So we are ready to leave Colorado and go back to Florida with our Airstream.
On 2 other occasions I have fixed problems, the truck (04 Excursion) has run great around town. Thinking all is well I hook the Airstream up and leave town only to get stranded. I did a bunch of work this summer/fall (egr delete new oil cooler, tracked down HPO leak warm no start issue)

Truck has been running awesome around town. Since I am slowly getting smarter I hooked up the Airstream to see how things would run. We are planning on leaving in a week. On a less than 100 mile trip the truck loses power and is running rough again. To me it feels like another injector. I ran the codes and got P0272: Cylinder 4 Contribution/Balance.

I am completely stumped as to why the truck runs great until it is hooked up to the the trailer and then fails big time. Could it be fuel pressure issue? I did the blue spring upgrade this summer.

Here is the chain of events:

Runs very rough to Florida. Then sounds like the engine is blown. Replace #8 exhaust rocker arm and injectors #1 and #7. Runs great around town. Also replaced coolant reservoir because it cracked.

Hook up trailer and leave town. In less than 100 miles the power drops. I think the trailer brakes are on. Find out #4 and #6 injector are bad. Why I ask? Mechanic says sometimes they just go bad. Truck runs great again with new injectors. Hook trailer back up and head to Fort worth. It runs a little rough but we get there.

While in Fort Worth I see that my coolant cap seems to be allowing coolant to release. Replace cap and again truck runs great. Hook trailer up to head to Seattle. In less than 100 miles truck starts running like crap again. Pull into the Ford dealership in Whichita Falls and they do a $250 diagnostic. They present me with a $5500 list of things that might help (*&^%$#@) The helpful thing that they pointed out was that I had a 45^ difference between oil and coolant. I limp to Colorado and spend the summer replacing oil cooler, deleting the egr, doing a blue spring upgrade, IPR replaced, and chasing down a high pressure oil leak.

Again truck is running awesome getting great mileage, great power, no codes and oil temp seems to be doing great.

Then today I run into this loss of power as soon as I hook the trailer up.
Acts like an injector is bad ( sadly I am now an expert on what this feels like).

Could this be a fuel pressure issue? Do I need to get a shop to check fuel pressure while truck is driving down the road?

Could I have a bad wiring harness by #4 injector? Can I repair this, check it for chaffing?

I cannot begin to explain how much these constant repairs have turned my life upside down from a financial stand point, a huge point of stress, and a major distraction from working on my businesses which have been put on hold while I become a diesel mechanic.

Thanks So much for all your help. Without forums like this I would have driven this vehicle off of a cliff by now.

Steve

 

I would make sure you have fuel pressure first.

 

I agree. The blue spring should have helped but maybe lines plugging or pump not up to speed. Being you are on the road a filter change (both) would be worth a shot. Might have gotten some bad fuel. You may be on to somthing with the harness also. In the tech folder are some pics of the common chaffing areas. Its also possible to find problem by wiggling the injector harness while it's idling and listening for changes in engine sound.

 

Did you ever have to replace the IPR after the oil cooler changeout I cant remember

 

How about FICM voltages. Would explain some constant injector problems, especially under load...

 

Blade IPR was replaced.

dlibson FICM has been checked multiple times but I could recheck it. I think the torque app on my wifes ANDROID will read all the ECU info related to the FICM. Any quick suggestions on what to look for.

 

Couldn't find it in tech folder. Any suggestions?

 

if I remember correctly there are a couple valve cover studs the injector harness chafes on.

 

Ford DTC codes & wire chafing locations - TheDieselGarage.com

 

Thanks I'll check that.

 

This might not make any sense, but i thought id share.

At the company I work for I maintain/repair their fleet of vehicles from Chevy colorados to freightliners.

Anyways, a guy's truck came back on a flatbed, he said the truck would idle great and rev up fine but as soon as he put it in drive it would bog down and lose total power(when there was a load on the motor). (02 F-250 5.4 V8)

Turns out the fuel pump was not working correctly, and was lacking the fuel pressure when the motor went under a load.

So basically the same situation, your EX runs great until you put a load on it, in your case your T.T.

If I were you, I would check your fuel pressure first then go from there.

PS, when my truck was extremely low on fuel(lacking the proper amount of fuel to the injectors) I threw a Contribution/Balance code for my #1 injector.

 

Thanks Tyler I am ordering a fuel pressure gauge Monday.

White 7 Color 100PSI Fuel Pressure Gauge

6.0L Fuel Pressure Adapter

 

gauge installed. 40 psi sitting in driveway (already have blue spring) time to install new fuel pump.
Any install instructions would be great. Need to leave town Saturday!

 

Are the fuel filters up to date?

 

changed less than 10k ago. Probably do them again soon.