Intermittant engine failure

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Apr 9, 2014 | 08:21 PM

timmygyu

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Joined: Sep 2010

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Intermittant engine failure

I have a 96 E-350 w/ 7.3l powerstroke. It's an ex-shuttle bus.

I'm having an infrequent, but perplexing problem: my bus will die, seemingly at random, while going down the road.

When it does this, the engine goes off (my lights and dash stay on), and I have to coast to a stop.

I can always start it back up again, immediately, without issue.

It doesn't run rough or give me any trouble starting; in fact, I just changed the oil, and it seems to be running better than ever.

This has happened maybe 9 times over the last year or so...but three of those times were today. So, she's grounded for now.

About a year ago I replaced the cylinder lock -- different issue -- but I figured a faulty lock could cause such a problem, so I swapped the old one back in. A little later, the bus died again, but started right back up. So, no difference.

I know this is a vague problem...but I honestly don't know what else to say about it. I'm just wondering where to start and how to narrow things down.

Cheers, Tim

Apr 10, 2014 | 06:28 AM

JWA

Fleet Owner

Joined: Aug 2010

Posts: 21,253

Likes: 1,656

From: Reynoldsburg, Ohio

If someone here can't help FTE does have a dedicated diesel forum----should be plenty of experience there too.

HTH

Apr 10, 2014 | 07:24 PM

timmygyu

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Joined: Sep 2010

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JWA:

I'll try that.

Right now I'm planning to take a look at the fuel filter. Compared to a truck, it's a PITA to get to, but I'm going to at least drain it, maybe change it(gotta remove the turbocharger for that).

Edit: here's the new thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...e-failure.html

Apr 11, 2014 | 06:01 AM

JWA

Fleet Owner

Joined: Aug 2010

Posts: 21,253

Likes: 1,656

From: Reynoldsburg, Ohio

The small amount of reading I've done relating to diesel servicing its all a PITA compared to gas motors.

Hope you sort this out, that it's a simple and "easy" fix too!

Apr 11, 2014 | 12:19 PM

baddad457

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Joined: May 2003

Posts: 11,141

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From: south louisiana

Might be time to drain the tank, drop it and pull the filter assembly out of there. My 99 SD F250 had this problem, the screen in the tank fell apart and would get sucked up sideways in the inlet. I removed the assembly altogether, replacing it with a short section of fuel hose with a brass Tee on the end, positioned just above the tank floor. I mounted an inline fuel filter/water separator on the frame rail to filter the fuel before it got to the engine. If you lose any fuel flow, this drastically drops the fuel pressure at the engine killing performance if not killing the engine. With my inline filter, I know when to replace it as the engine loses power in the upper rpms as I accellerate. There's nothing hard about servicing the diesels, only more expensive. My 99 is nudging 300,000 miles now and shows no sign of giving up. It's been bumped up in power via a programmer, out on th ehighway, it'll accelerate like nothing else with the turbo spooled up. It'll pull anything you hook to the bumper, no questions asked. Pass another vehicle ? Climb a hill ? Just mash the go pedal, no downshifting needed.