This is my first post here, I looked throughout all forums and such to see if I could find a solution and could not, so I'm posting here to see if I can get some help.
I have a 97 with the 7.3, 250k-ish miles
Quick back story, about a month or so ago my truck stalled out getting on the highway and I had to get towed home. Had crank, but no start. Changed out the ICP sensor, the IPR valve, and some other fuel pressure sensor thats on the top right of the fuel bowl. Still no start! I realized there was no fuel in the bowl and went ahead and changed the mechanical lift pump as well. After charging up the batteries from cranking it for days, the truck started right up. The truck ran great up until a few days ago. I was driving home, truck started to run really rough under throttle and the 'fuel filter' light would flash on and off. Limped it home, went to the parts store and got a fuel filter for it. Started up, but ran really rough and ended up dying. Now I'm getting crank with no start again. Had a buddy come check it out with his fancy snap on scangauge and the truck wouldn't give him a reading. He suggested getting batteries tested. One tested bad, but the manager was cool enough to go ahead and replace both, so truck has 2 brand new batteries in it. I checked the oil level, it was a bit low and I added 2 quarts. I also cleaned the little metal screen in the overflow part of the fuel bowl.

Finally I asked for some help on a facebook page and someone said to check fuse #22 and unplug the fuel bowl heater. I attached a picture showing what fuse slot #22 looks like now.. Some idiot before me put a 40a fuse in that location when it calls for a 30a.
Also, in the other picture attached shows the plug/harness that does all the fuel bowl sensors/heater/and IPR valve wiring. The clip that holds that plug together broke off and must've bounced the plug apart to cause an arch, you can see the melted part of the plug.

Basically I'm at a complete loss. I would appreciate some help. Do I need to replace the fuse box? the wiring harness? I'm about ready to just set the truck on fire. Haha. The fuel bowl heater was not plugged in when I replaced the fuel pump, which is why I didn't have this problem with fuse #22 prior to now.

 

put a fuse in and see if it works, might get lucky

 

Ended up not being anything electrical, the fuses were all in working order and when key acc on, power was going through that #22 fuse.

I know you're never supposed to use starter fluid with a diesel, but I tried a tiny bit of that in the intake and got the truck to fire right up. So I figured it was a fuel issue. Changed out the fuel pump under warranty and it still didn't start! Searched a few more videos on youtube and found that it could possibly be at the fuel tank selector valve. Like maybe it was stuck or something. So I took of the fuel lines just past the selector valve and blew air both back to the tanks and up to the engine, both the feed and return lines. Went to crank the truck after getting everything hooked back up and it ended up starting and running fine. I don't know if there was a blockage of some sort or if the selector valve came unstuck with the compressed air going through it. Either way, just wanted to give an update if anyone else runs into the same problem.

 

I would be cautious with the truck. Sounds like the pickup in the tank may have broke off and pulled some debris into the line and clogged it up. Blowing the line out has fixed your problem currently, but I would consider dropping the tank and taking a look at it

 

That’s what I was thinking too. Also possibly adding a filter. Do you know of a good filtering system to use with the mechanical pump?

 

Check this thread I started showing the mods done to the tank, and Pre filter
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-tank-mod.html