[tristahx]

We have a 94.5 F250 7.3 Turbo Diesel, she always seeming to have issues with the Ol' girl since we got her in February 2021, she has stranded us on backroads so many times. As of now she has been in the driveway for just over month and she needs a good boost to get her going, once she starts she sits and idles perfectly for hours and sounds healthy. Issue is, I'f you start actually driving her, you're lucky if you get 30 minutes of drive time before she loses power and dies on the road, again needing quite the boost to get going again and then it's straight back to the driveway. We know the original owner had to rewire something because he was having battery drain issues from the get go, however we were never able to get any more details as to what he changed around and where? The friend we got it from didn't have these issues with her like we are so he is no help either. We cannot afford to take her into a shop right now and she hasn't been flashed for the OBDII Scanner to work. We are on a roll here aren't we!? The alternator has one slightly lose wire on it, its the single wire on the top that connects to the other bunch of wires right beside it, still haven't found out what exactly that single wire does/is for yet either...we put all newer positive and negative cables in (came off a '99 E350) and have replaced the fuel bowl wiring harness as it was burnt.... Since last February a lot of work has been done to the engine, lots of aftermarket and rednecking I'll admit. We may have even reversed the original wire changdn from the first owner and don't even know it. Now she almost seems like she constantly needs the batteries to keep running not normal for a diesel I know... but the batteries either wont keep a charge while running or something is sucking them dry, quick!, . I'm thinking maybe a grounding issue? How can I tell if it's a fuse without a volt meter? What are things I can check for without having a volt meter/tester? Could it even be an issue with the fuel? Oh we have an ******* setup for that as well! I'm in the worst position to be helping this truck at the moment but I can't help but want to try. Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! It gets cold standing outside all day trying find the culprit ☺

 

[Patrick Feeley]

I would see if you can find a DVOM, even if it's a cheap one. It's hard to do any troubleshooting without one. I would get the charging system working as it should. Is the glowplug relay original (if you know)? If it has been replaced, the replacement unit must be "case isolated", meaning the terminals cannot grounded to the unit's base. If they are, the glowplugs will be constantly ON. What are your fuel levels? If they are close to 1/4 tank, you could be sucking air from the tank(s) if the "shower head" fuel pickups in the tank have disintegrated. I would also check your fuel pressure at the shrader valve on the driver's side of the fuel filter bowl. It should be at least 25 psi when cranking and about 50 psi when idling. Cheers!

 

[tristahx]

I would see if you can find a DVOM, even if it's a cheap one. It's hard to do any troubleshooting without one. I would get the charging system working as it should. Is the glowplug relay original (if you know)? If it has been replaced, the replacement unit must be "case isolated", meaning the terminals cannot grounded to the unit's base. If they are, the glowplugs will be constantly ON. What are your fuel levels? If they are close to 1/4 tank, you could be sucking air from the tank(s) if the "shower head" fuel pickups in the tank have disintegrated. I would also check your fuel pressure at the shrader valve on the driver's side of the fuel filter bowl. It should be at least 25 psi when cranking and about 50 psi when idling. Cheers!

I agree, a DVOM would be very beneficial to us with this truck. The glow plug relay had been replaced yes, I will definitely check that out. We try to keep the tank full as often as we can, however we aren't using the original tanks. We had a very "kind" local man mess with the tanks a couple months ago and messed them up pretty good. That was fun getting rid of everything it put through the lines and such.... For now we are unfortunately using a seperate tank which sits in the box right behind the cab with a fuel pump hooked up to it and has to be propped up on the passengers side so that the fuel sits on the proper side... I will check the psi out as well. Thank you for the suggestions!!