Bad cylinder; injector and ICP sensor

[rlpatte]

2001 F350 dually 7.3 4x4 automatic 171K miles
OK, I've been messing with this thing for over a month now. This is what I know: lots of white smoke when it starts, blow by from oil filler, loss of power. Had it diagnosed by a couple shops and myself. One shop told me bad comperssion on #2 cylinder, the other told me bad #2 injector and bad ICP.

I did a compression test myself. #2 cylinder is low, in the 100-150 lb. range. I don't have the software so pretty much can't do anything further.

Everyone I take it to wants to put an engine in it, to the tune of about $13K. The truck only get driven between 5K and 7K miles a year pulling a trailer for vacation. I can't imagine sinking that much money into it, nor do I have that kind of money to sink into it.

I've been researching long block, drop-in engines, etc. in the internet. If I do a long block they don't come with the injectors. If I the bad one out I'm assuming I might as well swap them all out ~$1600. It's also got warped exhaust manifolds, which also aren't included with the long block.

A drop-in engine is in the $7 - $8K range. Again, a bit hard to stomach for a truck that is driven as little as this one.

Do I have any other options? Could I do a rebuild kit and bore out the cyliners, replace the pistons, bearings, etc. in the bottom end, replace the exhause manifolds and call it good? If I did this would I need to rebuild the heads and/or at least machine them in order to seat correctly to the block?

Thanks in advance for any help. It is greatly appreciated.

[melmount]

first the manifolds can get machined, aftermarket gaskets are quality and seem to be ok for manifold gaskets to prevent leaks, The icp sensor is there oil in it when you remove the wire plug? usually a sign that thats going.
The low compression can be bad injector o rings too if they came apart. I would have someone check torque on the injector and inspect maybe replace o rings or the whole injector. Depending on local shops u can rering etc the motor a lot less than those prices. i pulled my motor out myself and had trucks unlimited take it apoart inspect and rering and bearing it.

[melmount]

Where are you located?

[rlpatte]

Houston.

I can pull the engine myself also. Never done it on a 7.3 before but done it on plenty of other engines. When you say check the torque on the injector can you expound on that for me? What are you checking the torque on?

If I pulled the injector out and replaced it (and the ICP - I do believe there was oil when I unplugged it but will check again tonight when I get home) would I be able to tell anything from that?

Thanks.

[melmount]

If he icp sensor hAs or is full o oil in the plug the sensor is failing or failed. It ont get accurate readings due to the oil. It easy to swap it out. The injector has bolts(two) the one is fixed inplace before the injectr is installed and holds one side of the injector the other is put in afte the injector and is torqued to either 10 o 12 foot pounds like 240 inch pounds of torque. The injector have been known to need to be retorqued once or so in there lifetime. If its lifted up in its bore it ca cause compression loss. You may have a bad cylinder but a loose, stuck open, loose glow plug can cause low compression.

[melmount]

heres a good write up from black cloud diesel
1999-2003 Ford 7.3L Powerstroke Injectors

[audiocontr]

First thing to do is replace that injector. Get a used injector with fresh o-rings and drop it in. It should take you about 3 hours fumbling around and minimal cost (under $100). Check the compression again.

I'd take that leap of faith before swapping an engine.

[rlpatte]

Thanks everyone. You have no idea how much this helps. I've been asking anyone I could find if the bad injector could be causing the low compression. No one will answer me (granted it's all been online so they just don't respond). I did ask the shop where the bad ICP/injector was diagnosed and they said no. I feel like they're just trying to get the business of simply putting a new engine in. I pretty much had to demand that they do the injector test - but that's another story.

I don't mean to split hairs but I want to make sure I do this right:

1. Where would your recommend I look for a used injector? How would I know that it is not bad as well?
2. The truck does have blowby at the oil filler and it does burn oil (about 4 quarts every 5K miles or thereabouts). Does this mean unequivocally that it's also got bad rings and/or valves? Could the injector and/or o-ring contribute to the blowby/burning oil?
3. Do I need to change the ICP to do this test? I actually have a new one but didn't put it in for fear that there was much more wrong with the engine and if I had to put a new engine in it I'd just use it on the new one.

I feel a little better knowing that the bad injector/o-ring could be the problem. It may not be but at least there's hope

[kaya@bernhausen]

hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you've got excessive blow by, you're looking at a motor rebuild or replace

[rlpatte]

Problem is I don't know what's considered excessive blow-by. Here are a couple links to videos showing the oil filler blow-by and the air intake blow-by. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

air intake blow-by 7.3 powerstroke - YouTube

P3110207 - YouTube