For the life of me Bill I couldn't find my problem until I used a magifine glass and there it was! I know, I know, my eyes aren't what they used to be but even with reading glasses on I couldn't see it until I use a magifine glass.

 

I didn't think about it not being under load until after the fact, so that's probably useless info. I left that VC off and started it and all the injectors looked like they were putting out about the same amount of oil. I changed the harness to #6 And #8 cylinders with one from my old gasket and put the VC back on and took it for a drive. It wasn't missing bad, but still idles rough and surges, and, still sputters at about 1600 rpm.

Thanks Todd, but I've got some to try for trouble shooting.

I did that on cylinders 6 and 8. That's the one I had unplugged when I came home and didn't make a difference. I really think I've got two separate problems though. The really bad missing that it did Monday and again this evening are intermittent. That's the only two times it did that, and that could be the harnesses still. I haven't pulled the VC on the pass. side yet. But, the surging, rough idle, and the sputter at 1600 rpm, is ALL the time. Sitting at idle, I can bring the rpms up slowly, and it will stumble a little at different rpms, until I get it past 2000 rpms. But, like I said though, I haven't pulled the pass. side VC yet. Tomorrow is my last day of work for 11 days, so I'm gonna tear this thing apart and find out what the heck is going on with this thing.

 

Oh, I'm still not ruling out the UVCH, as a matter of fact, I'm probably gonna just go ahead and order all new ones from Clay in just a minute.

I also have another question...when I unplug the ICP and the surging idle goes away, what does that mean?

 

I think that means the icp sensor is bad bill but i will wait to see what others say. You also said befor that you swaped it out with a good one on you parts truck and it still did it right? You also said it didnt have oil in it i think?

 

When you unplug the ICP the PCM defaults to a given level of pressure for what it 'thinks' it should be. Say idle, 650. Then the ICP being taken out of the loop and the PCM saying a steady 650 the IPR adjusts to that and it stays there steady. With it plugged in there is a variance of up and downs being called for by the ICP and a 'sticky IPR' can't adjust quick enough causeing a unsteady idle. Replace the IPR. WAG

 

I did swap it with the parts truck one Gabe, and it didn't change the surge, and there is no oil in it.

 

The IPR is what I've been thinking the surge was, and it could also cause the shutter at the same rpm all the time too right?

 

Ah, thats right Gleen. I knew i should of waited.

 

I would say yes. Seems like I read that the IPR adjusts pressure thousands of times per minute. You can clean them but if its wore out it needs to be replaced. I have two spares, one stuck completly once and killed the engine. Put the other in and rough idle so I finally broke down and bought a new one. Stupid me just threw the two together in the tool box and now if I need one to get me off the side of the road I don't know which is which, LOL.

 

LOLLOL, I hope that made a little sense, I feel like my brain is inside of a cloud, haha

 

Maybe before I buy anything, UVCHs or anything, I'll take the IPR out of the parts truck and try it just to see if it makes any difference at all.

 

Ya, that's a lot of work but maybe that would be a course of action. When mine stuck I was on a bridge and I was lucky to be able to just roll off of it in the clear. I of course tryed everything else first before trying the IPR. I even had my generator running to charge my batteries while I tried all the usuall stuff. Good luck!!

 

I think you have an HPO issue, for sure Bill. It's just a matter for isolating it and figuring out where it is. You could swap that IPR over to eliminate one other thing, but if you're getting a consistent stumble around 1600 RPM, I think you may have an injector o-ring problem.

Here is the testing procedure for the HPO system.
97-15A 7.3L DI Turbo

 

You can also make sure the injector solenoid and armature plates are tight while you have the VC off

 

I've got the next 9 (not 11) days off work, so I'm gonna dig into it and figure it out. I'll try to eliminate all I can before I pull the IPR.

Thanks for the link Nate. I think it's a HPO issue too. What gets me is when we ran the cylinder contribution test, even when it was running like crap, it passed the test. When I start it up in the mornings at 25-30* out, it runs smooth until it warms up. I pulled both VCs again this evening and unplugged each injector one at a time, with each one making a definate difference in how it ran. I think o-rings could be an issue, even though I just replaced them 6 months ago. Tomorrow I'm gonna pull the injectors, inspect the o-rings and cups. If all is good there, I'll put them back in, and move on to something else.

I checked the solenoid caps Mike, but what are the armature plates?



Thanks all you guys for the help.