Ok, I have a 97' F350 7.3 PSD 4x4. Hypermax chip, 6637 intake, downpipe, all stock other than that. Right now, I can not get it to start.

It was running fine on Tuesday. I filled it up Tuesday night, took it to the car wash, came home, plugged her in to my timer; which comes on 2 hours before I leave for work. It was pretty cold Tuesday night, may have gotten down to 20 degrees.

I got up Wed morning, started the truck. It started a little rough. Idled lousy for a minute or two, then shut off and has not restarted since.

I've been trying to figure it out ever since, but I'm kind of stumped. I'm a PSD newb, but here's what I got so far:

Cranks good, batteries fully charged. Wait to start light DOES come on. Fuse #22 under the hood is good and does have continuity when checked with a meter. Tach DOES work, cranks at about 200 rpms.

I pulled the filter, which is only about 1000 miles old. Drained the bowl, filled it was the Red Diesel 911. Poured a can of the white diesel 911 into my tank. Attempted to start again, still no good.

So, what now? I'm going to try to check the Glow Plug Relay, and the glow plugs themselves. How do I test the relay? Is it similar to a starter relay, in that I'm looking for battery voltage to both sides?

Well, thanks for reading, and thanks for trying to help!!

 

Any cel come on at all? Try unplugging the icp and see if it starts.

 

You can take a big screwdriver across the 2 big post for 15 secs then hurry and try to start it if it starts then a new relay at napa gpr 109 is like $35. Make sure the oil is fresh and full I have just switched to the 5w40 rotella and it helps some on cold starts. Check your valve cover wiring harness for burnt pins since you said it ran bad. Is it turning over fast enough I think I read it needs 200 rpm to start but a charger on the battery see if that helps

 

Check HPOP rez/oil level, cranking fuel pressure, and possibly get a scanner or build a mechanical guage setup to fit one of the plugs in the oil rail on the head and see what ICP is while cranking. If ICP doesn't get up to ~500psi, try pulling out and cleaning the IPR or trying a known good used IPR.

How did the fuel in the fuel bowl look? Plug the truck in and let it stay plugged in for 5-6 hours so the engine is nice and warm. No need to mess with glow plugs or GPR right now.

 

Ok, truck still will not fire. I plugged it in overnight, no difference. I tested the glow plugs and GPR. GPR is good, 7 glow plugs measured .5 ohms resistance, one had 0 resistance.

I unplugged the ICP and tried cranking, no difference.

I checked the level of the HPOP< it was full.

Should I pull out the IPR and check for damaged O-rings? Or is that a bad idea?

 

Means you went to the car wash just before, try unhooking the idm and take it out and shake it to see if there is any water in it.

 

What 427 Fordman said....All was good until a spray down / wash... and a fill up.....Shake IDM, Also see if your FPR screen is obstructed. And asked earlier...You have or have not a CEL illuminated?

 

Definately check the FPR screen, and IDM for water.

 

I really ahve no clue how water gets into the IDM at all.

Has to be freak accidents.

 

here are some IDM Vent pictures.





You can see in the second picture that there is a filter in there as well to keep dust from coming in.


I really have no clue how water can get into these things. =(

Don't rule it out cause of this though. People have found lots of water in them.

 

Ok, I removed FPR screen. It was very dirty. I was excited. I cleaned it thoroughly and reinstalled. No difference. Still cranks, but will not fire.

I removed the IDM. I also contacted the previous owner. He said this is a new IDM because the last one got water in it and the truck started stalling out. This one is supposed to have a better vent or something to prevent that from happening. In any case, I removed it, but being as it's so cold out, any water is frozen, so I have it thawing on paper towels in the kitchen at this moment.... I'll give an update on that later...

The check engine light does not come on when I turn the key on, or when I start to crank it. However, if I crank it for longer than 15 seconds, the CEL does come on and does not go off until I turn the key off. I have an OBDII scanner, but it's like a Walmart special and it does not pick up any codes.

Going to learn what an IPR is and does and try and evaluate that next.

 

Callin it a night.

IDM has been at room temp for a few hours no... No sign of water inside.

I educated myself on IPR's a little bit... It's a possibility. I found mice droppings on top of my intake. Who knows what wires they were chewing on down there. I didn't get a chance to inspect the IPR. It's going to have to wait til next year.

Thanks for all the help and all the replies guys. I really appreciate you taking the time to try and help me out. I'm learning quite a bit. Hopefully we'll get it figured out soon.

Have a great new years everyone!

 

If you've been doing a bunch of cranking you may want to check the hpop level to be sure its still full.

If you found mice droppings you better do a thorough wire check for sure.

You have a great new year too!

 

Well I finally got a chance to work on thr truck again, and here is what I did...

Removed FPR. Removed fuel bowl bolts and moved aside.

Cleaned out what was now a mouse nest under my fuel bowl.

Unclipped wire connector from IPR. Checked for continuity between these wires, no continutity. Checked for damage/melting/mouse chewing, found nothing.

Removed 3/4" nut from rear of IPR, no propblem. Attempted to remove solenoid from IPR... would NOT budge. Sprayed it with WD40 and let it sit. Still nothing. So I put a needle nose vice grip on it and got it spinning. Still would not come off. Attempted to pry off with a screw driver.... Broke the plug right off the solenoid. D'oh.

Sucked out all the oil from the HPOP. Used a 1 1/8" box wrench to remove the rest of the IPR.

I'm not sure if I needed one before (I hope so) but I definitely need one now! So where's the best place to buy a new IPR?