightly modded 7.3L:



This is a slightly modded 7.3L on tunes:



Take careful note of the ICP and the ICP DC. ICP DC controls the ICP - but you can see where the ICP isn't listening on the tuned truck. There is another element at play that's not on the graphs - Fuel Injector Pulse Width.

If you want to know why your truck didn't want to start the other day, there are key criteria that need to take place before the engine will light - and they are listed in the last link in my signature. If you are on the mobile site, you will find the links (and many others) by going to the full site.

 

I order a OBDII Blue tooth adapter last night. So maybe next week I will be able to log some data.
Also not two days ago it started fine and idled OK for about two min. Then it stumbled and died and did not restart. I did not try it long, just two short shots at it. I will check later today if unplugging the IPC effects the idle when its cold. It will be about 55F.

Thanks guys.

Yep, I should have guessed form the sound and smell that the PSD had fallen out of some vintage school bus!

 

For fun, check to make sure the tinnerman nut is still on the IPR.

 

I tried the unplug the ICP sensor test. It idled great w or w/o the sensor connected after work on Thur. This AM, I fired up the truck. It was about 50F. It rumped twice and then idled perfectly.

 

I have a konnwei kw820 scanner.
It can log 60 sets of data.
My question is what should I log?
Rpm, ICP, ICP-DC, what should I add to the list?
I will give it a shot first thing in the AM, it should be about 50F.
What temp sensors should be on this list?

 

Here are the biggies (along with Torque Converter Slip with autos):





For a "cranky" engine that won't start, that last link in my signature has some red meat for those hungry for information.

 

Was it running when you disconnected the ICP sensor? There was no change, correct? If there was no change in the idling then you want to replace your ICP sensor for sure! It sounds like it's junk and your truck is stuck in default.
With a good ICP sensor, while the engine is running. Unplugging the sensor should cause the truck to act funny then idle a little different. When you plug the sensor back in (once again assuming it's good) the truck should mellow out and idle nice and smooth.
With a bad ICP sensor... it will idle like crap and there will be absolutely no difference in idle with it unplugged or plugged in.
Go with Motorcraft... don't cheap out! Any sensor you ever have to buy for this truck.... Motorcraft