2000 F250 7.3l Loping idle and dies.

[Lextek]

Hello, I am a diesel rookie as far as repairs go but I have been a Lexus Technician (gasoline) for 18 years. I have driven this truck for a very long time with no issues other than normal services.
My truck died in a field while deer hunting this weekend. I had washed off the engine after changing the fuel filter a day before this happened. It fires off strong only to slowly slow down and stop. This problem has never occured in 131,000 miles. After several hours of cranking and checking things it started and ran. Drove home about 150 miles with the SES light going on and off twice. At home I retrieve the following codes. P1280,1281,1210 and 1211. I found a thread that stated this engine is bad about getting water in the ICP sensor connector and corroding. Sure enough the connector has the dreaded blue coloring on the sensor and the connector side. I can unplug the sensor and it starts fine but I get an immediate SES light and the truck seems low on power. I have cleaned the sensor and connector Including the insides of the pins on the harness side. I pin gauged the connectors on the harness side and made sure they were tight. I have an ICP voltage reading of 4.28 volts cold and drops to the 4.06 range. Sometimes it fires off good but mostly will start and slowly die. I guess my question is: Could the ICP sensor be bad or is something causing the oil pressure to be too high in the cylinder head? I also read that the starting voltage should be in the .038v range for this sensor at startup. I am a long way from that reading. I am not a believer in throwing parts at a problem but I feel this is a bad ICP sensor. Any help from the forum would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Don

[mschn99]

Based on what you told me, you either have a bad ICP sensor or a circuitry problem. I would definately ohm those wires out to the PCM, and if that proves out, then i would conemn the sensor.....

[Lextek]

Thanks for the quick reply, Marc.

Have you seen issues with the wiring from the ICP to the PCM? Also, is the harness or the pigtail available? I certainly think it could still be an issue of the corrosion in the connector but I am not getting any open or short codes on this sensor unless disconnected. I dont have the data for the wiring of this truck. My dealer says there is not a wiring diagram avaialble or a manual either. Makes it kinda hard to diagnose issues, thanks for your efforts.

[mschn99]

No, i have not seen problems with the wiring, but i honestly cant tell you to just replace the ICP sensor because that could be the problem.....if it was my truck though i would replace the ICP sensor....lol

[Lextek]

137.95 + tax locally. Is there a better option?

[Lextek]

The ICP sensor was the culprit. It runs like it should now... Thanks Marc for your help.