So happy that I seem to have finally fixed a problem my pickup truck has been having for about the past year. It is a 2002 with the 7.3 PowerStroke. And for about the past year, if I would turn my High Intensity Discharge headlights on while it was idling, it would kill the engine immediately. So in order to turn the headlights on, I had to rev the engine up first. I put some of those super white, bright HID headlights that everyone loves to hate so much in my truck, but I did it the right way, and actually put them in real projector lenses, so they dont blind oncoming drivers like they do when guys put them in regular headlights. But anyway, HID headlights work by creating a continuous electrical arc. Which is why some people call them Spark lights too. They create this continuous electrical arc inside a glass tube with a special metal gas in it, instead of passing electricity through a coiled filament like in a regular incandescent bulb. HID lights require super high voltage to start the arc. So when you first turn the headlights on, the ballasts that control them, sends a starting spike of electricity to them, and once the arc is going, the voltage drops, and maintains the arc. So naturally I concluded that there must be some loose connection somewhere that was allowing a voltage drop to my pickups computer when I would turn the headlights on, and that would cause the engine to die. Well, I looked EVERYWHERE! Checked all of my connections, made sure the alternator was indeed putting out about 14 volts like its supposed to, but still, every time I would turn the headlights on without revving the engine up in RPM first.......instant death. And it even got so bad after a while, that if I would be driving down the highway with the headlights on, and the heater on, the truck would randomly shut off momentarily, and beat the heck out of my whole drivetrain as the engine would suddenly stop, and then go again. It was really getting old! There have been a couple times where it died completely right in a busy intersection, and Id have to turn the headlights off, put it in neutral, restart it and go. Well, Ive known for years that a bad camshaft position sensor in these Powerstrokes can cause the engine to randomly die like that, and it was even a safety recall. I could have swore that I replaced the camshaft position sensor on this truck right after I bought it, just like Ive done in my 3 previous 7.3 Powerstrokes. So I was not EVEN suspecting that. And I have never been aware of a bad camshaft position sensor causing the truck to die when you turn the headlights on. But, its just a $25 part, so I decided to buy a new one today, and put it in this afternoon just in case that was the problem. I also bought a relay, and was prepared to wire my headlights through the relay directly to the second battery, hoping to not steal power from the trucks computer, since thats what seemed to be going on. But the first thing I did was put in the new camshaft position sensor, and sure enough. Started it up, and put it to the test by turning my headlights on, and it was amazing!!!! For the first time in almost a year the engine did not even think about dying at all! Strangest thing! Apparently, with the camshaft position sensor being bad, that sudden voltage drop from me turning my HID headlights on, was interfering with whatever little electrical pulse the sensor was getting from the camshaft, and making the engine die. So nice to have my truck back to normal again after dealing with that irritating problem for so long!! All over one stupid little $25 sensor!
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 04:37:53 +0000
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