2003 6.0 Powerstroke Running Rough and Blowing Smoke
 

Hi all, I am new to the forum and to the diesel world. I picked up a 2003 F250 Super Duty 6.0 Powerstroke with 118,000 miles on it for 6700.00 dollars from an auction. The truck is in excellent shape and I thought was a good deal (not so sure now). The issue I am having is smoke (kind of a white color with a tint of blue) coming from the exhaust not from idle but when you take off from a stopped position. Once the truck gets up to speed the smoke settles down to almost nothing and the truck runs good.

What I noticed was at speed (60 to 70 mph or higher) there are no issues, once you start to slow or climb a small hill the truck starts to shake or buck a little, get back to speed and it goes away. There is no engine light on (no idiot lights on at all for that matter) but, I decided to check the codes. The following is what I got:

PO263
PO562
PO671
PO683
P1378

I got messing around with the engine (I'm not a diesel mech) and found the fuel filter was clogged so I changed that, tested the injectors and believe Cyl 1 injector is bad. I did a volt test on the FICM and all are coming in over 44 volts (around 48). I guess what I want to know is what else should I be looking at and what you all might think is the problem.

As I said before, the truck cranks up fine, idles fine, runs ok so to speak.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Same issue....
 

I have a 2004 that I just bought a few months ago with the same type of issues. It idles really rough when you first start it, and at first I thought it was just the cold weather affecting it. So I hooked up the upfitter switch so I could run high idle to warm it up quicker. Well it has been warm here in Kentucky for awhile and the truck still takes 5 min to warm up. If I attempt to drive it before its warm, it shakes and puff a lil blue tint smoke as described above. This is my first Ford, Ive always have run Cummins in the past so I dont know much about this truck. Any help would be beneficial.

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Also when I get on the throttle, it has a really slow throttle response. Its like it lags. Is this normal for a 6.0? I know when I feathered the Cummins, off it took. It sucks when I race because the truck dont pick up and go until my turbo is spooling at least 7 psi. My buddy in his Chevy 2500 Gasser stomped me off the line the other day, and I didnt catch him until my turbo was up and taking off. Also when I let OFF the throttle, it makes this wierd kind of chirping noise for about a second. It used to be only when let off after running it up high (i.e. getting on the highway etc) but now I hear the "chirp" whenever I let off the throttle. I'm thinking maybe I have a bad injector, I'm praying the turbo is ok.

Anybody heard about any of this before? Thanks. :rocking:

sounds like you are both having FICM problems. Dirago 44v is too low the injectors need 48v to fire. i would suggest doing the resolder procedure and see if that fixes it.

Cowboy - you should test your FICM to see if that's your problem.

your vains on the turbo might be gummed up too?

if he's only running 44v at idle(im guessing you didn't test WOT) there's his problem. i'm 94.673% sure

Thanks Mud, I did the FICM repair and I do have 48v now, however the truck is a bit better (still smoking but not as much) but, still doing the same thing.

Well you also have two codes for injector #1. Maybe get a contribution test done? You also have a couple glow plug codes, I would inspect the glow plug wire harness with a fine tooth comb. if there is ANY chaffing, just replace it. You can also try swapping glow plug control modules with a buddy if you know someone else with a 6.0.

Do you have 48v hot/cold with the key on and with it running? I assume you do now since you repaired it already. Injector #1 looks like the next suspect. The dealer is the best place to get them since they come with a 12kmile/12mo warranty.

I'm getting 48v cold. Inspected the wire harness for the glow plugs and can't find any chaffing, tears, splits, etc. I am thinking the egr is bad along with the the injector. Will replace those and take it from there. Tested the glow plug module plus wires and I'm getting 12v, so I'm assuming that is fine.

I don't think 12v was correct for the glow plugs, but I will investigate more. I read your post on the ORG too and I thought you had said one of the pig tails for the glow plug harness was "damaged" in some way? Check the FICM warm too. These motors are so simple (once you really break it down) that it makes it hard to diagnose!

No it turned out the pig tail was fine. I'm trying to get all the info I can before I start buying parts and doing a "hit" and "miss" kind of thing. Just replacing parts here and there can get very expensive very fast. I so far have it boiled down to the injector and possibly the egr, fix that and hopefully all will be fine, if not........what next?

