PSD Engine Failures

[Groovy Chick]

Hey all...

We've been asked many times for our opinion about miscellaneous engine failures, especially those relating to "windowed" blocks. After reading hundreds of posts on this subject, speaking to dozens of owners and manufacturers, reviewing carnage photos, and comparing countless files from damaged engines, we have a few theories. In fact, we've just finished writing a calibration simulator for the PSD that helps quickly identify just how significant a role tuning may or may not have had in relation to the failure.



In order to rule out isolated issues and identify any trends, we are conducting an independent survey of all 7.3L Power Stroke engine failures to see if there are any specific commonalities among the failures. The failures in questions will be specifically related to MODIFIED vehicles (i.e. Chips, Injectors, Turbos, HPOPs, etc.) and we would appreciate anyone who has suffered an engine failure of any type to please take a moment to fill out the survey. All NON-PERSONAL data collected will be made available for download to any individuals or companies that are interested.

A link to the survey can be found here: PSD Engine Failure Survey

If that link fails for any reason, you can also access the survey here: PSD Engine Failure Survey

I do want to take a moment and remind people to please be considerate and use this as an opportunity to get past the old issues and move forward in a positive fashion, NOT as a means of complaining about what damaged the engine. We've all read the posts and heard the arguments, but it really doesn't accomplish anything except getting a lot of tempers flared up. We may not all have to get along, but we are all striving for the same thing... making the Power Stroke a reliable source of performance.

We appreciate everyone taking the time to fill out the survey and hope that it will provide valuable information for all 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel owners and vendors, past, present and future.

[SeaStroke]

Corey,
Are you gonna post the results????

I'm glad you asked this question...and I agree, let's put the past posts behind us and get to the betterment of our PSD's!

Why don't you just tell us when you guys are gonna develop the 1000hp tune?

[Groovy Chick]

Hi there,

The data will be made available, but we haven't yet decided how it's going to work -- whether we'll post it on forums, have a link on our website, etc. Whatever the results are, we don't want to be accused of intentionally posting information to the detriment of anyone else.

There are definitely trends emerging, the most interesting of which is that the #2 injector has been damaged considerably more often than others. There are others, but it's still early.

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to those people who've taken the time to fill out the survey. We know that it's extensive, but it makes no sense to pick and choose odd pieces of this huge engine failure puzzle when all the pieces are very important to figuring out WHY it's happening.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

[Groovy Chick]

Originally Posted by SeaStroke

Why don't you just tell us when you guys are gonna develop the 1000hp tune?

Just as soon as soon as someone pulls a truck up in our driveway that's capable of handling 1,000hp!

[Groovy Chick]

Thank you to those who've taken the time to answer the survey!

And for those of you who may be reluctant: Please remember that your personal information WILL NOT BE SHARED WITH ANYONE ELSE -- including any other custom diesel tuners! -- WITHOUT YOUR WRITTEN PERMISSION. The only reason we're asking for name, address, and e-mail is to prevent people from filling out the form with false information. Can it prevent it totally? Of course not; we're not naive. If someone wanted to, they could set up a new e-mail address and provide us with fake information. However, there are other security measures in place to prevent fraudulent activity, too, and any responses that are obviously bogus will be eliminated and not be part of the final data.

If you've experienced any engine failures over the past several years, please take a few minutes to fill out the survey. Offering objective information is NOT bashing, and the information you provide will be very helpful to custom tuners and the entire diesel community!

[Groovy Chick]

Bill is going to start working on a write-up regarding what caused so many engine failures over the past several years; however, you are still encouraged to fill in the survey if you have experienced this yourself! Please remember that we will not be providing your personal information to anyone else unless you give us permission. In fact, at this point, we don't foresee a reason to share it with anyone else -- period.

We are still trying to decide when and where Bill's analysis will appear. We certainly don't want to be accused of bashing anyone when we're just supplying objective facts. As soon as we make a decision, we'll let everyone know where they can find it.

again to everyone who has taken the time to provide us with some much needed data!

[Groovy Chick]

Update from Bill:

Since returning from SEMA, Corey and I have both been out with the Flu. I'm back on my feet but Corey seems to have progressed into pneumonia. This has delayed releasing the results of the survey since I simply haven't had the time to compile the data.

I will be getting everything together this weekend and will be providing our findings with the affected vendors before releasing the data. Hopefully the data will provide insight and open up discussion as to where the problems lie and how we all can avoid failures in the future.

One thing I will say is that SOI (timing) clearly plays a crucial role in most of the failures. We been able to not only run calibrations through the AnalyTune software but now have the ability to live datalog the SOI values in the PCM and have seen SOI curves approaching 60 degrees in an actual running situation. Combine that with modified injectors and you significantly increase the chance for disaster. When you consider that the stock PCM is only running about 20-22 degrees of timing, there is no question as to what may be the most significant contributing factor in most (if not all) of the related engine failures.

Again, I am sorry for the delay in getting the information ready and really do appreciate everyone's involvement and contributions.

Please know that we are leaving the survey open indefinitely at this point. If you would like to participate, you're welcome -- and encouraged! -- to do so!

Take care.

[Groovy Chick]

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are compiling the information gathered from the Engine Failure Survey now that that I'm back in the office.

We are in the process of contacting the tuners listed on the survey to find out the number of tunes they have in service so that this information can be part of the final data.

We are also contacting survey takers by e-mail to ask them two additional -- very pertinent! -- questions that we realized should have been included.

for your patience!

We will leave this survey open until the data is posted so that anyone else who has experienced an engine failure can add his/her information!

The survey can be accessed HERE.