6.0L Missing...Black Smoke

[BrianSale]

The other day I noticed truck lost power low end, no power loss when step on it going down the road. Acceleration is fine, but lots of black smoke. Took it to the dealer to check, and Ford is saying 2 bad injectors and bad EGR. Before I took it in I did a simple test of removing each injector wire one by one and began to idle worse, leading me to believe that they were at least semi working. I haven't had my EGR hooked up for the past 4 months, so I can't believe that its a problem. Also they said that in addition, they would need to change my oil since there is diesel in the oil, and they won't warranty the work without the oil change ($109). Ford is trying to hit me up for $1700+ to fix the problems, which I definitely said no. Short story long...does it sound like I could have two bad injectors? Can't I just pull and clean the EGR valve and reinstall with new o-rings? Do I need to change the oil? The oil is brand new Rotella Synthetic that I have been running for a while. Had it tested at 6000miles last change and Blackstone engineering said it is great in that truck. How hard is it to replace the injectors on my own? I am not afraid to do the work, just wondering what I'm in for. Do you recommend replacing just the bad ones, the whole side, all eight? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ford 2003 6.0l 130K miles

[Punky]

Could be injectors leaking down into the cylinders. This would make it "load up" at idle or lowq RPM. Alsoo would put fuel in the oil.

[BrianSale]

Well I went to the dealer to get my truck back, and they were none to happy that I wasn't having them do the work. However, their evaluation was..."the oil looks think. Perform EEC Test, Found Codes P0278, P0403, P0405, P0603. Perform Pinpoint tests and power balance test, found #6 and #2 fuel injectors failing. Also found EGR valve dirty and not responding normally to tests. Customer declined any repairs at this time." I cross checked the codes and am wondering if my assessment is correct. The P0278 cross checks to cyclinder #6 having problems, P0403 & P0405 are expected since I haven't and will continue to not, run with my EGR valve connected. I will pull it and clean it, but leave it disconnected. P0603 is due to my recent disconnecting of the batteries. Does this sound correct? Also, since the truck is smoking black smoke pretty much continuously, with no loss of power at higher speeds, no acceleration lag, and only idiling rough, is it safe to assume the two injectors are the cause of all my woes? Also if this is the case, is it OK to replace only the bad injectors, or should I replace them all? As far as the oil, it looks like I just changed it, so I don't know what the "it looks thick" is all about.

[Justinlw]

Sounds like a multiple injector problem to me. The egr may just be gunked up from being unplugged, and since they most likely tested it connected it showed slow response. I would agree on the injectors though. I'm dealing with the same thing at the moment due to a bad tank of fuel. I plan to have it diagnosed and change the failed injectors myself, possibly the whole bank since I'll already be there. I replaced the right bank a few months ago, so hopefully none of those have failed.