My 2001 7.3 stall and did not start anymore. It droves perfect till i store it for 2 month. After this it start pefect and after i let him idle 2 or 3 min it stall sudenly. After starting again it nocks very hard -i think it was on some cylinders- and was running very bad. I just drove it back to his place. So 3 minutes more most in idle. But i had to push the throttle a lot so that it does not stall again. Now after it cools down ( we have about 50F here) it does not start and smoke leaved the exhaust during starting. Scangauge does not show any faults. Unfortunatly i have no diagnose tester.
I checked a lot of things: fuel, pump, fuelfilter, changed CPS....then i warmed it up with the blockheater and i get him starting. I detected that the exhaust on the passanger side bank is staying cold. So the complete bank seems not running.
Of course -as it is the easiest work i want to check the IDM but here in Germany the 7.3 are rare and so nobody is around the corner with a good one i can ceck. So i disasambled the valve cover. What a f&%.. job! I hope i have never to do this again!
What i saw
The plug inside the cover was coming loose. I pushed it back and the engine runs perfect!
I also checked the driver side and there also the plug was very loosen!
After some surching in the www i founf´d that Ford sell some RETAINER - Ford #2C3Z14A163AB to help the plug not get loosen again. As i want not wait for shipping it to germany and also the costs i decided to go my own way. I know some take a quarter and cut it to make the job but i hate to take a pice of metal into the engine what can cause damage if it get out of the plug.
So i took an old credit card and cut it to fit perfect into / unter the plug. As it was to small i had to take it double each side.
See pics

loosen plug

that is the pice i built for save the plug com out again

ready to go!

Attached Thumbnails

     

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www.Dieda-unterwegs.net
2001 SMB E350 4x4 7.3 Powerstroke
1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 Convertible ,1978 Peugeot 504 Convertible,1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2,KTM 300 EXC,BMW G/S Paris Dakar,BMW "Diabolo"

I'm glad you got it sorted out. I've seen where the use of quarters (Euros?) is known as the 50cent mod (one quarter for each side), but I agree, using pieces of metal under the valve covers doesn't seem like a good idea.

Depending on the number of miles on the engine, you may want to look at replacing the harness that resides under the valve cover. It could become brittle from age and heat. Now it makes me wonder about the harnesses in my 7.3L

http://www.riffraffdiesel.com/under-val ... ess-99-03/


Herb

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SMB-less as of 02/04/2012. Our savings account is richer, but our adventures are poorer.

This is the best repair job I have ever seen...

That is one slick repair. It is now in my notebook of 7.3 information. Whenever I learn something new, I jot it down in the notebook for future use if needed.

Great job troubleshooting the problem. The fix is elegant.

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Larrie
Read detailed trip reports, see photos and videos on my travel blog, luinil.com.
Current van: 2002 Ford E350 extended body camper with Colorado Camper Van pop top and Agile Offroad 4WD conversion.

And so many of us think credit cards are useless?!

Often times replacement connector shells or repair pigtail leads are available either from Motor Craft or other sources, direct fit for most any Ford wiring harness connector. Those that are part of an assemble (like the ECM PCB connector) aren't individually replaceable.

Any connector shell with locking tabs are subject to breaking which can cause loss of contact and the situation Schluchtenflitzer describes. Here is a link to the current Motor Craft catalog which does require a bit of familiarity first but is easy to quickly see how its arranged, how to find your particular part.

http://www.fordservicecontent.com/pu...torcatalog.pdf

I've found it helpful from time-to-time---the Motor Craft part numbers can be crossed over to other manufacturers and supplies, some times at a savings over the Motor Craft brand.

Extremely useful catalog JWA! thanks.....saved the PDF for future reference.

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2008 E350 RB passenger 4WD SMB penthouse
2013 KTM 350 EXC
2008 KTM 250 XCF-W
2003 Honda Element

Good diagnosis! As BroncoHauler says, that is commonly referred to as the "50 cent mod." One grinded down U.S. Quarter per UVCH connection. In your case I guess the name would be based on the credit limit of your credit card.





50 Cent Mod:
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/92...ml#post8408158

General 7.3L PSD Sticky:
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/40...ech-links.html

Ford apparently makes a new UVCH which doesn't come loose and doesn't have this problem.

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2002 E350 ext.; 160K; 7.3L; 4R100 (w/4x4 deep pan & filter); 4x4 conv. w/2007 F250/F350 coil frnt axle (oppos. dual Bilstein press. shocks cured DW) diff chg from 3.55 to 3.73 (bad!); BW1356 t.c. (bad!); LT265/70R17/E Michelin LTX M/S2; Engel MT60 Combi Fridge-Freezer; 4 BP 380J pv panels; Auragen 5kw AC gen. in top alt. position; Webasto Dual-Top; Voyager top. 1995 5.8L EB Bronco, bone stock.