Bruce Amacker

What is it?

1. Check fuel pressure under load at 45MPH WOT. This should have a strainer cup and you checked it, right? On rare occasion the strainers at the cyl head inlets could be restricted, it might not hurt to check FP at the heads themselves after removing the end plugs (1/4" sq drive). Engine serial # 626395 and below don’t have these filter screen fitting and should have them installed. On the FP regulator there is a brass "nut"- at the right end of the regulator, on the forward side of the FF. This "nut" should have notches cut into the hex showing it is the updated regulator (72PSI, pn 1830915C91). (opposite end from the Schrader valve) Taking the FP regulator apart and cleaning it is not a bad idea as chunkies from injector o-rings will obstruct it. 2. Swap MAP and ICP sensors from a known good truck. 3. Swap CMP from a known good truck, or shim the one you have. If the CMP air gap is too small it will cause this exact complaint. Do you have ISIS and the diag sheets (EGED 130 and 135)? I can send them to you if not. Good Luck!

The ECMs and IDMs on these trucks seem to have a low failure rate in my opinion. In addition some of the 3BX ECMs have been discontinued and are on a send-it-in-and-we'll-fix-it status. As far as your problem goes I'd look strongly at the ECM/IDM power feeds which are a huge pattern failure on these trucks. Check the two 15A fuses in the battery box for melting/corrosion, and follow those two 12ga purple wires (ECM/IDM powers)with two 12ga white wires (ECM grounds) forward looking for two connectors- one under the tranny or starter, and another somewhere on the firewall. P series are different than 4000s so I can't tell you exactly where they might be. I have pics if you need them but if you follow the wires you should find them. Check for green death in these connectors and check the voltage drop across the ECM/IDM relays that they feed. Also don't forget that this is a three box system with the third module being the VPM. This puppy likes to get corrosion in it's connectors due to leaking windshields so I'd find that and visually inspect its connectors. There's also an updated harness for the VPM. My memory is fuzzy right now but if you unplug the VPM I think it runs on base HP, which might be your 622 code. I'd chase the 615 first, which is your interrupted power supply before hanging any parts. Check fuel pressure under load, also- hook up a gauge and go cruising to make sure FP is staying up. IIRC there is a FP regulator update for this engine, too. The dip tube in the tank has a habit of cracking and sucking air. I'll probably think of more stuff later, but the power/ground circuits are where I'd be concentrating right now. A regular old Ford 60 pin breakout box fits the ECM if you want to verify power/ground, and the two fatter wires on the top of the IDM are power/ground, so backprobe them and verify clean power. IIRC the ECM has 2 VBATS and a key hot, and 3 grounds (20-40-60). I've got great pics and case studies on these power circuits if you need them. Make sure the EBPR is wide open. You have ISIS, right? Good Luck!

I can't help you with the Duramaxes. Isn't the 7.8 an inline 6 cylinder Isuzu used in MDs only? For the 6.0/VT the 303-767 and 768 are probably what you're looking for. IH numbers are ZTSE 4528 and ZTSE 4529. Are you familiar with the SPX/IH tool site at http://international.spx.com/portal/site...gnextrefresh=1? The tap is a 3/4"-10 in the kit and an installer could probably be made from an old injector. Do you have any scrap 6.0 injectors laying around?

I think we've had this discussion before as this pic is in my archives. I shot it over there, and I'm not really sure where, it might have been Germany. If I were smarter I could tell you by the plate... IIRC between 40-45% of cars in Europe are diesel, in the US it's 1.5%.

A tight friend of mine, Jim, is an audio freak into vintage 12" vinyl. He recently played the Beatles Abbey Road for a guy in his 30's from overseas. When Jim asked his friend which side he wanted played, "A" or "B", all he got was a blank stare. The guy did not know that vinyl records had two sides..... RE Flatheads, I did a couple of classes in Ft. Wayne, IN lately. During some free time I ventured to the Ford Flathead Museum in Auburn, IN, a few miles north. It's small, but very cool if you have an interest in old Flatheads. Auburn has several very interesting museums including a WW2 truck museum (right next to the Flathead museum) and the Auburn Cord Dusenberg museum, for those interested in history. If you're within driving distance it makes a great day trip. Have fun!

I would love to do a repower.........

Thinking out loud- could air be backfeeding through the HPOP, through the LPOP and into the oil pan pickup tube, causing your gurgling? Maybe do the air test again and remove the oil filter cap to see if air is exiting there?

I called parts guru Eddie Grauel at Power City IH and he says they are probably the same injector. If we can supply him a FMC PN for 6.4 injectors he will attempt at making a cross reference to an IH number. Does anyone have a (the) PN handy for 6.4 injectors? Is there more than one? (Larry!) Duane- don't you have ISIS on DVD? I might be able to help you with that....

I don't see any reason to complicate it, and yes, I think it's that simple.

I'm not a chemist but this is also what I understand-NH3 and NOx into the SCR cat, N2 and H2O come out the end DEF and Nitric Oxide go into the SCR cat, Nitrogen and water come out A page from my Diesel Emissions book:

That wouldn't be my main concern but rather a bad diode or brush bounce which causes really freaky voltage spikes and wicked electrical noise. BB is usually seen on vehicles that have been parked an extended time allowing corrosion to develop on 90% of the commutator, not really a popular problem but worth mentioning. Too bad IDS won't allow you to command the alt off, that would be a helpful addition. Good Luck!

+1 on checking the alternator, try unplugging it. I'd be getting my scope out, reference known good waveforms are in my pics. Also look and see if anyone was messing with the harness- if the polarity is reversed in the sensor harness during pigtail replacement it will give a similar complaint. The E-van is a bitch to put a harness in. Would it be easier to overlay the harnesses for CMP/CKP for diag? If you're not a scope dude, maybe try hanging 2 sensors in it first? You're in the rust belt, could rust under the sensor flange cause this? Good Luck!

