My father went to start his 2001 F-350 172" WB w/ 7.3 PSD last Monday a few hours after taking it to breakfast, and the starter turned over normally, but it flat refused to fire. The tach, fuel, and I believe the oil gauge all bounced around erratically during cranking. It was towed to the dealer (Ken Grody Ford in Buena Park, CA) on Tuesday, where it perplexed the technicians through Thursday. After a number of hours of working with it, the truck fired on Tuesday, but still refused to stay running. After that, it started running perfectly fine, and at no time were any codes set on the computer. We got the truck back on Friday, and they replaced the camshaft position sensor as a precaution. History repeated itself at 10AM this morning, as the truck once again refused to start. This time, the tachometer maxed out and stayed there (it was still pegged when the truck was towed away at 11AM.

A little background on the truck... It's a 2001 F-350 SRW crew cab long bed 2WD Lariat with the 7.3 Powerstroke and 4R100 autobox. My father purchased it new in August 2001, and it has accumulated a bit over 75,000 miles in that time. It did some towing over longer distances early in its life (namely, my parents' 27-foot boat), but as of late has only towed short distances from their vacation home to the launch ramp and back. At 70K, I switched it to 5W-40 Mobil Delvac 1, putting it in line with the rest of the family fleet running Mobil 1 exclusively. It's been kept bone stock its entire life. No chips, no exhausts, nothing (apart from the Firestone tyres suffering tread separation and causing $2300 worth of damage to the truck at 48,000 miles).

I thank you all in advance for any and all suggestions, similar experiences, etc. I did an hour and a half of doing searches on the forum, but couldn't find this exact problem, especially ones that continued after having the CPS replaced. Again, many thanks for this great forum!

 

Did they do anything with the PCM? I'm thinking an intermittent electronic problem with the PCM and/or the CPS wiring to the PCM.
Nut

 

...Welcome Red to Ford Truck Enthusiasts!

We are happy you have chosen the best source for Fords.

Enjoy FTE....and
JOIN CLUB FTE -SUPPORT THE FORUMS!
…..See you on the boards.

 

Any word? ............

 

Mine did the same thing; rolled over good and gages went crazy and no start. Check the batteries. I replaced a bad battery, now starts fine.

 

Welcome banksdebsr, to Ford Truck Enthusiasts.

Batteries sound like a good starting point. Hearing all kinds of crazy low battery stories here lately.

 

The batteries are fine; both were replaced less than a year ago. The truck is still at the dealer. They are guessing that the microprocessor is faulty in the PCM, and that is causing the problem. They say it isn't under warranty, and that it will cost $700+. My mother works for a truck leasing company, and thus, deals with numerous major diesel engine and truck builders' warranty departments, and says exceptions to this are easily made if the dealer is on your side, which it should be, as my parents have spent a pretty penny on maintenance and other repairs for the truck.

The current situation on the truck itself... It's a coin toss as to whether it will start at any given time. The service writer's word choice leads me to believe that it is in fact a lose wiring problem. Pulling this wire or pushing on that wire apparently seems to increase the likelihood of it starting at that given point. As my experience with Fords have taught me (my grandfather, an automotive machinist and engine builder, has owned and worked on more Fords than I've ever set foot in) that, if it isn't transmission trouble, it's electrical/electronic/wiring troubles, as the mechanicals are usually sound. I had said this on the first day the trouble began... Ominous, eh?

 

I just cleared up a bad hesitation on a '00 Jetta that started, ran ok if idleing. But one of the battery posts was a blue ball of corrosion. Replace the battery, clean the corrosion from the cable and the car ran like new.
Sad part about it, he had taken it somewhere else and had the MAF and O2 sensor replaced, no change.

 

U can get an entire PCM from DP-Tuner for $175.
Nut

 

A couple of key points, What is the temps outside while cranking and do you get any smoke from the tailpipe? you need to know if its a fuel problem or glowplug problem.

 

The temperatures are around 70°F, and no smoke.

Oh, and PSNut: who is DP-Tuner? I think the next step will be to buy that PCM.

 

Jody Tipton owns DP_Tuner
http://www.dp-tuner.com/pricing.htm

Nut

 

No smoke no fuel! If you had a glowplug problem you would get alot of white smoke. I difinenitly looks like a fuel problem. Does the tach move while cranking, if not its may be the CPS?

Also what about if its plugged in? I had injector problems that would not let my truck start anywhere around 60 deg. unlees it was plugged in. It would just crank and try to start it seemed like just a couple of cylinders and no smoke. Found that 6 of the injectors were sticking closed when cold. I wound up changing all eight since I was in there and it now runs like it should.

 

Short update... The dealer blamed the synthetic Mobil 1 Truck and SUV 5W-40, which is Mobil Delvac 1 in a different bottle. My uncle (who trains diesel technicians for Ryder) verified this with one of Mobil's engineers. An oil change later, and the problem is gone. It also starts with less cranking now. What perplexes me is that my uncle says that nearly all of Ryder's trucks equipped with the Navistar T444E run full synthetic for the duration of their 300,000+ mile service life, and my mother confirmed the same with Penske Truck Leasing... Yet my father's truck refuses to run with it? Any further input on that front?

 

What da!!??...i do believe many folks here use that oil with no problems.