Starting troubles

[03strokerpower]

Truck wont start once it sits for a few days, its been in the lower 30's here in MI lately. I can crank it till the batts die and nothing, no smoke no studder. I recharge the batts to full and plug in the block heater and usually by then the temps have come up to 40-50 degrees, I try and start it again and it fires right up?? Never had this problem before, it used to start really good in the cold, never "had" to plug it in and rarely did. Just ordered an SCT so I will be able to pull codes in a few days.

fuel psi good-blue spring mod, no gel, using ps diesel kleen anti gel additive
Oil filter sump fills up near full in 10 sec
koeo ficm test 48v
ficm wile cranking 47-48v
haven't tested glow plugs as of yet still working on it but it sure "buzzes" when you flip the key on.
5w40 oil
looking for some pointers if ya got em truck runs fine at the moment, no rough idle??

just re tested the FICM after sitting for 2 hours with no block heater on and its 55 out and when you turn the keoe and the buzz cycle starts it sits at 15 then jumps to 48 and when you crank it, it stays at 48 but falls to 29 when the truck is running?? Bad ficm?

[twoicebergs]

Additive is good, but it won't gel at until it gets real cold.

Bismic has a good checklist here:
Troubleshooting a No-Start condition - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

The blue spring is no guarantee that you have enough fuel or pressure.

You have no smoke, so you have no fuel entering the cylinders. 3 places to go, electrical (FICM), oil low flow, draining and not building enough pressure (LPOP, STC) or fuel (HFCM). Try unplugging the ICP and restarting.

Since this only seems to happen after sitting for extended periods, it almost sounds like a seal issue, most probably in the oil. I'm guessing you don't have a scan tool to check?

[03strokerpower]

no scan tool yet, just ordered an SCT. I tested my FICM and it has 14v wile everything is buzzing and then it jumps to 48v and when you crank it, it stays at 48v till the engine fires then it drops to 29v. The voltage should be constant right?

I also load tested both my batteries and both are good..

[dannyboy950]

Question How are you reading FICM without a scanner or monitor? DVOM on the pins?
FICM voltage should never drop below 45v. rebuilders consider that a bad ficm.
If input voltage drops below 12v the ficm will not put out the right voltage.

[03strokerpower]

Im using a DVM to test voltage on the bolt head in the ficm, I have the 7 bolt one and Im testing the left bolt in the 4 bolt row. Starting to look like I need a new one, I've been reading on another site for an hour and it looks like the ficm is faulty, could be worse.

Now the million dollar question is what replacement/rebuild to get?

[03strokerpower]

Sending FICM to ficmrepair hoping this will solve the no cold start. Gonna have the atlas 40 put on as well cant wait.

[04cr450]

If it dropping to 29v when engine fires it is def. Bad. Get it replaced, more than likely that is the only problem with the truck

[dannyboy950]

Good deal I don,t think you will have any regrets with ficm repair.com and that atlas tune I have heard few complaints on.

[twoicebergs]

You found that pretty quick! The basic SCT won't give you much for monitoring. I just ordered the DashBoss for mine.

[03strokerpower]

Originally Posted by 04cr450

If it dropping to 29v when engine fires it is def. Bad. Get it replaced, more than likely that is the only problem with the truck

I hope so, not looking forward to hpop r&r out side in my driveway in the cold months