Digging into removing the valve covers right now. Hoping to make a good inspection, and run the truck with them removed to watch for oil flow at all the injectors. Started with the drivers side and I took some pics of the 42 pin connector, nothing looks rubbed through but there was contact for sure. Is it fine to just have the 42 pin connector plugged in hanging over the engine with valve covers off while running it? Here’s some pics so far

 

Picture of injectors, drivers side
looks like at least 1 is not original, according to the top of them I have 1 AD code, 2 AB, and 1 AE on the drivers side

 

 

The rubbing of the 42 pin harness wires can happen right where your thumb is in the picture. The wires look ok?




Yes, you can run the engine with the harness in place - just make sure it does not touch moving parts.

That UVCH gasket does not look OEM - looks like the one-piece design. Between that and the injector markings differing, sounds like someone has been under there in the past. So an early 99 should have AB injectors. I wonder if the AE was put in there for a cackle fix. Not sure why there would be an AD in the mix.

 

I've seen those reman injectors with the "R" before and they are from the autoparts store and are not reliable I've changed a couple of them with remans from Rosewood, Bitterroot diesel or bought new when they were still available because they caused all kinds of problems like your symptoms or they knocked like crazy.

Since you installed a reman long block I would invest in a set of injectors, I know its a big investment but worth it in the long run, obviously follow the guys recommendations and test procedures before buy a new set of injectors.

You can isolate which injector/s is the problem by unplugging one injector at a time while engine is running to see if idle changes, once you find the problem injector/s swap them around and see if it follows the injector, then you might get away by just replacing the problem injector/s.

 

I ran the truck with the covers off. There was oil flow from each spout although I may have noticed a difference is amount of flow between some.
wires all looked alright, I saw some markings on the cover indicating some rubbing but nothing went through. Taped all of that up.
I unplugged all the injectors while running and noticed a difference in idle with each one. Then I hooked up FORScan and ran the contribution test. Still fails #8. Shut the truck off and did the buzz test, it then pulled cylinder high to low faults on every cylinder except #2 and #3. Also I was able to tell a slight difference in the buzz sound between the injectors with the valve covers off. Best way I can describe the difference is how different topwater fishing lures have different rattling bbs and sizes to slightly change the sound. That’s sort of how it was, nothing crazy different, but clearly different without the covers muting the sound.
That all checks out with having been under there before. I called full force and they said the markings on top don’t really matter and they may just be different remans with non matching tops. #8 is marked the long lead injector though.

I removed all the injectors because it really just makes sense that they’re trash. Even if some were good not long ago, I had to get a new motor due to evidence of bearing material in the oil filter, I guess that same metal material went through the injectors eventually, and they could’ve been damaged to varying degrees. I’m going to drop them off at full force by the end of the week when I’m out closer to Murfreesboro and have them flow test to confirm or deny their trashed condition, and then go from there.


I used a large 3/4 drive ratchet to attempt to turn the motor over on the large nut near the bottom of the engine, was that correct and was I doing it right? I tried just using the key but it sounded awful so I stopped but something definitely blew out the valve covers and onto the road, diesel mostly I think but oil as well. Just hoping I evacuated the cylinders enough to sit still for a week of so until I hear from full force.





Last thought before I head out to pick up my son, if these UVCHs are aftermarket, do I need to buy both the motorcraft UVCH and the under valve cover gasket to replace? I need to replace as the plastic clip that holds the harness on the outside is nonexistent so it doesn’t hold the harness all the way into it, especially with a the way she currently shakes. Really hoping full force tells me the majority of them are garbage.. thanks y’all.

 

Yeah those valve cover gaskets need replaced you'll need new harnesses also. The one pictured looks like a one piece aftermarket part.

I circled a couple pins here that look questionable. I'll have to look up a pin map to find out what they go to, unless someone has one handy.

 

gotcha. I’ll get those through full force as well I guess, I believe they carry motorcraft parts for each.

I thought those pins looked interesting as well, is just cleaning them enough or does that point to an issue further up the line, or down the line?

 

I'm mostly curious what they belong to. Could be a contributor to your issues or maybe not. I'd clean them up and check the wire connection. I'll have a look for that pin map to see if we can figure what they are for.

 

If I'm looking at these pics correctly, while flipping and inverting them in my head, The pin circled on the left in your pic is for the #8 injector. Which could account for some of the misbehavior you've seen. Still haven't found the complete pin map yet so the other ? is still a ?.

 

I also noticed the pin (now known to be #8) as I was reading through and thought it looked suspect. Some guys around here recommend DeoxIT for cleaning terminals. I bought some based on their praise.
https://a.co/d/07sKZvXn

I also agree with changing out the UVCHs. We’ve seen folks have issues with aftermarket (and new Motorcraft at times) harnesses. They’re not cheap but seems like a reasonable step in diagnostics. You can keep the current ones for spares if that’s not it.

Personally I probably would have tried cleaning up the pins and securing the loose connectors (even if temporary hillbilly way) to see if that was it before pulling the covers. But your hip deep now so keep on going!

 

I have not found a simple one page diagram for the 42 pin connector either. Maybe use this pinout diagram, and the powertrain schematic pdf attached below, to determine what pin does what.

 

Just found this spreadsheet someone did for a 2002, labelling the function of each pin on the 42 pin connector. I'm not positive it is the same as for an early 99, so check me.

 

Nice we should see if @Y2KW57 would combine those in the tech section for us. Would be super handy for chasing those gremlins.

From the info BWST managed to dig up the other pin that maybe looks sketchy could belong to the CPS signal return. If that's true and it is actually damaged or corroded in some way that could explain the "No Tell Motel" coin op mattress you got under the hood.

 

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