heres the deal, my truck sounds like **** and the shop that i took it too ran all the normal diagnostics on it and cant tell me a thing. They said that their best guess is that the IDM is fried, but cant tell me a thing for sure.

Here are the stats of the truck (which I just purchased in the end of july)

2000 f-250 xtended cab 7.3
turbonetics turbo
magnaflow exhaust
afe stage two intake
dp tuner
137,000 miles

So heres the back story, Purchased the truck in teh end of july, ran great, didnt have any problems with it other than a little bit of smoke at altitude which i've been told was normal. drove it from sacramento, to tahoe and back 2 times (abour 150 miles each way) then left to go back to school in wa and it drove fine all the way up to north of spokane wa, almost 1000 miles in the space of 2 days. the next day I went to move it, it started up fine, but after about 2 mins it stalled out and died. For the next two days it would start and run, but sounded like it was missing horrible, and the
ses light came on. the idle sounded like ****. Replaced the oil, fuel filter, and oil filter, with no change in the truck. on tuesday, I removed the air filter, thinking I might have over oiled it before I left and that it was fouling my MAP sensor. For a second it ran normally, sounded great, and then it went back to the ****ty sounded idle. Finally stopped even starting on thursday and we had it towed to the local shop, who told me friday they thought it was the IDM, but wanted to run more tests today. Today they told me they couldnt tell me anything because there were too many codes comming up that they couldnt tell which were true. He said is best guess was the IDM though...

my question.. Does this sound like an IDM issue? any other suggestions on simple ways to figure out what it is? Also any one from northern WA know any good shops in spokane that are familiar with working with these trucks with modifications like mine?

Oh yea, the chip still would adjust, and you could still hear the difference in the engine when you shifted the chip.

I just need to get this truck back on the road, but I dont have tons of money to spend on it and would rather not just buy the IDM to find out that iits not the problem...

thanks guys

 

There are people here with way more knowledge than me. Did they tell you what codes they got from the SES light? I am willing to guess that if they are telling you its the IDM, they got a P1316. I would have them check both UVCH. It sounds like one may have come loose. Its an easy fix.

 

I am in Spokane..

It sounds like UVCH harness to me.

 

They said they couldnt tell which codes were real and which were false because they got does saying my PCM was shot, my injectors were shot, my IDM was shot, and so on..didnt even charge me for running the diagnosis because they didnt do anything. They said they though it was IDM, but when I asked about the harnesses they said it could be that too. where are the connections for this harness? it stopped running the day after the long drive, and after going up a horribly washboarded dirt road. I was thinking that something must have shaken loose, and I didnt find anything. The owner before me also took it to the desert so there was tons of sand in stuff, maybe fouled up the IDM? i just dont wanna buy a 600 dollar part on the idea that it will fix it, but I need my truck running

 

superdoodie, any decent shops in spokane? I'm in republic and possibly have access to a flatbed trailer so I could tow it down there if I cant get it fixed on my own. Luckily my GF's dad is a diesel mechanic at the mine up here and we are gonna start checking everything..

 

X2 with Peter. No expert but from what I'm learning around here, sounds like Under Valve Cover Harness. Somebody will be by to tell you how to check them, pulling the valve covers I know.

 

There are two wiring harnesses that run under the valve covers on both sides. They go under the valve cover on the valley side. Pull both valve covers and check to see that the harnesses are plugged in. There is a way to secure them with a quarter in each one but someone else will have a more solid link to that procedure.

 

Also have a good look at all your wiring harness plugs. With a bunch of odd codes, sounds like the PCM may be getting mixed signals which would happen if one of the main harnesses are loose. Start at the ones at the firewall and trace them as far as you can, making sure the plugs are tight and locked.

 

alright, already checked them, but will do it again to make sure I didnt miss anything. havent pulled the valve covers. Seemed wierd for it to be the IDM and that it would completely fail over night. The day before all teh problems started, the truck was running great, and was extremely reliable going from sacramento, ca all the way up to about 20 miles south of hte canadian border. My first guess was a loose connection, but i'm checked things and didnt seem to find anything. I'll check again. with the uvch would I be able to see the loose connections without removing the valve covers? or do I have to remove them?

 

Yes there are a couple good shops down here. The one I work out of is Walker's Auto (509)922-0468 ..

Feel free to get ahold of me too for help. I know just enough to be dangerous.

 

You can sometimes wiggle them from the outside and see if it makes a difference while running. You really need to post up the codes they pulled. Might make more sense to us than to them.

 

You need to remove them. This page: http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articl...icle-05-10.php has good pictures of what the connector looks like when it is plugged in correctly and incorrectly.

 

so I got the codes from the shop, they are as follows

p1670 - Which they said was an EF Feedback signal not detected
p0603 - internal control module keep alive memory error
p1316 - IDM Codes detected
p0236 - turbo boost sensor "A" Perfromance

The definitions are what they gave me.

Now for an Update.


Tried to start last night and batteries are shot...or at least really low. Pulled them both today and they tested on a volt meter being at 11.8 and 11.4

Wierd thing was the driver side battery (which I understand is the axullery batt) The clamp holding it down was tightened so tight that the top was bent and the side was bent as well. No leakage, but just on a hunch i shook it and then tested the volts again. After being shaken lightly, it read 9.4 volts. My reasoning for this was I heard of a guy whos truck had similar problems and it was the alternate battery that was causing them. He had gone over bumps and something had disloged in the battery. I dunno if this voltage deal could be causing this problems...hopefully someone will be able to let me know. I'm going to check IDM connections today and probably check the UVCH this weekend when I have some help to pull the valve covers. If i cant find any problems with any of that I might just replace the IDM and see if that fixes the problem. If not i'll probably have it towed to a shop and fixed. Need a reliable truck in 2 weeks, and kinda gettin fed up with trying things.

2 questions: Can anyone tell me the best way to test the harnesses and IDM connections? and has anyone ever had/heard of an issue with DP tuners messing up and causing problems like this? If so, can I take out the Chip myself or do I have to send it to them to have it set back to stock?

Thanks guys

 

You can pull the chip yourself. I am going to strongly suggest that you start with the UVHC. I would not waste your time pulling the IDM. Its not a job you want to take on unless its absolutely needed.

 

Until you have two good batteries, I wouldn't worry to much about any of the codes. Weak batteries cause the PCM to reset and can thow weird codes.