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Intermitten power loss please help

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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 06:08 PM
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Intermitten power loss please help

I have a 1997 f350 PSD 7.3. I started getting power loss to where my engine would just die. If I let off the gas a little then the engine would kick back on no problem. The check engine light would come on occasionally with that. I already had the truck in for the CPS recall. I purchased another CPS and installed it I thought that I had fixed the problem but now I will get a sputtering loss of power with occasional total loss to where the truck just dies as mentioned above. It seems more so now that I will get a continuous hiccup in power. The fuel filter is brand new. From what I have researched it sounds as if it might be the IDM chip that is bad. Does that sound like the problem or is it the fuel pump or maybe injectors? I am very frustrated and cannot diagnose the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Daniel
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 06:39 PM
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Be nice to know the code from the cel. Have you verified that the valve cover harnesses are in good shape and don't have any melted pins, under and outside the valve covers? Check outside the covers first as its easy at the four plugs that are in each corner of the valley plugged into the valve cover gasket.
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 07:02 PM
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Yeah you think it's worth to buy a code buyer? I'm sorry I am no mechanic and simply a novice. Would my vavle cover harness exhibit the same kind of problem if they were going bad? How do I check to see if there good?
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 07:03 PM
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How do I tell if the pins are melted? Thanks for the help.
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 07:07 PM
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Just had a similar experience as "danimalmanimal". Truck bucked hard a few times, with the tach needle dropping and coming back up, and then it ran like it had half of the cylinders missing. We were going about 65 mph at the time, traveled the last few miles to the house at about 50-60 mph. The Check Engine Light came on. As we exited I was prepared to powerbrake as I lifted the accelerator pedal in case the engine tried to die. As the RPMs fell to about 1500 the CEL cleared and the engine settled into a nice idle. Though I didn't have to get to highways speeds agin, it ran completely fine the last mile or so. I even kicked in it the a$$ on a short straight road and it ran completely normal.

Will a AutoZone code reader pull codes from an OBDII?
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 07:11 PM
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this sounds exactly like the problem i was having i just posted a thread a few days ago about my cps problem. had all of the exact same problems you were with a p0344 code. turned out to be a cps wire had rubbed itself a little and when the engine would move hard enough it would cause it to ground out and stall or buck or whatever it felt like doing. my wire was rubbed through on the driver side of the engine right under the intake
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 07:50 PM
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If you unplug the connections, you'll see if they are melted.

Autozone code readers won't read codes. Scan gauge or AE software, which aren't cheap is what is needed. 200 or so for scan gauge, 350 for AE. You could go to ford to get it read, don't know what they charge though.

Where are you? Possibly someone close to you can help.

CPS wire rubbing has definitely happened before but like I said it would be nice to see the code. I'll see if I have a picture of the vc plugs
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 07:51 PM
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In the far left of this picture by the engine hook is one of the plugs. Just unplug it and look at pins. There are 4 like I said

 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 07:55 PM
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Where did you get the cps you have in it now? Ford or IH are the only reasonably reliable cps' available. Parts store ones are not recommended.
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 08:34 PM
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Will the engine run with a failed CPS? Or did the temporary failing of the CPS cause it to go into some sort of limp mode.
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 09:52 PM
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Hey thanks for all the help. I purchased my CPS at ford dealership. It had the same problem with the new one as it did with the old one. Now these wires will be visibily melted on the interior of the plug and they are on the Valve covers? Thanks for bearing with me. I will go look now. You don't think it's the IDM though?
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 10:05 PM
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i think before you really go any further at all, you need to scan the codes. reading the codes will tell you exactly what area to start looking in. right now your kind of just shooting in the dark with guess work. idms will typically throw a code when they go bad. when it is cranking over does the rpm on the gauge move up to the 100-200 rpm point or is there no movement in it at all?

like i said before though, getting the codes read will tell you really where to start looking into
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 10:05 PM
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i think before you really go any further at all, you need to scan the codes. reading the codes will tell you exactly what area to start looking in. right now your kind of just shooting in the dark with guess work. idms will typically throw a code when they go bad. when it is cranking over does the rpm on the gauge move up to the 100-200 rpm point or is there no movement in it at all?

like i said before though, getting the codes read will tell you really where to start looking into
 
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 10:08 PM
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i think before you really go any further at all, you need to scan the codes. reading the codes will tell you exactly what area to start looking in. right now your kind of just shooting in the dark with guess work. idms will typically throw a code when they go bad. when it is cranking over does the rpm on the gauge move up to the 100-200 rpm point or is there no movement in it at all?

like i said before though, getting the codes read will tell you really where to start looking into
 
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Old Oct 24, 2011 | 05:54 AM
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Originally Posted by LeoJr
Will the engine run with a failed CPS? Or did the temporary failing of the CPS cause it to go into some sort of limp mode.
If the cps completely fails it won't run, but it does very often cause stalling issues, then starts back up, etc. No limp mode with cps failure.

I agree you are kind of shooting in the dark without the codes being read but its an easy check to look at the outer connections I mentioned.
 
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