new member intro/seeking diagnostic help

[Capt. Lowtide]

Hello to all on this board, glad to see a great family of shared knowledge here that keeps a helping hand out. I've been lurking for quite sometime and have used bits and pieces from this forum to keep my truck running.

Recently my truck went down in an area without adequate/knowledgeable hired help available. I've been stumbling around for quite sometime now trying to find an answer to my problems and finally scored a mechanic with a Matco Decodinator (or some corny name like that) code reader that spit out some trouble codes to check out. The problem that I then had is that the mechanic really did not know any more than I about what or how to read into the results. I quickly lost faith in the hired hands abilities and decided to ask around here to see if I am on the right road or to get some ideas from what you guys think the problem might be.

I have never considered myself a mechanic, just an adequately armed parts changer. Laymen terms are much appreciated and keeping feedback on a 5th grade level may be best for possible information consumption.

Down to the problem:

I was driving the truck and shifting from 2nd to 3rd (manual tranny) and all hell seemed to break loose under the hood, there was knocking and clanging and almost a complete loss of power...I had to ride the clutch in 1st gear just to get it turned around and headed back to a safe parking area.
Immediately after pulling off to the side of the road I popped the hood and narrowed the location of the terrible sounds to be coming from under the passenger side valve cover (this is where cylinders 2-8 are located, correct?)
This is where I became dead in the water, terrible sounds and no power, time for some professional help.

trouble codes
P0476 Exhaust Pressure Control Valve Range/Performance
P0266 Cylinder 2 Contribution/Balance Fault
P0272 Cylinder 4 Contribution/Balance Fault
P0278 Cylinder 6 Contribution/Balance Fault
P0284 Cylinder 8 Contribution/Balance Fault
P0282 Cylinder 8 Injector Circuit Low

I assume that the cylinder 2-8 are located under the passenger side valve cover that is making all of the terrible noise. After doing some snooping around and allot of guessing I've decided that the valve cover gasket/wiring harness that the powerstrokes seemed to be problematically plagued with may have something to do with these cylinders misfiring.

Am I thinking correctly? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[action4478]

Am I thinking correctly? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

That would be a good place to start UVCh's....

 

[BamaSixGun]

welcome Lt. Dan, you got magic legs.



OH, sorry, I had forrest gump on the brain. Welcome Capt. Lowtide. great to have her at SDD.com.

wish I could help ya with your truck probs, but I have no exp. with the older trucks. There are plenty of old timers, oops, I ment "older truck" owners here that can help ya out.

 

[95_stroker]

Pull the oil cap and sniff for a burnt electrical smell, you can also pull the harness connectors apart on that side and check for burnt pins. Both will be an indication that your fried a harness.

The harness probably fried due to a bad glow plug(s). So, if your pulling the VC's to do the harness then buy glow plugs to stick in there at the same time.

 

[Capt. Lowtide]

thanks for the advice

One thing I forgot to mention is that after the codes were read the engine ran normal for awhile when restarted, I even drove it around for a few miles without incident. Once back to the safe harbor I turned her off and restarted only to experience the same problems I realized before.

I pulled the connectors on the outside of the valve cover to check for burned pins and all looked fine except for diesel on the rear connector. The oil did not have an unusual smell to it that I could notice. I have a set of Motorcraft glow plugs and a couple of good injectors to go back in with the gaskets, i was thinking #8 may be bad being that the code mentioned it specifically...also would diesel be leaking back in that area since the connector plug was wet?

 

[DaveBen]

to Super Duty Diesel, Capt. Lowtide. Sorry to hear about your problems. My guess would be the wiring harness, also. As 95_stroker said, do the glow plugs at the same time.

Dave

 

[Capt. Lowtide]

Still looking for the problem!

Made to the truck over the weekend and replaced the valve cover gasket, both internal wiring harnesses and glow plugs on #2-#8. The gasket and harnesses looked fine, but the glow plugs didn't seem to bueno. Starting with the #4 plug and both 6 & 8 smelled and looked burned as well as had some build up on them that looked almost like calcium or rust. The #2 plug looked great and did not smell burned.

Before I put the valve cover back on I started it and it nothing has changed...ran good for 30-seconds and then stopped running on those cylinders.

Anyone with ideas on where to go to next?

What is the P0476 Exhaust Pressure Control Valve Range/Performance code about?

 

[Crumm]

What is the P0476 Exhaust Pressure Control Valve Range/Performance code about?

There is a tube that runs from the passenger side exhaust manifold up to a back-pressure sensor on the top of the HPOP reservoir. This tube is probably plugged with soot causing the sensor to not get the right range of pressures. I doubt very much that it is related to your current problem.

You say you have some spare injectors? Might try changing out number 8.

 

[Capt. Lowtide]

There is a tube that runs from the passenger side exhaust manifold up to a back-pressure sensor on the top of the HPOP reservoir. This tube is probably plugged with soot causing the sensor to not get the right range of pressures. I doubt very much that it is related to your current problem.

You say you have some spare injectors? Might try changing out number 8.

Thanks for the info,I ran out of time when playing parts changer and was not sure about pulling the injectors.

Is there a preferred method or do I get a small pry bar and start prying?

 

[Crumm]

Is there a preferred method or do I get a small pry bar and start prying?

R&R article by 95_Stroker. <-----click