This month our Letter of the Month is getting hooked up by Bully Dog Technologies, who is providing a brand new tuner for their vehicle. Bully Dog has a tuner for almost every OBD II truck or SUV made, and their programs are many times concerned with better fuel economy and engine longevity instead of pumping out the absolute most power you can out of an engine. Check out a tuner for yourself at www.bullydog.com.
Powerstroke Injector Harness Issues?
I just renewed my subscription after a short hiatus and in my first issue back (October 2009) I see that the STD is down again because of the injectors. I had to contact you before you replace the injectors without checking the wiring harness connector inside the valve covers first. Three injectors going out at same time is highly unlikely...The problem is the harness under the cover gets soft from the heat and oil and works its way loose. If it comes open the vehicle will not run. If it is partially open it will run like a turd. I know this because it just happened to me heading home from a 1,200-mile trip across the desert (Texas to Phoenix).
When it got hot it was so bad, my truck would not run. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that this is so common (usually after 80,000 miles) that FORD has made a wedge to plug into the harness so you do not have to buy a new wiring harness. I compare the wedge fix to jamming a book of matches in the wing window to keep the window from whistling. (Do any trucks have wing windows anymore?) The wedge clip is cheap. The bad news is all the stuff you have to remove just to get the valve covers off.
You can check the continuity from the outside by unplugging the "external" harness.
Hope this helps.
Dan Lohmeier
Dan, I really appreciate that info! I immediately went to my diesel guys with this. One had not heard of it, but the other two told me that this was a deal on the 7.3L engines, not the 6.0L Powerstroke like what our 2003 F-350 has (you could order either engine in 2003). I appreciate the advice, though, and for that I'm making your letter our Letter of the Month, and I want to send you a Bully Dog Watchdog tuner (www.bullydog.com) for one of your trucks.
Our truck turned out to have four bad injectors this time instead of just three like that last time. We also had a clogged EGR cooler and a clogged oil-cooling system as well. Good grief... Oh well. Bulletproof Diesel (www.bulletproofdiesel.com) was able to get EVERYTHING on our F-350 fixed with their awesome new EGR cooler, oil-cooling system, and eight new injectors.
P.S. Yeah, I totally miss wing windows too!