What happened to my truck tonight!

[garlicbreath]

So I left on my lunch break, ran over to get a battery, ran back to kfc for food, left kfc turned onto the road to my work all of the sudden no power AT ALL.
The OD light was flashing, the CEL came on.
I thought it died so I put it in nuetral to restart, sounded funny when I engaged the starter so I coast as far as I can.
When it slows down to about 5 or 10mph, I hear the motor is indeed running, but at idle, and the gas peddle does nothing.

So I think crap, throttle cable broke maybe?

I pull over and put it in park.
Truck is still running, no CEL now, over drive stopped flashing, but the gas peddle still does nothing. Motor just idles.

So I turn it off, and restart it.
Everything works, no CEL, gas peddle (or is it called a fuel peddle? ) works, it's like nothing happened.

I was running it hard to make it back in time to work, but the truck is BONE stock except for the side stack.

It was a water works truck, they do a stack on oll their utility trucks with the knapheide beds.

BTW, 1997 F350 powerstroke, auto, 45000 miles.
All the fluids look great, tranny smells good, oil is clean, entifreeze is green with no gunk on overflow, until now the truck ran great.

Is there a limp mode if the egt's get to high or something?
Does the ecm even know what the egt's get to on these trucks?

I was going to do a downpipe, DIY air filter, chip, and boost-egt guage next month, but now I want to make sure nothing is goofy with it.

Also, I just bought the truck last week at an auction.

[worx]

If I had to guess, I would check the fuel filter and see what its like- probibly black with crap... Change it out and see if it happens again if its dark...

[mschn99]

take the cover off of the steering column. There will be some wires coming out of the shift handle for the overdrive button. They run through the center of the shift handle and come out under the plastic covering....

Those wires tend to "chaffe....)...in other words have the insulation rub away. Once that happens it can cause your concern. Check them to see if there is any exposed wire. If there is....wrap them really well with electrical tape, clear the code...and you should be good...

[Dave]

chedck the fuel filter but the throttle pedal is electronic on these trucks no cable. The pedal assembly could be goin out

[garlicbreath]

Checked the fuel filter today. Looked fine, almost looked new actually.

It has done the same thing twice this weekend now.

Both times I was on the highway doing about 65 hauling a 3000lb boat.

Check engine light came on, pedal quit working.

I stopped by the local parts store to have them scan the truck for codes and they couldn't get the scanner to link up with ecm at all.

I hate taking things to the dealer, it just seems to kill my wallet.
Is a special scanner needed for a diesel? Or do I need to just bite the bullet and go to the dealer?

Back to the fuel filter though, I pulled the lid, and the filter was stuck to it. It would spin, but it didn't have tabs like the new napa filter has to hold it in.
I pulled pretty good on it to see if it snaps on, but it wouldn't come loose.

How does the filter attach to the lid?

[jphelzer]

Did you try Marc's suggestion regarding the steering column wires? He's a Ford tech and knows his stuff.

The cap will come off, just takes some tugging...

[pipelayerjdh]

Any generic OBD II scanner should link to the ECM. Try Marc's suggestion, and let us know what you find. It is probably an electrical problem, instead of fuel.

[garlicbreath]

OK, monday I pulled the column cover, didn't see any chaffed wires.
Today I dropped it off for the inspection sticker and had them scan for codes.
It came up with 3 codes
These are what the tech wrote on my keychain tag
122 td sensor
603 kam
344 cmp

He said one was keep alive memory, another was either cam position sensor or crank position sensor, I can't remember what he said, and the third was for a pedal sensor. I was in a hurry so I think those are what he called them.

I read on here about the cam sensor being problematic anyways so I called Napa and ordered one today, but they didn't show a pedal sensor.

Is there a good writeup anywhere online for replacing the cam sensor?

And what should I do about the pedal sensor?

Thanks for all the help guys, I always wonder how guys solved problems before forums!

[Dave]

here is CPS replacement thread
7.3 Cam sensor replacement procedure

And on the throttle sensor it is the whole pedal assembly i am pretty sure

[garlicbreath]

Well, it left me stranded today.
Was on my to get the boat and it started sputtering and acting real wierd on the highway, then no peddle any more.
Had to get it towed to the house.

New CPS comes in tomorrow at napa, will try that first.

Edit:

Just did the CPS, now it's worse.
Before it would fire right up, now I have to disconnect the batteries for 10 minutes, then it fires and idles, peddle works, but but as soon I try to drive it, it spits and sputters and dies.

Then when I try to restart it it cranks for 3 seconds fires on one or cylinders, then dies. If I keep cranking, it's 3 seconds crank, fire, 3 seconds crank, fire and just repeats that until I pull the batteries for 10 minutes.

Oh yeah, no CEL light now.