Okay just bought a 1997 ford 250 with a powerstroke . The truck was was hard starting to i replaced the glow plug relay . when you started it, it would not turnover right away. It would take 4 or 5 sec to start. The truck would randomwely stall at lights and when you take off . Some times five timmes in a row and start right back up. then not do it at all. i went to ford for the recall new cps and spped sensonr. last night the truck just died but would not start . I had to use a little ethor and it would start . Then start then stll all little while later . Then a ford mechanic was ther ( not a diesel guy thoug) had me use silicone spray worked great to the get the truck started . Besides the stalling problem trucks drives great plenty of power . Atthe area you can test the fuel pressure to the right of the fuel filter . Only reads 20 psi and when the truck turns off if drops down to 0. I know thes need to stay pressuriezed . I took off the fuel filter was clean and there was fuel in the filter housing

Here are some codes fro the ford computer
p1211
p1280 ( batteries where low when tested everything)
p0470

Also where is the air temp sensor . It is ready 40 degree negative. The good thing is i have a 96 ford 350 totaled with a good engine

Help

Ordered another cam sensor . could this cause all these problems

 

Don't worry about air temp sensor, useless... (but it's plugged into the air box. I have several disconnected for years, don't worry about it).

You need about 55 - 65 psi of fuel pressure at idle, sounds like you need a new fuel pump!
Also, clean the fuel pressure reluator screen, probably full of gunk, too.

 

Just heard from a friend of a friend at the same time as i read your email . Sounds liek you are both right . I was told it was a 2 stage pump high presure and manual. The manual or low pressure is working but the high pressure one is not . Do you have any diagrams of the pump

 

Jim is right on the fuel pump. He is one of the "go to guys" around here. I second what he said he just got on here earlier that i did this morning. Clean that screen out.

 

where is the screen . How do that first .

Getting ready to tackle it .

 

Never spray ether, if it hits a hot glow plug it will blow damaging your engine. The two pumps your talking about are low & high oil pressure pumps. I agree with above, if your screen is dirty, low fuel pressure. Its on the front right of the fuel filter, someone will have to tell you exactly how to do it because I went electric.

 

It is behind the shrader valve in the drivers side of the fuel bowl. if you look the little apparatus that the schrader sticks out of is a seperate part from the fuel bowl. it comes off with 2 bolts 10 mm i think. when you pull it off there is a screen behind it on the fuel bowl side. take a few q-tips and cut the cotton off of them and scrape the gunk off carefully. it shouldnt take long. you might have to do it a couple tomes so i would check it again in awhile

 

No, the High and Low fuel pumps he's referring to is ONE pump. It sucks fuel from the tank and pushes it to filter, then sucks from filter and pushes higher psi through the motor. It's a 2 Stage pump, not 2 pumps.

No diagram that I know of, for $85 just replace the pump. They just go bad.

 

or pull it off his spare engine! also, dont forget he has a 1211 code, but this could be caused by the low fuel pressure as i have seen the code get set falsely before. it is a rarity but i have seen it happen.

 

I lost my screen. The dealer couldn,t figure out how to get a new one. I couldn't either so I made one from a new kitchen faucet screen I trimmed down. Worked good so far. Bought it at the hardware store.

 

I clean mine when I change the fuel filter. You can reach it from inside the filter housing when you remove the filter. I like to drain the housing using the drain valve on the left front side of the housing. Just turn it 90 degrees and the fuel drains right out. That lever is also necessary when you need to remove the water from the housing. Anyhow, you better have something under your truck to catch it, or be parked in gravel and not worry about a mess. Grab a couple of Q-tips and cut them like mentioned earlier, and with the valve open, I will spray out the housing with PB Blaster or WD-40, what ever I have handy. I wouldn't use brake cleaner though. You can see inside the hole at the top right side of the housing, and you should be able to see the screen. Using the Q-tips and the spray can will clean it up. I will close the valve and fill the housing up to about an inch and a half from the top with tranny fluid, leaving room for the new filter, and then slowly install the filter letting the fluid run inside the filter as I put it in the housing.

 

my truck was doing the same thing. it would cut off and start back up. i replaced
the cam sensor and problem was solved hope this helps

 

I pulled off the fuel pump off my totaled truck read some threads and pullrd it straight up. It was difficult . Then went to the truck i was having a problem with . The lifter vave that came out of the engine snapped and so did the bottom of the fuel pump. There was not damage . It makes snese that the problem multiplied . It was still hitting the rod and working pereidocally. So the truck runs better , stalle and could not start , changed the batteries , they were not charging . Also replaced starter. I only can staart the truck with silicone spray. Replaced cam senso can it be bad? I read a thread whwn cranking the truck over the tach only reads maybe to 100. Just replace one for the recall from ford.Sounds liek out of fuel . When the truck runs it runs great . `is there a checkvale ? could it be an issue with the switch ove rvalve

 

You hit on a number of possibilities. Is the alternator charging? The tach should move more than 100rpms. It is possible to get a bad CPS out of the box. Did you install a new pump, or did you use the old one out of your totaled truck? The batteries need to read 10.6 volts in order for the injectors to fire. If the batteries are low, and you are cranking the engine, it's very possible for the voltage to drop below the 10.6 required to fire.

 

you said the fuel pump pushrod was broken? you need to get a look inside and see if the cam lobe is damaged. do you have fuel pressure while cranking now?