[hartman25]

Hello, hoping someone can help me. While towing our fifth wheel en route to our camp site,with two kids, wife, two dogs, a hamster, and a fish, engine quit suddenly. Had it towed to a garage.

The mechanics did not find any error codes. Fuel supply seemed good, so they replaced a sensor (cpi i think).

All appeared well, and we were on our way. About 10 miles down the road, we had a puff of white smoke, rough engine, then quit again. All within seconds. Would not start. Thankfully we had AAA, and they towed our trailer to the camp site, where we are now stranded.

Any ideas? The truck is a 99 with 82K on the engine. No problems in the past.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Camshaft]

What year do you have and do you have any aftermarket modifications?

They likely replaced the CPS - Cam Position Sensor located at the front of the engine by the harmonic balancer - this is common to kill the truck when it goes bad.

Check to ensure the plug is seated on this sensor properly since they just replaced it. It is accessed from under the truck, passengers side, at about 8 o'clock as you are looking to the front of the truck. The plug has two wires. The sensor is bolted in with metal clamp that has a tab on it like a timing pointer.

Check every single fuse individually and not by visual.

Then I would check to see if you have a harness short. There is a big harness that goes across the drivers side valve cover that can rub and short after time causing intermittent problems.

Finally - post your rough location and we can see if you are near anybody with a code scanner - the Autozone ones do not work on these trucks, but a bunch of folks have a good scanner around the country.

 

[hartman25]

Thanks for your reply Flywheel. The truck is a 99 with a stock engine. The truck is at the same garage that originally fixed it. They are also the AAA garage that towed the vehicle.

Hopefully they will be able to fix it. Thanks again for your ideas.

 

[tinman13kup]

What's the fuel level in the tank? The in tank screens may have clogged up, causing you to use the bypass nipple. If you are at 1/4 tank, you will run out of fuel. If you are that low, put 15-20gal in. The white smoke is normally associated with lack of fuel, or aerated fuel. Fuel pressure is not monitored by the PCM, so it will not set codes. Some times, the effects of no fuel will trigger other codes though, but not always.
As far as codes, even if there is no apparent codes, I would run the KOEO, and injector buzz tests. If it runs, then get the KOER test as well. Those will usually root out many sensor/injector related issues.

 

[D_I_M_jones]

you can also check fuse 30 inside the truck. it supplies poer to the injector driver module and to the fuel heater inside the filter.

my truck suddenly died at 70 mph on the interstate. from reading alot on this forum, i knew to check the tach while cranking. if the the tach does not ove, then its probably the cps. i carry 2 spares. i changed the cps and still "no go". got the book out of the glove box and started reading the fuses and relay. found fuse 30. it was blown. replaced it and it blew immediately upon turning the key on. finally disconnected the fuel heater and it has been running every since.

good luck and dont forget to post the results when you get it running.

 

[hartman25]

Thanks everybody for your help. My truck is finally back on the road. Flywheel hit the nail on the head with the CPS sensor not being properly seated.

The mechanic called me and admitted he must not have seated it properly when he originally installed it, which is why the engine failed the second time.

So, original problem, CPS sensor failure. Looks like I will be carrying a spare with me.

Thanks again everybody for your help.

 

[Camshaft]

Thanks for the follow-up.

 

[smtenczar]

I've had the CPS fail 2 times in the past week. How do I tell if I seated it properly when I replace it? The first time I replaced it, it was not a new sensor, but one I had switched out a year ago while troubleshooting another problem (which turned out to be UVCH loose). Put in a brand new one yesterday and hoping I didn't set it up to fail. Also, have been throwing P1211 and IPS connector was wet with oil. Got a new sensor...anything special I need to know about switching it out besides cleaning up the connector?

 

[clydesdale]

As far as seating the cps, it is very simple, just make sure it is in equally and fully pushed in and you are able to put the 10mm bolt back in.