Loss of power on the way back to Ohio today

[ParadigmDrift]

I was able to get down to Atlanta and get the truck I bought. When I finally had a chance to drive it, it did ok, but did not seem to have the power I remember other 7.3 non turbos having.

Coming through the hills of tenessee and kentucky today, my speed would drop as low as 50 mph with the accelerator all the way to the floor. I know something is wrong and I think I have it narrowed down to one of three things:

I had the oil and oil filter and fuel filter all changed before I picked the truck up. That should have remedied a filter problem. Is there the possibility that whoever put the new fuel filter on screwed that up somehow? My cousin that had picked it up for me said that it ran real strong and had plenty of power, but that was before I had any work done on it. Can you screw up a fuel filter change?

Or it is an injector pump or the injectors themselves.

The truck winds up, but extremely slow. It has no oomph whatsoever and I know that is just all wrong, even with the non-turbo idi. The truck just seems like it is starving for fuel or something.

Someone please chime in as I am aggravated as all get out right now. Everytime I saw a hill today I would get so mad that I would just start chewing on the steering wheel. Not a good day, but I did make it from Atlanta to Ohio and the truck sounds really good.

[Mototime2000]

Lift pump, fuel leaks, bad injector, low compression on 1 or more cylinders...

[ParadigmDrift]

Originally Posted by Mototime2000

Lift pump, fuel leaks, bad injector, low compression on 1 or more cylinders...

I would venture to eliminate low compression as a culprit. Other than that, do all of the above problems give the same symptom (loss of power)? I would also say that I could eliminate fuel leaks, have not smelled it nor seen it accumulating anywhere.

The engine still runs and pulls, just not near as strong as it should be. Does that point to one thing more than another? For example, is that more of a symptom of a bad injector pump versus a bad fuel filter? There is only so much that can go wrong with these engines. It seems like it is some sort of fuel delivery problem since it is such a lack of power.

[FordGuy100]

I would say lift pump maybe.

Or, the timing could be a little retarted. Does it smoke any? As the IP ages, the timing retards and you loose power. It does it so slow you dont know its happening until you get a rebuilt pump and put it on timed right.

[ParadigmDrift]

Well I was able to get ahold of the guy I bought the truck from and asked him a whole bunch of questions. The truck has had the injectors replaced in the last 10,000 miles and the glow plugs were replaced in the last two years. He had owned the truck since 65,000 miles and never replaced the injection pump. I am guessing that it is one of two things. Either the injection pump is on its way out, or since the truck hasn't been run a whole lot in the last year, I am thinking that the new fuel filter I had put on here may already be crapped up if there was any crud in the tank. The truck only has 118k on it now so again I can't imagine that it is anything major.

[ParadigmDrift]

Oh yeah, what is a lift pump? Same thing as an injector pump? Still learning my terminology.

[Mototime2000]

The lift pump is on the passenger side of the engine. It looks like an old school ford mechanical fuel pump. When I got my engine that was the first thing I replaced. I got one from the local parts store and after 3-4 of them failing I went and got one from the Ford dealer and it has been fine so far.

[ParadigmDrift]

Well, replaced the lift pump, runs slightly better but that was not the issue. Also checked my glowplugs for kicks and found out that 7 out of 8 of them are bad, yay. The next step will be to get a small 2 gallon can of diesel and run the truck off of that to see if the tank is crapped up with junk. If that is not the issue then we will put a clear line on the return line to see if there are air bubbles. If that is the case then it is a dying IP. I will keep everyone updated. In the meantime feel free to throw out any suggestions, ideas or encouragement.

[ParadigmDrift]

Well, I ran a small 2 gallon can of fuel right to the new lift pump to give the engine as much diesel as it wanted and that did not make a difference in how it ran. It still ran like it just wasn't getting the fuel it needed. After that I ran a clear line on the return to see if there were air bubbles in the system and there were not any. I am guessing the injector pump is most likely the culprit since I have run a few test to eliminate some other possibilities. I will be meeting up with a buddy that has been helping me with this and we are going to turn the injection pump up a little to see if that helps. That will be the last thing I do before I buy a new injector pump for the truck if that doesn't work. I saw a shop on Ebay called Pensacola Diesel that had rebuilt pumps for $325 and free shipping. Hope that is a good price.

On another note, my new glow plugs came in today. $75 for a set of 8 Motorcraft glow plugs. Seemed like a better price than what I had been quoted at some of the auto parts stores. Those will go in in a day or two.

Any other suggestions out there, or am I on the right track?

I also got to find out that cracking the injectors and bleeding the air out of the engine is actually very simple.

[FordPowerstrokeDiesel]

dang man you got them glow plugs cheap. i bought mine 3 days ago for my 1993 ford f250 7.3 idi diesel from the dealership and they were $25 a piece so total was $200.