Side of the road. . .need advice.

[KPSquared]

Hey guys, my dad is out from BC (9 hour drive) and his late 99 7.3 just took a dump.

Going down the road, started to lose power, pinged when he would apply throttle, and smoke. Now it won't do much but a super lumpy idle with smoke.

Thoughts? I need to get him back on the road.

I'm trying to get my hands on a scan tool that will work but it's a waiting game right now.

 

[BigAlsPSD]

I assume oil level and fuel level are fine?

What color smoke?

Has he done the in tank modifications?

 

[CSIPSD]

White smoke and the rest of what your telling me leads to injector issue, be it a broken nozzle or burnt O ring/copper...

 

[KPSquared]

White smoke, no mods, fuel reads 1/4 tank (whatever that means).

Can 1 injector make it so bad across the board? I need to get a scan tool and at least do a buzz test.
it won't even fire up right now. I thought it had fired but dad was still cranking on it.

 

[blackbetty13]

maybe some one near his location could have a scan tool.

 

[BigAlsPSD]

The 1/4 tank is pretty important, sounds like the pickup foot is broke off, or the duckbill is cracked, try adding fuel if you don't want to drop the tank.

 

[Blowby]

DON'T KEEP CRANKING: Sounds like a cracked injector tip. Happened once while I was on the road with white smoke and a pinging sound when it was dumping fuel into the cylinder. Grab a spare injector and tools for a swap. Pull all the glow plugs and have someone do a quick crank for a second. Watch which hole the high force of fuel comes from and replace that injector. If he didn't hear a pinging (fuel knock) then I would look at something else. Check what the exhaust smells like if it's fuel then it's an injector tip.

 

[BigAlsPSD]

Guess I missed the "pinging" depending on the sound it would be split nozzle or lack of fuel knock still.

 

[davey99ps]

When i burnt a copper on mine, you wouldn't beleive the amount of smoke an the knocking. I would do like blowby side, if its a white-ish smoke.

 

[KPSquared]

I got the d side off and the plugs out. Getting late so I'll tackle the p side tomorrow.

If I crank a little with the glow plugs out, will it be super obvious if there is excess fuel from a cracked tip?

Could any of this be caused by not enough fuel due to a bad hpop our fuel pump? The fuel pump pressures up and cuts out like normal. Fuel filter is new-ish.

The UVCH came loose last year but that was different symptoms. . .and no smoke.

 

[BigAlsPSD]

Having the glow plugs out will prevent further damage from a possible hydrolock if in fact the nozzle is split, and yes it should continue to shoot a mist out of the possible bad injector's hole. I still feel as though it is possibly out of fuel...

When you were cranking it did it sound slow while cranking?

 

[KPSquared]

No, seemed to crank fine. noisy though.

 

[Arisley]

Having the glow plugs out will prevent further damage from a possible hydrolock if in fact the nozzle is split, and yes it should continue to shoot a mist out of the possible bad injector's hole. I still feel as though it is possibly out of fuel...

When you were cranking it did it sound slow while cranking?

This

I would throw five or ten gallons of fuel in there. See if that fixes the issue. If that does, simple back on the road fix. Superduties are famous for running out of fuel at a 1/4 tank. The duckbill (secondary pickup) fails and when you get below a 1/4 tank it is sucking air. Or the main pickup plugs and you are using the secondary pickup, you get below a 1/4 tank and it is sucking air.

If that doesn't work, do what Blowby said.

 

[KPSquared]

First thing I did was get 10 gallons of fuel in. no joy.

Hopefully I can figure this out. I haven't been around here for a while but you guys are still as awesome as ever!

 

[BigAlsPSD]

Must have missed that you added fuel, it can be a pain to start back, and especially if the voltage is/was low. But hopefully you find the issue.

 

[CSIPSD]

It sounds like an injector nozzle as several have said previously...

 

[KPSquared]

Ok, here's a quick vid. . .

I pulled the front one out and swapped it with the 3rd one because the 3rd was spraying like that the first time and I wanted to confirm. Now both 1st and 3rd are spraying but the 1st is WAY more.

Does this look like the problem? Definately a lit of fuel coming out of there.

 

[Blowby]

Since you pulled both injectors you filled both cylinders with oil and fuel from the rails. They will both spray but the bad injector is still in the engine. I stated to bring a good injector and replace the injector from the hole that sprays fuel. :doh: Now you need to make sure you can identify the bad injector and get rid of it. It needs to be replaced or you're going to hydro lock your engine and bend a rod. Replace the injector with the cracked tip. :fustrate:

 

[KPSquared]

Trouble is, a good injector is no where to be found locally. . .mail order to Canada is gonna take a while.

How long should it take to clear the oil/fuel out?

I had to pull the third one out a couple days ago to get at that glow plug.

Then I put it back in and got the other side apart. I cranked for a while to clean out the cylinder(s) but maybe not enough?

The amount of straight fuel that's coming out of that 1st hole (closest to alt) is huge. That was the injector that was on the 3rd hole originally. We had cranked quite a bit before I decided to video.

Would there be that much fuel still in the cylinder?

I know I have to replace the bad injector, I just want to know which one for sure. Visual inspection revealed nothing. I'm thinking the excess spray from the 1st cylinder would indicate that my problem lies there, no?

 

[KPSquared]

I'm trying to make sure I indeed have a bad injector. . . Wouldn't it make sense to just do all 8 if I got sure have a bad one?

Stock AD's from Casserly are like a third of the price compared to anywhere around here. I have Cass's singles in mine and am sold on his service and product.

I found dad a back up car so the immediate pressure is off.