Hi Guys, have owned and worked on diesels for years but new to Powerstrokes. Have tried my hand a time or two in the past and got frustrated and gave up. Well....I bought a 97 F250 4X4 PSD auto a few weeks ago. The truck has been sitting about 18 months but started easily with new batteries.
During initial inspection I noticed the engine surging and idling very rough. It also has a loud cackle, maybe one bad injector. If I unplug the ICP it will level out and idle well. I installed some gauges on the hipop rail and fuel schrader valve. Hipop was up and down from 1K to 1.5K with ICP plugged in and 1.5K steady unplugged. Fuel pressure is around 45 PSI.
Driveability is hampered by the fact that the shift **** is broken and the OD wires are just hanging there, does anyone know if the shift lever from a 94 F250 w/o tilt will fit a 97 w/tilt?
Ordered an Auto Enginuity scanner today since I need it to diagnose my truck and have a customer that has 2 Powerstrokes that need some attention.
I've been a regular on the older truck forums and the IDI diesel for years, guess you folks have another newbie to break in for this forum.

 

sitting for 18 months, i'm sure you know this if your a diesel junkie but i would definitely change fuel and oil filters, and run some fresh fuel and oil through that bad boy, and start from there

 

Welcome Jeff! With the idle leveling out when you unplugged the ICP, and the fluctuation in the high pressure oil, you could have a bad ICP or sticky IPR. Was there any oil in the ICP plug? Oil level and condition could play a role also. Check the UVCHs and pigtails for burnt pins too.

 

Surprisingly the oil is as clean as if it was changed just before being parked. Fuel filter is new. Condition of pigtails and gaskets is unknown so far. There was no oil in the ICP, so I hope it is good. Plan to pull the IPR next and clean it. Really waiting for the AE to get here before I buy anything, not one to throw parts at a problem and hope it goes away.

 

I'd still Change the oil and replace the fuel filter. The oil quality is very crucial for injectors

 

What he said...^^^

 

Will do! Now as to not start an oil brand discussion, just run a quality 15W40 oil?
And how many qts. to fill?
I'm a professional diesel mechanic by trade, just mostly have worked on older mechanical equipment. Have owned many mechanical diesels, currently have 2 F250 IDIs, one Dodge/Cummins and the 53 F100 with a Mercedes diesel for power.
Looking forward to learning a little about the Powerstrokes.

 

Rotella 15w-40 is usually what most go with and seems to work well with the PSDs, but any 15w-40 Diesel rated oil will be fine.

 

I ran rotella for a long time, good oil. But basically like Byron said, a good quality diesel rated oil will be fine. Takes about 15 quarts.

 

Seems most of my customers are split 50/50 on Rotella and Delo.
I have run Delo in everything for over 25 years with no problems.

 

Either or I say. My buddy runs delo in his 03, ran it in all the strokes he's had. I now run shaeffers.

 

I have one customer running Shaefers, I love their synthetic grease, but haven't had enough experience with the motor oil to make an informed decision yet.

 

i prefer mobil 1 full synthetic. used to run schaffers 50/50 blend in my gassers till iheard that at the bottom of every barrel is little black sand sized beads. scared me away from it. mobil 1 is awesome.

 

And where in the world did you hear that? If you sold motor oil with sand in it, you'd not be in business too long..

 

^^^^^^ Has the sound of an urban legend.