rough running problem

[mxrcr367]

Hello everyone... hopefully someone has a suggestion for me. I own a 96 F250 Powerstroke 7.3. Up until now my truck has operated flawlessly. This past week I went backpacking at the Grand Canyon and parked it on the South Rim last weekend. I wasn't able to plug it in and with temps in the low to mid teens over night I didn't expect it to start and I was right. I got a jump and got it started but it was running rough (like a miss, running on only a few cylinders?) and the check engine light was on. The light would turn off and it would run fine but then would come back on and run rough again. The light eventually turned off for good and ran fine and I drove home to Phoenix. Last night it only got down to the 60's and it wouldn't start again. I had the batteries and alternator checked and the passed diagnostics. I plugged it in this morning for 1.5 hours and it started up and was running fine but then the check engine light came on and was running rough again. It repeated the cycle of the check engine light going on and off again but now is staying on and my truck is running rough. The operating temp is not as high as normal but it's close. All other gauges are normal. I treated the fuel for gelling prior to heading to the cold weather and even bought diesel near the canyon which was already treated for the weather so I'm leaning away from bad fuel. I was thinking a glow plug or two might be going bad? I was hoping someone might have had this problem before and could shed some light. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to be descriptive enough for someone to recognize the problem. If anyone has any more questions ask away because I'd love to fix this myself before shelling out some of my hard earned money to a dealer.

[retmotor]

DTC's? (Diagnostic Trouble Codes)

You should be able to read them from any OBDII code reader or scanner.

[atvrider93]

ya, youll have to pull those codes

[mxrcr367]

Well I took it up to NAPA and they plugged the reader in... and the reader said no errors found. I went to Auto Zone after that even though I'm not a fan of them and they gave me the same reply, no error codes. And to make matters worse (or maybe better, I'm not really sure) the check engine light has gone off as I was driving home and my truck is running fine again. I went ahead and changed the fuel filter since I had made the trip... but the mystery continues.

[retmotor]

Bummer. Well, I don't know enough about them to say much other than it could be a list of things, but probably not your glow plugs. Once it's started and running, the glow plugs don't do much, and they don't do anything after 90 to 120 seconds.

If it continues, it might be worth it to buy a scanner or take it to a diesel shop and run some diagnostic tests.

[C-STROKER]

if you live in phoenix. wich i belive you said you did. take it up to sinster diesel. and have them run a code check for you. they are great guy over there. this is therer adress S Diesel, LLC
621 W. Lone Cactus Dr.
Phoenix, AZ 85027

it is basicly on 7th ave and deer valley
E-Mail (BEST BET!) :
Telephone :
Fax :
: sales@sinisterdiesel.com
: (623) 582-4404
: (623) 582-4406

[melmount]

sound like uvch or idm

[atvrider93]

maybe add some fresh fuel. and change fuel and air filter
it just seems kinda sudden and random from a specific out of ordinary experience to be electrical
what does it sound like or do when it cranks over

[mxrcr367]

Just to keep everyone posted... the check engine light came back on and it's back to running on half it's cylinders. I havent had a chance to do anything yet (family in town and we were at the Nascar race this weekend). Thanks for the reference to that shop up on 7th/Deer Valley. I'm still hoping to rule out the easy stuff before I take it to someone. Someone had asked how it sounded as it was running... it is a horrible miss, only running on half the cylinders. But it starts right up and seems like its running great on the cylinders that are running. And when the light goes off and it is running on all... it runs great! But that has become less frequent and now hasn't happened the last couple times I ran it.

[atvrider93]

so you know its half of the cylinders, not 3 or anything like that? do you know which half? it does now sound like UVCH