If you do decide ot mess with the EGR system, instead of replacing parts i would suggest just doing the EGR delete so you don't have these problems anymore. And now come to think of it i believe i have read something about with a bad egr cooler when going up an incline it bucks and misses? I'm not positive on that, but i think i remember reading something about that. Try this just to see... park the truck down hill( grill pointing down hill, tailgate pointing up) pull your egr valve and see if theres any coolant on it, and look down into the intake manifold and see if theres a puddle of coolant in the bottom. And your glow plugs wouldn't have any effect on driving after the truck has warmed up as im sure you know they only light the cylinders on intitial start up, after that it's all compression ignition baby!!:tu: haha but lets up know what you find out man, keep us posted!

will a bad egr cooler push coolant out the degas tank cap? I'm pushing water out my dagas tank could be HGs or something else. How do you know it is definitly HGs and not an EGR proplem? I would feel better about spending my hard earned $ on the real problem and not just changing parts until it's fixed.

If you just would have read what i posted right before yours i wouldn't have to copy and paste this...

park the truck down hill( grill pointing down hill, tailgate pointing up) pull your egr valve and see if theres any coolant on it, and look down into the intake manifold and see if theres a puddle of coolant in the bottom.

I had the same symtoms as all of these people and it ended up being the egr dumping coolant in slow setting off lots of codes. Doing an egr delete,oil cooler replacment and and having the radiater cleaned. You wouldn't beleave the s$%^& that came out of the cooling system lots of dirt and flakes. More to follow.

Dirago

You need to Reply to the REV-X and see if this will work on your current problem. Have heard of some saying REV-X will help Injector Problems. :tu:

Same problems and REV-X worked for me!

2004 f-350 6.0 125,000miles
04/30/2010

Ok here is the follow up from my last reply. I had the egr cooler welded in back and blocker plate in front not allowing any exhaust back in motor.Replaced oil cooler and screen (ripped Old style) Cleaned turbo, really needed it "bad". Had radiater flushed and cleaned,"scalling Bad". Started it up after 7 try's I finished today and the truck ran quiter and 0 I mean 0 smoke for the rest of the day today. The turbo spooled way faster. This truck is stock no tunes, tuner no nothing, everything is still plugged in only mod is egr blocked. Oh and no CEL and no coolant puking out of bottle!!:jump::c:

that sounds to good to be true, and way too easy, Sorry but I thought that there was a more precise way of checking my EGR for leaks then parking face down a hill. EGR delete is being ordered, while I'm there I want to wrap my header pipes feeding my turbo with a heat wrap insulator for exhaust, but would this throw too much heat at the turbo? also should I put an insulation blanket on the turbo exhaust side,all of this to drop my underhood temps down a bit. I do some heavy towing in the summer out here in the desert (110-120 deg) days. I don't want to melt this thing down by keeping the heat where it belongs ... in the exhaust system? When I do the EGR delete aside from what gaskets I'll get in the kit is there any small parts I'll need from ford... I.E o-rings, any gaskets for the turbo... etc.

I think you will be impressed with the results after blocking egr. I left all my egr components installed and plugged in(EGR COOLER BLOCKED). If you don't need to clean the turbo you should be able to work around it, IF the intake manifold is shaped like a u. I took mine out and cleaned it because it was due. I used a NAPA intake gasket set 35.00 turbo seal kit ford 12.00 paid the radiater shop 20.00 to flush and clean. Just remember if you due EGR do the oil cooler kit rebuild and new screen. I found the filter screen ripped under my bad oil cooler so glad i replaced it, was only a matter of time before the devil started plugging my injecters 1 by 1 with giant boulders of coal.
all in all the total bill was 550.00 with my homade egr block off kit.
Now waiting for my dieselsite coolant filter kit and can rest easy.

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as far as the turbo blanket goes i dont know much about them.

Just so you know, even with the EGR cooler blocked, it can still fail. It will just fill with coolant, but it can still fail.

I wouldn't wrap the stock up-pipes, they seem to have issues with heat and cracking without the added heat so I'd think I'd stay away from that. That is just my opinion though.

