Injector pre-cycling / Inductive heating

[LeftCoastCNC]

I am having a cold no-start condition when the injectors do not pre-cycle (Which is happening quite frequently). If they do not pre-cycle sometimes cycling the key a couple times will get them going and if that does not work, leaving the key on for 5 minutes works every time.

My question is: When does inductive heating take place? Is it taking place then entire time the key is in the on position and the engine is not running?

I thought I had the problem narrowed down to the FICM, so I replaced it with a Swamps 58V and I am still having the same problem. (The old FICM was down around low 40sV and I was getting a P0611 so I thought I had it figured out)

[LeftCoastCNC]

Bumping for some ideas or direction to head.

[Time2Live]

LeftCoastCNC, I'm having the same problem, but not very often. I've never tried leaving the key on for 5 minutes or so after it didn't start, so I don't know if that will work, but will try it next chance I get.

I'm still would like to know how much the pre-cycle time is varied by temperature. Here's what the Technician FICM Guide for the 6.0L Power Stroke Engine states:

The FICM will cycle through the injector outputs when the key is placed in the ON position. This is called pre-cycle
and the time of pre-cycle varies with engine temperature. The pre-cycle is done as a self test of the injector
circuits.

The guide doesn't specify exactly what year models it covers, but maybe it's only 2003 - 2004 year models, since the back cover has June 2004 Revision 0. I don't know if and when the FICM changed. As I mentioned it a previous post, I'm a bit surprised the motorcraftservice.com site doesn't give more specifics regarding the FICM.

[LeftCoastCNC]

I am thinking I and possibly you are having injector stiction issues. From what I have read on this forum, the inductive heating is suppose to heat up the oil in the injector enough make the oil "thinner" which will help them cycle or in our case pre-cycle. When I have had a cold no-start, I ran a buzz test and heard nothing. But the buzz test sounds good after the truck has run. I have been trying to find out when inductive heating takes place to help the injectors "free up" enough to cycle. If the heating is taking place with KOEO then it makes sense that leaving the key on is actually helping "free up" the injectors. If the heating is on the same timer as the glow plugs then I have no idea why leaving the key on works.

[LeftCoastCNC]

I think I finally won the battle. I replaced the FICM (IDM as it is called in the book) 70 amp relay and the starting problem has been gone for a week. For reference, this is relay 304 under the hood. Ford PN: F8OZ-14N089-AA