Looking for a little help with an odd problem on my 2000 F-250 6.8L with about 196,000 miles, please.

OK, so I drove it Tuesday, and no problems at all when I parked it, everything was perfectly normal. Fast forward to Saturday. I fired it up to move it, and right of the bat, it sounded funny and I got an odd exhaust smell. I turned it off, and fired it up again. It turned over for probably 5 seconds before starting, and I got a whiff of raw fuel. At this point, it was idling lower than normal, but wasn't skipping, so it seems anyway. I proceeded to move it so my son could use the truck bed for a school experiment, and it had very little power at all. After he was done, I took it for a short drive, very short, because it barely wanted to move. When I pulled back into the driveway, I noticed a "hot" smell. I looked underneath to see parts of the converter glowing hot. So, I thought maybe it was clogged. I let it cool, disconnected the converter, fired the truck up again, put it in drive, and the same problem, it barely wanted to move. No codes, no apparent skip, just low idle and no power. I was thinking a stuck injector, due to the hot converter and fuel smell, but I'm not sure, and neither are any of the techs at work. With the lack of power, it feels like it lost half the engine, not just once cylinder. Thoughts? Any help is appreciated.

 

Have you checked the fuel pressure?
Maybe the fuel pump is going or the filter is clogged.

 

Converter getting that hot is raw fuel.

You have a stuck open injector most likely.

WARNING! DO NOT continue to even start it until you find the problem. If you hydrolock a cylinder with gas, you WILL ruin the engine

 

If an injector is stuck open the fuel pressure will probably not hold.
Last time I tested mine the fuel pressure was still 20 psi after 2 days of sitting.
An injector can also be stuck open if the return wire to the PCM is shorted to ground.
Normally the PCM will activate an injector by completing the circuit to ground.

 

Pull your air filter out and make sure it hasn't come apart and jammed the intake tube.

Check fuel pressure leakdown (over time) with a gauge to see if an injector, as suggested, might be stuck open. If so, your oil level will be high and the oil diluted with gasoline.

 

Thanks everybody for the help! I have not checked fuel pressure because my gut is telling me it's not a lack of fuel, especially with what I also thought was raw fuel causing the converter to heat up. I did pull the air filter to make sure nothing had built a nest in there in the few days that it was sitting also. I figured from researching that it might be a stuck injector, but it just doesn't seem to be missing to me, or it's missing numerous cylinders that is causing it to balance out. Oddest thing that I've ever encountered, for sure.

 

What do the diagnostic codes say?

 

The OP stated in the 1st post "No codes".

 

Another possibility is that there is an issue with the ignition system on one bank (not identified) that is causing no or weak spark. Potential causes would be a damaged (high resistance) wire in the battery supply to the COPs on that bank or, perhaps, a damaged driver in the PCM that is causing a weak/no spark condition for that bank.

In regards to codes, if this is an OBD1 calibration instead of an OBDII (check emissions label underside of the hood), it's self-diagnostic capabilities are very rudimentary, almost to the point of useless. You'd have to go in with a scan tool and look at individual cylinder misfire counts to see if any are explicitly identified by the PCM.

 

Checked all fuses, and finally got it hooked up to a Ford IDS yesterday, and no stored codes. Did a power Balance test and Compression test. Compression is good on all cylinders, but multiple misfires. Guess I need to start checking wiring.

 

Maybe, maybe not. It would be best if you methodically worked through the logical possibilities to see if they are potential suspects or if they can be ruled out with confidence. Otherwise, you're left with what's pretty much guesswork.

 

This is a screen shot of the power balance test.

 

On, so haven't messed with it in a few weeks, and started back trying to figure this out. After replacing plugs, coils, and fuel filter, with no change, I started checking other things. So, what I found is, that it appears that none of the injectors on the driver's side are firing. Any suggestions?

 

Do they have power? Are they getting their firing pulse from the PCM?

 

Honestly, not sure, that's probably moving outside of my capability. I was trying to avoid having it towed, but that's growing less and less likely it seems.