My $40 fuel pressure gauge almost cost me a $4,000 engine rebuild

Last Tuesday I finally got around to installing a fuel pressure gauge I bought off Craigslist from some guy in Reno. Fired up my 7.3 and the needle was dancing all over, showing 10 psi at idle then jumping to 80 when I touched the throttle. I panicked and shut it down, thinking my HPOP was toast or my injectors were done. After two days of tearing stuff apart and reading forums, I realized the gauge itself was junk, the little brass restrictor fitting was missing and it was just feeding back pulsation from the fuel pump. Slapped a $14 replacement restrictor on it and now it reads a steady 58 psi like it should. My buddy laughed his ass off watching me nearly cry over a gauge that cost less than a tank of fuel. Has anyone else chased a phantom reading only to find out the cheap tool was the problem all along?

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