Trouble with my 6.0 - Help:dunno

F350newbie

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Hi All,

I am so frustrated with my 04 F350 6.0L 135K Miles I am wondering if its worth have the whole engine pulled and a 5.9 put in!

What I have done:

When cold had trouble starting unless plugged in. even at temps like 30F. I have replaced both batteries, starter, and rebuilt the alternator. Glow Plugs are in the way. I changed both fuel filters, and cut a hole 4"x3" in the front plastic panel to allow direct airflow into the air intake.

Issues
Every since my wife put the truck in the ditch and filled the complete underside with snow I have had trouble with jerking, misfiring, and lack of response to acceleration. If I suddenly accelerate quickly it jerks, almost stalls and will either resume speed, or then accelerate.

Yesterday I was out 4x4 on the ice pulling guys out of pressure ridges on a lake I fish and the truck worked wonderfully. Even on the way out I was get quick response and acceleration without any hesitation. After 1hr of driving rough terrain and pulling guys out I headed back to land and home. I stopped, shut the truck off after letting it idle for 5minutes and held load a snow machine and ice shack.

When I turned the truck on and started to drive it was jerky again and the engine would rev, but I would get no additional power. when I looked in the mirror I saw blue smoke, and smelt burning oil. I let off the acceleration and drove at 10mph and things seemed to be OK. Except the engine light came on. Once back to the main highway I tried to get up to speed and the truck took its sweet old time disregarding my foot on the accelerator. I could not get no power out of that engine and I could not even get faster than 70mph with the pedal pinned to the floor.

Another thing I observed was when I took corners, the engine would be jerky again and would almost stall. When this(hesitation, jerkiness) occurs the door ajar light comes on and clicks on and off, turning on the interior light. I am new to diesels, and no mechanic so I need so guidance. My neighbor suggested it might be faulty wiring or a bad injector.

Since all these troubles occurred after having snow jammed in the underside and the engine block, and the under side has been thawed out twice, I was wondering if maybe the HFCM was damaged as it always appear to be sweating fuel, no puddles, just moist with fuel. I was also wondering if a fuel line might be cracked and allowing air into the line causing the flakiness in engine response.

Another Noise that began to appear after this incident was a noise I could only describe as an exhaust fan gate flapping after you turn it off....like kind you would have in your kitchen going to the outside with a metal flap that opens and closes with the added sound of sudden air rushing in. Trying to figure out what was going on, a friend and I pulled the air filter off trying to find the source of the noise. After hard acceleration and RPM of 3000 I let off the pedal we heard the sound coming from the air intake by the MAPS so we disconnect the air intake at the Turbo and repeated the heavy pedal then let go at 2500RPM. Again we heard the same metal flapping noise, but the air rushing in noise was diminished. I was suspecting that the metal flapping noise might be the VGT vanes or possibly a waste gate flap? as I saw in one of the picks of the 6.0 Bible on this forum.

I don't have a lot of cash to burn, so what would be the best tool to monitor the engine codes and alter some of the ECM/FICM setting with? Someone suggested enginuity with a laptop on another forum. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the Feedback.

Bye the way I got to pull out a couple of 5.9 RAMS, boost a Tundra and get towed out by a 5.9 RAM that I pulled out 5 minutes Earlier on my ice fishing outing on Saturday :sweet
 

DaveBen

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You can observe the PCM with Autoenginuity, but you can NOT alter the PCM with it. It only reads what the PCM has set. You will have to get a tuner of some sort. I am not the one to ask about tuners. Someone will chime in.

Dave
 

Jetpilot1

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With respect to the cold start issues, I would use 5W-40 in the winter, it really makes a difference with cold start. (Synthetic if you can afford)
Now your other problems seem to be related to the snow mishap, and that needs to be diagnosed properly. The door light ajar coming on when the rough running occurs, or in a turn makes me think of an electrical issue that may be intermittent. Certainly could have been caused by having some damage caused by having snow forced where it shouldn't have. The metallic noise sounds like turbo, but again needs to be diagnosed properly. All of the issues are probably easily fixed by a pro. Might cost some $$$$ though.
 

Jetpilot1

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With respect to the cold start issues, I would use 5W-40 in the winter, it really makes a difference with cold start. (Synthetic if you can afford)
Now your other problems seem to be related to the snow mishap, and that needs to be diagnosed properly. The door light ajar coming on when the rough running occurs, or in a turn makes me think of an electrical issue that may be intermittent. Certainly could have been caused by having some damage caused by having snow forced where it shouldn't have. The metallic noise sounds like turbo, but again needs to be diagnosed properly. All of the issues are probably easily fixed by a pro. Might cost some $$$$ though.
 

ckamp52

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yeah u cant complain a lot when the trucks been in a ditch and had snow (water) forced into crevices but i would start with cleaning or replacing the egr valve and diesels are cold natured so yeah it needs to be plugged in as mentioned u can run thinner oil
 

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