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P1280 Help

6.4K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  PreciousMetals  
#1 ·
I will try to make this concise, but really need some help here. My dad has a 2003 F250 7.3. Over the past month his truck will randomly shut off when driving, and just die, and he has to get it towed. It will sit for about 2 hours and then it will start again. I was helping him troubleshoot this weekend, and it happened again while I was driving it. Before driving it though, I cleared the P1212 and P1280 code. I checked the ICP sensor, and it has no oil residue on it or in it (and was replaced about 1.5 years ago). I started the truck and wiggled the wiring harness, but it would not die. I started the truck with the ICP sensor unplugged, and it started, ran for about 60 seconds and then died. Scanner showed P1280. I cleared the code, plugged the sensor back in, truck started, and went for a drive. It died shortly afterwards (about five minutes of driving), and we towed it back to his shop. Scanner showed a P1280 code. About two hours later, the truck started again and we could pull it in the shop. As you can imagine, he is fearful to leave the house in his truck for fear it may die again at the most inconvenient moment.

Thanks in advance for any help....
 
#2 ·
Probably a harness issue.

I know that yours is a later version of 7.3, but... Go to this thread and download section 5B.

https://www.powerstroke.org/forum/9...3l-diesel-powertrain-control-emissions-diagnostic-service-manual-1998-99-a.html

Pinpoint Test DD is the one that applies to your code. It's the first one in the document. The information should still apply.

Here is a later version of electrical diagrams, in case they help:

https://www.powerstroke.org/forum/9...-7-3l-general-discussion/1349897-7-3l-2002-electrical-information-diagrams.html
 
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#5 ·
I gotta say,,, ICP & Wiring wouldn't be my first thought either....

If it dies 60secs later with the ICP unplugged, then the ICP readings have nothing to do with it.

Wiring doesn't usually wait for a specific temp to be reached, die, ans then cure itself when cooled.

You have to think of the two important factors that happen as the engine gets hot. The first is that the oil becomes much thinner and often can't maintain a pressure threshold when thinner (then, once cooled & thicker, goes back to meeting that threshold). And the second is that things with too close tolerances start to bind as their materials swell from heat expansion.

What you want to do is to be able to monitor the sensors the PCM does to see where things go wrong. You could not only have HiPres Oil problems, where you'd see the effects of dropping pressure the thinner oil might have but see how the PCM reacts to it happening with what it commands the IPR to do (and the IPR is a Much more likely sensor to cause this as the pintle inside get's "stuck" as it swells).

So, I would get a simple and cheap App along with an OBD-II adapter so you can monitor things like the ICP pressure readings, the IPR % it takes to get that ICP pressure, and the RPM so you know the CPS (another common cause of heat related problems but NOT with a HiPres Oil code) is doing it's job.

If you're gonna keep & maintain the truck yourself I strongly suggest you get access to the special scanner software you need to do it. You need something that has Both the Diesel Specific and the Ford proprietary codes in their library. Unfortunately it takes something other than a Generic OBD-II scanner, like the Auto Parts Stores use, to scan, test, and retrieve codes.

Here you have a couple of the most common choices;

1) If you want to do Everything you'll ever need to, then look at the AutoEnginuity + the Ford Enhanced Package (@ $350 - you add an old computer of some sort to run it with)

2) To retrieve most of the codes you'll need to help and even do some testing look at the FORscan Lite (you add an Android device and Blue Tooth Adapter for @ $30) OR the Windoze version with a USB adapter. I like this one for BT Android -> http://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-34t5-Bluetooth-Android/dp/B005NLQAHS/

Just a few years ago you needed to buy a professional scan tool because our trucks need to have a scanner with a Library containing both the Ford Proprietary AND the Diesel Specific codes in it. Add to that, our trucks are Not, specifically, OBD-II so the Generic scanners the Auto Parts Stores have are of little use to us. But today there are some very good App based tools, that are close to what the pro tools do, for fraction of the cost.


https://www.powerstroke.org/forum/9...forum/99-03-7-3l-general-discussion/1044057-ford-superduty-diagnosis-cheap.html
 
#6 ·
And the winner is.....the IPR. The mechanic was able to drive the pickup and monitor the engine before and right when it died. Replacement of the IPR has fixed the problem.

Thanks for all the help....great to be a part of this forum.