One bank not firing...
 

HI guys,

Need some help here. A few weeks ago I posted about getting gas in my tank, never driving it until after cleaning both tanks, then about 80 miles later it died. All fuel filters were badly clogged, and I eventually replaced the fuel pump.. Took it to a dealership (I'm 240 miles from home at this point), they reported the pass side fuel injectors had failed the "buzz" test (whatever that is), and quoted 4 injectors for $3200. Cause of problem was fuel starvation. Truck ran, but extremely crappy.

On the assumption that if one side was fuel starved, the other was likely harmed as well, so this morning replaced all 8 with reman units. Following guidelines posted here, I drained the fuel filter and HPOP, we removed the injectors and vacuumed all cylinders. I cleaned all the crap off of everything (didn't know my VC's were green!), and after installing injectors spun engine w/o GP's.

After reassembly, pulled fuses, filled HPOP and cranked engine to prome oil & fuel lines. When ready to restart, the drivers side bank does not fire (manifold is cold). Really stuck here, engine has certainly been spun enough to prime everything..

Need help, why is the OTHER bank no longer working? And I am willing to believe it may have the drivers bank all along, the dealer guy just didn't note it correctly when I got my truck back.

Re check your valve cover wiring on the side that's not running. If there is a problem with wiring to one injector , the IDM will shut down that bank..Are the solenoids new also ?..

Rick, that's what I'm trying now..
I've been searching for a thread with the wiring resistance checks for the harnesses.. can't find'em...

It's two connectors per side (found the newer single conn)

IIRC, the injectors should ohm out artound3.0 -3.2 GP wiring should be around 2.0

I'm at home & don't have access to my saved material .Maybe someone else can tell you the pin locations

Ok, this is what I got,

I'm assuming (there I go again) the following wiring order on the 5 pin gasket connector:

GP
I - injector
C - Common injector
I - injector
GP

all gp's to ground were about 1 to 1.5 ohm, not worried about them ATM
I to C were all 3.4 to 3.5 ohm

I'm thinking since half these connections work, they're all good
Faulty IDM?

Can you borrow one for a test ?

Don't know anyone up here with a 7.3L. I'm stuck in Poughkeepsie right now..

Any resistance checks on this forum for IDM's?

I don't know of any tests for the IDM ,a scanner will point you in the right direction, but that is all..

We ran a scanner, no faults, scanner had a listing for this truck, so I guess it's right

Here are some resistance check for cable harness to IDM ... and other stuff.

97-15A 7.3L DI Turbo Workshop Manual

Click the Letter "I" on then left then select "Injector Drive Circuit Operation".

Pull your idm off of your drivers side fender, shake it to see if it has water in it. Sorry I did this to mine today after it was sitting for a long time, borrowed another one from a friend (idm) put it in and it is running now. I could kick myself for not during a long time ago.

Thanks for the link Jim, that is a very helpful source.

My IDM is dry (filthy though). When the dealer had it they pulled up a 1296 trouble code, "multiple failures bank 2"... THey claimed it was all 4 injectors after running a buzz test. After replacing all eight injectors, it still doesn't run...

I've checked continuity on the wiring from the IDM to the VC gasket connection, and the resistance from the gasket to the injectors (previous post). The only connection I haven't checked is the actual connection from the engine harness thru the gasket connection, and one of them looks a little iffy, the connector retaining clip is broken. All of the conections looked clean, one had oil in it, cleaning had no effect.

I switched the fuel lines to see if it was a fuel problem, no change.

So I think I'm left with either no oil pressure, or the IDM has shut down the bank. Based on the above trouble code, I'm going with the IDM.

This is really ruining my month, need ideas...

Try this .. on the bank that is not firing unplug one of the valve cover electrical connections and see if it will start on 6 cylinders. If not reconnect it and unplug the other one and retry. In other words see if you can isolate it down to one plug.

A bad soleniod can cause the IDM to shut down an entire bank. That's the reason we ohm things out. A loose connector can also send a bad signal back to the IDM.

X2. Unplug the suspect connector, clear the codes or unplug the batteries for a bit, then try and start the truck and see if you pick up 2 extra cylinders.

Ok, running it with either VC connector unplugged on the affected side made no difference. My friend has an Actron cp9145, but it doesn't give us any codes. All of our resistance and continuity checks have been good, the VC gasket connections look pristine (after we cleaned them), all of the pins are straight and clean.

I'm wondering if there's something in the High Pressure oil side on the that bank that's clogged or air-locked?

Another note, every time I go to try and start it, I need to crank it for a good 30 seconds or more before it even attempts to fire, and then it starts rather quickly (on 4 cylinders).

My check engine light used to stay on for a few seconds when I first turned on the key (back when everything was OK), but now it only flashes very briefly...

And finally, used a tire pressure gauge to read 52psi on the fuel pressure line...