The problem was fixed the next day (Russ Dean Ford) and apparently was the cam position sensor. It had a failed circuit or something. The tow truck driver said he had been called to tow quite a few PSD trucks over the past few months. He said he heard it was some sort of ignition problem that the Ford people didnt want to talk about. Is this a TSB or a safety recall item? I got my truck fixed under warrantee (with 19,600 miles showing), but is it occurring as often as the tow driver suggests?

The CPS reads the position of the cam in order to time the injector shot. It's a small part located on the front passenger side of the motor bellow the head. A wire plugs into it and it's held in place by a 10mm bolt. It has an O-ring to seal it and also has some shims to get the spacing correct.

They will replace them no charge under your 3/36 warranty. After that they fall under your 100K engine warranty as it's classified as an emissions part. But, after 36K miles you have to pay the $100 deductible.

From spending some time on the various diesel sites this problem is totally random. Some guys have had them go out at 1000 miles, 50K, or 200K. Others have 200K + with no problem. Luck of the draw. I would guess they had a bad batch of sensors. It would be highly unlikely to happen again, but if it did, the CPS costs about $90 from an International dealer or $110 from Ford. Takes less than 10 minutes to install, so you would be better off getting one from International and installing it yourself rather than pay the $100 deductible .

Later,