Originally posted this in the van forum but it was suggested to me that the PSD forum might be better, so here goes:

2003 E-350 long body, 7.3 International motor. 290 miles. 2nd owner.

One of the trucks in my fleet has been possesed by a paranormal entity. The truck worked great yesterday, and I did an oil change and code read as I do every 7,000 miles. The driver told me that last night the dash lights didn't work, the blinker indicators are on permanently unless the blinkers are on, in which case they blink, and the high beam indicator is on with low beams and off with high beams. All the lights on the outside of the truck work as they should. Also, the interior lights don't work as they should (can't describe the pattern as it's erratic).

During the day I use the truck for parts runs. I took it to Carquest today. Hard start, and until it got warm the engine shook like a bit** at idle, the turbo would yell but without the engine revving much or the truck accelerating, so 0-60 was about 30 seconds with the pedal floored (no black smoke), and about 2/3 of the time the truck would shake like it had bad U-joints (it doesn't, both are good). After it warmed up it drove normally. CEL was off and there were no codes. All fuses by the brake cylinder are good.

None of these problems existed yesterday.

I looked into the dash, and all I found amiss was a slight burn in the headlight switch. I consider this normal on these trucks and will replace it, but I don't see it being related to the other problems. I did find, though, a wierd system with wires Scotchblocked into the dash wiring, with a coax cable going up the door frame and under the roof liner, towards the center of the body. I can't tell if it's a burglar alarm or some sort of GPS data logger, but I suspect it's part of the problem.

This truck worked perfectly until today, and was responsible for far less than its fair share of issues when compared to the other trucks.

 

Bump to the top.

 

When the engine was running rough one day and not the previous, what were the air temperatures respectively? Maybe you need some anti jell (diesel kleen) and a new fuel filter for that problem.

 

UPDATE:

Fuel system checks out. Last night the van wouldn't start at all. If you crank it for long enough, it coughs a few times but never really fires up. Still has the dash lights issue. Today it started throwing code P1670, which as I understand it means the injector computer isn't getting power. I believe the engine issue is connected to the dash light issue- a major short, leak, or reverse polarity somewhere. Lots of things are either getting no power or reverse polarity or something- see first post. Both problems came up at about the same time.

Hooked up a battery charger to the front battery, and I noticed it was reading a 45 amp draw with the key in "RUN". What should it normally be reading in this state?