7.3. problem

Could be about a million things. First thing I would look at is the intercooler boots.

My guess is you blew a hose off the turbo.

Thanks guys. Hoping for a hose problem. Hope that wouldn't cause damage already.

No damage. Just get a new boot and glue it back on. Use hair spray to do this.

Cam sensor.

If it's a hose (in the intake group), go to Riff Raff Diesel and buy their aftermarket hoses. They are the best, I run them exclusively..

Cannot be the cam sensor. It's actually not a cam sensor, the sensor (on the front of the motor, above the harmonic balancer, senses crankshaft rotation and it it fails, the engine won't start, period.

Don't understand the 'hair spray' comment, the hoses clamp on, not stick on.

For any 7.3 of any year, you never want to add a tune of any kind, simply because tuners advance the injection timing and that becomes an issue down the road and finally...

I'd start running a Nano-Borate additive in the engine oil. The injsecotrs in a HEUI engine suffer from sticky spool valves (called 'stiction' and a super lubricant like Nano-Borate, eliminates that sticky condition plus the motor runs quieter and you get better fuel mileage and starts easier cold.

I use Archoil but there are a few on the market.

Been running a 7.3 since 1997 btw.

Ummmm, yes i would look under the hood.

On the notorious Cam Position Sensor (CPS), I went thru 5 of them on my 7.3. They finally recalled then and installed one that never failed after that.

And oh yeah, mine ran with a bad sensor. It would rattle and knock and what ever else it felt like doing. My 7.3 would usually restart after a cool down after the CPS failed, if it dropped dead completely that is.

I carry and extra one in the door pocket along with a 10mm deep socket and 3/8 drive ratchet. Takes about 2 minutes to change one out.

A backfire can also be caused by a burned (and intermittent connection) on the fuel injector sub harness (where the feed passes through the valve cover gasket). That can be an issue and cause a misfire as well and are easily replaceable with a new valve cover gasket and feed harness. Easiest way to tell is pull the external connectors and look at them. If the ends appear burned, it's time to replace. You can buy the gasket complete with the pass through connector for around 50 bucks each side and most come with the external Molex connector as well. I've just replaced mine.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Don't understand the 'hair spray' comment, the hoses clamp on, not stick on.

Intercool boot hair spray trick.


Hair spray on intercooler boot


Hair spray to help your diesel


Aqua Net works great

Yeah, old trick. I also remember some of my technicians say they used egg yolk as well.