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New to diesels, not sure whats wrong...

3K views 26 replies 8 participants last post by  Guck84 
#1 ·
04 6.0L PSD, 140k miles, 2wd

OK, story goes like this...

The other day I filled up the tank (at Chevron). Things seemed to be running alright on my way to work as well as on the way home. The truck sounded like it was stuttering a little bit but I payed it no real attention. It was running a little rougher than normal at idle but again just enough to make me notice it. Then Tuesday everything ran just fine. No idle problems, No power issues, No check engine lights, nothing out of the ordinary for the temp and pressure gauges. Nothing to indicate anything was wrong. Then today I went to start it up and got no fire. The truck cranks but no ignition to turn over. I checked for frayed/broken/shorted/chaffed/damaged wires and hoses. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. I pulled off the upper fuel filter to see if the bowl was full. It was. Pulled off the lower. It was clean and plenty full. Opened the fuel petcock, to clean debris. Could hear the fuel pump turn on. It was ok. I ran a code reader against the computer. Didn't throw any codes.

I have exhausted myself as well as the end of the internet searching for possible problems. My guesses would be FICM is bad. Be it shorted/corroded/ just plain busted. The High pressure Oil rings/ tube is broken.

Wouldn't the code reader throw a code if the FICM is bad though?

I would really like to make the best educated guess I can so that my bank doesn't yell at me for spending thousands and not getting anything to work (bank meaning wife).

Any info you guys can give on the issue would be greatly appreciated, and I don't want to sound like an ass but I've already read the Bible, and the Intelladog site over and over...

Thanks
~Erich
 
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G
#2 ·
Could be FICM, fuel pump, or something in your high pressure oil system.
I would start at the FICM.. Reflow and add solder.. It doesn't cost anything but time.. If that doesn't help I would check fuel pressure, if that's good, I would suspect and IPR problem.. Best thing to do is scan it..
 
#5 ·
Oct 03, i am guessing that this is then the early 04 engine which still has the IPR behind the turbo instead of the passenger valve cover.... thats a job and a half mostly consisting of cussing.
 
#8 ·
Whatever you do, dont just start throwing parts at it!!!!
Now is a good time to get your hands on a good scanner(not a code reader)
Like was said, start with FICM, then move on to ICP.
 
#10 ·
I have read other forums. I'm sure you guys have also read the FICM Fix with flowing the solder. I can see it working but I also know first hand how hillbilly rigging works...
Have you guys tried this method? Does it actually hold some truth? If it works then that will be the first thing I try, because its the easiest and cheapest.
 
#11 ·
I know some people who have had sucess doing it, but others that didnt. Its a risk you take. Gotta be good at soldering i can tell you that!

Theyre really not that hard to rebuild, but I myself would never touch it and would rather buy one from Innovative, Quick Tricks, KEM, or Swamps.
 
#12 ·
I'm pretty good with circuit boards. Not so much with soldering but I can also have some guys at my work solder it up since we work with electronics all day... I'm going to give the FICM a shot and see where that leads first. Then I will get back to y'all.
 
#13 ·
All guesses from this side. My first guess would be the ICP sensor under your turbo. My second guess would be the FICM. On some vehicles you can unplug the ICP and get the vehicle to start. If you have a friend with a 6.0 try using his FICM. A good scanner is what you really need to see some info.
 
#14 ·
I got the FICM out/apart and found 2 loose resistors. I'm not sure if thats the issue at hand because taking off the amber colored coating took some strong negotiating. I can't tell if I popped them off or if they were off before. It was probably me:doh: but I'm going to have them soldered on this evening at our shop. I also checked the value of them and they are just fine. Hopefully this works. If not I will try the ICP sensor. I have a couple of friends with the 6.0L but none willing to lend me their FICM.

Is it possible to pick one up (FICM) from a junk yard? Would I need the harness as well? Are they swappable without having to re-tune everything?
 
#15 ·
Well I found the two resistors loose. Had our solder tech put them back on and re-flow all the solder joints. Voltage is constant 47.8 volts, and still no fire. Back to square one. Next I'm going to try out the ICP plug. If that doesn't work, then I'm taking it to the dealer across the street to run a code check on it... This is BS.
 
#17 ·
Did the ICP plug disconnect. Still no go. A friend of mine suggested that I disconnect the batteries after I got the FICM redone. I didn't even think of that. The batteries are disconnected as I type this and hopefully it will have reset the computer glitches and allowed time to get rid of all those unwanted algorithms. I will however check the fuel pressure. Everything seems fine with the fuel ie: the pump runs like a champ, and the bowl is full. We shall see. I will let you guys know... stand by.
 
#19 ·
Alright, I figured I'd just check out the basics to see if there were any mishaps within them. Fuses were multi-metered and all checked good. The relays I couldn't check because I don't have an external power source. Even checked the FICM fuse under the hood. Crawled under and over the truck to check any loose connections and still nothing popped out at me. Then I figured I'd check the engine oil level, got a big surprise when I found there to be very little to no oil on the stick. I checked the exhaust for excessive burn or drops and nothing. However, like I said before diesels are not my forte, so maybe I check it wrong... and my truck is on a slanted driveway with the nose towards the street. I know these oil tanks are big but I cannot imagine it being such an incline to where it wouldn't register anything on the dip-stick.

Am I wrong? Any help?
 
#20 ·
If it's low on oil it won't start either. Get on a flat spot and check the oil
 
#22 ·
I did a "test" to check the status of my ICP. This in turn checked the HPOP somehow. I read about it on TheDieselGarage forums. It seemed kind of shady to me but I gave it a whirl. Needless to say it everything checked good. Yesterday I couldn't figure out how to check the relays because I had no power supply, but I figured it out this morning. All relays have power and switch strong. I even tried jumping the truck from my other truck to see if it needed more Amps to crank over. No go.

Again, back to square one.
 
G
#24 ·
Just because you can hear your fuel pump and the bowl is full, doesn't mean you have enough pressure to the injectors.. IPR is also a possibility.. You really need to scan your truck to fix it the right way.. It's allways a good idea to make sure your oil level is were it should be, considering these engines run off of oil pressure.. Sounds to me like when you noticed your truck sputtering and not running correctly, you were either losing fuel pressure or losing oil pressure..
 
#25 ·
I appreciate the input guys. I think I will take the tow the truck in on Monday. I was just trying to fix the issue before I leave on my next set of orders and wont have the time screw around with it. Again thank you all for inputs. I'll let you know what turned up.
 
#26 ·
Why don't you take the money your going to spend on a tow to and a scan from Ford and pick up AE ? For just a few buck more than what your about to spend doing that you can have a good scanner to use when ever you want....... And you can scan other peoples ford vehicles when there's issues with them and get paid ! :D
 
#27 ·
Good suggestions. However the dealership right across the street from me (literally) does scans for free and my insurance company tows vehicles for free up to 5 miles.
Update: parked the truck on level ground. Have to repaint my wife's Jeep bumper because of it! Oops! Put jumper cables on it. and tried to fire it up after 5 minutes of letting them be connected. When I tried to turn it over, all the gauges maxed out and then went dead. Even the gas gauge showed no movement, or barely enough. So with that said, It is clearly an Electrical Problem. There is something that is Shorted/ broken or something. BUT my code reader isn't showing me any codes. However it is the cheapest reader they had at Advanced Auto....
 
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