Been awhile since I've been on here. The Figmobile (Reloaded) has been really reliable for the last coupla years. I carpool it, and also have a little Ranger pickup to keep the miles down on the truck, so it hasn't been driven too much lately. Point is that the truck gets driven very little lately; probably less that 18K mile in the last 2 years.....
Anyway, I thought I'd drive into work Friday, a trip of about 17 miles or so. The truck died on me a coupla times, which is something it did the last time my CPS was going out. I replaced the CPS, but no luck. It still dies on me, most of the time when going around a corner. Losing my brakes & power steering is beginning to loose it's thrill & luster, ya know???? It will sporadically run kinda "ragged", and misses like it's not runnin' on all 8. This happened to me with my last truck directly after a fillup. The pumps gave me a metric ton of rust, and it would come out of the water separator when I'd drain it. That truck "missed" and ran ragged, was low on power, & etc.. I had to basically totally clean literally everything in my fuel system: Both tanks had to be drained & cleaned, my tank selector valve was trashed, the lines had junk in them, & etc.. Basically, that truck was starving for fuel.....
Since the replacement CPS did nothing for me, and having once had problems with a buncha junk in my fuel tank after a fill up, I plan on replacing 2 of my fuel filters (the spin on Fleetguard 10 micron filter/water separator, and the Fleetguard FS1000 2 micron filter). The Webb VorMax filter had some sorta gunk in it that resembled something that floats around in the old Lava Lamps.... I drained that unspeakable slimy gunk out. I'm guessing that bad fuel could possibly be what's goin' on here, and that gunk in the VorMax has me bewildered. My fuel pressure is around 55 lbs. or so, and I've got enough filters for 2 trucks on this one..... I want to try to rule out a fuel delivery prob.....
I've never had an under valve cover harness go bad on either one of my '97 'Strokers. Will they work intermittently, and cause random stalling/dying when these harnesses go gunnybags? I'm not certain what symptoms bad injector o-rings would give, so could those be a culprit??
I used to have an EASE scanner on a Palm Pilot platform, but my Palm was one that tended to lose data when it's batteries ran down. It wouldn't "tap" as it should within the EASE Diagnostic Program, and became relly frustrating to use. Soooo, I haven't been able to make any kind of scan yet, and may have to bite the bullet, and pay to have that done.....
In the meantime, any experiences you folks can draw from, or ideas to try???
Could the gunk in the fuel be algae? Are you running bio?
No, just runnin' regular ole #2 diesel. But as long as the truck sits sometimes, I wondered about the chance of that snot being algae too..... We pretty much have the perfect breeding climate for mold, spores, algae, & stuff like that. I think our state flower is the Mildew.... Maybe I should check into buying some algae killer....
Also, I wanted to add to my lengthy post above: No CEL has shown up, so I'd guess no code has been stored.... And the truck died on me as I was headed to church this morning, at the bottom of my driveway. It was VERY hard to restart. After it did restart, it ran ragged again (missing, like it's not hittin' on all 8 cylinders). The "ragged running" is something it would do randomly over the last 2 days..... Anyway, while standing there in my driveway with the hood up, poking & prodding at stuff, my arm brushed over my GPR, and that thing was smokin' hot!!! Since I've never done that before, I wasn't certain if it's normal for them to get that hot or not....
Again, thanks for any help y'all may be able to give!
It wouldn't hurt to get some biocide and put in both tanks even if it is precautionary. Are you sure you didn't brush the starter solenoid on the fender well? It would be hot if you were cranking the motor quite a bit.
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Travis
1996 Extended Cab Long Bed XLT, 4x4, 3.55LS, Tymar Intake, Diamond Eye Performance 4" Exhaust, Meyer C-8 Plow, Timbren Load Levelers
Case 1845c Uni-Loader
PowerStrokes And Duck Hunting-It Doesn't Get Any Better
Yeah, the biocide will definitely be on my "to buy" list..... Will that stuff kill & "break down" (dissolve) any algae that may be in there?
I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the Glow Plug Relay was slightly warm; I had been trying to restart basically a cold truck kinda hurriedly, numerous times. I was blocking the driveway, and I share that driveway with 3 other families. I didn't wanna be the cholesterol clot in our driveway traffic, so I was workin' the starter & GPR kinda hard, probably.....
I'm still kinda leaning towards bad fuel,or a fuel delivery problem. I guess mostly because the last time I had probs like this (on my green '97 5-spd.), it was all that rust gunk in the fule lines & system.... But I'm open to any suggestions y'all may have.
Hmmmm. Removing the driver (that'd be me) from mechanical reponsibilities might just be the best thing ever for my truck, hee hee.....
