So I have a 1997 F350 7.3 Powerstroke that I have been restoring. I pulled the motor and transmission. The transmission is an E4OD and i went with a ATS Stage 2 Transmission with billet input, billet torque converter, and billet flex plate. The only things on the motor that weren't replaced is headgasket, HPOP, HPOP Lines, IPR sensor, ICP sensor, EBP sensor, and Map sensor. Everything else on motor is new. I also did an E-Fuel Conversion to the truck which reads at around 55 psi when the pump pressurizes the lines prior to starting. The pressure drops off while cranking because I wired the pump to only be "ON" when the key is in the "Run" position so the pump turns off while cranking the motor. Not sure if that would be the problem or not?

My main suspect is that I did the oil rail end plug gaskets and I know after you do them the motor needs to crank and crank till it refills those back up with oil so It can actually fire the injectors but just how long should I be letting it crank for to refill those rails back up? I heard everywhere from 20 seconds to 5 minutes? I've only let it crank over for about 2 minutes total now and stopped because it wasn't even trying to fire.

Is there anyway to test to see if it's refilling the rails with oil? I filled it to the fill mark on the dipstick prior to cranking over and now it's about 1/4-1/8 inch down off full so I'm assuming it's pumping the oil to the rails?

It's a brand new LPOP and when I'm cranking the oil pressure gauge isn't moving. I don't remember is this is normal or not? I would think it is since in the "cranking" ignition position it should only be giving power to the essentials like starter and injectors etc. but it's been over a year since the truck ran and I don't remember what the oil pressure gauge would read when cranking.

Any help, input, or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

It took mine a little over an hour between cranking for 20 seconds, wait five minutes (someone correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a few months) to finally get going after doing injectors (which drains the oil rails also). I would think that the fuel pump would need to be on while cranking to supply the injectors... without fuel there's not going to be any ignition and if it doesn't have pressure going to it the fuel isn't going to be flowing.

 

My efuel is wired to be 'on' with the key on so that shouldn't be a problem. Have you checked the hpop oil level, it should be within an inch from the top? If your using the stock gauge its just a dumby gauge. When it see's 6psi it comes up to a certain point and stays there.

 

Hopefully you're running a relay and not straight through the ignition switch.

You should wire the relay with the signal wire being the fuel bowl heater wire. You don't need the heater and it's a tried and proven method.

You might still have air in the heads. It took me a while to work it all out last time I had my injectors out.

 

I cranked mine for 40 seconds and waited 5 min a few times but my glow plugs were out when I did it

 

yeah the fuel pump is relayed, just using a +12 wire in the "ON" positions from the ignition as my trigger, I even wired a impact sensor in line with it in case of an accident in the factory location of where'd you'd find it on a gasser. Ok so just sounds like it needs to crank longer. I'll check the HPOP fill level when I get the chance. Has been really crappy weather the past few week here so haven't had any time to work on truck. Is it normal for the fuel pressure to drop off slowly after pump stops pumping? Also what is a good pressure for it to be at prior to starting? Mine is at 55 psi prior to cranking?

 

fuel presser will drop fast once you stop cranking

 

Mine is at 68psi before cranking but 55 is good enough.

 

Plain and simple if you interior gauge is not showing a hint of pressure you still have a ton of air in the system. Cranking will be the only way to evauate it, make sure your reservoir is full/

Once you see the needle flick up, within 5 seconds it will fire. 4 burst of 30 seconds has always got them to fire post injector install for me. I would not focus on the fuel pressure. Even at 20 psi it will fire, and believe it or not even at 0 psi it will fire and drive....many a miles!

 

Here's a picture of the oil pressure gauge in my truck. It doesn't move at all from this point whether the key is ON or OFF, cranking or sitting still. Doesn't move at all. Looked on my dad's 97' F350 with the 5.8 and his gauge needle sits right at that red mark and will come on and read the oil pressure a second or two after the motor actually starts up and is running. I had the cluster apart while restoring so that's why I'm assuming the gauge isn't exactly on and will reset itself once truck actually starts up.

Its had about 3 minutes of total cranking time so far...i felt like that was just alot of time to be cranking. The HPOP reservoir was actually empty prior to cranking today and after about 10-15 seconds of cranking it was filled back up. Is this normal for the HPOP reservoir to be empty after sitting for about a week?

 

Sounds like your cps isn't working, you say your tach and scanner says no rpm, fix that first! With no rpm (the tach only shows rpm, doesn't effect the reading) the PCM isn't going to tell anything to work as it things the engine isn't turning, if the PCM doesn't see the engine turn it won't fire the injectors which will purge the air out of your oil rail.

Get a working idm, get a working tach signal on your scanner or tachometer and go from there, ignore everything else for now.