Doged a bullet before the trip!!!

[25contender]

Dodged a bullet before the trip!!!

Man I almost started to panic!! Leaving Wednesday for Elk Archery season in Montana and the truck started to loose power and went into limp mode. Luckily I was only about 2 miles from the Ford dealer so I pulled into the service Dept. It felt like I lost partial drivers side cylinders. The fine lady at the counter said they had a two week back up in the diesel shop!!! So I talk with her a while and come to find out she knew my wife and she would get it in first thing this morning. Whew now I just had to wait and see what the damage was even though I knew that it was probably the UVCH (Under Valve Cover Harness on the 7.3 diesels) So after a few hours Mike the diesel tech came out with the gasket / harness and sure enough it was fried from coming un-clipped. He said he would check the other side and install the new wedges to keep it from happening to the passenger side harness. I am glad this happened before I hit the road!!! Pic below of the harness. This is a common problem with the 7.3s. Cutting it close but the truck will be ready Tuesday. If I had time to do it myself I would do the work myself but way to busy at work!! So if you have a 7.3 you might want to remove the valve covers and take a look at the harness connection and install the new wedges or do the quarter trick to them.

 

[ivorytip]

holly crap man! im glad it happened when it did and not in the middle of nowhere, hope you get back on road soon, good luck.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

What year is your 7.3? I have a 99 with 250k miles on it and have never had anything like that. In fact other than a glow plug relay and a belt tensioner bearing, have never had any engine or tranny problems. Maybe I am on borrowed time or just lucky...LOL

Forgot to add......Good Luck to you.

 

[25contender]

Mine is a 2001 Excursion. If you look it up on line you will see its pretty common. I knew about it but never did the fix. Mine only has 126000 miles on it!! The fix is pretty simple but you do need to pull the valve covers. Most of the time there is a warning. Your truck will start to sputter a little and maybe a little lose of power. If you do it undo the harness and make sure none of the connectors are burnt. If the harness is loose the connectors can arc.

What year is your 7.3? I have a 99 with 250k miles on it and have never had anything like that. In fact other than a glow plug relay and a belt tensioner bearing, have never had any engine or tranny problems. Maybe I on borrowed time or just lucky...LOL

 

[25contender]

You got that right!! It would have really sucked in the middle of no where!! The man upstairs must be looking out for me this year!!

holly crap man! im glad it happened when it did and not in the middle of nowhere, hope you get back on road soon, good luck.

 

[Musket Man]

342K on my 96 and I never had that happen or any problem with the engine. I have changed glow plugs and all the wires looked fine but I will be checking the wires closer next time after seeing that!

 

[25contender]

MM check the harness connection that is what will be loose. It comes loose before it starts to arc out.

Here is a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHwjEfJtM_g

 

[marcusvdk]

Glad it worked out for the best. Got in time for the trip and had it break before being in the middle of BFE with no help. Good luck on your trip

 

[Timberstalker]

I have, 'O1 I'm heading out on the 18th for Wy. I think I checked that a could years ago when I did the glow plugs. I may check again though! Glad it happened now rather that later to you 25

 

[OregonJim]

Got pretty lucky!!!!! That would have been a huge P.I.A. out on the road.

I am getting the Tundra in for the 100K tune up and timing chain next week before I lv for WY.
Already put on new tires, replacement bumper, winch and airbags.

This is one expensive hunting season already!!!!!!

 

[Dakota Drifter]

I had a 2000 that did that back in 2003 with about 38,000 miles. I didn't even make it 6 blocks. I always wondered why they would put wires inside a hot valve cover.

 

[25contender]

Yep luckly I was only a mile from my Ford Dealer. Not many drawbacks to the 7.3 but this is one of them!!

I had a 2000 that did that back in 2003 with about 38,000 miles. I didn't even make it 6 blocks. I always wondered why they would put wires inside a hot valve cover.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

The car/truck engineers can come up with some weird stuff. My buddy had a Ford 4x4 and when it had quite a few miles on it and we were planning on taking it to Wyoming he decided to have the plugs changed. He called the dealership and they told him they would need it for at least half the day because the engines mounts had to be loosened so the motor could be moved enough to allow access to all the plugs!

 

[25contender]

Just a update the truck did great on the trip to Montana. Logged almost 5000 miles since the repair without a glitch!!

 

[Timberstalker]

Good to hear, mine made the trip to Wyoming and back with zero issues too. I even took the travel trailer along, I was a little skeptic about it since it has nearly 230K on it now. The trailer sure was nice to have as a base camp!

 

[Ikeepitcold]

Man that was lucky. Truck troubles are horrible at any time but to have them when on a trip can be devastating.

 

[Wyoming Hart]

25contender, I have a '95 7.3 with 200,000 miles on it. Never had that problem arise on it. The one that I keep having is the CPS sensor going bad. They are only about $20 or less now and not hard to replace. I always keep an extra one in the glovebox. With any luck, you can get it going long enough to get somewhere to replace it.

 

[Kentucky hunter]

25contender, I have a '95 7.3 with 200,000 miles on it. Never had that problem arise on it. The one that I keep having is the CPS sensor going bad. They are only about $20 or less now and not hard to replace. I always keep an extra one in the glovebox. With any luck, you can get it going long enough to get somewhere to replace it.

We been having some problems with pin fit on those new sensors you can get a new pig tail for that sensor an that may help on them going bad

 

[Wyoming Hart]

Keeping my fingers crossed, the current one is working well and has been in for awhile. Glad that they are easy to replace. But man they can really cause a headache when they go.

 

[25contender]

Haven't had any problems with the CPS. The records shows the old style CPS was replaced under warranty years ago. I do keep a spare and a wrench in the glove box just in case.