Bruce Amacker

Absolutely! If the barrel and plunger are damaged from fuel contamination, the "click" test will pass with flying colors but the lower end of the injector (barrel and plunger/nozzle) will fail to deliver fuel properly. In addition to this, the nozzle can be worn where the correct amount of fuel is delivered, but not atomized properly due to deterioration in the nozzle itself. Another lower end failure is from the nozzle spring breaking, in which it will commonly overfuel. How do you diagnose these in the truck? Use Stanadyne (or PM-17a/equivalent lubricity enhancer) Performance Formula in a dramatically heavy percentage. I usually fill the secondary FF with it and see how the truck runs. If it is better, the problem is generally bad injectors or bad fuel. Once the injectors are out, you can also apply shop air or vacuum to the tips and make sure they hold pressure/vacuum. It sounds silly, but it works to identify a leaking nozzle. Good Luck!

We've seen many times where it was the cooler, and several times where replacing the cooler did not fix it due to corrosion in the end casting where the o-rings ride. Once we made the decision to change both castings and the cooler bundle when this complaint occurred, we never again had a comeback. If you don't change the end castings, inspect them VERY closely after bead blasting. You will likely find roughness from cooling system neglect (no, really?) that will compromise the o-ring's ability to seal from the bundle to the end casting. Good Luck! Edit- change "one" to "once".

Yes, if overfilling the crankcase cured your problem a cracked pickup tube is likely. They crack at a brazed junction in the tube made to lengthen it. Like I said earlier, your LPOP is likely to be worn also, and you may have one problem, or two. Did you check LP oil pressure?

Ditto here, Alliants all the way.

Commonly it's a bad HPOP that causes drainback, but I've seen a variety of things like bad gaskets allowing a leak, cracked housings, etc. The oil should not be draining to 4" down and you will have to determine where it's going. Did you do a LPOP pressure test? I'd start there. You may have multiple issues affecting the same system. Good Luck!

I'll try!

Yes, a 7.3 will suffer from combustion gasses in the fuel system just like a 6.0 will. Here's an extreme case: Good Luck!

There's a plug in the top of the reservoir with a metric Allen plug in it. The oil level is usually just below the plug. Use a long skinny screwdriver like a dipstick if you can't see it. Don't go too crazy with the screwdriver, as there should be a soft screen about 1.5 inches down inside and you don't want to poke a hole in it. I leave for an 8 day vacation tomorrow and will not have good internet where I'm at, so I will probably not check DTS. If you need info in the AM I might be around, but afternoon I'm bye-bye.

Sounds like fuel starvation, but it could also be HP oil starvation. Watch your ICP and see if it falls with the IPR climbing at the same time. If the ICP does fall off, check the HPOP reservoir and see if it goes empty. You are familiar with the FP check on these, with the plug in the head, right? Use a Snap On 3/8 drive 9/32 square drive socket, PP409A to get the plug out without trashing the square head. Being that you own this one, I'd suggest upgrading this to a Schrader fitting in the head with a Napa PN 90-290 Schrader and a 45* street elbow mounted permanently, it's only about $5 for both. You say all you have is a Solus? You're a dealer tech, right? No IDS? Either way, any scan tool does a good job on the 7.3 since it's SCP and not CAN. Run the KOER test and verify the EBPR (warmup valve) on the turbo is functioning correctly. It should visibly cycle and cause a "whooshing" vacuum-cleaner type noise during the test. Your problem almost couldn't be the EBPR but it's good to check it and glow plug amperage, too (which should be about 190 initially on a cold engine). Good Luck!

Yes, it probably needs a motor. It's always nice to know what failed, so that's why I suggested an analysis. The next words out of the customer's mouth when you tell him there's excessive metal in the motor are going to be "Where did the metal come from?" and I always like to have a intelligent informed answer besides "Duh, I'm not sure". If the cust is in a hurry to make a decision, you can always present him with the option of waiting for an analysis. Either way, you sound like a better tech if you at least suggest one. By the composition of the material in the oil the analysis will make a suggestion on where the failure is- bearing material, aluminum, steel, iron, etc. The Napa/Wix (Stavely Services) spectrochemical analysis checks for 24 different materials and gives you a PPM on each. I'm big on having numbers, rather than saying, "too much". In this case, it might also give info towards a previous repair done improperly. IH had a problem on DT's with roller lifters turning and trashing a cam lobe. You'd think they'd hang a short block when this happened, but commonly they'd replace the cam, lifters, main and rod bearings and ship it. You know a ton of metal went through those engines, but a patch job seemed to work. Good Luck!

