hadn't thought of that. but it seems like a little more than what one would see from a starter, and I expect a starter burning would be pretty smelly. It seemed to come off the top of the engine from the turbo maybe, or the EGR delete tube I just installed. I don't see any oil leak in the valley or anywhere.


However, the air intake is off right now all the way up to the turbo. Maybe it came out of the CCV? tube on the valve cover.

 

Went down and talked to a dealership tech who's worked on one of my trucks before - Ben Ward at Sterling McCall Ford in Houston. Helluva nice guy with lots of knowledge from 23 years of twisting wrenches.

He was puzzled as well about everything I described - each solution he suggested, I told him how the data or whatever suggested it was fine. When I described the sputtering after a long crank, he said it sounded like no fuel. I told him how the bowl fills, and it was running fine before the disassembly, but that I did take the upper fuel bowl/regulator off and wondered whether anything could have fallen out of the line openings when I set it aside. He suggested that maybe something fell in, and was not keeping the spring from functioning properly such that fuel was just bypassing and not getting to the heads. Or, the part that is pushed down by the filter could be cracked.

So, I'm going to take that housing back off and see what I can find. But made me wonder whether once I disconnected a line cranking the engine would make fuel squirt out if it was working properly? Maybe crank with one disconnected. If fuel comes out, replace and crank with the other disconnected.

Or, if fuel comes out, could it still not have enough pressure?

Figure I'll yank the IPR while I'm dirty and check it out too.

 

You don't have to crank the engine, the fuel pump runs for ~30 seconds at KOEO before cutting off and restarting at KOER. Since the pressure regulator is mechanical fuel pressure is the same with and without the engine running.

It's probably worth tracking down your fuel pressure gauge now, IIRC you have one but the GF hid it from you?

 

Yeah, I don't know where it is because the GF packed the garage with mountains of stuff she took out of the house. Almost worth just going and buying another cheap gauge, but now I forget where I found the fittings. Think I had to order them online.

So, if I take a line off and just KO, I should see fuel come out of the bowl, but that won't mean it has enough pressure to start? He described it as bypassing something, which sounded like it never made it to the fuel lines?

 

Took each line off, one at a time, KOed for one second. and fuel all over the rag I stuffed in front of the open line for each one. What's the possibility the fuel is lost between the regulator and injector? I'm thinking slim.

Haven't taken the IPR out - not as easy as I recalled after the exhaust is all back in place. But, again, the data is fine. I just think I'd be wasting my time.