08TuscanyF350
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- Joined
- Sep 15, 2015
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I'm not sure where to start exactly, so I'm just gonna jump in. I purchased a used 2008 Powerstroke F-350 about 7 months ago. I knew it had some mods done to it, but no visible tuner module was left on the truck -- however, for it to keep running i knew it had to still be flashed. The truck has a EGR/D P F D elete and a S&B CAI on it. It also has some tune-- however i DO NOT know which one (and this could be the root of my issues) -- however since this issue just started a few weeks ago, I haven't suspected that to be the case.
I purchased a H&S Mini Maxx Race Tuner from Rudys Diesel with the intentions of taking the truck to the local Ford dealership and having them flash it to stock. They were okay with me reprogramming the truck on the spot with my H&S before moving it out of the bay. I decided to go this route because everyone advised me i would not be able to flash the truck with my H&S over whatever tune was on the PCM. Not wanting to risk basically bricking my truck in the driveway, i took it to Ford. Long story short, after the truck was in the bay for 2 hours, the service manager comes out and tells me that they can not flash my truck to stock, the PCM is locked by an aftermarket tuner. They said I could drive the truck as is (i mean it was running just fine) or buy a new PCM. At the time, i elected to drive it as is since there was no issue. I simply wanted my own tuner so I knew what tune was being ran. I kept the H&S and decided to use it simply as a monitor.
About a month later, i noticed my truck would randomly lose acceleration power. After switching gauges several times, i finally found one that correlated with my powerless. The ICP gauge on my H&S would show a drop in pressure down to 1.8 (1800PSI). Being i wasn't sure when the fuel filters were changed, i went ahead and bought some OEM filters from the Ford dealership. I also grabbed a oil filter and used my own Rotella (diesel specific) oil. The filter on the HFCM seemed to be pretty nasty, but what i found in the bottom of the housing as i pulled the filter out concerned me the most. It seemed like a grit/sand but not exactly. Since i wasn't pulling the HFCM off the rail at the time, i cleaned it out as best as i could and installed a new filter. The filter up top near the motor seemed almost immaculate -- and the bowl was clean. I went ahead and changed it since i was going to anyway.
Fuel pressure issue still continued.
To me it seemed as if maybe there was a blockage of some kind as the truck ran okay 99% of the time, it was just the random times that it would basically bog down.
I dropped the fuel tank and to my surprise -- it was clean. No bacteria build up or sludge like i could feel in the HFCM. I was quite puzzled because i thought whatever was in the HFCM came from the tank. The pickup screen was also clean.
Of course the fuel pressure issue still persisted.
I came across a few posts after hours of searching where people had removed their HFCM and it had a huge build up of gunk in it. I thought that since i couldn't get mine as clean as i would like, i would remove the HFCM and inspect it.
After removal of the HFCM i found a huge build up of gelatin like mess in the bottom near the fuel/water separator valve. This made sense to me since the drain valve never really flowed well. However it concerns me how much of this may have made it up stream. I can't think that much if any did since the secondary fuel filter/ bowl seemed squeaky clean.
After cleaning out the HFCM and reassembling everything, i was optimistic that maybe that was the issue. However, after driving it around all day, the issue finally reared its head once again.
Now I'm at a loss. I have some suspicions, but I'm not sure where to go next.
I've almost narrowed down the problem to make it reproducible though.
This only seems to happen going UP HILL, for example.
When slowing going up a hill for a car in front of me to turn -- then the need to accelerate once again. The truck will show 13-15Kpsi and then steadily drop to 1.8Kpsi. If i let off at any point, it will show a spike in PSI then pick back up and accelerate as intended.
If i am stopped on a hill and pulling out onto a road -- the same thing above happens.
The psi drop has never happened at highway speeds or during any normal steady speed driving. It only happens after driving a steady speed, slowing on a hill and then needing to accelerate once again.
My other areas of concern are:
possible weak batteries? Voltage on H&S shows fluctuation between 13.5-14.3 at random times. I've heard of batteries causing all kinds of weird issues. However, i've also seen that these voltages can be considered normal.. so i don't know what to think. I lean away from it being batteries because this issue is basically producible on hills. If it were batteries I'd like to think it could happen at any time, not just hills
Failing lift pump? Not sure how to validate this yet, but advice would be appreciated
Failing HPFP? I don't have any codes from this issue -- i would assume a failing HPFP would throw some codes?
Other major issue? Injectors? idk?
Is it possible the P174E code could be causing the "de-fueling" like issue?
