Hi All,

A few days ago, I went out and tried to start my 7.3 excursion only to not start. I opened the hood to find the nastiest green grime on my positive battery terminal. The drivers' side was so corroded that the connector almost fell apart.

Anyway, I ordered a positive battery cable yesterday and picked it up at the local ford truck dealer. This is the cable that goes from the starter all the way to both batteries. I also replaced both batteries with new Costco batteries.

In any case, last night I replaced the cable fairly easily and both batteries. I also replaced my alternator because I was only getting a 12.8v charge at warm idle.

My wife used the excursion today and it fired right up and she was able to drop my son off at pre-school and was even able to pick him up at noon. But when she tried to leave to take the kids to the park, upon startup it started vibrating badly as if there was a miss.

I pulled the codes with my generic obi-ii reader and I'm pulling a 1316. First time i've pulled this code and this truck has been flawless. I did a little preliminary research and previous posts on here say it's the IDM storing codes.

I do have a dp-tuner on this excursion and the switch recently stopped working and it's been stuck in stock mode. I'm thinking about pulling the dp chip and running it to see if that could be the problem.

I'm also thinking that with some of the cable finagling I did last night that I may have bothered the UVCH wiring...

Any best guestimates or thoughts?? As always, thanks in advance.

Erik

 

I would definitely start by atleast checking the outside VC connections, to make sure you didn't bump those. The DP tuner shouldn't cause issues with the IDM wiring. Make sure the ground on the driver's side is hooked up properly and tight though, as that is where the IDM is grounded.

Beyond that you can begin to ohm UVCH's to test for loose internal connections(which you shouldn't have bumped) Also make sure the 42 pin connector over the driver's side valve cover is fully seated and not chaffing on VC.

 

Ok, it's definitely intermittent. I pulled the dp-tuner to be sure and drove it for about 10 mins with no issues. Then when I pulled into the driveway it started vibrating/missing bad again. I'm gonna check the wiring to see what i may have jerked.

 

Ok, I pulled the driver's side outside valve cover wiring harness and did and ohm check. It was all registering 0.7 ohms EXCEPT the 1st cylinder (cyl. #2) which didn't give me resistance. So just before sundown I raced to get the valve cover off just in time to see the UVCH partially dislodged! I pushed it back in and did another ohm check and cylinder #2 is now registering 0.7 ohms.

Now, for the ultimate question, should I wait for Ford parts to open on Monday to get a wedge or should I just stuff a quarter in there?

Have there been ANY reports of quarters dislodging themselves from the harness??

Thanks in advance.

Erik

 

Correction, I did some research and found out I was testing the glow plugs and not the injectors.

I just went back out there tonight and all the glow plugs on the driver side bank register 0.7 and all the injectors register 3.2-3.3 ohms. I was wondering why I wasn't getting a reading on the inside pins.... I was originally testing them between the battery ground, not the center (common) pin.