Seems like a UVCH, but... - Diesel Forum

macdadmorgan · 11-20-2009, 06:42 PM

The other night I was driving home, not another issue, and all of the sudden I lost a lot of power, and got a S.E.S. light. No smoke, or any other abnormalities, just sounded like I lost a cylinder. After researching here I figured it was probably the under valve cover harness. Found the International part, and went an bought it. Came home, switched it out, and started her back up, and the problem consisted. If I unplug the harness to the drivers side, she dies, if I pull the harness to the passenger bank it runs even worse, but that's how I isolated it to the passenger side.
I am gonna retrace my steps, and make sure everything under the valve cover is correct, and do a continuity test on the valve cover gasket to make sure its not that plug.
Any Ideas or other usual suspects you can think of? I'm kind of green when it comes to working on these, but am a decent mechanic so please talk slow

. I don't have a code reader, which will have to be my next step if I can't figure it out on my own. That's when I will have to start paying someone else, so if I can figure it out on my own...
Thanks
Morgan

macdadmorgan · 11-20-2009, 06:48 PM

I will add a clean shot of the truck as I never finished my build thread.

fordsforever73 · 11-20-2009, 06:53 PM

Did you check the actual pins in the vc gaskets and plugs? One the pins on my truck was rotted off...easy to miss. I ended up changing all the uvc harnesses and the vc gaskets too for peace of mind.

tbpower · 11-20-2009, 06:57 PM

Nice looking truck. I would rather do ohm tests on the glow plug at the nine pin plug for an indication. Look under the 7.3 stickys for hard/no start if you don't know how. If you see opens that is an indication that you have an issue with the plug under the valve cover or a wiring issue/glow plugs. You said the drivers side makes it die. Does the passanger as well. I would probably just pull the other one to check if you have the time.

F350_6 · 11-20-2009, 08:34 PM

If you've got a multi-meter, ohm the pins at the connector. The plug going to the UVCH has 9 flat pins in it. The front two and rear two pins are for the glow plugs. You can ohm those pins against a good ground ( like battery ground). A reading less than 2 ohms indicate a good glow plug and good connection.

The center pin is the common ground, the 3rd, 4th, 6th, & 7th pins go to the injectors. Ohm the injector pins against the center common pin. A reading less than 5 ohms indicates a good injector solenoid and wiring.

The other thing you can do is pull the valve cover and start the truck up. Observe the oil discharge from each injector on the problem side and see if one is not spitting the same amount of oil. You can also unplug one injector at a time to see if one does not make a difference when unplugged. Keep in mind the injector wires have around 115 volts running through them so you may want to shut the truck down before unplugging each injector.

macdadmorgan · 11-21-2009, 09:09 AM

Thank you gentlemen, I guess I have some work to do, and thank you for the detailed info, ohms, and pin orientations. That's huge.

macdadmorgan · 11-21-2009, 02:14 PM

just got around to doing the ohm test, and everything seems to check out. Is their any way I can test the plug that plugs into the valve cover gasket, the main engine harness? Not a wiring guru by any means.
If I have a bad injector would the S.E.S light come on? I heard no.

tbpower · 11-21-2009, 02:27 PM

Have you tried to take off the banks tuner? I guess that does not have code reading capabilities?

jroller · 11-21-2009, 02:33 PM

You need to pull the codes and see what the SES light is all about rather than throwing $ at it. Have you tried changing the CPS? How many miles are on your injectors, a buzz test with the same AE youd use to pull codes, would go along way to rule certain things out. Good luck.

jroller · 11-21-2009, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macdadmorgan

just got around to doing the ohm test, and everything seems to check out. Is their any way I can test the plug that plugs into the valve cover gasket, the main engine harness? Not a wiring guru by any means.
If I have a bad injector would the S.E.S light come on? I heard no.

Depends on whats wrong with it, if the inj solenoid is bad you can get high/low SES, but a buzz test and a contribution test are really the easiest way to find out the status of ALL injectors.

macdadmorgan · 11-26-2009, 08:52 AM

I ended up doing all of the resistance test, I could, and everything checked out. I ended up getting it towed to my mechanic, and got it scanned. It ended up being the IDM, the options were a $800 ford unit, $700 metro diesel (maybe) unit, or a used one for $500. I am gonna search to find the International part number and see if thats any cheaper.

**Excavator** · 11-26-2009, 09:13 AM

1997 Ford F-Series DIESEL IDM - Injector Driver Module 7.3 litre V8 DIESEL

and here is another source

Northern Auto Parts: - Reman Ford 7.3L Power Stroke Injector Driver (IDM)

macdadmorgan · 11-27-2009, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Excavator

1997 Ford F-Series DIESEL IDM - Injector Driver Module 7.3 litre V8 DIESEL

and here is another source

Northern Auto Parts: - Reman Ford 7.3L Power Stroke Injector Driver (IDM)

Excavator, your the man! Just ordered one from the first supplier. Auto Computer exchange dot com. Did the personal thing and called them, very simple. $250 total with overnight shipping, saved me $600 bucks, thats huge. And after the research the international part is different, so that is not an option for a IDM.

Thanks
Morgan