I was cleaning up my mess from the snowmobile the night before and snapping the pictures of the tools while I was awaiting the next job to roll through the door.
I walked outside as the sky was getting dark and the clouds were really getting thick ahead of our next storm. So far along the Wasatch Front it has been reported that this is the wettest October on record since they have been tracking. Where was some of this moisture back in July and August when it was one of the driest summers on record?
The 6.0 Powerstroke rolled into the shop and I immediately connected the scan tool while it was hot so I could observe a few PID's as his complaint was odd compared to the others I have run across when diagnosing one of these HEUI fuel injection systems.
The customer complaint just didn't sound like the norm, so after a lot of questions such as recent work and when the situation occurs as I was trying to drill down to the first "C" in my diagnosis process, the "condition".
After learning he had it to a reputable diesel repair shop several times over the past several months for this issue I looked over receipts and asked a lot of questions before going on a test drive with the owner. I let him drive so I could observe the several PID's I was concerned with and he could focus on the road.
My head was racing because he told me it needs a High Pressure Oil Pump (HPOP) as that is what the shop told him, but the data was suggesting otherwise. I didn't see that the pump was having a hard time building pressure, the code present and the data was suggesting a data corruption or reporting error. I explained to the owner that the pressure he is seeing at the ICP wasn't accurate and that it was what is called an "inferred" reading, meaning the ECM was seeing something odd and while already having a tack signal and oil pressure signal, the ECM plugged in a value that it "thought" it should see, therefore an inferred value, but it wasn't real.
He said they replaced the ICP after doing an injector about 3 or 4 months ago and it ran fine for about a month or so. Then a couple of months ago it started acting up and throwing a P2287 code, which I verified. It also had a P2285 code which I had to look up as that one didn't stick in my mind. Found out they both involved information from the ICP back to the ECM so my first thought was wiring or connection issue, NOT the first thought being an expensive HPOP as the owner was told.
I tried to force the IPR high and although it wouldn't max out, it was providing high pressure oil, so the HPOP appeared to be providing what was asked of it.
I was fully prepared to perform a leak test on the high pressure oil side to verify the standpipes, dummy plugs and injector cups were sealing as these are all potential leak points, but the data didn't support that direction. I left the scanner connected and asked the owner to watch the ICP pressure while I took a peek under the hood.
I immediately noticed a new pigtail installed at the ICP and inquired about that. He said the shop did that when they did the injector as it had oil in the connector. Okay, that is a common issue on these and oil in the connector can affect the reading so that made sense. I was a little disappointed in the pigtail just hanging there out in the open, after all I have heard so many good things about this particular diesel repair shop that is local to us. When I moved the wires about the engine stumbled and shook momentarily and he said the ICP pressure jumped up to around 875 psi which is what he said it would go to when he would get the engine code. That must be the inferred value that gets plugged in.
The ICP sensor has three wires going to it so I grabbed one wire at a time and messed with it. The wire pulled out of the heat shrink, the engine sputtered and shuttered and he said the value stuck at around 875 psi. The wire pulled right out of the heat shrink.
It may be difficult to see here, but you can see the copper strands.
Here is the end of the wire. It may be hard to tell, but is that a twisted strand?????
Before condemning the new pigtail, I wanted to perform a drag test on the pins and ensure there was even and adequate tension. I selected the correct size test lead from my kit that matched the pins in the ICP sensor.
All three pins seemed to feel the same and had nice tension on them.
Now knowing the actual ICP connector is in good condition I moved forward to repair the connection to the harness. This is what I discovered.
WTF??? Yep, no solder and no **** connector, merely wires twisted together.
Wondering if it was a fluke, because I can't see this highly respected repair shop doing this kind of work, I thought I'd cut into the heat shrink in another one of the wires to see if there is solder or a **** connector.......
....and before I could cut into the heat shrink that wire pulled out.
Stay tuned for more....
) did that wiring job should have their ******* wired to 120 volts a couple of times.