I have a 2001 F250 7.3 PS with 450k on the odom. 2nd owner and I put about 250k on it. I haven't did anything major to the truck. It has quirks, issues. Similar to a wife.
The truck has always been powerful and reliable(like my wife). Occasionally I would run it too low on fuel and it would develop a brief hiccup condition. but after running it for a few minutes after filling it up it would smooth back out and run good
I pull a 34 ft fifth wheel with it through the Colorado mountains for work.
About 3 months ago, I noticed it became hard to start in the mornings. I checked the GPR and found it was not working properly, so I changed it. This did not fix the start problem. It will not start without a sniff of ether.
So i started in on the forums looking for an answer and found everyone saying ether was a widowmaker for the PSD.
So I suspect glow plugs but traveling as I am, I dont really have anywhere to pull the valve covers.
I began to notice while in the mountains at 10,000 or so feet elev., I was blowing black smoke and did not seem to have the power I once had. People were telling me the elevation was the culprit.
A couple days ago, I was running at about a quarter tank and developed the hiccup condition like I was air in the line. So I eased to the filling station and filled up. Never had this condition at this fuel level before.
After I filled, I punched it pulling out of the station. It popped twice. Then died, then picked itself back up blew a cloud of black smoke and took off. But it had a bad hiccup like a miss. I drove 50 miles like that to work and parked. Same thing later the day on return trip.
So I stopped at advance. Got them to pull codes. The first guy came out with the accutron would not connect to pcm I think it said "link error". So another guy with a ford in the parking lot got his personal one out of his truck. Some small gray one. First, it would not connect. Then we KOER and it connected. Pulled a few codes. One for ICP and one for IDM codes detected. I changed the ICP and pigtail.
And took it back to parts store to have codes scanned again to see if it cleared the ICP. But no scanner will connect. Even went to Oreilly guy had Bosch 1300 "link error".
So I diagnosed my OBD plug and the number 7 pin is supposed to have 4 volts KOEO and 1.5 key off. But mine has 1 volt steady key on or off. I am having a hard time tracing this wire.
16 has 12+ and all of the grounds are good.
The others pin has 5 volts as it should.
Could someone please tell me if this is why I am not connecting to a scanner.
Or any other info on my condition.
I suspect IDM failure is causing scanner issue?
Can someone recommend a scanner option at auto parts store that will not break the bank?
I think the Bosch 1300 will do a buzz test if I can get it to connect. Am I right?
SOme of the known issues are my IC hose at driver side leaks a little at the top, always has..puts some soot under the hood. Today, just because, I am throw a CPS and clean/replace the EBPV . Chnaged fuel filter yesterday was pretty ugly.
Also, The very quarter tank that this happened on was the first time I ever used Deisel Kleen. I used one quart for 1 fulltank. And it smelled horrible.
I also put one quart of marvel mystery oil in the crankcase. Did fresh oil change yesterday. Motorcraft filter, motorcraft 5w30.
I was on one of those additive kicks. Don't know what came over me.
COuld this have caused any issues that I am having?

Thanks

 

You have described a lot of classic symptoms on the 7.3L, and they come from multiple sources. I'll bet you don't have one problem, but several.

Step one - let's get that OBDII problem solved. Our J1850 PWM protocol doesn't even use the same pin on the OBDII port as most code readers, so I suggest you abandon trying to get this resolved by visiting auto parts stores. The OBDII link in my signature will be a huge help here - so it's worth a click.

About that smoke on a stock tune and the ICP sensor - a faulty ICP sensor will cause all kinds of issues, as will an aftermarket ICP sensor. There is an iron-clad rule for reliable repairs with sensors - OEM only. Going off-page here frequently leaves you wondering why symptoms morphed into something else - akin to stomping on Jell-O with bare feet and expecting it to disappear.

IDM codes are almost always a bad UVCH connection, which you can easily test by clicking the UVCH link in my signature. This will also cause issues with the glow plugs - so you get a two-fer.

Ugly fuel filter? Tired injector O-Rings. Searching the term "Cody test" will get your answers here.

OK. So far I've discussed things easy to look at without popping major components loose. Once these tests are done and you have more answers, it will be wrench time, and you need space/time to get it done - as well as parts. Once you start making these plans, I recommend you factor in a full Hutch mod (complete with external pre-pump strainer - not filter). This will likely address your surprise low-fuel symptoms. Link in my signature again.

On the topic of diving in, get a good INCH/lb torque wrench, with the max in the neighborhood of 180 - 300 in/lbs. You described one symptom that may or may not be a loose injector, which needs to be torqued to 120 in/lbs on a warm engine. Torque wrenches are so fickle at this range, I bought a digital torque adapter to "calibrate" my torque wrench every time I set it for injector bolts. [LINK]

 

Thanks Tugly for the quick and knowledgable reply.
I started at your step 1. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-material.html ... I used the diagram to measure resistance across the injectors. It was very easy to follow.
On the passenger side I got a range of 4.5-5 ohms across all 4.
On driver side I got 3-4 ohms on 2,6,8 but 30 ohms on Injector #4. I verified this several times.
Does this indicate a fried injector?

 

Naw... it indicates bad connections with the Under Valve Cover Harness. Many people do what called a "50-cent mod" to correct this, but I have seen these fail (one on my own truck). I recommend either replacing both UVCHs (OEM from Riffraff Diesel), or going to the Dorman single-piece valve cover gasket.

 

I went with the Dorman single piece ones when I did my injectors and haven't had any problems

 

When I read the 30 ohms on #4, I did what any red blooded american would do..I went to the orielly auto parts parking lot and ripped my valve covers off. I did not notice any disconnected plugs. But for fun, I sprayed them down with contact cleaner and put some dielectric grease on them and plugged them all back together with the valve covers off. Fired the ole girl over and she purred like a kitten at a milk bowl.
I must have the second generation connectors because the way they are designed, the quarter trick wont work. But i definetly had a bad connection there.
I cannot remember her ever running this good. Also, she fired right up this morning without ether.
Thanks for the link to the diagram tug. Sure way to diagnose that harness under the valve covers
Next round is on me!

 

As said above. UVCH. People have not had issues with Dorman. Maybe the only part they don't have issues with from Dorman. OEM is always good as well.


As for the OBD-II Port:


1. We use Pulse With Modulation (PWM - J-8150). As did most Fords until about 2008.


2. PWM Port only uses 2,4,5,10, & 16. Hence the need for s Scantool compatible with PWM. Also know as: OBD-II Second Generation, Phase II Media Communications. #7 is the ISO Bus used with the IDS or NGS

 

Congratulations on getting it running smooth, and thanks for reporting back!

Now... about the hiccups at 1/4-tank and the ugly fuel filter:

Was the filter ugly because it hadn't been changed in a long time, or was it black? If it was black, you likely have bad injector O-rings - very common with age. Another key symptom of this is oil consumption. Many of us take oil consumption as part of ownership of an aging vehicle, but consider this:

"Stinky" has been beat hard before I bought him, then I thrashed him even worse by clumsily modifying him and learning everything the hard way - making every mistake conceivable along the way. 3i5K miles and never uses oil - ever.

As for the hiccups when the tank gets low, that indicates you're due for a Hutch mod. You bought yourself some time (and fuel economy and power) by fixing the UVCH, but I suggest you contemplate digging a little deeper to really make your truck 100%.