First a little background, I bought a 2000 Excursion with a 7.3 that has 308k on it. It runs great, but was low on power compared to my cummins. I have been in the process of working out all the little bugs before I do a tuner and some mods to help me pull hills a little better. I am big on preventative maintenance. I will search for things that go wrong, often, on a vehicle and fix it before It strands me. I read that the fuel bowl can be a problem so I ordered a oring kit from Diesel orings and had it sitting on the shelf waiting for the time to put it in. I pull in the driveway last saturday after a date with the wife and she asks "whats that smell?" Sure enough there was fuel leaking out of the fuel bowl. No problem, I was prepared. Sunday morning I wake up, pull the bowl, take it apart and let it soak for a few hours in the parts washer. I get it all cleaned up a few hours later and put it back on. When I go to put the FPR (fuel pressure regulator) back on I notice something seems to be missing. There is nothing for the brass plunger to slide in or seat on. Hmmm, there are no parts left in the cleaner basket. I hit the web and notice there is a metal sleeve that fits in the bowl and it is gone. I start the search, but i can't remember seeing one at all. It should be held in there with an oring, so it should not have fallen out. I look everywhere, I clean out the parts washer, I dump the trash can, Sweep the entire shop, but I get nothing. I think, there is no way this thing ran without it. I say to hell with it. Throw it back together and crank it up. It starts, but has an obvious issue. Real confusing, but I decide it is not worth driving. I shut it down and wait till morning to see if any dealers have the rebuild kit. I find one 1.5 hours away and 77 bucks later I have one in hand. Damn thats a chunk of change for 5 little pieces of metal. I put it all back together and fire her up, she sounds much better. I check for leaks and after I am happy all is done right, I go for a test drive. What a difference!!! It has a noticeable power increase and runs much smother. So my conclusion is, there was a sleeve/seat, but the oring was gone, causing fuel to get by, which is why it fell out somewhere between the truck and parts washer. It also explains why it had enough pressure to run smooth, but had low power since with no seat it ran bad. A new kit gave proper pressure and much better power. Ok my hands hurt from typing. I hope someone else can learn from my goof.

Matt

 

glad to here your back up with more power.

 

I wonder what your fuel pressure was at with parts missing.

Low fuel pressure can equal low power output.

Pop

 

What is fuel pressure supposed to run at? I seem some guys on here saying there at 65, but I have not seen more than about 55 on mine.

 

Most of what I read was that the PSI was best at 60 or so. thank god this was not a 24V cummins. Low fuel pressure means 1000 bucks for a new pump. I am glad low pressure on a PS does not burn the pump up in 10 seconds. I will get a guage on the low side one day and I may have to play around and see what the pressure is with a bad regulator.

 

Ford says anything above 30 psi will work, but the trucks are set at 50-55 psi from the factory.

 

Thanks. Thats what I was looking for.

 

Minimum spec pressure to run correctly is 46 psi.

 

David, I agree on the "run correctly" number of 46 psi. The 2001 PC/ED manual states 30psi is needed to start and run. Mine runs at 34 psi. I know because that is what it drops to right now every time I get on the hwy.