dead powerstroke

yup id check the fuel filter heater element under the fuel filter the one on mine went out wouldn't start its made cheap if that is the problem get a new one from international dealers instead they look like a stove top element they usually blow a 30 amp fuse when that happens though just my two cents

Hey Gabby, just as a precaution you may want to check the fuel in the system... make sure it looks,smells,feels,tastes like clean diesel, a buddy of mine was using some reclaimed fuel from a friend and after a while his 7.3 got incredibly hard to start, he finally had to put new injectors in it and a few other things $$$$$... needless to say he won't ever use diesel that doesn't come from a fuel station again I saw the fuel he drained from his tanks and at a glance it looks great... so who knows what it was tainted with???. Hopefully this is not the case with yours, I have several 97's and besides the crank sensor I have had the valve cover harnesses go bad and kill the engine, since you tried either and nothing fires I would think there is no fuel coming out of the injectors.

pumba, I unhooked the fuel heater right off, had the one on my 450 give me fits 4 or 5 years ago it doesn't get that cold in Ms. to need it. ronsii , is got fresh fuel in it , had been sitting for about a year so I let the pump squirt out what little was in it , then I filled it up with new, I am pretty shure is a brain malfunction , when I get home I am going to attack it.

Ahhh, Good to hear on the fuel situation Gabby I wish you all the best with it and hope you find a quick and simple(cheap!) fix to get her running again.

I honestly feel that fuel delivery is not the problem here. If you've shot it with ether and it didn't fire, you have an ignition problem, not fuel delivery. And no, I don't mean spark ignition, we're talking diesel here. When I need to juice my PowerStroke, I pull the air tube from the air filter box and give it a brief shot. Be sure your glow plugs are disabled. They are also making ether now with lubricants added which are safer for your engine. If the engine doesn't fire for a few seconds then there's something else wrong, either compression is too low to ignite the fuel or the valve timing is out of whack. If it does fire a few seconds, then fueling is indeed your problem.

Steve, I am not trying to be argumentative, but several of us have mentioned engines that wouldn't fire on ether. I can't explain it, but too many of us have seen it to discount it. I believed that too, until I saw it.

However, at this point I would definitely be doing a compression check. The OP says he is sure it has compression because it doesn't spin too fast, but a lot of things could have happened that would cause no compression and it still turn hard. It's a long shot, but once you check the probable and improbable, the impossible is all that's left.

Has anyone noticed that a lot of the starting fluid now doesn't have near the umph to it as some of the old brands that are getting harder to find

HATCHEQUIP said:

Has anyone noticed that a lot of the starting fluid now doesn't have near the umph to it as some of the old brands that are getting harder to find

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Yes, don't tell anybody, but every now and again I'll use some to put a tire on the bead, and some brands have NO woompf at all, they just burn slow.

20+ years ago, I had an old Thermadyne Mack set up as a stationary engine on a sawmill, if the temp was above 30 it cranked immediately, below that and I'd give her a light whiff of ether. I went to Wal-Mart one night and they were out of regular ether, but they had some that said it was " environmentally safe". I bought a case and a few days later it was in the mid twenties, so I gave the old Mack a whiff, nothing. I gave her a snort, nothing. I checked her over good, bled the injectors, etc, nothing. I gave her a bunch of starting fluid, nothing. I found a little dab in an old can, poked a hole in the can and got a couple drops into the filter, VROOM!

I sprayed the "safe" one in a cup and threw it in the fire, nothing. I sprayed it straight in the fire, it darkened it down! I returned it all.

My buddy got truck in his garage that would not start the Ford dealer couldn't figure it out. Turned out it was an oil pressure sensor. It wouldn't let t he motor start as it was detecting low engine oil pressure. Can remember what year power stroke.

Totally agree with Steve on this one.....

Put your hand on intake tube while cranking make sure you have some suction, maybe you have a totally 100% plugged inter cooler or something! I've not seen it but I wouldn't rule it out, I would also call it valve train/timing problem I know you guys say some motors won't fire on ether but I've never experienced it,,,,,,, but then again I agree with the bead seating situation too, seems like I almost set more tires on fire than set the bead on anymore lol.

If no luck check cam/crank timing, I'm not sure how to do it but maybe she jumped a couple of teeth and still has compression but at the totally wrong time


On edit: in a pinch I have been known to take air filters out and throw a road flare down 'er throat, works like a charm just a little expensive but a damn site lest costly than tearing it down due to a bent rod or busted top cyl ring from ether locking. And yes the early strokers had a oil level problem, ford fixed the issue with a shorter dipstick

Something else ya might try is to chase the cam sensor wire as far as you can and check resistance of it against the running truck to make sure you don't have a bad wire, I'm not sure if the truck will start at all without a cam sensor or just hard start........ Still not convinced that ether wouldn't start it tho lol , just make sure you unplug the other end of it first.



