ok has anyone heard of another problem ie bad wiring, bad injector coil, bad connection, taking out an IDM.

at work i am working on an 02 that came in with a CEL and idm codes. p1271- 1274 and a couple other just can't remember now which cylinders. this is a high to low side open code. testing all the wiring and injector coils no issues found. idm was already new from a no start condition repaired by the dealer a month ago. so the codes continue to come back but issues found with the wiring. but replaced the valve cover gasket and UVC harness and 4 injector coils (1,3,5,7) because those were the codes that kept coming with the exception of #5. still codes. so after much testing and head banging we got ford to send us a free idm and what do you know no more codes.

so customer brings the truck to the body shop for other work and came back with CEL on again. now p1274 and 1276 are back so the same routine. no wiring issues swapped coils tested tested tested but no issues found.

so is there anything we can't find that could take out the IDM again.

thanks guys i have about 20 hours worth of diagnostic into this truck and really want to find the problem. the worst part is that they are selling the truck. even worse than that is i pulled the intake to find a dusted turbo from the K+N panel filter which explains the hard starting. Low compression is bad!!!

 

Alternator overcharging?
Possible bad ground somewhere?

 

Did the body shop do any welding on the truck, like for panel replacement or anything?

 

Bump. Anything yet TJ?

 

well i didn't check back here till i clocked out and was about leave for the night so i will check tomorrow on the alt charging. i have checked the idm ground but not any others so thats one thing i will check. and the body shop had not welded anything that i know of. all the work was replace and paint.

kwik are you familiar with identifix or IATN? we use identifix when we are really stumped. its a hotline with techs who really know their stuff. so we caled them and they gave us some guidance when this all started but since this new round we have not contacted them so i may try that tomorrow.

iatn is a tech forum like this one but only for techs with hard cases. we have posted there to get some insight but nothing yet.

i have fixed many other powerstroke with the same codes before and they are usually easy to figure out. bad injector coil, gasket or UVC and the occasional idm but nothing like this one. its like an intermittent cause the cel light isn't on all the time stays on for a few seconds then goes out then will come back on later but never stays on.

i have done wiggle tests, load tests continuity test. swapped all sorts of parts with a core engine we have at the shop. but still no problems found other than the CEL and the dusted engine. honest i want to know what the problem is but i also want this truck to go away. hoping the customer will say ok lets just sell it the way it is.

 

I am familiar with IATN, but never participated. VW's are pretty easy to figure out, even the new ones. Plus the Bentley repair manuals that I can use with them are world class. Makes the Helminc look like it was compiled by a grade school class. I hope that someone there can answer your question.

 

we have mitchel on-demand at work and that is probably the best i have used. but we work on everything, light duty, medium duty, heavy duty, passenger vehicles, farm equipment. pretty much anything. but since my dad and i both own poerstroke we have lind of become specialist much thanks to this site.

so anybody want to help the very stumped mechanic? Let me rephrase you all want to help cause your awesome but does anybody have any experience with my problem?

 

It sounds like you have a problem with the common wire to from the IDM to the connector at the valve cover. You can check the resistance of each of the injector coils from the IDM and they should not be more than 5 ohms. I would look there and also check the ground for the IDM.

 

yep check all the wire idm to valve covers. also high side wire to low side. checked with a scope while wiggling wires. load tested wires. cut the entire harness apart just to visually inspect the wires. so today i took the idm out of my 95 ran the truck with and no light then took the idm out of my dads 03 put it in the truck and no light so now my dad is going to run the other idm in his truck and i am going to bet that his CEL comes on within the hour. another bad idm but nobody can tell us if something else can take out the idm. many have told us that nothing they have ever heard of which could take out the idm other than just plain idm problem. the many experts we have talked to have pretty much said you guys have done everything we would have done then much silence.

so i think we have another bad idm and will have to battle with ford over this.

i will keep you all posted. by the way i have about 40 hours of non billable diagnostic time into this one so now it is a matter of pride and learning rather than any hope of making money off it. not to mention with all the buzz tests i ahve been doing i seize 2 injectors which have been replaced (thank goodness for that core engine we decided to keep for parts!!!)

 

It's that sort of "education" that separates the men from the boys. I've joined that class on many occations.
As Red Green says: "I'm pullin' for ya!"

 

ok heres the latest. ran the suspect idm in my dads 03 for the weekend with no codes thrown. and ran the 03 idm in the other truck with no light yet so we put everything together and are letting the customer take the truck and see what happens. then 200 yards up the road the truck died!! but thankfully ran out of fuel. put a few gallons in and off it goes. we'll see if it comes back.

 

After all that. LOL.

 

yeah i was on a test drive with another customer and passed him and i almost cried. turn around and picked him up then went back with fuel cause i knew it was low and the scanner. dumped a few gallons in and she fired right up. i was a happy camper!! and the truck hasn't shown back up yet nor have they called.

 

What was the solution then?

 

WOW this is a blast from the past. One of my first major 7.3 head scratchers.....If I remember correctly we left the IDM's swapped from my dads truck and neither truck ever threw the codes again.....So I have no idea what the problem was other than for some reason the truck didn't like it original IDM that ran fine with no codes and another 7.3