Well, here's an Update:
For some obscure reason, the truck is running simply wonderful now.... But I'm a little confused as to why.... In a nutshell, I changed the air filter, and "eliminated" my old CCV mod. Really wasn't able to do much else (I've got fuel filters on order from the local diesel repair shop). I just know the goofy thing is running like a top now.....
About the CCV mod: Years ago, I had big plans for my truck, involving a big chip, big injectors, an intercooler, and lotsa cubic dollars. So I started to lay a little of the necessary groundwork for all this horsie power. I modded my fuel system, and to keep oil mists out of the intake tract, I did kind of an econo CCV. Turned the breather on the driver's side valve cover 180 degrees, and ran a hose to a one way check valve threaded onto a bung at the far back of my exhaust system. Not the best way, but it's worked well (so I thought) for 3+ years....
Lately, I've noticed oil dripping from the exhaust system: from the muffler, the check valve on the bung, clamped joints where the exhaust goes over the axle, & etc.. "Hmmmm" my razor sharp mind said aloud. "Could it be that I'm not as good of an engineer as the boys at International, when it comes to CCVs?" Since my plans for the truck no longer required mass horsepower, or an intercooler, I put everything with the CCV back to sorta stock yesterday.
I never mentioned that once a coupla weeks ago, with the engine running and my hood up, I could see what looked like "smoke" coming out past my engine oil dipstick. This just didn't seem relevant, and seemed like it was a symptom of another problem I knew how to fix (which I did yesterday, instead of going to church). Putting the CCV back to stock seemed to help that little dilemma. And the air filter was past due for a change, so I picked one up on the way home from work this afternoon. And, like mentioned above, the truck decided to run well again.
My oil leaks seem to have slowed waaaaaay down, so I'm guessing fixing that CCV also helped that. But now I'm wondering if that problem might have reached "critical mass" and the stalling & rough running weren't caused by that goof up on my part??? Any ideas, anyone??? I will still change my fuel filters, and get some algae killer, and adopt a "Wait & see" kinda attitude about whether the truck is fixed or not....
Sounds like your crank case may not have been getting the ventilation it needed, combine that with poor air intake and you might be on the right path. Speaking of right paths, do we need to talk about missing church? LOL
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Travis
1996 Extended Cab Long Bed XLT, 4x4, 3.55LS, Tymar Intake, Diamond Eye Performance 4" Exhaust, Meyer C-8 Plow, Timbren Load Levelers
Case 1845c Uni-Loader
PowerStrokes And Duck Hunting-It Doesn't Get Any Better
Sounds like your crank case may not have been getting the ventilation it needed, combine that with poor air intake and you might be on the right path. Speaking of right paths, do we need to talk about missing church? LOL
Yeah, I'm starting to believe that both the Lord & Powerstroke Diesels work in mysterious ways....... :
Well, the goofy thing fired right up this morning for a drive to work, but for the first couple of miles would alternate between running rough, then smooth out, more rough chuggin', and finally it smoothed out. It never did die or stall, which I see as a step in the right direction..... Due to the schizo nature of this deal, I'm still not certain what the problem is.... My 2 micron fuel filter should get here today, and I'll get 2 fuel filters changed...... Then see what happens...
And I'm trying to kinda keep this open in case anyone else is going thru similar symptoms. Maybe this might help someone else. To the "casual mechanic" like myself (or more accurately: to someone like me that no longer enjoys working on these things...), these electronic dependant diesels are somewhat of a challenge to diagnose. Any help can be appreciated....
Just for grins, inspect your plugs for all of your under valve cover wiring harnesses. Look for burnt pins, might even be able to smell one for a burnt odor.
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Travis
1996 Extended Cab Long Bed XLT, 4x4, 3.55LS, Tymar Intake, Diamond Eye Performance 4" Exhaust, Meyer C-8 Plow, Timbren Load Levelers
Case 1845c Uni-Loader
PowerStrokes And Duck Hunting-It Doesn't Get Any Better
ipr was stuck i guarantee, and will happen again some day when you least expect it, happened to me twice, i tried everything the last time, just my .02
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95 cc 350 4x4 intercooler, guages, 3" glasspack, roll-a-long pkg
77 E100 429 swap shorty with balls
80 stang 2.3 turbo holley, balanced & blueprinted
98 F800 CC cummins roll off bins
I drained that unspeakable slimy gunk out. I'm guessing that bad fuel could possibly be what's goin' on here, and that gunk in the VorMax has me bewildered. My fuel pressure is around 55 lbs. or so, and I've got enough filters for 2 trucks on this one..... I want to try to rule out a fuel delivery prob.....
Pump Mounted Driver.
In a nutshell, I changed the air filter, and "eliminated" my old CCV mod. Really wasn't able to do much else (I've got fuel filters on order from the local diesel repair shop). I just know the goofy thing is running like a top now.....
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