Buddy_M

I got a little bit of time to mess with my truck today, oil pressure hot at idle was around 15psi, and at WOT it was at 50psi, both above min spec at least. Wiring is ok at the left valve cover & shock tower, that was one of the first checks since I have seen them wear there before. Won't be able to get to it much more for a few days, unless I stay late and tinker with it, but I'm getting to the point I have another engine sittin in the corner, either swapping parts around, or swapping engines.

Nope, the tinnerman nut is on and secure, that is one of the things that had crossed my mind as I have seen that once before. I got the engine up to temp and power braked it and got it to act up in the bay and drop ICP and max IPR. I also tried grounding out the IPR signal wire while running for shits & grins, and it made no change in ICP, but tomorrow comes a new day and a fresh look at it. Just got home from our dart league and feeling just a lil

OK guys.. I'm getting frustrated because this is my own truck. I want to get a little insight and second thoughts before it drives me crazy and I do something stupid with it anyway. Upon hard acceleration I'm losing ICP dropping to 300-500psi and the IPR is maxing out at 65. ICPV is correlating with the 300-500psi ICP. I have triggered the IPR with 12v and cranked the engine to check for oil leaks under the covers and there are none, ICP builds to ~3800 and cuts out at the relief pressure and holds fairly well with minimal drop. After a cold engine start, it will build ICP up to 1000-1500 and IPR is approx ~20% holding WOT in the shop, but once I accelerate going down the road it will drop out and I can barely limp it back to the shop. I can't even get it to run without holding the accelerator down now, and if i let off it dies, so i can't run any contrib tests, but I have gotten failures with 3 & 8 prior a long time ago, but never any drivability probs or noticeable miss, so I have never replaced those injectors or looked at them when I got those codes. I have recently replaced all the injector o-rings and an injector cup as well, and the oil is good, just changed about 300 miles ago, and fuel pressure is good. Since the HPOP builds and holds 3800 ICP when triggering the IPR, is it possible I have an injector or 2 sticking open releasing oil causing my ICP to drop and the IPR to max out?

I believe the pickup tube is different, as is the front cover, so the baffling in the pan is different due to changing which side the pickup is in the pan. Buddy

OK, finally getting back to this a little late. I'm not sure if you have found anything yet, but look up a Crimestopper CS870. It is strictly a RKE system without remote start. You can google it or look on EBay and i'm seeing the kits on there from 35-45 on average. Buddy

I know several of the bigger companies out there make RKE systems, as well as plain keyless entry systems without the remote start options as I have ordered them in and installed them for customers before. I will do some digging back in files & notes and try and find the brand that I had put in and let you know if you dont come up with anything. IIRC, the RKE w/o remote start was around $60, and keyless entry was around $35.

Keith, when I was in the dealership(wow, about 3 years ago now), the only other place I seen this stated was in the 7.3/diesel engine training in STARS and it listed the serial number break. I have also heard that it was not exact at that serial break, as there were some before that break with PMR's and after with forged. Buddy

Quote: The cams are the same. (all the international trucks used the mechanical fuel pump) Remove the plug in the valley of the engine and install the mechanical fuel pump. Heads are drilled to allow for more mounting bolts of the intake manifold. Intakes have larger hoses than the earlier engines. I am not aware of any block differences that would prevent you from installing the engine. Are you sure the cams are the same? IIRC, and I can check later when I go to my shop, I have a bad cam out of a 01 engine from a few years ago and it did not have the lobe for the fuel pump , and I thought that where the fuel pump went is now casted solid with the block, so there is no provision to remove the plug and install one. As for the intakes, certain 99MY and earlier engines used the 8 bolt intakes, while later engines used the 10 bolt, and I didn't think they were interchangeable without changing the heads due to differences in the bolt patterns? Another thing to think about would be PCM calibration effects on it running, since the existing PCM knows it should have AB code injectors, and the new engine should have AD/AE injectors, and they each have different fuel flow rates. Buddy

Yep, PMR's are cracked whereas the forged are the smooth machined cap. The PMR's also use a bolt threaded into the connecting rod, and the forged use the nut & bolt to retain them together. Pictures of rod differences

Greg, you are awesome! I found the source to download, there is one newer version out I might add now, made a CD, and created a new back door administrator account. The bad news was all the data was backed up to the corporate server and nothing was on the computer that was of any use. However I now know who I have to go to in corporate IT to get data retrieved, if even possible at this point, so I gotta try and do that on Monday.

