This Fall I started having problems with slow cranking and long cranking to start. It came on somewhat suddenly. My glow plugs were working properly and the batteries were nearly new and tested good with a carbon pile load tester. It was still starting within a decent amount of time, so I kept driving it.

About a month later, while I was using it to charge a battery on a generator set, it died from idle. It kept doing this at about half-hour intervals. It still drove normally, and I could not get Torque to find any codes.

A week after that started, the engine died in my long driveway while travelling about 20 MPH up a hill. It restarted immediately and drove normally for a while, but threw a "Service Engine Soon" light. Within a few days, it started to have a "romp" come and go at low speeds. It still ran normally above 40 MPH. Interestingly enough, the SES light went out after it would "romp," but the light would return a few cycles later while operating normally.

I still could not get a code to show on Torque, and had a local shop use their OBD2 scanner on it. They could not find any codes, either. This kept up for several weeks, but since I was staying close to home, and it never left me stranded, I kept driving it. Then one day it "romped" on me for about ten blocks as I was headed to another auto repair shop where I gather used oil for my shop heater. I mentioned my problem to the owner, and he used his OBD2 scanner on the truck. He came up with a couple of codes by being persistent, repeating the tests and trying different settings. He referred to his computerized resources, and they suggested an Injection Pressure Sensor was the problem.

I have a core engine, and the sensor was still on it. I swapped sensors, and the "romp" problem went away, along with the SES light indication. I have purchased a genuine Ford sensor and will be installing it soon.

Mining the used part off the core engine reminded me that I had a spare starter that I had pulled during an engine overhaul to replace with one of the vaunted DB units five years ago. I decided to swap it back on as a troubleshoot, and that fixed my slow cranking and delayed start.

An autopsy of the DB starter revealed worn brushes and well-eaten armature. Definitely not a lifetime starter.

What are the options for a long-lived starter for my 2001 7.3?

 

A very recent thread by bwguardian may help, I have linked it below.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...r-rebuild.html

If you decide on a Denso, longer bolts (45mm I think) are recommended, but not required.

 

for what it's worth I've found Forscan to be much better at pulling codes then torque.
i run torque to monitor but use Forscan if I am trying to identify an issue.

 

It's always easy diagnosing someone else's problems from the comfort of my Lay-Z-Boy than it is to diagnose my own in my own garage.