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1994.5 - 1997 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel  

Doesn't shut off

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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 06:00 PM
  #1  
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Haines Hooter
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Doesn't shut off

I know these engines like to run well, but mine wouldn't shut off about a year ago, and I never quite fixed the problem. It'd run fine, but when I went to turn off the engine the key would turn off, but the engine continued to run! This is very disconcerting.
After a little probing around I found I could pull a relay in the LF electrical box, but the electricity was still hot. I eventually lost both batteries and $1200 to the dealer, who tore a lot of things apart and cleaned some of it, eventually telling me that I should either buy a new vehicle, replace all the chassis wiring ($10k fix) or install a master cutoff switch.
Needless to say, I bought a red isolator switch, a cheap pair of jumper cables, and installed a quick mod in the front dash to control power to the main circuit box.
I now turn off the master cutoff switch as a part of my everyday shutoff routine.
It hasn't tried to stay on since then, but I often wonder what happend. Anyone ever had this experience?
 
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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 06:04 PM
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Change the Glow plug relay.

They can short and back feed the fuse box and keep the PCM alive
 
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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 06:06 PM
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Mite try the GPR it happeded to mine not to long ago
John

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-lol-help.html
 
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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 06:07 PM
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Have you tried to replace the ignition cylinder or the gpr
 
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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 06:08 PM
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Originally Posted by fordpride
Change the Glow plug relay.

They can short and back feed the fuse box and keep the PCM alive
got me while i went to get my old post
lol
 
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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 06:13 PM
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When mine did it. I would turn off the truck but the engine would stay running and the WTS and ABS light would come on.
 
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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 09:59 PM
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Who woulda thunk?

If that doesn't beat all...sounds almost like alchemy - how could an accessory feed back through to power up the PCM?? It sure blindsided the dealer!
I was 600 miles from home in March and was thankful that I had family in Anchorage willing to put me up for another week because I was an "out-of-towner" and got second priority to local clients.
Add that one to the memory banks.
 
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Old Feb 17, 2013 | 11:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Haines Hooter
how could an accessory feed back through to power up the PCM?? It sure blindsided the dealer!
The _coil_ circuit (small terminals) of the relay is powered by the same fuse as the PCM, through the red/green wire. Sometimes when the relay fails internally, some piece of metal inside comes loose and bridges between the always-on terminal of the _contact_ circuit (big terminals) and the switched-power terminal (red/green wire) of the coil circuit. This feeds power back into the PCM, which continues to run the engine.

This is pretty basic stuff to anyone who's owned one of these for a while. Not too surprising that the dealer biffed it, though. They're equipped and trained mostly to work on much newer vehicles, and of course, whenever they encounter something that stumps them, they're not likely to do the kind of research on it that a long-time owner would. They'd rather throw a lot of your money at it, which either makes them big $$$ in the shop, or hopes to push you over the edge to go back to the showroom and buy a new vehicle.
 
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Old Feb 19, 2013 | 10:16 PM
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That's a relief.
 
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Old Feb 20, 2013 | 06:01 AM
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Did you get it fixed ?
 
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Old Feb 23, 2013 | 01:09 PM
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I took voltage readings at the GPR secondaries (the fat ones). Voltage at the unswitched is 12V (always hot, I suppose) and the switched one gets about 9V when the key is turned on and the cycle begins.

Know the correct way of analyzing glow plugs using the valve cover plugs?
 
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Old Feb 23, 2013 | 01:35 PM
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You should only have 12v to one big wire with key off
 
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Old Feb 23, 2013 | 02:08 PM
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Good - Then I found continuity in the harness with all 4 disconnected and got about .8 ohms at each glow plug.
 
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Old Feb 23, 2013 | 02:57 PM
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Should be about 1.0 ohm, but ohmmeters aren't super accurate at the low end, so you should be good to go, esp. if they're all about the same.

Did you ever find out if the relay was internally shorting between the always-on big terminal and the red/green wire small terminal?
 
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Old Feb 23, 2013 | 03:55 PM
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The problem has never showed itself since it happened a year ago.

Since I was in ANC I had the dealer look at it. They replaced batteries and blew the dirt out of things (the vehicle was dusty - had operated on the gravel "haul road" N of Fbks). They told me the simplest thing would be to install a cutoff switch before the main fuse box. Though it worked without it when I left the dealer I still installed one.

The GPR it had at the time seems is still in - seems to measure up voltage-wise, and the wiring seems to be OK. I don't have a complete closure to the shut-off issue, but I do have the cutoff switch in case it happens again.
 
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