I can't access the command prompt through the start menu due to not even being able to login and have that option, I can get in similar to a guest account, but that option is not available. And I have done the F8 Safe mode with command prompt, and it just starts windows normally and brings me to the login screen again. This is a HP Compaq computer that is used by Peak USA, which is owned by Nabors Drilling, and Peak is undergoing some major changes, so IT is not available until our terminal can figure out what is going on. It belonged to a previous mechanic who stored all truck maintainance files on this computer, and I need to get them to get files up to date for DOT compliance purposes. Buddy

OK, I figure there should be someone here who may have some good ideas or know of a program to do this. Without getting into too much detail, I have a computer running Windows XP, that on Windows startup asks for a login username and password, and running F8 at startup and trying the options through there I cannot get to a DOS prompt. I am looking for some kind of boot CD or other command that will boot straight to a command prompt so i can view and copy files off. I have tried our IT department to get me the previous employees user id and password, but there is currently a big upset in the corporate side of the company so they are of no help at the moment so I'm trying to find a way around it if possible. Thanks, Buddy

Long story short, I took a break from being self-employed and get away from the taxes and paperwork and took a job at a company here in town that specializes in drilling rig moving. The company is very safety oriented, so PPE is required everywhere, fall protection over 6ft, etc. They gave me something that had actually made me think of Dwaynes incident with the 08 hood. They provide me with bump caps instead of having to wear a hard hat in the shop, and they simply fit inside of your favorite baseball cap, if you choose to wear one while working. I have to give it a very good rating, as I have bumped my head several times crawling around the trailers, trucks, and cranes, and have avoided the bruises and cuts by wearing the insert. If any of you guys out there wear caps while working, this would be a good investment. The company i work for provides these to me, but at a suggested retail of $6.20 it won't break the bank if you wanted to cover your own head. Occunomix Vulcan V400 bump cap

Yep, same here, I can't see spending $300 for that when either my big prybar(custom made from 7/8" oilfield sucker rod that ain't gonna bend for anything) or the 18lb sledge works just as good. Never had a wheel on a LD or HD vehicle refuse to come off with that combo. Buddy

I actually found that picture on a website called www.roughneckcity.com. They have a bunch of pictures and videos, and humor sections for oilfield employees. Warning to those with kids around, do not look at the pictures, they are very graphic, and hopefully those who do see these, or have relatives in the oilfield, it would be nice to see these to be a reminder of what could happen, and hopefully be more careful to prevent accidents. Buddy

Thought everyone here could use a little engineer humor today, little slow today and found this picture while playing online earlier.

Our altitude here is about 18-1900ft, and yes I realize 300psi is quite low. I am thinking I may have a gauge issue, as there is little blowby, and it reads the same across all 8, and there is no starting or performance problems other than the smoke. This was a new gauge set as well, so I have not used it before to know if it is good, and have nothing to compare it to for proper readings. I did find out also that is was not a bent pushrod replaced, but the connecting rod was bent & injector on #4 cylinder. Bruce, MFDES is 12 at hot idle, and FP is good under load(50psi). This time running KOER I also got a P0236, which i have not looked into yet. Buddy

Got the truck in late last nite, enough time to pull the valve covers and then did a compression test on the passenger side this AM. 300psi average on just the passenger bank. Knowing the customer as a friend also, I'll probably put a set of glow plugs in since theres a few bad ones and he'll live with the constant white smoke. Surprisingly, he has never complained of a hard start cold though, even with the bad GP's this winter. Buddy

The thought of possibly pulling manifolds to watch for smoke out a particular cylinder has crossed my mind if it comes down to it. I have done that before on an 855 Cummins with a similar issue. Larry, the relay was replaced by me just a couple months ago, and it is still within limits of the voltage drop test. The truck sat in a body shop and the shop of a used car dealer for about a year while the body was worked on and the bent pushrod was replaced in that same time. I know the mechanic at the used car dealer, and he had also replaced one injector in it thinking that was causing the miss until he found the pushrod. Yes, I do plan on starting with some basics once it comes in. I only had a few minutes to look at it on Saturday to just run a few tests with the scan tool, not much time to actually pull valve covers or anything else at the time. Buddy

