I am going to be detailed, but brief. 2 weeks ago I installed 8 new injectors on my '99 F250 SD with about 227K miles on it. I got the sticks from Swamps Diesel, followed their directions to the letter, replaced the VC gasket (but not the wires) did the 50 cent mod, replaced glow plugs, and put her back together. When she finally cranked, she loped for almost 10 minutes, then went to a smooth purr for about 5 minutes, than began idling rough. Thinking I needed to "get the air out" as suggested on many posts, I spent 3 days, over 150 miles of driving 60 mph with no OD, keeping RPM's between 2600 and 3200. She idles rough, has no power, acts like she is running on 6 cylinders. I plan on replacing the EBPS and saw the EBP tube has a hole in it, so I plan on replacing that. Just not sure where to begin or what (or how) to check what is wrong or if any other items need checking. She was running fine before replacing the injectors, just seemed lacking the "get up and go" she had when I first got her and I did this as a pre-emptive repair.
Any similar experiences, tips, pointers, secrets to life would be greatly appreciated. I will be repairing my tractor engine tomorrow and will check back after I cut the grass.

 

Welcome to FTE. Do you have a CEL or is it just running poorly with no dash lights lit up?

 

You didn't mention if you went with stock sticks or upgraded to single shots. If you upgraded to single shots you need to have the truck tuned for them. Stock sticks are split shots.
In addition to that how do you know it was the injectors that were the problem for the power loss?

 

Single shots will run fine and produce decent power on stock tuning. They just idle a little worse than horrible without tuning.

 

I have Swamps 200/30 injectors and tuning. When I was troubleshooting an unrelated issue I removed my chip and ran with no chip. My single shot Hybrids ran just about perfect with LOTS of power , only real issue is a rough idol. When I did my injector install the air seemed to be out and truck ran perfectly smooth within 60 seconds of startup, mabe less. If you drove 150 miles I guarantee the air is out!

 

{raising hand} Was there an issue with the valve cover gasket? Did you have burnt pins? If so, the 50-cent mod won't get you there... but that's not the only issue that can thwart a 50-cent mod.

 

Did you get stock or modified injectors? I would go with Tugly's idea of the UVCH. Check there first, could be just a bad/loose connection.

 

The easiest way to check the connection to all the injectors is to ohm them out through the 42-pin connector over the driver-side valve cover.

 

hey what should the ohm be to the injectors? didn't know if my uvch was bad or not

 

Did you use an OEM motorcraft VC gasket? aftermarket gaskets have been known to cause many issues.

 

I too picked up a pair of swamp 175 singles but I want ahead and did the ts 6 chip
my problem is I cant seem to get rid of this 1200 rpm vib feels like lack of power until she down shifts and I'm at 2000-2500 rpms and when I let off and she shifts there's the vib only at low Rpms and usually in final drive my mpgs are around 12-13 if I can keep my foot out of it. Cant seem to find the prob. And ive already spent my 2500.00 limit for frx hpx inj and chip not counting the 3 times ive brought it too my ford dealership at 200 a pop I know the trans needs rebuilt. Its taking at least 3-5 sec to shift at full throttle and I still cant get my 285s to spin on dry pavement in the rain no prob. Let me know what everybody finds and ill do the same. Gonna run it on a snap on scanner tomorrow and find my codes.
Oh yeah how about this I was running down the beach one night and she completely shut off while driving was able to pull off safety but she didn't want to crank cel was on them went off.
turned around two days later and she died again but was able to get her started while in motion this time cel didn't go off until I turned the truck off and restarted it again.
"Bertha's " attitude is starting to get to me and cant keep throwing money at her.

 

• Injectors aren't the only thing that can prevent the power to peel Pirellis. There is a whole motor there, with all the subsystems, sensors, and controls.
• 175s are nice (stage 1s), but did you get the bigger nozzles (stage IIs)?
• I had Stinky live-tuned to prevent spinning tires... because it leads to the need to keep throwing money at him.

Is the vibration there when you bring the RPMs to 1200 in neutral? If not:

• Is the vibration there when maintaining speed, while accelerating, and decelerating - or does changing your right foot position get red of it?
• Have you noticed which gear/speed has the most intense vibration?
• When the vibration starts while at speed, what happens if you drop it into neutral and coast for a few seconds?
• If you have a 4X4, have you checked to make sure you can spin the front drive line when parked?

Two things jump to the front of my mind on this one:

1. Tuning can do this.
2. Bad HPOP or oil leak can do this.

I don't know how bad your injectors were before the Swamp swap - but a power upgrade with a bad transmission is not going to improve Bertha's attitude... or save you money... or stay within planetary orbit of your budget. Getting a transmission to deliver the goods with augmented power typically costs $4500 and up. I am terribly sorry that you missed the thread covering this - please click the custom tune link in my signature.

Looking for codes might help you with a bad Cam Position Sensor (possibly the cause of the stall), but it might not help with the ICP issue. Lets say that from your description of one of your problems, I predict you'll have high and low ICP codes. What I can't say is what's causing it... unless your scan tool can read the live data, and hopefully log it.

You would need a series of topics to cover all that's going on with your truck, but trying to piggyback on the answers from this thread would be nothing short of a hijack. By all means, lets get a staff of volunteers talking about Bertha... but you'll want your own dedicated thread started.

 

My apologies for leaving out some details. I tried posting 3x yesterday on my home POS computer so now I will do this from work.
Everything on the truck is stock. No chips, tuners, or implants. The SES does light up when it is running like crap. When it smooths out, the SES goes out. Initially, when I was driving it it would get a burst of power (normal running) for about a second or two and the SES would go out, but then it would go back to the missing mode. When it lopes at initial start-up, it lopes so bad you can here the valves clicking like a group of castinets. The VC gaskets are Ford OEM,s and the injectors are reman OEM's. I did change the oil after the injector change and the 100+ miles added after the change because 1) it was time, and 2) I read comments in other posts about thinned oil causing injector problems. I figured the fuel draing into the crankcase during the change out might have thinned the oil. I did not notice (or look for) burnt pins on the UVCH connections. The truck was running fine before the change out, just lacked the "get up and go" she had when I first got her. The injector change was done as preventative maintenance.
Thanks for the welcome Chris. I have used this forum for info / tips for several years without posting but htis issue really has me stumped.
Tugly, what should my ohm readings be and how do I do it (black in which port, red in which?). I have a volt meter, just not quite a geek with it and want to make sure I am doing your suggestion correctly.

 

Oh yeah, regarding the SES light. I tried to have the codes pulled at the auto parts store (several of them) but they either couldn't figure out how to read the scanner or it would show no codes found.

 

You will need Autoenginuity or I believe Snap on Solus works or Ford dealer to read codes from a 7.3