I have a 95 7.3L. The truck has high miles but seems to run great except for an intermitent problem. The truck starts up and after anywhere from 3 - 8 minutes running, it starts stutering and trying to die, it is spitting out white smoke while this is going on. After it dies, If I continually try to start it or let it sit for a while, it will start and runs pretty normal and I can drive it back home. about 7 months ago my brother noticed fuel puddling behind where the fuel filter goes. my brother replaced the fuel filter housing because he said it looked like it was leaking. it seemed to run better after that but I have other trucks and I just drove those for a while, so I didn't drive it much. I started driving it again and it is doing the exact same thing. I can't tell if there is a fuel leak again because we drained the fuel with that little yellow lever on the fuel filter housing. Has anyone had this problem. I'm thinking it's the fuel pump but I want to avoid doing double or triple work if this rings a bell for anyone. My brother is a mechanic but he works on german cars and toyota's. Any info would be very much apreciated. Thanks

 

How old is the oil ? Can you restart it warm without it trying to die?

 

The oil shouldn't need to be changed and I checked it about 3 weeks ago and it seemed fine. I'm not totally sure. The last 3 times I have started it after it has died I was in a store parking lot and after getting frustrated I went inside for 10-15 minutes and came back out and it has started evry time. I will say on the restart it runs but I seem to feel it running a little rough but almost were it's not really noticable. Maybe it's just me paranoid it's going to stop on me while I'm headed back home.

 

I checked the oil and it is black but it does seem a little diluted

 

Does the oil smell like fuel or antifreeze?

 

it definatly doesn't smell like antifreeze but it doesn't really smell like diesel either. It reminds me of oil with a BBQ or smokey smell. Weird

 

If it starts cold, but not warm, I say IPR orings. If you want to check for fuel in the oil, there is a simple test. Take the dipstick out, and let a drip of oil drop on a clean paper towel. If a halo appears around the drop of oil on the towel, that's fuel. If no halo appears, there's no fuel.

 

O.k. this problem definetly happens when the truck is warmed up. When I drive the truck it takes about 10+ minutes to die ( 45 minutes when idling). The truck will not start again unless I let it sit for around 10-15 minutes. after this it will normally start right up and get me home. I think I do have a halo on my oil drop. this is the drop after 3-4 minutes.


<a href="http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk66/herman41274/?action=view&current=DSC00863.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk66/herman41274/DSC00863.jpg" border="0" alt="halo"></a>

 

No, the halo will be immediate. I think you good on fuel in the oil.

 

I have been reading other posts about replacing the IPR or the rebuild. Do you think one is a s good as the other. My brother is helping me out and doing the work so I wouldn't want him to have to do anything twice. By the way, Thanks for all the info you have been a big help.

 

Pulling wrenches with your brother is never a waste of time. But buying a $180 IPR when you could just clean you old one is. My vote is to clean yours, and put new O-rings. And I'm betting it will straighten it out.

 

Cody, How do you clean up the IPR?

 

I agree. we had fun hanging out but for him he is passing up work to help me for free. I'm just trying to utilize the time he forfits on my behalf, we all have to make a living. We took out the IPR, changed all the orings and cleaned it and it didn't fix the problem. any other ideas? Someone said the ICP or the CPS. Do I need to reset anything?