Aaron, the smoke does have a fuel smell to it. Keith, a compression test is in order for this truck to get a better idea when it comes in Thursday, and I will also unplug the injectors to try and individually cancell out injectors since I dont have an injector interupt box. Larry, it was suggested to the customer possibly removing the injectors and send them off to be tested. That will depend on if he can leave the truck down for a week with shipping of the injectors. Buddy

OK Guys, I'm kind of at a loss at this one. I have a customer that came in with a 96 7.3 with 82k miles that white smokes all the time. Checked the basics on it, has 2 glow plugs out and relay is good and new. This truck even has a decent white smoke that will bring your eyes to a nice water after just a few seconds of running in the shop, and it does not matter if the engine is hot or cold, it does this all the time. Ran KOEO, KOER, CCT, & Buzz test and all pass no codes. Crankcase pressure is ok, I don’t have the proper adapters for it, but there is not much blowby coming out with the filler tube open and the CCV hose plugged. Also checked fuel filter housing for oil thinking an injector o-ring issue and it is clean, and the coolant and oil is ok, and he says he never has to add either fluid between oil changes. Now another catch to this truck had been rolled over on its passenger side about 20k ago, and hydrolocked when they tipped it back over and tried to start it. They found a bent pushrod and replaced one injector after it hydrolocked from what the owner told me. I am leaning towards thinking either a base engine problem, or internal injector problem or bad spray pattern yet, but the lack of blowby with the crankcase pressure and no codes with the CCT make it hard for me to tell him he may need injectors or there’s a further issue with the base engine. Just wondering if anyone has any advice on if they have either dealt with something like this before, or how much I should really tear into this to find out the problem. It does run OK plenty of power and no other issues, so I’m sure if it will cost too much they will just live with it. Buddy

Yep... I'm sure I could get shot from some people here for admitting this, but I have one of them in my truck, which was purchased thru Dennis at ITP Diesel, it is not the new 16 position model, but the older 4-8position flip chip. I only have 4 modes on mine, stock, a 40hp tow, 80hp economy, and a 140 extreme. Most of the miles on the chip are on either 40 or 80, and with a decent lite foot, fuel economy is a bit better, but nothing extreme, maybe 1 or 2 mpg more depending on weather, roads, and my driving style that day. The 140 just smokes way too much on acceleration for me to drive on it. Of course, if he does go with anything to enhance performance, I recommend that at the very least he installs a pyrometer and boost gauge to know when to back out of the pedal if towing, and possibly trans temp if he plans to do any kind of heavy towing with it. Overall, I must say with experience with Hypertech, Superchip, Edge, and DP Products, dealing with Dennis @ ITP for the chip and Jody @ DP for reprogramming after changing my truck to update it they are very good at knowing what to adjust to accommodate specifics for the vehicle you are working with. They can even derate vehicles or lower speed/rev limiters for vehicles with special applications. I have no problems with aftermarket equipment/modifications, as long as it is done right and the driver doesn’t abuse it, but unfortunately there are way too many people that just bolt or plug it in and drive without knowing they can cause damage without changing there driving characteristics as needed after the change. Buddy

Just got a call back, and the 1814682C93 shows "Order parts individually as needed." So its no longer available as a complete assembly.

Yep, you're right Larry. After I read Bruce's post after mine, I realized it was him I had bookmarked Partsvoice from. Just had one of those moments where I wasn't exactly positive who I had heard of that site from and probably thought you first as you are usually our resident parts guru. Also another call I got back from my local International dealer gave me a number 1814684C2 which should be the same as the F4TZ-6881-BA Keith was looking for, and they said they could not locate that one anywhere, and that would use the gasket F4TZ-6A636-A / 1831665C1 as well. Just thought I would mention that and see if theres anything else you can possibly find on it if either housing would work. On edit: After finishing this post, then reading Brunos post, I continued reading my through my books and found a number for the International kit 1814682C93 that is preassembled as he said. I haven't called to check any availability of it yet however. HTH Buddy

Keith, I see theres three dealers that show that number onhand using partsvoice.com. Charlie Thomas Ford - Autonation#2510 Houston, TX 77034 (713) 371-4120 HARR MOTOR COMPANY WORCESTER, MA 01606 (508) 852-5111 COLONY FORD TRUCK WARWICK, RI 2888 (401) 467-3800 Thanks to Larry IIRC for previously mentioning the Partsvoice.com website, and I bookmarked it and registered. Its free so its not a bad thing to have handy for cases like that.