Back in 04 when i bought my used 02 7.3 i knew nothing about diesel motors.
i did hear that the cps do go bad. so i bought an extra one and put it behind the seat. back in the day they were around $300.

The day came when my truck died. i waited for the truck to cool down and changed the cps on the side of the road thinking this was the problem.
But i only got a few miles down the road to have it die again. when it cooled down it would start and run for about 20 minute and die over and over.

I did a big write up about how the dealer screwed me over repairing it back then,
after they had the truck for 30 days. they found the IPR was shorting out. they said they checked it and it tested good over and over. it's when they get hot they fail.

So after all that and with all the info i have learned from this site, i bought AE for my truck and extra sensors . i was now set for the next unexpected problem.

Well, Here it is 10 years or so later and my truck started acting up. it was dying when hot, just like last time.
First thing i did was change out the IPR. Now it's running great again. also noticed it does not blow as much black smoke when running my tuner.

So what i learned from first Ordeal is. you should carry a extra IPR, ICP CPS and Belt.

It may have taken 10 years to finally use one of them but it saved me 29 days and a $1800.00 bill.
time to order a new back up IPR to go with the other extra CPS, ICP and belt

 

Awesome follow up! Good job on the fix!

IPR failure is often the last suspect.

 

I've had 2 of them fail over the past 15 years. I keep one in the toolbox. Nice work.

 

do you think it was a bad solenoid or bad injector pressure regulator?? I did a rebuild on mine some 6-7 yrs ago and it seem to be good.. how old or was the IIPR replaced when the dealer screwed,, or worked on the truck??

 

I had my first CPS (sometimes it is the CPS) failure this past January while we were on vacation 600 miles from home. Just under an hour after pulling over to the side of the road we were back on the road. Thanks to the help of the FTE throwing ideas my way and my wife handing me tools and what not to get the 24 year old CPS out.

When we returned home, I bought a spare IPR and CPS from Riffraff. Your words are good advice and ones that should be followed when possible. These old trucks are tough to deal with at times, but at least we have the capability to deal with them instead of sending them down the road to a Ford dealer where it will sit for who knows how long.

Safe travels sir.

 

356k and I've never touched it. Nut is still tight. Syn oil makes a difference there I think to keep it from getting gummed up.

ICP sensor I put a new one in back when I bought the truck. Then recently I put the original one back in doing some troubleshooting. Original one was fine and no oil in the connector. I have a spare at least.

Cam sensor there actually was a problem when I bought the truck. It had a parts store replacement that caused the engine to cut out when the wipers were on. Went to the International parts counter and bought an OEM replacement and haven't had it be a problem in over 7 years and 150k. I keep a spare one around.

I've never actually had a high pressure oil system related problem since I've owned it. Pump works, IPR valve works. The high pressure oil lines I did replace last summer with the newer OEM style ones, but the original ones never failed or even leaked. HP oil problems seem to be a relic of cheap oil that wasn't changed often enough. At least one of the injectors has worn itself out of tolerance and causes a slight chop in the idle which becomes more or less pronounced at various oil temperatures. I've ran 30, 40 and 50 weight and never noticed a huge difference but temp does affect it. Runs pretty smooth on that 20W50 Amsoil stuff I've got in there now. I'll probably go back to 40 weight in the fall.

 

When the iprs fail when they get hot then work when it cools off its the electrical coil side of it which synthetic oil isn't going to help any. I've had one fail like that before.

 

awe crud.. more parts to lug around its OK, I carried half of the emissions system for my F150 for the entire 10 years I daily drove it here in Japan and if I learned nothing else its this. If I have the part in the truck I will never need it. rather carry some parts then get stranded in a place where I have to call a tow truck for a tractor trailer ...

 

Come to find out, the IPR is a wear item. I found that out on my 7.3 Excursion bought new. He currently has 580K and it's been a battle with IPRs. Either the magnet went bad or the body itself went bad.

Things I noticed:

Poor and inconsistent idle quality- it would idle but either idle too high or erratically.

Low ICP- This was often followed by a SES light. Thought my fuel filters were plugged (yes, I have more than one) and while it was better, the code still came back.

Mediocre power and fuel economy- The power was there but it wasn't near what it should be even stock. Throttle response wasn't consistent and it wasn't predictable as it always was. Fuel economy even with stock injectors was around 14-15 mpg even with all the highway miles I do.

After replacing the IPR with one I cleaned, rebuilt, and resealed, the engine starts better, idles quieter, and the throttle response is consistent and predictable. I'm definitely getting the 250 horses and 505 ft/lbs. of torque I paid for now.

The common denominator: The IPR

If you think 7.3s are finicky, 6.0s are worse.