I need a second opinion before I do something drastic.

[Palamides7.3]

Gentlemen, obviously I'm a new member, but I'm hoping you guys can give me some insight. I got my 95 powerstroke three days ago. The truck has been sitting since 02' and its still got the old fuel... I've only started Maybe four times as I'm worried about the issues it has. First and foremost, It has 157k miles on it. It's got alot of water mixed in the oil under the valve covers, but it's been sitting with them half bolted down for months after it had a injector changed out. The screws on the injectors are starting to rust... And while running I get alot of white smoke/steam out of the filler cap and vents in the covers. No coolant in the oil though, like it just got rain in there? Also has alot of gray/white smoke out the tail pipe and it smells like diesel but not coolant. Not a head gasket issue? Another thing I noticed besides my intact hoses and crankcase vent stuff is missing, my compressor wheel has chips in the fins and I cant hear it spool. I can watch it spin while someone revs it, but it doesn't seem to be building boost. I have been told by the shops here it might need injector o-rings, or head gaskets, or injector cups, or Its got a dead cylinder. Nobody knows a damn thing about the 7.3 here, and it's driving me crazy. But it fires up immediately, and sounds good, even though its got old fuel. Any ideas guys? Maybe something to help me diagnose this beast? I'm tired of the guessing games with these shops. Especially when they want 4k for a used long block.

 

[Palamides7.3]

Sorry if post isn't very informative, I'm on the iPod an doing other ****.

 

[cfdeng7]

Sounds like you need to take a step back and take things one at a time. I would start by draining the old fuel, and oils replace filters.

 

[Ad8 PRODIGY]

Sounds like you need to take a step back and take things one at a time. I would start by draining the old fuel, and oils replace filters.

Thats a good place to start. Then see how it does afterward.

 

[Palamides7.3]

I agree. This is going to be the work truck though. Trying to get it taken care of ASAP. I guess I should start with the basics, I was assuming that all of the symptoms were all related though.

 

[Rideracelivemx7]

drain the fuel and run some acetone in the fuel since theres GOT to be some serious allege growing in there by now. change the oil and go from there and see how it runs, post back

 

[Palamides7.3]

Red farm fuel... Damnit!

 

[old man dave]

Red farm fuel is not a bad thing, it just has dye in it so it can be id'ed for fuel tax purposes . Farmers use that stuff in half million dollar tractors so its not going to harm your truck.

 

[davey99ps]

I'd pull the fuel filter, an drain the bowl a little, fill it halfway up with seafoam an put a new filter in it, then dump the rest of the seafoam in the fuel tank. Then change the oil, an start it an let it run for awhile. If its been sitting that long, its bound to smoke for awhile but let it run for an hour or two an see how its running after that. As far as not hearing the turbo, if it has a stock airbox your not really gonna hear much. If it were me, I'd change the fluids an filters, add some seafoam, an let it run awhile and see if that helps before I started throwing parts at it.

 

[Palamides7.3]

I have no air intake so the turbo is usually capped. When i ran it (Without the intake) i still couldn't hear it building boost. Not sure why.

 

[powerjoke4life]

I would start by changing all the fluids.

That stuff goes bad after a while. everything, I mean everything and replace it.
Oil, Coolant, Fuel, Powersteering fuild, Trans Fluid, Brake Fluid, The diff fluid.
Just change all that, start it up, run it down the street and see how she does.

 

[Palamides7.3]

Fired it up after a couple days of sitting because i needed to move it. All i've accomplished was tearing out and cleaning the ENTIRE inside of the truck, dash, wiring, heater boxes, all of it. Got it back in and everything is working except the thing isnt Running right still. Tossed a new fuel filter in it, She starts up great, and idles okay with a little surging, But i moved it, parked it, and gave it a rev (after it was idling for about 15mins) and it stopped and hung at 2k for a fraction of a second, then Shot up to 3k and blew the biggest cloud of black/gray/and white, i've ever seen from a powerstroke, ever. No check engine light, Turbo still isnt boosting. Getting ready to Change everything out soon.

 

[Palamides7.3]

With only 157k on it, i wouldnt think it would have severe engine damage if it runs fairly decent...? But stranger Sh!t has happened.

 

[Cory S]

Dude change the oil atleast. It obviously has water in the oil. Or just blow it up.


Sent from my Motorola razr (flip phone)

 

[buschpoweredstroker]

Quit worrying about the boost until you get the rest of the stuff done and have it running down the road, you'll have a hard time getting it to build boost with no load on also... get that oil changed out before you run more of the water contaminated oil through the injectors and ruin them, and then change it again fairly soon if there is still any trace of water in the oil.

 

[vcassens]

:whs:

 

[Palamides7.3]

Oil changed, fuel filter changed. Drove it around and ran like a dog for about 5 miles smoking lightly, stumbling, ect, Let out a huge puff of smoke leaving a stop sign. Then all of a sudden... Turbo lit up, Smoke went away, and she roared on through the gears. As of now there is no smoke, and it seems to be running alright besides the slight surging at idle, and has little hiccups. I have found one of my injector harnesses to be chewed up by mice and will be repairing it with new vc gaskets and the injector harnesses aswell. And there is a wire chewed through on the bottom of the fuel bowl, right near the feul pump (Fuel heater?) which doesn't seem to affect anything. But from my short drive to my grandparents, around ten miles, my fuel filter is black. Draining ALL fuel from both tanks and dropping them and going to clean out Every damn part of the fuel system.

 

[morefuel]

Oil changed, fuel filter changed. Drove it around and ran like a dog for about 5 miles smoking lightly, stumbling, ect, Let out a huge puff of smoke leaving a stop sign. Then all of a sudden... Turbo lit up, Smoke went away, and she roared on through the gears. As of now there is no smoke, and it seems to be running alright besides the slight surging at idle, and has little hiccups. I have found one of my injector harnesses to be chewed up by mice and will be repairing it with new vc gaskets and the injector harnesses aswell. And there is a wire chewed through on the bottom of the fuel bowl, right near the feul pump (Fuel heater?) which doesn't seem to affect anything. But from my short drive to my grandparents, around ten miles, my fuel filter is black. Draining ALL fuel from both tanks and dropping them and going to clean out Every damn part of the fuel system.

Fuel filter being black is generally a sign of bad injector orings and oil getting in the fuel.

 

[Palamides7.3]

Let me correct myself, the fuel filter is dirty. Went in white, is gray/black dirty now. And every time I've opened the bowl and drained it the fuel was red. Would I be able to notice the oil in fuel? Kinda like mixing 2stroke for the mx bikes, you could always tell when it was mixed fuel. Probably not just by looking at it, but I have had no oil loss or consumption at all, and there is not a single leak. =/ suppose I just have to spend more time with the thing and learn more about the psd. I'm used to ancient mechanical injection lol sorry for the stupid questions gentlemen.

 

[DocBar]

You need to drain the fuel tank and replace with fresh fuel. Change the oil again. Change all filters again. I'd lay on a supply of fuel filters if the truck has been sitting that long. I'd also consider dropping the tank and inspecting it, doing the hutch and harppon while I was there.

There's probably rust all through the drive train from condensation. It's gonna take time to get rid of that. Change your oil often, even less tha 2,000 miles per oil change. Just use regular 15W40 Rotella for a few months.

What do you mean by " I have no air intake so the turbo is usually capped. When i ran it (Without the intake) I still couldn't hear it building boost"?

The turbo won't really build any boost unless it's under load. Sitting in park or nuetral, it won't build sh*t for boost. A stock turbo with stock air intake is damned near impossible to hear unless it surges.