im going to try to list everything to my knowledge about my truck as it is sitting still and i havent been able to work in a few days and need to get it going.

its a 1995 f 250 7.3 powerstroke. truck has 315,000 miles on it and we have done alot to it over the past 4 months or so. it doesnt have a chip or a programmer. we just put a new uvch on driver side, fuel pump, icp, cps, and a known good ipr, idm, engine wiring harness and fuel filter housing.

we replaced the above stated parts back in september when the truck went into a knocking stage and would not climb hills. it turned out the big wiring harness under the hood had a wire come undone in the harness connector by the driver side wheel well. i think that the ipr fixed the climbing hills part but we still had a skip in the motor and it would bust up a lil bit when the transmission shifted through the gears.

now we went out the other morning when it was cold to crank up and go to work and the dang heater element in the fuel bowl has went bad. at first i thought it was just the fuse blown so i replaced the fuse and went on. two or three days later it happened again and i was told to unplug the heater element wire. ok so i did that and now it will not start at all. when i put my charger on it and let it charge up the batteries it will turn over just fine and the tach will move at first and the longer you crank it will start to bounce up and down. i took the heater element completely out and left the plug unplugged. im completely at a stand still and my father in law is on vacation this week so weve been using his 7.3 but he goes back in on saturday midnight shift. any help would be greatly appreciated. its a slow time of year for my company and i dont have spare dollars to throw at a mechanic or to throw different parts at it. thanks again, Justin

 

check the oil in the HPOP resevoir.

 

You sure you unplugged the right wire? It was running before you unplugged the fuel bowl heater and now it won't start?

Have you made sure both batteries are good, there is fuel in the fuel bowl, the oil in the crankcase and HPOP res are both sufficient. Have the injectors ever been replaced? When you crank, do you get smoke out the tailpipe? You've checked and double checked all fuses in cab and underhood? Made sure all wiring harness connections are tight? Unplugged the ICP sensor and tried starting it that way?

 

yea i unplugged the fat one on the side of the filter housing. it was running when i took it duck huntin and after i got back home that morning it wouldnt crank back up so i checked fuse and it was blown again. i unplugged the heater replaced the fuse and the now it wont crank.

i put my battery charger on the batteries and charged the fully. the fuel bowl is full. the oil in the crankcase is full but will need changing in about 1500 miles. havent checked hpop oil level yet but plan on doing so today. im not sure about injectors. i get little white smoke out of the tailpipe. ive checked all the fuses 3 or 4 times just visually not with a light. i will check all harness connections as well. any ones in particular that would cause a no start? icp was the first thing i checked even though i just replaced it with a new one from the ford dealership. thanks for the help, Justin

 

I think there are multiple plugs on the side of the fuel bowl. The heater one is the square style plug in the middle... Is that the one you are referring to? And you have left it unplugged correct? Then replaced the fuse? If you continue to blow that fuse, you know something isn't right on that circuit... And that circuit powers your PCM which is the reason that truck isn't starting...

And for the harness connections, any loose connection will cause a no start. either in the main harness or the IDM harness.

You're posts are getting a bit confusing, is the truck cranking or not?

 

Yes that is the plug that I have unplugged. I have a couple bad glow plugs that I know of and I am going to replace them. The fuse is not blowing with the heater plug unplugged. It will turn over but still no start. I hope that wasn't confusing just tryin to answer questions the best I can

 

No I gotcha now...

If you try plugging the truck in, can you hear the block heater working and does that help at all?

Smoke out the tailpipe is a good thing... You're injectors are firing. white smoke is raw fuel. Might want to test your Glow plug relay...

If you know your batteries are both good, you have fuel in the fuel bowl, you have oil in the crankcase and oil in the hpop res then you are on the right track... The only thing these trucks really need are fuel, oil pressure and voltage...

 

I can't hear the heater but the motor feels warmer when it's plugged in. I thought it couldn't hurt so I plugged it in today to check. I tested the gpr and it seems to be working. I pulled both valve cover gaskets due to bad gp reading when I tested at the unvch plug. Sure enough 4 bad gp's. bought 8 and am in the process of replacing now and gonna replace the valve cover gasket on the passenger side that had a burnt wire smell in one of the plugs. Hopefully going down the right road when 4 glow plugs were testing bad and they aren't on the same side of the motor I knew it couldn't be the gasket. I don't think it would start with 4 out of 8 bad. I will update when I get it back together but all ideas are welcome I'm still chasing leads

 

Definitely would struggle with half the glow plugs working...