[HelpMeIDontKnowWhatImDoin]

ok so i have a 1996 ford f250 7.3 power stroke and a few days ago i was driving and the engine started sputtering like it was not getting enough fuel. i pulled into a parking lot and it died completely. at first i thought it was the CPS (cam positioning sensor) because it died as soon as i made the turn into the parking lot but after i got it started again i did a few hard turns and it was fine. so thinking it was just some isolated problem i continued to go home only for it to sputter out again after a few miles of it running fine and i had to get it towed back to my house off of the side of the road. is there any way to test if the fuel pump is bad or should i just buy a new one and replace it? how easy is it to replace? any help would be amazing!

 

[Maryland dieselnick]

Hi, welcome to the forum.
Low fuel pressure is usually a fade out in power.
Sputtering is usually chaffed wires or a bad undercover injector harness and sometimes it the tin nut holding the IPR magnet on.
If you look down on the fuel bowl, it's coming out of the back of the high pressure oil pump under the fuel bowl,towards the driver's side with wires coming from it. Also chreck where the main harness goes to the engine on drivers side where it lays on valve cover. Unbolt it and check it for chaffing.

 

[HelpMeIDontKnowWhatImDoin]

i checked for the wire chaffing and there was none but while i was checking that i took out my fuel filter and it was fairly dirty and there was a lot of gunk in the fuel bowl. i looked online and saw that there are small filters in the gas tanks that commonly get clogged. could this be my problem?

 

[bugman]

The filters in the tanks are just socks to keep large debris out of the fuel lines.

The first thing that I would do is to check the fuel pressure on the side of the filter housing. You can use just a tire air pressure gauge but will need to wrap a rag around it so that you don't take a bath in diesel. At idle it should be above 20psi if I remember right.

 

[Kimber1911]

Welcome to the forum.

Here is a link to the Diesel O-ring website. Scroll down and look for the fuel bowl rebuild instructions. If you'll read thru that, you will get more familiar with the parts and terminology. Also, it's a great place to shop for parts.

Instruction Sheets and Information

It's important to drain the fuel bowl before you pull the old element out, and be careful how you clean the gunk out of the canister. You never want unfiltered fuel or trash to get to the injectors.

It would help us to know more about your truck - mileage, history, etc.

 

[Kimber1911]

Replacing the fuel pump is not all that difficult. It's located almost under the turbo, dead-center in the valley, connected to the fuel bowl by short rubber hoses.

The complete fuel bowl must come out first.