Ford F350 6.0 2004 low power or no power
 

Hi Guys great forum just joined up hope you can help me out , ok down to the nitty griity . as said above i have a 350 2004 6.0, 162000 miles in search of brevity i will list what has happened or been done over the last month

Changed ICP to cure sudden dying and rough idle , ran great

Noticed that engine would give a hiccup when i hit brakes in reverse

Last week while on highway going up an incline sudden loss of power
on downside of hill engine picked up speed , seemed ok but a little doggy but no smoke

last Friday same thing but this time total loss of power , floored could only chug along at 5 mph ,no smoke. shut her down called a tow

Pulled fuel filters they are changed frequently , pulled em anyway usually see a few aluminum flakes on main rail filter from fuel tank coating , this time entire underside of micromesh pre filter was coated with aluminum colored articles , engine filter looked fine , few flakes

restarted engine same problem, rough idle , no power
Bought actron diagnostic scanner gave me a icp and egr fault code
Pulled EGR and cleaned [although there was no smoke ] did it anyway , no real change
pulled icp clip reseated , still same faults

Tested both batteries , tested bad [although it had been starting ok] replaced them both,now she idles better smoother still a small hiccup at idle ,rev her up to high idle , after 3 to 5 minutes she just dies out slowly then will not restart for 20 30 minutes , prior faults not present now getting only a PO269 cyl 3 contribution fault , still no smoke
Tried a true cold start this am at 33F outside nothing tried to fire but wont start
My thoughts are i may have a bad fuel pump, bad ficm or wire harness

planning on testing ficm as per your excellent advice , if ok then recheck harness if ok then pull tank check fuel pump and go from there

Sorry this was kinda long but wanted to get as much info in as i could , any help be appreciated

Thanks

What is your scanner capable of, does it just read codes or can you datalog? I'd really like to check ICP desired vs ICP actual. You MAY have a high pressure oil leak. hard to tell. Definitely check the FICM out too though, start there.

Mdub thanks for replying , i never used a scanner but yes this one can datalog and freeze data even when driving , i will try to bone up on it tomorrow and see if i can check the icp , it is new though but even new can fail thats for sure , gonna check ficm for sure easy fix if thats it , really appreciate your help , awesome ! note ; if it is high pressure oil leak would that be the HPOP under the turbo ?

high pressure oil leak would most likely be an o-ring somewhere, or the STC fitting on the HPOP, probably not the HPOP itself, it most likely wouldn't run at all if it was the HPOP going out.

If you can scan, watch ICP desired vs ICP actual. They should almost match. Should be around 575 at idle, and up near 4000 at WOT.

Thanks for the additional info , unfortunately i could not find a scan or diagnosis test for the actual icp load when running , but it maybe operator error , not used to using a scanner but i will keep at it , try again tomorrow on icp test --------Did test the ficm , voltage is normal per your instructions , 48.5 at key on , 47.3 at buzz test and never below 46 at anytime . Interesting that today during scan it found no error codes what so ever no cylinders showing an unbalance, egr test fine , no codes whatsoever , so i am beginning to side with you about the high pressure oil leak somewhere i dont think there is a test for that or a code , but makes sense that a leak would show an injector fault , im really learning a lot from you all , just reading all the posts etc , cant tell you enough how much i appreciate it , back to the scanner tomorrow see if i can test that icp loaded , btw what the heck does WOT mean ? wide open throttle ? ha ha ?:tttt:

Monday i am going to go to the dealer and buy another new icp and harness clip kit , just try it what the heck at least i will have a spare and eliminate that possibility , the truck is kind of acting like it did before i changed the icp last month but much worse , still the symptoms were similar , rough idle low power would keep running then die but always had power and always restarted after a bit but before when icp was failing i never had a total lack of power she would always restart and go , now she wont go anywhere !

while you are changing the icp again you might want to remove the IPR valve right next to it on the same cover, if the little screen is blown out or clogged this could be the problem, it bleeds excess presure off the hpop and if it sticks open you lose all your high pressure.

Thanks big Bob, kinda looked for theIPR before not really seeing it, must be that little guy sticking out the side of the cover next to the ICP, definately get a grasp on it and check it out. I did get one thing figured out do not buy the Acutron pro elite scanner #9185 ,from autozone, its shipped with logged data only up to 2003 ,that's 8 years ago they want you to update the POS yourself off internet., Does not even list the 7.3 or the 6.0 as an engine ion its internal programming. Tried 7 times to update it off mini USB port, no go,marching up to autozone later and having a lil chit chat with someone. :tu: Paid 249.00 for it they can kiss my azz:moon:
I LOVE THE SMELL OF DIESEL IN THE MORNING IT SMELLS LIKE VICTORY

I wouldn't replace the ICP without knowing more, I doubt it's bad that quick. Though the wire harness for the ICP should be replaced if it wasn't back when the sensor itself was.

I agree with Bob, next step is pull the IPR and see what it looks like. It could be sticking causing these issues. It has happened before. This is where a good scanner would help tremendously. To add to Bob's comments, even if it is sticking and bleeding off pressure it can still sometimes build just enough pressure to start up but run like crap.

Autoenginuity with the enhanced Ford bundle is about $350. Just FYI.

