7.3L cuts off intermittently

[stscss]

I own a 99 F350 dually auto tranny, with powerchip, cool air intake and 4" exhaust. It has been cutting off intermittently and the ICU resets leaving no codes. The dealer replaced the cam sensor and two others on the advice of Ford main office and it did not correct the problem to the tune of $1100.00. The dealer gave me a code capture device to see if I can get one but no joy after two attempts. The lights that occur when the ICU resets are check eng, wait to start and water in fuel (Ford said that was normal ICU reset). The power loss is momentary but on two occasions it occured about 10 to 15 times in a row, once while I was towing my boat (scary as hell). Anyone had a similar problem ?
Jerry

[jwiger]

sounds like a bad power/ground to one of the control modules to me.

[SMOKEWATER]

my '97 powerstroke used to do that. I change the fuel filter whenever it takes a spell of doing that and it clears up. I did everything that you did and it was no better. This seems to take care of problem.

[purduefarmboy460]

I had the same troubles for a while, but it went away, I changed the oil, and fuel filter... It was also extremely damp for a few days the time that it got really bad.

There are a couple other posts on this topic already you might check out.

[PAredneck]

did you ever find the problem?
sounds like we're in the same boat......its taking on water and my life jacket is in the dirty laundry basket!

[cvanmilligen]

My '97 F350, 7.3L starting shutting down while I was in Calif last month. About 10 min after it is started for the first time each morning it just quits. The only light to come on the dash is the battery light. It will quit just sitting or going down the highway. If I am going more than 40mph when it quits it will eventually restart itself. If I am sitting still it restarts with a twist of the key.

I worry because it has quit while turning into traffic and I loose my power steering and forward movement until I can get it started again. Some trucker is going to eat the rear end of my truck.

I have put 3000 miles on it since this problem started. I have changed the fuel filter and periodically drain the water trap. It still does it every morning 1-10 times about 10-15 min after I start it.

I have noticed that it is dropping a few ounces of fuel in the driveway after I shut it off. And there is a diesel fuel smell at the front of the truck when it starts again after running for awhile. Don't know if these are related to the intermittent engine stopping. I have 392,000 on this original engine so it has given good service. I hope it doesn't get me killed though.

Neal
cavm@aol.com

[PAredneck]

sounds just like mine minus the fuel leak.
I did the filter and drain the water off every month.
i stopped at auto zone last nite and had them scan for trouble codes......just as i thought, no faults found.
i'm thinking is a bad ground somewhere.
scary as hell taking a turn pulling a trailer when it cuts out

[cvanmilligen]

You would think that as many posts there are just to this one discussion board with the same problem somebody would come up with an answer. Maybe even Ford.

So far the most likely culprit seems to be a Cam Position Sensor but I must confess, I never heard of that kritter before. I have no knowledge of it or what it is supposed to do.

Previously I had been told it was likely an injector pump failure except it only happens about 10 min after the truck has been started after sitting for several hours. So it is a cold start issue I think. Maybe moisture in an elect hookup or some kind of short that only shows up in a cold engine. I am at a loss.

[99Smokin73Stroker]

A cam position sensor pretty much provides info to the computer about engine component positions, the speed of components and the change in speeds in the components. It sits real close to a gear with teeth on it, each tooth makes a pulse and the magnet inside picks up each pulse as they go by. Hope this helps...

[cvanmilligen]

Thank you very much. It is a real handicap not to be able to even discuss issues with engines let alone work on them. I very much appreciate the technical advice.

Neal