Happy Independence day to me! Go to fire the truck up to head out for the day, turn the key, injectors buzz, crank it over, it pops once. Literally just one "pop" and then nothing... cranking and cranking and cranking and nothing. No smoke coming out, so the injectors are not firing. Didn't have much time to mess with it, but I figured I'd document it here anyways. Helps keep me sane. Had to take the gf's escape around for the day and her A/C doesn't work properly of course... wonderful!

Got back late last night but messed with the truck a bit. To me, the one pop and then nothing was a little odd. I checked ALL of the fuses under the steering column, all are good. I swapped FICM's, no dice. Hooked the laptop up, started monitoring a few things. I really need to go buy AE, because this software I have is goofy. It was giving me all of my ICP readings in metric first. I messed with it a bit, finally got it reading in English units, but now it's giving me actual ICP in ft/hg, instead of PSI, but it gives me desired in PSI. I had to do a conversion after I brought it inside. It appears IPR is going from 15% up to 75%, in an attempt to get it to fire. ICP actual, comes in around 1500psi as I crank, and desired seems to be going up to 1000psi or so. Odd that actual is higher than desired, but I'm not convinced it's a high pressure oil issue. I didn't get to check anything under the hood as far as relays/fuses. I was VERY warm and had been sweating all day and didn't want to deal with it. It might even be as simple as the FICM relay. What WAS concerning to me... FICM SYNC. Didn't appear I was ever getting a "YES" there, always appeared like FICM SYNC was just not working. FICM SYNC is the camshaft position sensor and the crankshaft position sensor telling the FICM when to fire. Without SYNC, the FICM doesn't work. Which makes sense. I'm hoping just a simple FICM relay. Kind of odd how it went out, but I guess I should be happy it didn't leave me stranded and did it in the driveway.

Also scanned, no codes, and no check engine light.

thoughts/comments/laughter welcomed.

Oh, and my in-laws are coming out tonight, so not sure how much time I'll get to work on it even.

 

oil pressure sounds fine. had a truck we done HG on do that one time. making more than desried. its because on crank up it makes the ipr go full closed. desired is still just 1000, but its making it and then some. so that rules out oil problem. the pop could have been a relay, or fuse. do you know if the fuel lift pump is working?

 

I turned the key forward and tried listening for it, it sounded like it was on and pumping yes, but it was hard to tell because my vacuum pump is running non stop right now with the vacuum leak I have. I need to crawl under the truck and actually feel the pump to verify. Just ran out of time and energy last night. FWIW, I've started this truck before and had it idle in the driveway with the fuel pump unplugged... it just wont drive anywhere like that.

I also checked all the fuses on my vegistroke system, since it is actually what tells the diesel pump to kick on and off now. I have the jumper plug installed basically bypassing it though. Just odd how it fired quick and then nothing, I'm definitely thinking a popped fuse or relay. Hopefully, since that's the easiest solution.

 

Good god this thing is kicking my ****.

Still not starting, and still having troubles tracing it down, but I think I've got it narrowed down pretty good. Per the recommendations of others I have tried the following:

Unplugging EBP and trying to start: no change
Unplugging GPCM and trying to start: no change
resetting the fuel pump by hitting the switch in the passenger foot well: no change
Swapping FICM: no change
monitoring nearly everything under the sun. Monitored ICP actual/desired, IPR duty cycle, EBP sensor readings, FICM SYNC, FICM voltages, etc etc, and I posted my findings on PSA.

Here's what I was watching and the readings for it:




So some of the FICM power levels looked off. So last night when I got back home, I did some more monkeying. I tested the FICM with a multi-meter. When you first turn the key, the injectors buzz good, but voltage immediately drops from 48 to 36ish, and keeps creeping down as the injectors buzz. As soon as they stop buzzing, the reading drops to 0.0! It stays at 0.0 even when cranking, but I know for a fact the FICM itself is good. I even tried swapping another good FICM I have here that I know is good and it does the same symptoms, though I didn't try reading that one with the multi-meter. I know all of the fuses on the truck are good, I'm thinking it's a relay under the hood possibly.

So this morning I go out and yank that relay out. It's a 70 amp unit. The P/N on it reads: F80B-14B192-AA

So I do some google searching and this is the first link I read, FML:70 Amp relay #F80B-14B192-AA found in Ford Crown Vic - Dodge Diesel - Diesel Truck Resource Forums

Of course, why wouldn't this be discontinued!So I decide I'm going to head to the junkyard after work and try to find some crown vics. Then a good buddy of mine from Florida, who goes by the name of Snake on most of the boards tells me this:

Mike, pulled this from TDG (guy had same problem as you)
Dealers No Help, Can't get Ford Part!!!! - TheDieselGarage.com

So it looks like I CAN order it from the dealer, but list is $35. I think I'm going to the junkyard anyways after work to find some 70amp Ford relays...