My wife says fresh asparagus is in stock at the store, Marc's (drugstore) $2.99, K-Mart $3.99/lb. I guess $1.99 is a deal, I don't do any grocery shopping so I have no clue. I'm guessing it's brought in from South America or Mexico when we can't grow it in the States. I'm thinking we eat fresh asparagus twice a week or more on the average in my house since we both love it. Like I said, grilled with oil and spices is hard to beat.....

Hay Guys: There's a good video on YouTube regarding DEF usage that you could play for your customers who refuse to RTFM. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF5Oggb7gUk Have fun!

+1 in a big way. If I were fighting this I might even double check the ICPV manually at the sensor or PCM connector. Didn't Keiff have one where the IDS lied about ICPV? I'd also check/clean basic electrical such as PCM powers and ground levels, sensor return ground vs B-, ACV output of the alternator, disconnect the alt and see if your problem is still present. I'd do a full electrical test (my 12 minute test sheet is somewhere on this forum) and check charging amperage- it should spike up to 40-100 initially but settle down under 10 amps within a minute or two after starting. I've had bad batteries cause freaky problems I could not explain logically. Weird stuff like this can easily be dirty power. (bad grounds, excessive ACV, ground loops, etc) ACV should be .02-.05 measured idling, the old industry spec of .5VAC is as old as Grumpy, and therefore worthless. If you have a BOB this is the time to get it out and use it, battery negatives should be .05DC or less. Good Luck!

Run your fingers in the injector holes looking for wear ridges from the o-rings while they're out. Good Luck!

Aaahhh, I didn't check the PCED lately. I know before it had us check it at the FF.

I know someone doing it locally here, too, but I still don't recommend it. In my opinion injector life will be shortened considerably due to the cleanliness of the fuel mixture. As for filters, most people forget one very important fact- you cannot push cold oil through filter paper. Most, if not all, engine oil and ATF goes around the filter through a bypass valve until the oil is warmed up enough to go through the media at a reasonable pressure (the last one I checked was rated at 11psi pressure differential). I don't care how many filters he passes it through, if the bypass valves open up on them all he's wasting his time. There are filters available that don't have bypass valves in them, for use on a system that has a bypass valve mounted in the filter header (i.e. 7.3 PSD, SBC/BBC). In this situation the oil would definitely pass through the media, but if he uses a strong transfer/hydraulic pump it could easily cause a blow-through of the paper element allowing 100% bypass of the filter element. There's just too much going wrong here for me to support. Can it be done? Yes it can. Will you have problems? Probably. Are the resulting problems cheap? Price out a set of injectors (and pulling the motor for a carbon clean job) and let me know. Take a look at the homemade biodiesel gang and see how many of them run their "fuel" in electronic diesels. Very few, and there's a reason for that. Let us know what you do, and good luck! (You're gonna need it)

1. This was common in older mechanical injection engines. With electronic diesels it is not a good idea, the nozzle tip orifices are smaller for better atomization and the heavier viscosity oil won't pass through as well. It's possible to blow the tip off in an extreme case. 2. All mfr's have TSB's out to recommend against this practice for another reason- the top piston ring has much tighter tolerances these days and may stick in the piston from carbon buildup, causing loss of compression. I did see this a while back on a DTEGR engine run on poor quality fuel in the Caribbean with very low miles. Good Luck!

We had fresh asparagus with dinner tonight, by chance, but not grilled outside. My wife also grills it on the stovetop on some kind of grill plate that works nearly as well as outside. I mentioned to her our little discussion about asparagus on the DTS forum and received a blank stare in response.

Chris: Yes, it's easier to do, but you're not getting a true pressure reading there. Like I said in the last post, what if the secondary FF is restricted? What if the standpipe is broken or the check valves on the heads are defective? Why do the test if you can't rely on the results?

It's a '99? Early one, maybe? Does the air cleaner housing say "Intercooled" on top of it? If so, the motor is commonly junk. The early housing sucked their air from the wheelwell rather than the grill. '99 was a BAD year for PSD's- lots of dusted motors. Get your compression tester out. The crankcase pressure adapter is easily made, I have the dimensions in my notes (.407" orifice IIRC). The spec was revised from 4 to 6" H20, I think. Let me know if you need the info. Tell us more- build date? Early, late? Does it have Perdels in scan data? Even if compression was low, a gallon/100 mi seems high. I'd be looking at the turbo and whether the fuel was black and oily. Injector o-rings are common, and internal leaks in the injector like Keith said, that allow HEUI oil to bleed into the fuel rail (or inside the injector) to be burned. With that much oil going through I might pull the fuel plugs from the heads, install 2 Schraders (Napa PN 90-290, plus a 45* street elbow, $4 each head), and take samples from both heads after it's been running, That would tell you if one injector o-ring on one side is bleeding oil into the fuel rail. I've also seen a few times where the injector o-ring has actually worn a groove into the cast iron head, mimicking a bad o-ring, even when it's new. This can bleed engine oil into the fuel rail to be burned in the engine. Put several bottles of UV dye in the oil and test the fuel from each head's Schrader with a UV light after it's hot. Good Luck!

A lot of guys do that on PSD's but I hate it- you're checking FP before the filter, standpipe, and check valves. That's asking for big time trouble if you ask me.

Use a Luk, I've put a bunch in with great success. They have an engineering facility within walking distance of my shop, and we used to do all kinds of Beta installs for them. Top stuff. It's probably $700 for the whole kit- FW, clutch, bearings. Good Luck!