Attached photo of the only codes my H&S Shows
Also, attached photo of what i found in the HFCM
i have also attached a video of the truck at idle. Does the fuel usage number jumping around look normal? Idle ICP stays pretty consistent around 4.8-5.2Kpsi.
Youtube video of truck at idle:
https://youtu.be/vvFOuvkFgXc
I purchased a H&S Mini Maxx Race Tuner from Rudys Diesel with the intentions of taking the truck to the local Ford dealership and having them flash it to stock. They were okay with me reprogramming the truck on the spot with my H&S before moving it out of the bay. I decided to go this route because everyone advised me i would not be able to flash the truck with my H&S over whatever tune was on the PCM. Not wanting to risk basically bricking my truck in the driveway, i took it to Ford. Long story short, after the truck was in the bay for 2 hours, the service manager comes out and tells me that they can not flash my truck to stock, the PCM is locked by an aftermarket tuner. They said I could drive the truck as is (i mean it was running just fine) or buy a new PCM. At the time, i elected to drive it as is since there was no issue. I simply wanted my own tuner so I knew what tune was being ran. I kept the H&S and decided to use it simply as a monitor.
About a month later, i noticed my truck would randomly lose acceleration power. After switching gauges several times, i finally found one that correlated with my powerless. The ICP gauge on my H&S would show a drop in pressure down to 1.8 (1800PSI). Being i wasn't sure when the fuel filters were changed, i went ahead and bought some OEM filters from the Ford dealership. I also grabbed a oil filter and used my own Rotella (diesel specific) oil. The filter on the HFCM seemed to be pretty nasty, but what i found in the bottom of the housing as i pulled the filter out concerned me the most. It seemed like a grit/sand but not exactly. Since i wasn't pulling the HFCM off the rail at the time, i cleaned it out as best as i could and installed a new filter. The filter up top near the motor seemed almost immaculate -- and the bowl was clean. I went ahead and changed it since i was going to anyway.
Fuel pressure issue still continued.
To me it seemed as if maybe there was a blockage of some kind as the truck ran okay 99% of the time, it was just the random times that it would basically bog down.
I dropped the fuel tank and to my surprise -- it was clean. No bacteria build up or sludge like i could feel in the HFCM. I was quite puzzled because i thought whatever was in the HFCM came from the tank. The pickup screen was also clean.
Of course the fuel pressure issue still persisted.
I came across a few posts after hours of searching where people had removed their HFCM and it had a huge build up of gunk in it. I thought that since i couldn't get mine as clean as i would like, i would remove the HFCM and inspect it.
After removal of the HFCM i found a huge build up of gelatin like mess in the bottom near the fuel/water separator valve. This made sense to me since the drain valve never really flowed well. However it concerns me how much of this may have made it up stream. I can't think that much if any did since the secondary fuel filter/ bowl seemed squeaky clean.
After cleaning out the HFCM and reassembling everything, i was optimistic that maybe that was the issue. However, after driving it around all day, the issue finally reared its head once again.
Now I'm at a loss. I have some suspicions, but I'm not sure where to go next.
I've almost narrowed down the problem to make it reproducible though.
This only seems to happen going UP HILL, for example.
When slowing going up a hill for a car in front of me to turn -- then the need to accelerate once again. The truck will show 13-15Kpsi and then steadily drop to 1.8Kpsi. If i let off at any point, it will show a spike in PSI then pick back up and accelerate as intended.
If i am stopped on a hill and pulling out onto a road -- the same thing above happens.
The psi drop has never happened at highway speeds or during any normal steady speed driving. It only happens after driving a steady speed, slowing on a hill and then needing to accelerate once again.
My other areas of concern are:
possible weak batteries? Voltage on H&S shows fluctuation between 13.5-14.3 at random times. I've heard of batteries causing all kinds of weird issues. However, i've also seen that these voltages can be considered normal.. so i don't know what to think. I lean away from it being batteries because this issue is basically producible on hills. If it were batteries I'd like to think it could happen at any time, not just hills
Failing lift pump? Not sure how to validate this yet, but advice would be appreciated
Failing HPFP? I don't have any codes from this issue -- i would assume a failing HPFP would throw some codes?
Other major issue? Injectors? idk?
Is it possible the P174E code could be causing the "de-fueling" like issue?
Attached photo of the only codes my H&S Shows
Also, attached photo of what i found in the HFCM
i have also attached a video of the truck at idle. Does the fuel usage number jumping around look normal? Idle ICP stays pretty consistent around 4.8-5.2Kpsi.
Youtube video of truck at idle:
https://youtu.be/vvFOuvkFgXc
