well we are both thinking that it may be a bad high pressure pump. or a leak in the high pressure oil system. you could try and make a tool that will adapt to an air hose chuck that goes into the port at the icp sensor and close the ipr and listen for leaks. since the oil rails are integral to the heads i doubt they are leaking. and since the lines aree external then you would see them leaking. you can put the needle back in the ipr and just put 12v to it and that would put the ipr at a 1005 duty cycle. (like putting the needle in backward) it just seems that you are having to put up so much pressure to overcome a leak or a weak pump. i iahve replaced a couple failed pumps on a 7.3 but not many. not saying it is not possible. if you could get your hands on a scanner you could view your icp pressure while cranking. it is obviously too low for the injectors to operate. when you put the needle in the opposite way the pump is running at full bore. also if you cold view icp when the needle is in backward and if it is only putting out 1500psi or so you either have a leak or a bad pump. i just wish i had this thing in my bay right now.