Why is such a simple thing causing such a HUGE headache! Yikes! Posting this with the hopes that it helps someone else in the future. I will let you guys know if this fixes it or not.

 

Update...

Ok, managed to find ONE of these relays at the junkyard. I checked probably a dozen or so crown vic/grand marquis type cars, the only one that even had the setup that contained this one relay was a 97 grand marquis. I checked older and newer and it was the only one... maybe just got lucky, who knows.

Anyways, last night I did something that kind of set me back. I accidentally touched the multi meter probe against the case of one of the FICM's I have here. Oops. I wasn't sure if it was damaging or not, turns out it was.

Get the new relay in, have the gf turn the key and test probe the FICM. 0.0 volts across the board, no injector buzz, nothing. Crap. So swap in my other FICM from the back seat (newer 4 pin). Try again, I'm getting a solid 48.6V across the board now. Try cranking truck again, and no smoke still. I test probe the batteries as they are getting weak from all this cranking now, and they're reading something like 11.6V now, so they're dying. This is the first I've had the FICM stay above 48V consistently, but still no smoke. So now the FICM seems good, but batteries are weak.

I posted this on PSA, and learned today that the PCM shuts down at 9V. If my batteries are at 11.6 without cranking, and you figure 2-3V drop when cranking... my PCM is probably not firing now. So I'm really hoping the relay fixed this, just need to get the batteries charged first. I will follow up and let you know more when I find out more.

 

Well so far everything I have tried has not worked. Fresh charged batteries, nothing...

So last night, just for giggles, I went out and shot some ether into the intake (oh no, say you didn't!) I did! I turned they key and waited a minute or so (ensuring the glow plugs were off) and fired it up. Truck fired right up... and then continued to idle just fine. I was amazed. Shut it down, turned the key and it fired right back up. WTF? Shut it down, let it sit for 30 minutes or so, fired right back up again.

Went out this morning, fired it up and just drove 32 miles to work, no issues. I've never been so confused in my life. I don't even know what to tell you guys, because I don't know what was wrong or what fixed it. Ben Franklin can take his electricity and both of them can go outside and play "hide and go fugg yourselves"

That is all.

 

Could it be that the 'force start' of the ether pulled fuel through the system? It sounds like my a/c not working then working great as usual.

If Ben comes around my hut, I'm going to punch him in the nose! Fire good, electricity bad!

 

It was getting fuel... pulled the top filter and turned the key and the bowl filled right up. If it was just low fuel pressure or even bad fuel, I would think it still would have spit and sputtered and smoked some no? I had NO smoke what so ever, the injectors just were not firing. I don't know what the heck "kickstarted" it here, but it did....

My knowledge of wires is that there's smoke inside of them, and if it escapes the wire is junk. Don't let the smoke escape the wiring!

 

I finally got this mother effer figured out!!!

I towed my camper up to the middle of no where this past weekend, pulled in, shut the truck down and cracked a beer. Or several. Dozen.

Woke up the next morning, needed to unhook the camper from the truck to get stuff out of the bed. Go to start truck, injectors buzz, crank it over it fires on one or two cylinders again and shuts off. Oh no! I know this game. Try cranking it again, no smoke, no start. You have to be kidding me!!!! So, I call up Bob. We talk it over and think logistics. It's always nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and talk things through rationally. I didn't even bother "checking" anything this time with the labtop, went right for some ether. I spray some ether in, crank it over... still no start this time. Are you kidding me? Bob said it over and over... you have fuel, you have good ICP, and compression... it should start, unless there is no air. I start thinking back to the really long thread I have on PSA about this the first go around and someone mentioned to me that I should check the turbo. I said why would I do that? What could that possible do to cause the truck to not start? He claimed he had seen some seized turbos that caused the truck to not start. This made no sense to me. I decided to check it anyways. Pulled intake off, filter was really dirty, but still usable. I knocked all the big stuff off of it. Removed the intake assembly from the turbo forward. Touched the impeller of the turbo and it was hung up. Now, when I say hung up, I think a strong wind would have knocked it loose, but seriously, I touched it and could feel it was "stuck" I literally broke it free with a gentle touch of my finger. I got in the truck and it fired right up. Are you serious? Yes, I'm serious. I shut the truck down and watched the turbo spin down without hitting any "hard spots" or anything of the nature. I'm not actually sure what inside of the turbo would cause it to do this and if I had not seen it myself I would have told you there was no way even if the turbo was stuck it would not start, as I would think SOME air would still be getting through. Either way, looks like I'll be yanking my turbo off the truck sometime this week for a good cleaning. The shaft seemed to have no excessive play and the impeller wasn't contacting the housing or anything.

Or maybe it's time for an upgrade? Powermax...hmmm, more MTW mad turbo? Stage 1? Hybrid? Stage 2? Decisions decisions....

Anyways, wanted to report back that I finally got it figured out with Bob's help. This is not something I have ever seen before.

 

What egt temp do you shut your truck off at?