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Stumbling Issue Resolved!!
So, the truck has gotten a lot of attention lately... I was having an issue that I just couldn't diagnose, seemed like it'd be a missing cyl if it was a gasser, but nobody could agree on what it was. An ASE diesel guy I know was trying to tell me it was a sensor like my TPS or something like that, Ford tried to tell me it was my Injector Driver Module (yeah, that's a $1200 part if you buy it from them.), and another buddy of mine figured it was probably an injector on its way out. I was thinking injector myself, but that's a lot of money in the bank so we did as much troubleshooting as we could without pulling them out and looking at them. They all passed a 'buzz' test, then we did a contribution test. Well, that didn't pull anything up so then we thought it might be the Cam Position Sensor since they're a common problem. Sure enough, it wasn't that, though it did give me an opportunity to put the 'new style' CPS in which reads a lot more accurately than the original one that was in there. So far we're $30 into the fix, plus I bought my buddy and the guys that work at his shop lunch. Well, I had to go out of state for that mission we were on so the truck kinda sat for a while...
Then when I came back I had 2 flat tires, 2 tires making the "I'm old tires and I've sat for a while and now I'm not quite round" noise over 30mph, plus that miss in the motor, which was really getting annoying at this point. So I called my buddy up in his shop and we tried the contribution test again, but this time with the new CPS. Turns out it was the #3 injector. So he made me a KILLER deal on an injector and told me I could change it in his parking lot. Sweet! Well, I also had to come down to Alabama this weekend since I had some family coming up from FL for one of my fiancee's showers and she had a family reunion she wanted me to go to, so I ended up driving the truck down as it was (stopping every 2 hours to air up the back tires... Once a 10-ply tire in the back goes below about 50-55lbs, the back of the truck starts walking around like 12psi slicks at the top-end of the track!). This is where the fun starts...
So my fiancee's Step-dad and I start tearing down the truck. Getting to the injector is no issue since I've already had both valve-covers off once to make sure the miss wasn't a wiring issue, so that part goes pretty quick. Actually we were pounding the Miller Lite so the whole job went pretty quick, haha. Well, you'd be surprised just how easy it is to change injectors in these bad-boys. The old one came out and the new one slid in lickedy-split. Now, the injector is fed high-pressure oil and fuel from the head, so as soon as you remove it you get about a quart of fuel/oil sitting in the cylinder. Well, the approved solution to getting it out is to put the new injector in, bolt it down, and then remove the glow-plug (smaller around in diameter than a pen) which also sticks into the cylinder so you don't hydrolock the engine and bend a rod. Next you're supposed to have a buddy hold a towel or piece of cardboard over the hole to keep the mess down while you go in and crank the vehicle over (with all the injector wiring unplugged from the valvecovers so the engine won't start). This is supposed to get the oil out of the cylinder so you can put the glow-plug back in and fire the truck back up. Well.... We didn't imagine there would be that much oil coming out of that small of a hole that fast.... Let's just say it blew her Step-dad's hat off from the hood to out behind the car and I'm not even sure where that towel went. It sounded like a gun went off! Chugga-chugga-FOOM! I looked under the hood and all I could see was Greg standing there with the most confused look on his face and about half of him covered in oil! Well, after that part the rest of the motor went back together pretty quick and then we went for a test-drive. Other than some initial hiccupping while the air was cleared from all the lines and some blue smoke as the oil we dumped into the exhaust burned off the motor ran stronger than it did when I bought it!
I am very happy.
Oh, and this afternoon we're picking up 4 new 10-ply tires. I am more happy.
But my wallet's crying. Hahaha
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