Doin my own 6.0 - there are really no gaskets to speak of in the EGR delete kits. If you have a lot of miles, I would get the intake manifold gaskets. They claim they are reusable, but I've found on trucks with 100k miles or so that they are NOT.

Mdub,
i agree about egr leaking over time (10years) but i blocked the manifold with a stainless plate with high temp silicone on both sides so again no more ever coolant in motor. Maybe coolant leak if cooler fills. I guess what i am saying is with no more coolant in motor it is running better than i can rember due to this happening over a long time. I egree with you on covers for sure. heat up those cheap metal headers your just asking for trouble and money..

I dont know if wrapping the up pipes would that bad of an idea, I know they are kinda cheesy though.lol Ive ben thinkin about wrappin the turbo myself, I think people even claim lower EGT. Not sure how that works.

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O yeah. Wrapping the up pipes will help spool the turbo faster.

Exhaust wrapping keeps heat in the exhaust and the hotter the exhaust, the faster it can be expelled from the motor. However in the case of the 6.0, adding more heat to the up-pipes might destroy them faster.

Hotter gasses will spool the turbo faster, which is why people wrap turbos and up-pipes in the first place. I just dont see it as an advantage on a relatively stock 6.0

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High temp silicone? There is no way silicone is going to hold up to the heat...

UPDATE!!!!!!!
 

Well I finally put the new injector in and all went well, truck was running fine for about an hour and then the EGR went out (I expected it to be bad). So I was correct as to what the issue was with this truck. Doing an EGR Delete now (no time to do it myself) so I have my new found powerstroke mechanic putting that in and tuning it for me.

So, 6700.00 paid for the truck with only 117,000 miles on it.
Another 1300.00 for parts and labor.
Truck is running perfect with no issues.
I'm still ahead of the game. I think I did well with this investment.

i think you did extremely well also :c:

You did EXCELLENT on that buy! Wow. That's cheap. My buddy just paid $7500 for an 02 7.3 with 168,000 on it, and I thought that was a good buy!

I think I'm probably going to sell it now. Knowing all the issues these 6.0's had, sell it and get something more reliable. So if anybody is interested she will be up for sale and can be had for a good price.

pm me a price, i have a buddy that is in the market for a diesel :tu:

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and some pics too if possible?

Would love to PM you but, I only have 6 posts, need 10. Will email you.

if you degas is dirty black looking and you have a new cap and still leaking you have a failed egr cooler

Uh, not sure I totally agree with that. Failed oil cooler seems more likely. Usually when the EGR cooler fails you'll end up with white smoke out the exhaust and pushing coolant.

oil cooler egr
 

if the oil cooler is failing you would have oil in the water if the egr is failing you will can get additional pressure in the coolng system also white smoke if leaking into cylinders

I agree with that. That doesn't agree with what you said before though... You said if the degas is dirty black looking it's a failed egr cooler....

Depending on how the egr cooler fails you have exhaust gas which is full of black carbon, if coolant can get into the engine then carbon can get forced into the cooling system turning it dark or almost black. unless you are injecting propane then you have no carbon as the diesel is burned at a rate of 99%.

I was thinking the same thing lol

What are the numbers on this good price?

EGR cooler failure usually leads to coolant leaking into the exhaust system and being burned out. If it's a small leak and it's just being pressurized the otherway, usually it will just push coolant out. Never really seen black coolant in the bottle from an egr cooler, though I guess it's possible.

I'm not even going to get into the propane debate. I don't see how adding more fuel will make another fuel burn better. I think Nitrous would be more appropriate. Nevermind! :c:

let me no how much and send me some pics, I have an 04 MACH 1 maybe we can do some trading

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getting a little off track but I can tell you what i have experienced I have over a 1000 miles with propane injection and my oil looks like it came out of the bottle. I know of truck that has been on propane since it was new 189000 miles and no :jump:egr problems only one the dealer knows of. i have gotten up 25 mpg on the highway and 17 in town.

It's just an untimed fuel. Seems silly to go that way when technology has come so far to control the timed burn of diesel. That's just me. I know a little bit is ok for mileage, most of the issues seem to be with anyone trying to make any power with it. In which case, nitrous seems to be the cheaper/easier/safer route.