This is the early '99 air cleaner, which really sucked. It's easy to recognize beacause it says "Intercooled" on top of the lid. The reason it sucks is because it sucks from the fenderwell instead of the grill of the truck. What billows out of the fenderwells when you're driving down a dirt road? Many engines were dusted because of the early '99 air filters. The '99 model year stretched nearly two years, because there was no '98. Later in '99 production, they switched to a better designed (not well designed, just not quite as bad) system which drew its air from the grill area. This style is easily identified by the square snorkel next to the driver's battery. If it doesn't have the square tube next to the battery, you can almost bet on a dusted engine. Check the turbo inlet for wear marks on the impeller wheel. This is one of my biggest pet peeves with Ford- they f'd up the design of the '94 air cleaner, (which was recalled for a new lid and steel bolts, which still sucked, even after the recall) they f'd up the design of the '99 AC, (which was the short lived design shown above) they f'd up the design of the 99.5 AC (which had the element suck into the housing, eliminating it's ability to filter), they f'd up the design of the 7.3 E-van filter (both early and late, which were too small, plugged early, and sucked into the housing like the later F model filter), they f'd up the design of the 6.0 E-van filter (which by the grace of God, did seal to it's housing, but was horribly too small), they f'd up the design of the 2003 6.0 AC (in which the MAF housing is too thin, warps, and allows the terrific Power Core filter to not seal against the MAF housing) and I'm not really happy about the 6.4 AC (which seems too wimpy to seal perfectly, and dusted 6.4 engines have already been reported). Why can't they do something as easy as build an air cleaner that works? In all of the chassis I work on and teach on, nobody else has any AC design problems, and Ford has ALL of the bad AC designs. WTF? Why didn't they just put one battery under the truck like an E-van and put a full "real truck" air cleaner under the hood? The square design 7.3 filter was the correct size for a 4.6 Crown Vic naturally aspirated motor, not a 7.3 turbo motor that probably uses 3 times the volume of air. Have you ever compared MAF reading of a gas engine at idle versus a diesel engine at idle? Hey guys, a gas engine pulls about 4 GPS at idle, a diesel pulls about 30-35 GPS. Not to mention a gasser never reaches 100% volumetric efficiency, and a diesel regularly goes way past 100% under boost. Do you THINK we should put a bigger air filter on this truck? Ford released the "redesigned" Power Core retrofit for the Gen 2 7.3s that worked well, but it should have been a recall. I could talk a half hour about their poor air cleaner designs and have tons of pictures of all of the failures, but I'll shut up. OK Jim, soap box back to you...... Good Luck!

10 days or so.

It should be, Wix is the same PN with an extra digit prefix, like 34077 or something like that. Call a Napa or Carquest and have them run the PN. They won't likely have it in stock, my Napa didn't stock it until I started buying them regularly. USPS in the states get $2 or something extra to ship it. I think oil analysis is one of the most overlooked forms of diagnostics. It will tel you a shitload about what's going on inside, but techs have no patience and don't want to take the time to run one. If they had the results in an hour they'd be doing them every day. Good Luck!

Probably. An oil analysis is cheap, I'd recommend that to start with so you have actual numbers on what's in the oil and how much (Napa/Wix PN 4077, $14). The analysis sheet will give you an idea of where to look by the composition of the particles. Present this to the cust and let him make the call. Better look at the intake screen under the oil cooler, too. Good Luck! (or wish that to the cust.. )

I wouldn't disagree with your guess about injectors. What's your ICPV KOEO and at idle? What's the production date-is it an early or late '99? Does it have MFDES in scan data? If so, tell me what the numbers are at a hot idle. Does it have an OE air filter that says "Intercooler" on the top of it? That's bad. If the prod date is before 12-98 it might have the bad air cleaner and no MFDES. Fill the FF with Stanadyne Performance Formula or PM-17a and see if it runs better. If it does, it's either bad fuel or bad injectors. Did you take a fuel sample? Good Luck! Edit: I went back and re-read the original posts because it had been so long, and I typed MFDES when I meant to type Perdels on this reply. I'll correct it here in case anyone does a search so it doesn't mislead them. MFDES is available on all trucks to my knowledge, but Perdels are only 99.5 up 7.3s. MFDES is a great way to identify fuel starvation, a complete set of weak injectors, or a worn engine. Perdels are great for identifying a weak cyl that won't throw a CC code.

Is there a diagnostics button near the 9 pin Deutsch connector under the dash? Piece on the bottom of what?

Forget these codes for now, and ignore the ABS light, which might also be blinking codes out. Look at the red and yellow engine lights and get those codes. Good Luck!

