7.3L Dies Randomly

ToMang07 · Jan 9, 2016

Weird.... my truck did that this morning. Got the "ns" on the Hydra, and it wouldn't start.

Shut the truck off, removed the key, and tried again ,and it worked.

dsberman94 · Jan 9, 2016

I think your wiring for the wif sensor or the fuel bowl heater might be shorting out. Check the PCM/fuel bowl heater fuse as well.

ToMang07 · Jan 9, 2016

dsberman94 said:
I think your wiring for the wif sensor or the fuel bowl heater might be shorting out. Check the PCM/fuel bowl heater fuse as well.

If it shorted out it WILL blow the fuse. As in my case, it didn't.

Black 02 · Jan 10, 2016

Well, after trying to figure out why the truck wouldn't start, I decided to pull out the Hydra chip. Truck fired right up. Plugged the chip back in and it wouldn't start.

rusty1161 · Jan 10, 2016

Black 02 said:
Went to start the truck again and the thing was dead. Check engine and wait to start light stayed on continuously. The hydra said "nS" now.

I wiggled the relays and nothing seemed to happen. I checked and found fuse #12 (20 amp) was blown. It's supposed to be the cigar lighter/OBD II. I am going to go get one now.

Not trying to be a smart azz, but "NS" is no start. It's not clear if the chip works in other settings?

Rusty

Black 02 · Jan 10, 2016

rusty1161 said:
Not trying to be a smart azz, but "NS" is no start. It's not clear if the chip works in other settings?

Rusty

The chip won't switch out of nS. Then, I finally got it to switch to 00 and the same issue occurs. The check engine and wait to start light stays on and the fuel pump won't run.

mandkole · Jan 10, 2016

The hydra or the connection is not happy

Black 02 · Jan 10, 2016

mandkole said:
The hydra or the connection is not happy

Yeah, the hydra only switches between "00" and "nS". Even on "00", the fuel pump is dead and the gauges lights won't go off (WTS and Check Engine).

There isn't any copper showing on the PCM contacts, but I've ran a tuner for 4 years without issue. I'm guessing it's the Hydra. I'll call ******** again tomorrow.

TyCorr · Jan 10, 2016

Dude, it sucks the bumpy road you've been on with this. Good luck!

Wouldnt it be nice to have some turnkey reliability if even just for a while?

mandkole · Jan 10, 2016

^^ no doubt.. what a struggle.

Do you still have the chip? At least that would confirm that the PCM side of the connector board is ok.

Black 02 · Jan 10, 2016

mandkole said:
^^ no doubt.. what a struggle.

Do you still have the chip? At least that would confirm that the PCM side of the connector board is ok.

I just threw my old DP Tuner in the truck and it fired right up. People harp on DP sometimes, but it still works in my truck.... :thumbsup:

Very odd. I'll make some calls tomorrow.

On a side note, anyone change the IPR on terminator twins? I don't want to have to pull the intake and intercooler pipes off to change it. Can you just remove the IPR block???

dsberman94 · Jan 11, 2016

There's been some dead hydras out of the box that I've read about. I'm sure they'll get you taken care of. Glad it was something simple though.

Black 02 · Jan 11, 2016

dsberman94 said:
There's been some dead hydras out of the box that I've read about. I'm sure they'll get you taken care of. Glad it was something simple though.

With my luck, it doesn't surprise me. I bought the chip from Irate, but ******** tuned it. Matt at Irate is working on it for me. I just want to get my truck on the road. It's running with the stock PCM, but it idles like crap and gets really warm really quick, so I'm not driving it until it gets fixed.

Jomax · Jan 14, 2016

dsberman94 said:
There's been some dead hydras out of the box that I've read about. I'm sure they'll get you taken care of. Glad it was something simple though.

I've been hearing about quite a few hydras.... If this is the case of the chips not being up to par with reliability. I don't care for one

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ToMang07 · Jan 14, 2016

*cough*DP Fanboy*cough*

LOL

dsberman94 · Jan 14, 2016

Jomax said:
I've been hearing about quite a few hydras.... If this is the case of the chips not being up to par with reliability. I don't care for one

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Plenty of people have them and you rarely hear of issues. I'm going on 2 years and I'm constantly changing tunes on it, literally every day, and I've never had an issue with the chip itself. The PO of this truck even took off a little too much on the electrical connector and I've never had an issue. Everything has a percentage that doesn't work after manufacturing. Even the $70k trucks some guys on here drive and have issue with within the week. A bad $300 chip would be the least of my concern tbh. Call them up, send it back, and get a new one.

Black 02 · Jan 15, 2016

dsberman94 said:
Plenty of people have them and you rarely hear of issues. I'm going on 2 years and I'm constantly changing tunes on it, literally every day, and I've never had an issue with the chip itself. The PO of this truck even took off a little too much on the electrical connector and I've never had an issue. Everything has a percentage that doesn't work after manufacturing. Even the $70k trucks some guys on here drive and have issue with within the week. A bad $300 chip would be the least of my concern tbh. Call them up, send it back, and get a new one.

I agree with you. That being said, my truck is not a street queen. I haul firewood, go hunting, and play in the snow out in the woods where sometimes cell service could be 30 miles away. I didn't spend $20k on mods to have to worry if the chip was going to crap out and leave me totally stranded.

I'm supposed to be getting another chip soon. After I run it awhile, I'll report back.

V-Ref · Jan 15, 2016

Burn a 200% tow tune to your PCM

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TyCorr · Jan 16, 2016

V-Ref said:
Burn a 200% tow tune to your PCM

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Racetune....put a brick under the pedal if you need a tow tune LOL

Black 02 · Jan 20, 2016

Got my new hydra yesterday. Put it in and everything seems fine so far. Put about 50 miles on it so far. I also put a new IPR in it as well just to be sure.

The only issue I had and it did it a couple times.... It used to have a subtle miss when in park revved up above 2000 RPMs. Last night, after it was warmed up, I held it up to almost 3000 RPMs for a few seconds. As soon as I let off, it died. Drove about 5 miles and did it again. Put in park, revved it up, held it at like 2700 RPM and let off. Soon as I let off, it died.

Maybe my ICP connector needs changed too. The old ICP leaked and I put a new one of those on too. Didn't change the connector though. I need to data log it and see what is going on.