99 7.3 problems

[mtman]

I'm reposting here as I have not had any response yet. I'm interested in this truck that has 168k on it. It has a check engine light that comes on and off when driving. The owner says it's tripping a fuel injector code. He had it checked out and was told it could be the fuel injector o-rings or it could be the piston rings. He says it doesn't use much oil between oil changes, never needing topping off and he changes it every 3-4k with Rotella. If it is the rings, is it possible they are stuck? If so is there a way to fix that? It drives nice. It puffed white smoke when I started it warm and black smoke only when I pushed the throttle down all the way. He also says it's difficult to start in the winter time and he had put Autolite glow plugs in it. He said he thought Bosch were better. The bed has a few rust spots on it and I noticed it appeared to be a factory paint job, but a thin amount of body filler was there. Did Ford use body filler on the beds? Anyways, I'm new to looking at Fords and diesels and need a little guidance and am new to the thread. Thanks.

[vitalidle]

Get the truck scanned for codes first before you buy it and post them up here

[mtman]

P1316 IDM is what I found out on the code. Thanks.

[vitalidle]

Its possible the harness under the valve cover has come disconnected or the IDM is bad. I will let the smart guys answer for sure.

[99SMOKR]

I dont know the code off the top of my head but my truck will do that sometimes.

I checked the code and it is a stored code relating to fuel going through the
injectors caused by my chip, happens sometimes when I am throttled down.


Is it chipped? because that could be the code it is throwing

[mtman]

It has an Edge Evolution, but we reprogrammed it back to "normal" and reset the code, but it was still tripping.

[pipelayerjdh]

Try taking it to a good mechanic and have an injector buzz test and cylinder contribution test ran. It should not cost too much.

[mtman]

He had that done and they told him it could be a simple as the injector o-rings or it could be piston rings.

[pipelayerjdh]

You may want to get a compression test done if the tests showed problems. Replacing the injectors or o-rings is not very difficult.

[mtman]

Ok. There was a buzz test that was normal, a cylinder contribution test that was ok, and a partial compression test on one bank that showed low compression on a couple of cylinders. Is there any other causes for low compression besides rings on a diesel? Is 168k considered high mileage for this engine?