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My high $$ maintenance E350 sweetie was doing pretty darn well after the shop added 4" exhaust to slightly lower EGTs when climbing, since the Snow meth unit stopped. I had to leave it parked for about 5 months. Started up easily last week and went right to firing on only one bank. Tried again days later, same. Removed connectors to ICM and VCs, sprayed with DeoxIT, reassembled, and ran essentially on all 8 again, but not as sweet as 5 mo. ago. Service Engine Soon light on. Decided to try driving 4 mi down to freeway and then to HFT to get a $200 OBD2 reader. 1/8 mile on the highway, while easing it up to speed, it suddenly started missing. I added pedal to not slow traffic and saw white smoke until I let off at 50. Got off and parked it to think. Started up better, and pulled on to fwy sort of OK, except that it needed me to back off on the throttle to upshift (like it would do if I had to limp home on only 4 cylinders). Got back up the steep hills and home OK, but felt down on power from normal.
I have poured a lot into her, partly because I was too busy to do repairs as planned. I have been through a few ICMs, has new injectors, VCs and gaskets/wiring, brake booster, fuel system, battery wires, suspension, intake, bellowed up-pipes. One shop was sketchy, the next OK, but tried to pull the rats-ate-the wiring stunt (I always check before taking into shop), and the 3rd is reliable but very pricey. I really thought that this drivetrain was the best for reasonable maintenance (rarely tow a very small trailer for motorcycle). Wife wants me to get rid of it, but the '09 GL diesel does not have as good of a service record as her 06? straight 6 pre-bluetec diesel sedan. I would love to have a clue about the Service Engine Soon light, the smoke, the occasional upshift problem, dropped cylinders, etc. I didn't hear it gurgle after turning off. I have had to limp home on only one bank before (which built my respect for this engine), but, even though it was like that for a little while today, it did climb my hills almost like full power. Weird.
Losing a bank is likely the IDM or could be a chafed wire harness that causes a short and the IDM shuts off a bank, or a rodent chewing
up everything or making a nest in the air cleaner.
Losing a bank is likely the IDM or could be a chafed wire harness that causes a short and the IDM shuts off a bank, or a rodent chewing
up everything or making a nest in the air cleaner.
Thanks. The harnesses were recently replaced, and the area is clean because I took out the resonator, etc. and moved the filter forward ... easier to see things. I sprayed DeOxit on the connectors and it started on all 8, but felt like it dropped a few cylinders within a few miles. I haven't had very good luck with IDMs until the one that is in now (lasted over a year of occasional use). Wonder what might show with OBD2, but only have one for the other vehicles.
As dmd mentioned, look at the underside of the wiring harness on the driver side that leads to the square 42 pin connector. It can chafe on the valve cover and cause shorts. See pic.
Replaced the VC gasket/wiring, all injectors (2 bad) on the driver bank, and the IDM, and all is perfect now. All those parts were non-Ford, but I had been told that they were. So far the factory parts are doing well for the rest of the 7.3. Pricey.
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