2004 6.0 dies and chugs intermittedly.
 

Hey we have a 04 6.0 and it has a newer ficm on it. It has started acting up recently, at idle it will just miss out of now where and then sometimes die. He also says that it will increase the rpms on its own when he is cruising down the highway. Any ideas would be awesome, Thanks, Chad.

Has this happened sine the new FICM? I'd check the plugs on the back side of the FICM and make sure they're all plugged in nice and tight first.

No i put the new ficm in early this year and he said it started acting up about a month ago. I will check the plugs though just to be sure.

Really would be nice to get a scanner on it and see what's happening. Does he stay on top of oil changes and fuel filter changes? Any smoke at idle? What about when he first fires it in the morning after it sits, any smoke? What color? Was it a new Ford FICM or where did it come from?

we do the oil very 3000 or damn close. The scanner i have did not show any trouble codes and the engine light is not on. I do the fuel filter every 2 to 3 oils changes. No smoke at idle it fires great first off with no smoke. it was a new ford ficm.

What scanner are you using, and what were you looking for? Doesn't need to be a check engine light to have codes.

What oil is used, and what oil filters? What fuel filters are used?

I would try to check the fuel pressure too.

The scanner is made by Xray. We use delo 15-40 and all napa filters. I was just looking for a trouble code but i guess i need to look deeper. For now i am just gonna get all teh filters changed out and see what happens. I also had to do the front diff seals while i have it in the shop.

I would use OEM oil filters only! You can get motorcraft or Fram, they're the same thing. I've read MANY horror stories of motors being trashed my aftermarket oil filters. Was it the kind that use it's own cap?

I'm not familiar with the Xray stuff, most use Autoenginuity or IDS.

You need to monitor desired ICP against actual ICP (injector control pressure).

yea the oil filter comes with its own cap. My nieghbor says he wouldnt use a fram if it was the last one on earth. He saw a guy loose a motor in a 24v cummins because the filter came apart and clogged up the oil passages and took out the bearings. I will have to figure out if my scanner will tell me the icp, if not i will have to borrow a different one. Thanks for the info though.

Get rid of that oil filter ASAP, hopefully it's not starving injectors... because those are notoriously a no-no.

As for Fram, I would normally agree 100%, as I HATE Fram filters with a passion, especially after seeing their quality with the gas job oil filters,

HOWEVER,

in this case... motorcraft and Fram are the exact same filter. Go to Wal-mart (I hate recommending this as much as I hate recommend Fram, but I know they sell both Fram and Motorcraft) pull them both out of the box, read the P/N's on the filters... they're the same damn filter. If you have another place near by that sells both, go there instead. Fram is $1 cheaper than the motorcraft, but I usually get the motorcraft anyways. In a pinch, the Fram is exactly the same in this case though, so your neighbors worries come with good reason, but they are in fact the same filter here. :c:

The Fram would be far better than what you have in there, and in the future do NOT use the oil filters that have their own caps.

Hmmm well thats all we have been running in all of our 6.0 we have four of them. Well if what you say is true then i will look into switching to the motorcraft filters. I guess i will have to buy new caps cause these dont come off. What is so bad about the cap filters? Are they just a poor design that restricts the oil flow?

I am off to a brewfest tonight, but I'll find some links for you tomorrow. There have been several cases of the larger filters with their own caps completely restricting oil flow and doing serious damage to the motors.

You will probably have to buy new caps yes. Might be a good time to update to billet caps, you can get fuel filter and oil filter billet aluminum caps for $100 for both. They come predrilled and tapped (with a plug) to add fuel pressure and oil temp/perssure gauges too.

I'm off boys. Beer thirty.:c:

do you have a problem with a non responsive pedal?

Motorcraft filters only for these engines. Do not use the aftermarket ones that give you a cap, they do not push down on the bypass far enough and cause MANY issues related to engine performance. Everything from running rough, not running at all, and even missfires.
Go buy the ford filter and ford cap.

If its a loud CHUG CHUG CHUG sound i garuntee you have an injector or few dying. If the injector sticks open and compression goes through it, it will wipe out all the injectors on that bank. How do you tell, run a power balance test on IDS, soon as the miss occurs watch that cylinder drop. I had an 03 that i did this winter that would leave the guy stranded not start for 15-20 minutes and it would get him home. I road test it watch cyl 3 drop dead, then as the engine ran rougher i saw 1 and then 7 die. then 5. Shortly there after cyl 2 died and then the truck died 5 miles away from my dealership. pulled into a bars parking lot tried to start it wouldnt even crank. Hydrolocked. Let it sit 15 minutes cranked it hard cranking and fired up ran it wide open to the dealership had it die right in front of my bay. Got it running pulled it in, found every injector on the drivers side FUBAR. needed injector cups and he wasnt going to go for it so i cleaned the cups up as best i could got all the bits and pieces of the copper crush washers out along with the pieces of rubber o rings. put the updated banjo bolts in the both heads and 5 new injectors, truck hasnt been back since.

Dieseltek. No the throttle response is good on this rig. However we have another 6.0 2006 that has horrible throttle response and smokes black when taking off.

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Powerstroke i will tell them about the filters and see if they want to go back its not my choice but i will warn them. And the miss isnt really a chug chug just on quick miss. It happens fast and sounds like the motor has the fuel cut and then is turned right back on. It does not miss while in motion only at idle.

Your 2006 6.0 sounds like it has a sticky turbo, and the other issue sounds like sticky injectors possibly.

ok that sounds good to me. I have heard of people cleaning something on the dmax turbos is that true with the 6.0

Yes, there is a procedure for cleaning the turbos on these, pretty easy to do.

I post this link so often I've bookmarked it... DTS Articles - Turbocharger Reconditioning

Hey thats pretty simple now i just have to schedule the pu and get the darn thing off. Well thanks alot i hope i can get the time to do it cause that makes sense the the vanes are stuck all the way out and that is where the smoke is coming from due to the low boost during take off.

That would definitely cause it.

Explain your smoke at low RPM symptom a little more, I have a few more suggestions before tearing into the turbo...

I had similar issues recently, ended up being the wire harness going to my EPB sensor was chaffed, cause the vanes to just close up going down the road, build TONS of backpressure, leave a black cloud for miles and cause the truck to run poorly.

I would start by removing the EPB sensor, and tube coming off the exhaust manifold, clean both really well, inspect the wire harness going to the EPB sensor, and then reinstall. That's a lot easier and quicker than the turbo cleaning.

Yea that makes sense to. Who knows when ill get to it they use them all week and i have to just wait till they done. They dont really seem to care too much run her till she dies kinda deal..