OT '03 E-350 W/7.3 no start

Fritz Maurer · Jan 7, 2012

Friend accidentally put gas in his diesel. His home was about a mile from the station, and he shut it down as soon as he heard it rattling. I drained the tank, changed the fuel filter, got clean fuel squirting out of the back of both heads. The engine is spinning like crazy, but it won't start. There is no smoke whatever. The wait light on the dash is cycling, but I can't say for sure if the solenoid is being energized. I had to disturb a large harness connector in order to get to the fuel filter, and I checked that over thoroughly for broken wires or corrosion. I made sure both valve covers are plugged in. There are presently no trouble codes, although I don't know if they'll show up without the engine running. How can I tell if power is coming out of the PCM, or if power is getting to the PCM? Thanks, Fritz

rustred · Jan 8, 2012

the damage is done! should have never turned the key on.

Blackhole49 · Jan 8, 2012

That really helped him rusted red! Wish I had an answer.

Aaron SEIA · Jan 8, 2012

Is the tach showing RPM's when spinning? Does the amp gauge show a big draw when the WTS light is on? If no RPM's, then the cam sensor is bad, if no big draw then the glow plugs aren't working, but you still should have smoke. IF you can get to the relay having 12v at both big terminals is a sign they are getting power. I'm not up on the 03 vans. I assume that it's a 7.3? You can ask at www.thedieselstop.com just find the right forum. Lot of smart PSD people there.
AaronSEIA

John M · Jan 8, 2012

There use to be! SmokeyWren got promoted to to Moderator and banned anyone who knew more than he did!

Fritz Maurer · Jan 8, 2012

Thanks, Aaron, I'll try them. There is definitely NO
smoke. I'm thinking the injectors are not getting
signals. I'm also operating under the assumption the
glow plugs are already toasted. I had planned on
dealing with them after I got to a point where the
thing had some prayer of starting. Thanks again.
Fritz

Aaron SEIA · Jan 8, 2012

I don't think gas in the fuel is going to affect the glowplugs. It will score the barrels of the injectors. Did it run ok when it was shut off, or was it already feeling the affects of the gas? Without the glowplugs it's gonna be a hard to start engine anyway. You can try taking the 2 small wires off the relay and giving her a sniff of ether. I think you have bigger problems, but you can try.
AaronSEIA

Fritz Maurer · Jan 8, 2012

Yes it was shut down immediately, as soon as the
symptoms showed up. I did give it a tiny bit of
ether,(after the system was cleaned) and it ran
shortly as you might expect. The reason I thought
the glow plugs might be bad, was the fact that they
were so delicate in the 6.9/7.3 PC motors. You
really had to know what you were doing administering
ether to them, sometimes the whole tip came off.

OT '03 E-350 W/7.3 no start

Fritz Maurer

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rustred

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Blackhole49

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Aaron SEIA

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John M

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Fritz Maurer

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Aaron SEIA

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Fritz Maurer

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