Pj

Yair . . . I never see any reference to you folks in the U.S. using a petrol (gasoline) soaked rag around/under the intake. It always worked for me and seemed a bit gentler . . . the engines didn't throw that awful ignition rattle.

Not as cold of course as you blokes get but I have seen water freeze one morning when I tossed a bucket on the windscreen. In those conditions the "B" model could easy run out of air and what a pain in the butt that was . . . thems were the days.

Cheers.

Scrub Puller said:

Yair . . . I never see any reference to you folks in the U.S. using a petrol (gasoline) soaked rag around/under the intake. It always worked for me and seemed a bit gentler . . . the engines didn't throw that awful ignition rattle.

Not as cold of course as you blokes get but I have seen water freeze one morning when I tossed a bucket on the windscreen. In those conditions the "B" model could easy run out of air and what a pain in the butt that was . . . thems were the days.

Cheers.

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Hi ScrubPuller, The 'gas rag' trick is actually how I was taught when I first got into this line of work when I told the boss I would find a can of ether... he showed me how to do it... the main thing was do NOT let the rag get into the motor!!! since then I quit buying cans of ether for the detroits Glad to see others know of this method and it's gentleness to engines, I mention it once in a while but like most things it is best to be showed the 'trick'

What great timing. My buddies boy just bought my old service truck. 01 550 7.3 with 193,000 on her. We parked it as it was getting hard to crank. I would stand on the starter for a minute or more before it fired. It was parked 7 years ago. I think now all it needed was the injectors resealed. Guess I'll find out as I will be helping a 15 year old on his first truck.

These are all great suggestions and I am chomping at the bit to get home and attack the this, its fixing to be shi++y and cold in ND so I'LL be glad to head south next week ,I'm gonna take an old glowplug and make me an adapter to check comp first off, The oil pressure gauge comes up when I spun it so that should rule the oil pressure sensor out, the either I was using was hot , I mounted a couple of 22.5s with the same can the day before , I didn't do it yet, but probably will get made and stick MR.VICTOR in the Y-PIPE and put a little fire in it , if its below about 50 that's the only way the 4-53 in my bantam picker will crank, ha-ha. Once again thanks for all the help, this is a GRRRREAT SITE!!!!!

Scrub Puller,

In the Army, In 1985; we were getting the new HMMWV, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, Somehow shortened to HUMVEE.

Anyway, the early HMMWV had a 6.2 GM diesel, but it had a dreadful glow plug system. The truck was 24 volt system; but to the glowplugs, they routed through big heavy resistors, for 12 volts. The glowplug system was awful. In commercial 6.2, I believe the trucks were 12 volt. I still have the schematics and the fixes we used; but that is another story.

The gas rag starting procedure, at the outside aircleaner, would get them fired up even in the coldest weather.

I remember a (not really mechanic), took the snorkle of at the intake; and proceeded to do this starting procedure. And for some reason, he thought he had to use the biggest and thickest rag, that he could find. Oh yea, sucked it right it.

He wasn't allowed to take the cylinder head off; but he was made to clean that rag out of one exhaust valve. A real mechanic then put it back together.

old1

Scrub Puller said:

Yair . . . I never see any reference to you folks in the U.S. using a petrol (gasoline) soaked rag around/under the intake. It always worked for me and seemed a bit gentler . . . the engines didn't throw that awful ignition rattle.

Not as cold of course as you blokes get but I have seen water freeze one morning when I tossed a bucket on the windscreen. In those conditions the "B" model could easy run out of air and what a pain in the butt that was . . . thems were the days.

Cheers.

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actually lately i use silicone spray hell i had a 6.0 with a bad ficm the other day and i ran it on silicone spray long enough to get it on my trailer so i could bring it home and change out the ficm

Yair . . . fellers that is real interesting.

I was unsure if the gasoline vapours would be enough to light something off in extreme cold . . . I hope I never have to try. (he grins)

Cheers.

Scrub Puller said:

Yair . . . fellers that is real interesting.

I was unsure if the gasoline vapours would be enough to light something off in extreme cold . . . I hope I never have to try. (he grins)

Cheers.

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Scrub it not the vapours its the heat. Many moons ago when I was a very young sailor my ship would be at anchor in San Diego bay (its get cold there and foggy) about 0400 would be up to start the liberty boats to bring crew to the ship we had some old LCM's with 2 valve 6-71's and we would light a rag on a piece round stock soaked in diesel fuel and hold it up to the intake and feed the engine hot air (these had the flat marine intakes) and they would fire right up.

Yair . . . stinkycat. I think you misunderstand me. When I said "light something off in extreme cold" I meant actually getting the engine to fire up on the petrol fumes . . . that language thing again. (he grins)

Cheers.

When I was in the USN everything was started by "lighting off." The commands from engineering or the bridge to start any engine was "light off #1 diesel". We always figured this was a throw back to the old steam engine days when those units actually had a fire started in them. I still catch myself sometimes telling someone to light off a truck or pump and piece of equipment. I get a funny look sometimes and the universal response of "what?"