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Broke down 7.3

14K views 181 replies 21 participants last post by  Ouch 
#1 ·
2003 7.3 170,000 miles, new injectors 30,000 miles ago... turbonatics (sp?) turbo, DPtuner was running 80hp/ economy.. just leaving a stop sign, wasnt getting on it or nothing then a herd a ding ding ding....so on and LOTS of white smoke.. pulled over to the side of the road, still dinging and smoking at idle and shut it off right away... not when i try to turn it over its like the starter is just spining...or something the whole engine shakes and makes bad noise.. Any ideas or any more info needed to maybe know what wrong with it? Thanks to everyone who helps ... and anybody have a referral for a shop around Watertown,MN
 
#9 ·
sure ruined my day.. got a guy looking into the cost of a replacement... anyone know a shop around me.. Watertown,MN I really dont know a good mechanic around here? This is just something i didnt need to happen right now financially..
 
#11 ·
pm me your number, I'm in clearwater mn, and can take a peek at it tomorrow if you like. I saw a psd in craigslist needs rebuilding for $350.00, forged motor btw,,,,
 
#12 ·
Check your flexplate. Sounds like you are describing exactly my sounds when mine broke.

Looks like this:
 
#13 ·
Andy, what would cause the white smoke though?
 
#14 ·
blue... PM you my number... The truck is outiside is it a fast look? Dont know where I'm at with the truck.. got a guy who works for Ford so could get parts at a decent price.. do know a forsure on what happened.. just dont know where I'm at right now..
 
#16 ·
I'd say we should have an idea of whats going on in a 1/2hr or so.
 
#17 ·
update... off of the rely (towards the front of the truck, by Glow plug rely the red wire leaving it about 1' long (gets power once key is turned) broke off from its desinged spot.. theconnector rusted or snapped off somehow its just flopping there.... looked a another guys and tried hooking it up the way his is and still no good. sorry I dont know actually names of the parts Im tryin to desribe Im tryin to find pictures on the web..
 
#24 ·
Could be pushrod, injector nozzle or a few other things. PMRs do like to break but start simple and don't freak out. But if you like hp, plan on changing the motor before it does actually happen if it has not already.
:whs: Start with checking the basics before you start panicking. I wouldn't say a rod because normally when those let go they do the coolant & oil flush mod for you. I'd start by pulling the valve covers & check all your pushrods & rocker arms. It isn't going to cost you anything to check that out & check the turbo for shaft play.
 
#20 ·
he has his dad checking a couple of things out, but I'm thinking I'll go down there and see what I can see. I'm not a mechanic but I do all my own wrenching, I should be able to get it narrowed down.
 
#22 ·
:whs:

i would look at fuel pressure, might be low... if you've got a broken nozzle that's allowing excessive fuel going into the cylinder(right?). a easy way to check... sniff the oil. smell diesel?

check crank case pressure, if its idling running like ass sounding like it's missing and your feeling a lot of pressure coming from the oil fill cap or if you have a CCV mod done. then i would look for a cracked piston.

hope its something simple... but dings and knocks with smoke are never good. sorry man.
 
#25 ·
don't sweat the pmr's either.... the gap between pmr's and forged isn't all THAT much.... I mean heck, you can dump about $3000 on power adders before worrying about the pmr's lol.... then another hundred hp or so and you are into worrying about your forged rods lol
 
#26 ·
ok, so I went and looked at it, this is what we know right now:
he left his buddys house, truck sounded bad and was smoking white pretty bad.

pulled back in, shut it off, let it sit for an hr or so and when he tried to start it the whole motor shook violently and didn't turn over or start.

let it sit until today, oil looks and smells fine- slight hint of fuel but nothing unusual, no exterior leaks- coolant, oil or fuel.

I had him hit the starter and it sounded BAD, like worse than the starter grinding on the flexplate.

So I crawled underneath and tried to rotate engine by hand clockwise looking at it from the front- it moved about 10* and stopped and we heard a gurgling sound from the right bank. I waited a bit and tried again, same thing so I rotated it counterclockwise and it rotated at least half a revolution fairly freely. So I rotated clockwise again and when it got to the same spot it stopped again and made more gurgling, so I kept pressure on it and got it to rotate through that spot. then I pulled the trans inspection cover off and had him bump it again- it turned over fine, but we just bumped it- no more.

And that is as far as we got today, it sounds to me that one cyl is/was hydro locked and I got it to work past it,,,, maybe??? If it were mine I'd pull the v/c's and glow plugs, check the push rods and then crank it and see which cyl's have fluid in them and how much. What do you guys think?
he just bought the truck a while ago and it has some performance parts on it, the previous owner says the inj's were replaced 30k ago??? I'm guessing bigger inj's were pulled out and stock ones put in for resale, could they have cut an oring? or damaged an inj cup?
 
#28 ·
wish I could've helped more, keep us informed on the progress.
 
#29 ·
That is a classic symptom of a hung injector filling a cylinder with fuel and hydrolocking the engine. The only other white smoke you will see is coolant leaking into the cylinder. If he is real lucky he didn't shatter the rings, bend the connecting rod, pushrod, or other significant internal damage.
 
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