Help Needed ’02 7.3 saga – stalls, no start, can’t figure this out

elkfins

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I’ve been having a problem with my 2002 F250. When the truck runs, she runs great. No rough idle or any indications that there is a problem. The truck used to be my daily driver but 2 years ago, I bought a commuter vehicle and now only drive the truck once a week or so during winter and use it primarily to tow the boat and camping trailer during spring, summer and fall. For the last two years, she would very intermittently just die… or just not start when she was warm. Last month, the problem got worse. I’ve done a lot of research on the subject and have made several attempts at repairs and it seems to have changed the symptoms a bit but not completely fixed the issue. Here is a pretty detailed history of what has happened and the attempts I’ve made to fix it.


May, 2015:

Truck died towing the boat on West. hwy 16 about 10 miles from home. Once Boat was unhooked, truck started. Drove for about 1 mile and died again. Waited 10 minutes, started again and drove home.

Repair attempted: Replaced CPS with aftermarket CPS.

Truck ran fine and towed boat a couple of times then int June, 2015:

Truck died towing boat on southbound I-5 about 15 miles from home. As soon as boat was unhooked, truck started and drove home.

Repair attempted: Replaced CPS with grey Motorcraft model.

Next trip after previous failure - June, 2015:

Truck died in center lane of Hwy. 16. Cop pushed me to side of road. Truck would not start. Got a flatbed tow home. Truck started 3 days later and drove it to dealer.

Repair attempted: Took truck to dealer. They replaced Fuel pump and PCM

July, 2015

Stopped for Gas on way home from Westport Towing boat. Would not start after fill. After 3rd attempt at cranking, truck started.

None. Hoped it was an anomaly.

Sept, 2015

Stopped for Gas. Truck would not start after fueling.

Repair attempted: Checked oil. It was full. Waited 15 minutes, truck started. Took truck to dealer they replaced fuel pump again under warranty.

No issues over winter, drove maybe once every 10 or 12 days commuting to work and back. April, 2016

Stopped for lunch. Would not start after coming out of store.

Checked oil, it was full. Waited 15 minutes, truck started.

5/14/2016

Truck would not start first thing in morning with boat hooked up.

Checked oil, made sure it was full. Truck started later that day.

5/27/2016

Truck died towing boat on W. hwy 16. Once Boat was unhooked, truck started. Drove rest of weekend.

Replaced CPS with aftermarket. Truck ran like garbage.. Stutters and misses. took truck to dealer. Could not replicate problem. Replaced CPS with Motorcraft CPS. At this point, they are just throwing my money at the problem. Decided to hell with them, I'll try to fix this myself.

9/8/2016

Truck would not start after fueling at Shell station in Westport.

Confirmed oil level was full. Waited 15 minutes, truck started. Drove home with no issues.

10/23/2016

Coming home from Hunting in Twisp, about 30 miles after starting, truck died towing travel trailer.

Pulled ICP sensor wire. No start still. Reconnected ICP sensor and disconnected travel trailer, truck started and ran till CleElem. Stopped for fuel there, truck started and ran fine all the way home with no trailer connected. Was about 500 miles before oil change was due so I changed the oil.

11/1/2016

Truck died coming home from Elk hunting about 20 miles into drive. Would start after 15 minute wait but would die after a couple of minutes running. Noted that as soon as I let off the gas pedal, it would die. Towed truck home on flatbed. At this point, the problem became more severe as the truck would not stay running.

Replaced IPR and ICP sensor. Bought an Edge Insight CTS2 to monitor engine data.

11/28/2016

Truck died while coasting to stop after freeway running. Started right back up.

Edge CTS2 Logs available. Replaced CPS and oil change.

12/2/2016

After freeway running, while coasting to stop, IPR drops below 5 and when I put my foot in the pedal, there is nothing. Pump the pedal and get nothing until engine fires again.

Can pretty much re-create this issue now as it is consistent. When I'm coasting to a stop after freeway driving, I can see on the gauge that the IPR drops below 5. When this happens, I can pump the pedal 2 or 3 times with no response until she fires again. In the data logs, I can see the throttle position reporting the throttle moving. CPS is reporting engine RPM's... no anomaly there in the data. The IPR duty cycle is reacting to the TPS and I can see the corresponding rise there when the TPS rises. BUT... the IPC keeps falling until it finally kicks in and jumps. In one case I can see where it jumped from 404psi immediately to 1328psi without a corresponding jump in the IPR duty cycle which was consistent at about 22 before and after the jump.

Trouble codes i've had at various times on the engine:
P0676 - Cyl 6 glow plug... thsi one comes and goes since i've owned the truck... well before the problems appeared.

P1280 & P1212 - ICP pressure. this one appeared only after I disconnected the ICP on October 23

P0705 & P1702 - Transmission range sensor. This one has been coming and going intermittently for hte last couple of years. Occasionally I will get in the truck when it's cold and the overdrive off light will be flashing then this code appears. I have a new transmission range sensor but haven't installed it yet. The wiring connector appears to be in good shape and no obvious broken or frayed wires.



At this point, I'm thinking my next step is to replace the Injector O-rings and injector wiring harness.

Any thoughts and thanks in advance for the comments/ideas. This is just driving me nuts.
 

DaveBen

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How many miles? Don't throw parts at the truck. I would get only Ford or Motorcraft parts (CPS, IPR). Other parts are generally junk.
 

elkfins

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168k miles. After the problems I had with the aftermarket CPS in May I bought the IPR, CPS and IPC sensor from the Ford dealer.
 

BIG JOE

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168k miles. After the problems I had with the aftermarket CPS in May I bought the IPR, CPS and IPC sensor from the Ford dealer.

You've obviously done yer Home Work.. and have the gear to do it.. BUT..

Back in my 7.3 days.. doing Tweaks & Repairs (for many others too).. I got all my parts (CPS,IPR and IPC's) from IH. Only IH.

TO MANY bad, or marginal parts, out'a the box.. from FORD.

Joe
 

john griffin

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What Joe said.I get all my parts thru the IH dealer,and when I need work done that I cant do (because I'm just too damn old) it goes to the IH guys.Thier labor rate is lower and diesels are all they work on,so I dont have the oil change guy messing with a glow plug harness that he's never even seen.
 

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