Hmmmmm , i think i have been barking up the wrong tree and making a mountain out of a mole hill -----RE Checked engine fuel filter bowl immediately after the engine shut down , removed cap and bowl was empty , now to find out why , i can hear fuel pump come on at key on , and bowl is full at that point . What keeps the pressure up and turns on the fuel pump is there a relay or pressure regulator someplace . have to do some checkin on that one , i think we found the culprit . -------------As i said before the rail filter was probably clogged with about 60% aluminum coating particles from that darned steel tank , maybe its jammmed up the fuel pressure regulator too , and that assembly on the rail for the filter is that the regulator ? ----------BTW i returned that Acutron got a OBD 3120 , i liked the autoenginuity but it wont run without a lap top so thats an additional expense for me , the OBD is fine for now actually it returned no codes at all except for the p1000 but i think thats from changing out the batteries . maybe when im rich and not so famous i can afford that laptop ! Thanks guys ! Gonna see what to do from here ! :jump

Got it regulator is on the side of the filter bowl , so now where is the pump i hope its that filter assembly on the drivers rail and not in the tank !

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:w2::w2: Reading up on this , are the lift pump and fuel pump the same or seperate units ? Where are they located one in the tank and the lift pump on the rail ? :w2:

Regulator is at fuel bowl on top of motor, pump is on the frame rail by the other filter. They do bleed pressure off out of the bowl, it's not uncommon or bad.

Get a fuel pressure gauge and test your fuel pressure at the bowl on top of the motor. Should be around 55psi. Checking with the key off does nothing.

However, the metal shavings are rather alarming. I don't think you'd see "shavings" in the filters from the tank, how would it produce shavings? Do they look like shavings, or chunks of material that "fell off"?

Its very common on Ford diesels from what i hear from years 03 trough 06 they coated the inside of the tank with a rust preventive coating looks somewhat like that aluminum roof paint flakes etc. I change em about every 10k but this time the rail filter was really packed with them , upper filter was not though which is good . So thats the fuel pump on the rail ? None in the tank ? If it is a bad pump im gonna install an airdog 2 and a fuel pressure gauge on dash and be done with it . Gonna stop by Ford get a regulator today and a gauge kit for it too , let ya know what turns out . I really appreciate your patience with this , im really trying to learn my way around these 6.0's had a 7.3 for years wish i had her back now ! Never had to turn a wrench like this on that one ! Thanks again !

No worries man, we're all here to help!

You can get a cheap fuel pressure tester from Harbor freight, hook it up to the bowl, route it out of the hood to the windshield and trap it down with one of the wiper blades, then take it for a ride. You need to see what fuel pressure is while driving and getting on it. A lot of times it will be fine at idle, but under a load it will drop off terribly. With all the shavings you had go through I hope the filters caught all of it, if not you may be in need of some replacement injectors. I can't imagine anything getting past that filter on top of the motor though, they're really good.

FWIW, I never make it 10k on fuel filters. I can notice a fuel pressure drop before then. I typically end up changing mine about 5k-7.5k miles.

Gonna do that today!!!! You da CHIEF BOMB:tu:

Just reading through, WOT does mean Wide Open Throttle, yes sorry about that. Trying to wrap my head around your issues here...

Ya its OK i am the student after all!! Just wanted to let you know where I am with this, got the fuel gauge but couldn't find a MM to NPT adapter locally anywhere for the fuel pressure gauge. So thanks to the brilliance of FORD Engineer's I will be waiting on a 10 buck adapter to arrive by UPS , so twiddling my thumbs next few days!! Thanx FORD!!!!!!
Btw did get a blue spring regulator rebuild kit from IPR for $70 dealer wanted $271 for the entire unit, what a con game huh

update
 

Hey just wanted to give ya all an update on this beastly 6.0, turns out the EGR cooler sprung a good leak which caused the engine to go into the limp mode. I had been adding about a quart a week to the Degas bottle now I know why. Now in the process of installing an IPR EGR delete kit, replacing the oil cooler with a bulletproof and updating the hpop etc fitting. Let ya know how it turns out. Btw fuel pressure was good 52 PS I, department scan with a snap on showed no other codes or faults not even egr

I've never heard of one going into limp mode because of coolant leakage though. My headgaskets were so bad once that when I shut the truck off the coolant leaked into the cylinder and actually hydrolocked it on me, never went into limp mode. Were you burning that amount of coolant, or just pushing it out the degas bottle?

Your fuel pressure... was that at idle, WOT, etc?

Sounds like you've got a good plan of attach though!

Do you have a coolant filter on this truck? Now is a great time to add one if you're doing a new oil cooler. I'd recommend an entire coolant system flush too.

Hmmm a coolant filter? Have to look into that, thanks for the advice!! At wot the fuel pressure stayed pretty steady maybe dropped 2 or 3 pounds so I'm calling that good ( I hope)............ hope to have her all back toghther by the weekend , doing it by myself nights after work so its slow going, but i will get there!!! Really don't think its the heads no water leaking or dripping from tail pipe so keep my fingers crossed on that I'd hate it if i got her all back together then found the gaskets were blown!!

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Btw did get the cooler out the other night its wet as heck in there so I think I'm on right track with it if I wasn't so damn stubborn I'd of paid the 2 or 3 grand and had dealer do it

If the EGR cooler was/is blown, you can pull the EGR valve out of the intake manifold, it will be wet in there. Sure sign.

FWIW, all the time's I've blown headgaskets, I've never had coolant coming out the tailpipe.

You sound like you're on the right track.

For coolant filters, I use the http://www.dieselsite.com/coolantfiltration.aspx one, and Sinister makes a real nice looking kit now too, same thing, just more "bling" to it...

Ya I cleaned the egr twice in the past, first time was pretty coked up,the second time pretty clean. That's because it was gettin steam cleaned as I drove!! Ha ha another innovation from ford!!

So I have the 6.0 and 2005 f350 ,now my proublems is oil pump clogged so changed it week later same way some to find out it was aluiminum shavings anyone know what's wrong ?