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Runs Fine then CE light and no power

3K views 22 replies 6 participants last post by  79jasper 
#1 ·
Hello this is my first post here. I have a 96 7.3 4x4 fairly stock that i have had for almost a year now. Just replaced LPOP and water pump and installed fluidamper. On my first test drive after performing the work i received a new surprise. I noticed on initial startup that it seemed to crank for a few seconds longer then normal but i figured it was the new melling LPOP filling up with oil. Once warmed up and under way i made it about 2 miles and my check engine light came on and i lost ALL power i was on a light hill and didnt know if i could make it in 3rd. the truck refused to do much past 1000 rpm while in gear. I pulled off the side of the road and listened to the engine and it was running smooth but extremely quiet saw no smoke coming from exhaust. (i have a 5 inch straight pipe) On a rev the turbo sound was non-existent and the truck sounded pathetic. I shut the truck off and looked under the hood checked oil and saw nothing i could deem wrong. Upon restart the truck was fine and ran for another mile or so. Then the same thing happened again and i was again limping off the side of the road. This time i got out and wiggled around my water temp probe (seems shorted and sometimes quits working) and my temp gauge came back on and i made it home. This problem happened twice to me over the winter but it was so seldom i never thought much about it. However now that it has happened twice in a ten mile trip i am getting worried. It seems to me to maybe be an electrical issue and i want to pull all my sensor plugs and try to clean them for better connections. If anyone has had an issue like this, please let me know what you found and did. I love this truck and it is my daily driver.

Thanks in advance,
 
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#3 ·
Update i got ahold of a code scanner and tried to scan for a code at my house and got absolutely nothing. (purchased Actron CP9185 scanner). So i took the truck for a ten mile drive and could not get the light to come on again, last time it happened twice in 5 miles. However this time while i was idling playing with the scanner i felt the truck sputter very quick as if missing a stroke and then the wait to start light came on the dash and quickly went away as if the truck had shut down and restarted. It did this to me about 3 or 4 times in 5 minutes of idling in my yard. I also noticed after i shut it down and went to restart it that when i turn the key to the wts light that i hear a series of small clicks and all my dash lights that are supposed to be on briefly are only on for 1 second if that. I am completely lost on this issue and have no idea where to go from here.
 
#4 ·
Odds are that your new code scanner will not read Fords codes on these trucks. While there is a OBD II port these trucks are not OBD II compliant and it takes a scanner that will read Fords propriety codes. A couple of them that will work are a SnapOn M2500 with the Ford bundle and AutoEnginuity with the Ford bundle that uses a laptop to interface with the PCM on the truck.
 
#5 ·
thanks for your reply. Is there any company that makes a more budget friendly tool to read those codes? and to be clear there was no CE light this time i had the truck out. Each time i turn the truck off it seems to clear the light from the dash. I was trying to hunt a nonactive code in the memory.
 
#6 ·
to be more specific as to what my scanner was doing was it would connect to the truck and i could view various things such as the rpms and coolant temps and things of that nature however it would say there was an error when i selected to "read codes" on the scanner. it would connect and do everything else just fine.
 
#7 ·
You can pick up a m2500 off of Ebay every now and then for a couple hundred dollars. There is a member here that has a AE for sale down in the classifieds.

I doubt that you were seeing any correct values with your scanner. For one thing there is no connection for the coolant sensor to the PCM to be read, there is a oil temperature that it might see.
 
#8 ·
I have been searching all over the web and cannot really find anything i will keep my eyes on ebay for the one you mentioned. Is it normal for the check engine light to not stay on once the truck is shut off and restarted. I have a 2003 ranger that keeps the light on until it is cleared. I am just kinda worried that i may also have an issue with my obd plug, computer, or somethign else along those lines.
 
#9 ·
There are times that the light will come on and then once the problem is taken care of or is no longer there it will go out. However it will store the code in the computer until it is erased.
 
#10 ·
I am looking more closely at the auto enginuity program. are you familiar with it or think it is worth the cost? i really need to get this issue fixed on this truck because i have a 200 mile trip that needs taken in 2 weeks.
 
#11 ·
Yes it is worth it if you plan on working on your truck. But if you have a trip coming up I would think about going to a dealer or a mechanic just to get the codes read. It shouldn't cost you more than 1 hour at the shop rate. But before I took it to a mechanics shop I would make sure that they can read the data from our year of trucks.
 
#14 ·
After watching videos on youtube and reading reviews from you guys and reading about AE i bought it last night. I am pretty excited to give it a shot. thanks for all the advice and input, I will have new updates when the AE arrives.:thumbsup:
 
#15 ·
Bradr96, you initial problem sounds very similar to a problem I've repaired on a couple PSDs. A shorted engine wiring harness. In the two cases I had, the symptoms were very similar as you have stated. On one, a squirrel had made itself a nest in the wiring harness. I had to remove it and do an extensive repair. The other case was nearly the same. An earlier repair to the harness wasn't good enough and I also had to remove it to rebuild it. In each case, moving the harness in a certain fashion would cause the engine to intermittently rev, stop, or have greatly reduced power.

The other problem could be a short in the UVC harness or their connections. This can shut down all injectors or only one bank intermittently.

Hope you find your problem. If you have to do a major repair on the engine harness, it's most easily repaired by going to the trouble of removing it.

Have a good day!
 
#16 ·
I will look into the harness. Just out of curiousity does anyone sell new harnesses for my 96 and how much do they cost? I have my AE scan program coming in next week. Thanks for your reply on my issue
 
#17 ·
If you find that the harnesses are bad RiffRaft Diesel sells OEM replacement parts for them.

You can check the harness out by unplugging them and looking at the pins to see if any are burnt. They usually go bad on the outside pin positions since that is the pins for the glow plugs. Also look at the valve covers where they plug in and under the valve cover at that harness also.
 
#18 ·
Ok my AE scanner came in today and i connected to my truck and tried to pull any MIL codes and there were none that i could find. I am pretty sure that i have the ford bundle with my scanner but nothing would show up when i tried to recover them. I did however notice that if i just had my key in the ignition on but not started that i would hear a solenoid cycle under the hood occasionally accompanied by my WTS light. When the truck is at idle it will randomly (maybe once every two minutes) shudder and sound like it shut off but kick back on and when it does the WTS light is on. Does this sound like a failure in the glow plug relay maybe? I am wondering if the power surge when the random cycling occurs is what makes the truck shudder because the cycling and the shudder seem to happen about the same length of time. After it had run and cycled, i touched the solenoid and it did not feel hot to the touch. Does anyone have any idea what is happening here? Also if my CE light had been on before how come i cannot retrieve any kind of code?
 
#19 ·
* Make sure you have the Ford Enhanced Feature Activation activated (Green)
* Make sure you select "Non-OBD-II" for the Initialization Type in Communications Configuration
* Make sure "Ford Enhanced" comes up as the communication when you actually connect (I don't remember what it's called exactly, and can't do an actual connection to find out)
You should be able to do a buzz test and KOEO test, with the key on, engine off. If not, you don't have one of the above set up correctly. If it's trying to communicate by generic OBD-II, that might explain the WTS light coming on and the cycling.
 
#21 ·
Well have you scanned yours?

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#22 ·
yep. it threw 11 codes. random things mostly. today while working on it i found part of the harness (plug into valve cover) fried melted and disconected. thinking thats my problem but im still open to other trouble shooting advice. i bought the truck earlier this week and it ran great on test drive then failed the next day. the PO screwed me over and lied to my face im learning.
 
#23 ·
Best luck if you start your own thread.
Post up all the info. Codes, things you see, etc.

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