This is fucking funny- with GPS technology these days they could bust you on this. Rental car companies tear people a new ass with GPS's, 'cause some rental contracts don't allow you to leave the state or drive over 85MPH.

120 in/lb on the hold down and 106 in/lb on the deflector bolt. I suggest you blow the oil out of the hole so the bolt doesn't hydrolock. We leave the heater box alone. Good Luck!

Oh, that's just fucking FUNNY!

Start with the basics- checking codes and fuel pressure. Do the lights on the dash light up when the key is turned on? Send me your e-mail address and I'll send you a PDF of the diag sheet, which is quite similar to a 6.0 diag sheet. Here's a page from my book: Clearing Diagnostic Trouble Codes on an NGV: 1. Set Park Brake 2. Key on. 3. Press and hold both cruise On and Cruise Resume buttons simultaneously. 4. Press and release Accelerator pedal three (3) times within 6 seconds. 5. Release Cruise buttons. 6. Codes will clear Note that a happy truck is R-YYY-RR-YYY-RRR. (as code 111 is no codes) Flash code diagnostics are at https://evalue.internationaldelivers.com/service/bodybuilder/general/default.aspx?pageid=3 Select "Diagnostic Trouble Code Indexes", and then DT466 (EGES-270 Flash Code Circuit Index) There's also some wiring diagrams on that site. IH doesn't supply everything for free, but they sure give you a lot for free if you know where to look! Write all of the codes down and clear them, and see what returns. Pattern failures with this engine- fuel lift pump, fuel pressure regulator (in bottom of filter housing), electrical feed to ECM (fuse holder in battery box melts), HP oil leaks at the injector inlets, IPR, HPOP, among others. Fuel system bleeding is also important, as they are returnless and don't bleed automatically like a 6.0 does. Check FP and bleed at the fitting near the front of the head, most engines have the Schrader port on the front of the intake manifold, but later engines have changed to the Compucheck fitting. This will require purchase of a new adapter from IH, a hydraulics shop, or IH/SPX/OTC. The female Compucheck coupler can be purchased from your IH dealer under P/N 3376859 $24.93. Compucheck fitting PN’s- IH PN# Female ZTSE 4526 Parker PN#PD 242 Male- ZTSE 4542 Parker PN# PD343 Male straight ZTSE 4692 CKP and CMP are the same PN as a 6.0 but reversed (the long one is the CKP, the short one is the CMP) Make an injector test light like on a 6.0 to see if the injectors are getting a signal. ICP is under the valve cover, backprobe the ICP connector to check for ICPV, it's the extra plug on the VCG near the back of the head. System operation is really similar to the 6.0, where it needs ICP above .8v to enable the injectors. Try not to pull the doghouse off, as it's a bitch. Good Luck!

I suggest you revise your spec for AC ripple. 500mv is an antiquated number that was set when dirt was still white (remember? ) and not appropriate for modern vehicles. Most vehicles measured today are about .02VAC (20mv) measured at the battery and .05VAC (50mv) measured at the alternator. In doing our electrical classes we've tested literally hundreds of vehicles. I suspect diode technology has improved over the years and the need for cleaner power has obviously increased with the level of electronics we see these days. I recently sent an new IH back to the dealer for a replacement alternator that measured 400mv, and they did replace the unit. It measured 20mv after replacement. Have a great weekend!

I took A9 and L2R. A9 took me an hour (100 questions) and L2R took an hour (45 questions), plus a half hour to fill out 3 full complaint sheets about all of the bad questions. There were lots of bad questions on the A9, but don't worry, they won't be scored. Many techs don't realize there are a lot of "prototype" questions that are there on trial and may not make the grade. I'd bet they only score 3/4 of the questions at best. It was an easier test than I thought it would be, many of the system-specific BMW, MB, and Isuzu questions didn't make the test (but a few did). I saw several questions that were mine verbatim, and probably a few more that could have been mine. My questions are usually short and sweet with direct answers, usually HEUI or DPF related. I hope you got the one right about the no-start ICP at .2v and 1400psi. Damon's questions are usually these big long fucking abortions with graphs, schematics, arrows, and XYZ pointers and make you stop and think. Damon was there, too, and I think he did the L2 rewrite last week in DC. It kind feels like cheating- I helped write the test, I take the test, and I go back next month to determine the passing cutpoint. I'll make sure I ask my score before we determine the cutpoint.

Yep, that's the reason I put that material in my presentations. I've been burned by dirty power more times than I can count..... Off to ASE tonight.

Years ago I was working on a KW cabover used for long haul. The driver had a mirror glued to the dashboard to cut his coke on......