Why not just measure actual resistance at the glow plug to know if it's good or not, as opposed to just taking a guess at how bright the light is or isn't?

Check glow plug to ground and resistance should be .1 to 2 ohms. The harness to GPCM should be 0 to 1 ohms.

You're absolutely right about the glow plug harness, when you try removing it, typically they will break. The tool kind of stinks for it too. I usually just pull the rocker box and push the harness out from the back side with a socket to avoid damaging it, but this isn't always an option.

The only thing I don't really agree with is the 6.0 having a huge problem with glow plugs and controllers... 7.3's yeah, 6.0's not so much. At least not from what I've personally seen.

 

your right on about checking ohms at the glow plugs,i use the lite test as it is faster and you will see the difference in the lite brightness to a tee plus having to look at the meter and crawl around the engine bay can be slighly painfull at times . i work on these day in and day out and my body takes a toll sometimes,the tool for the harness is worthless and your knuckles get doomed. i replace harness every time its peace of mind when your done,,,,i live in california and we have to smog check the diesels now,glow plugs out here seem to be a big failure for some reason and allways turn on the check engine lite and thats a automatic failure in the smog check system , if 1 glow plug fails i replace them all at my shop it keeps everyone happy,,,the controller rarely fails on 6.0 ,,,,,the 7.3 controller is for california emissons and its the same part number as the 6.0 ,,,,, i love the 7.3 easy to work on ,love the problems that the valve cover gaskets and harness have , the duramax and cummins i love also ,,, i love the fact that they all need repairs at one time or another ,,,,it insures that i will allways have plenty of work on diesels and theres not many diesel shops around were i live .only the steeler ships to contend with,,,,,, love this site

 

Interesting enginearchitect.

My 06 has a code for a glow plug right now, no check engine light though... it's a single glow plug, #4. I'm not even sure the glow plug itself is bad, I've had wires chaffe in this area before from a "T" fitting in my coolant line, so I suspect that's the issue, haven't actually dove into it yet. I'm actually avoiding it until I take the heads off so I don't break the harness, they push out easy from the backside with the appropriate sized socket, so no worries there.

I wonder what actually causes the CEL to trip for a glow plug... hmmm.

 

the cel light comes on due to obd2 diagnotics it has rationalty and comprehensive monitoring,the pcm will look at the the glow plug monitor and measure amperage draw to each glow plug when the key is cycled then check its program for out of tolerance pids,when this happens and a failure is recorded it will take 2 trip drive cycle to determine if it will turn on the mil lite,,,,,,keep note when a glow plug code is recorded to a pending code the pcm will test the glow plug in two ways ,,, with the key cycled and while ur driving down the road at cruise speed ,it only checks for out of range amperage draw then it turns on the lite,same with a bad harness,,,,keep note harness is very cheap about $65,,,,,,,, why do you need to do head gaskets you have generation 2 heads all 2006 6.0l have them

 

Because I have blown headgaskets... and no, I have the 18mm dowel heads on my truck, late 06 trucks got them. My build date is 11/05. Actually I probably have one 18mm head and one 20mm head, since one head was replaced under warranty the first time I blew the headgaskets.

I have a heavy right foot and some hot tunes...

Oh and my glowplug light code has been on the truck this entire winter... still no CEL for it.

 

are u going to run a stud system from apr and those black onix head gaskets or maybe oring head gaskets ,are u going to do the work urself,you have to remove cab to do those repairs ,its a big job,,,,,do u have a scan tool for cel problem,,is your truck federal emissions or california emissions,,,do u have egr coolr or block off plate,is ur oil cooler oem,,,,

 

Yes, ARP studs, an OEM gaskets, the black onyx are garbage. (victor reinz are the same). Not o-ringing, haven't heard anything good about that working on a 6.0 as of yet. Flat heads, ARPs, and OEM gaskets seem to do the trick just fine. I will be doing the work myself, was planning on pulling the cab since my buddy has a lift in his garage. I know how big of a job it is, I've assisted on them a few times. I do have a scan tool, I have Palmer Performance Engineering software, and AutoEnginuity with enhanced Ford bundle. I have a full EGR delete in already, no cooler, no valve, and I've passed emissions for a few years in a row now in NY without issue... they don't even pull my truck in the shop. I pull up, the scan it, I hand the guy the $10 and he puts a new sticker on. I'm also on the OEM oil cooler, delta between oil and coolant usually doesn't go more than 7*. I've had the headgaskets done 2x now at Ford, they don't ever seem to do the job right, so I'm taking matters into my own hands!

 

Everyone, are FICM interchangeable between the early ones with 7 screws and the ones with 4 screws? I looking at getting a spare and want to know before I get one with 7 screws. My 04 has the 4 screw FICM on it.

 

Yes Joe, they are interchangeable, hoping the one you have lasts a long time, it should, only reason I carry a spare is because I have been known to take a 1or2k mile trip on a weekend

 

Bob, thanks for the reply. I have to take mine out again and recheck the soder joints. It started running rough Wednesday and I got all the codes back.