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Battery change, suddenly black smoke

5K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  pngaudioguy 
#1 ·
I just joined the community recently, and mentioned in my intro a few things that needed updating. Well, the hard starting got ridiculous when I was gone for work for a week. Got home and the truck wouldn't even turn over. No, I hadn't left any lights or anything on. Both batteries had last been replaced in 2010, so they're due anyway.

I got the batteries swapped out, all the corrosion cleaned off the terminals with baking soda/water and cleaning brushes, used compressed air to accelerate the drying process, new batteries in with some anti-corrosion spray on all the connections after for good measure. Fired right up like it's supposed to. I let it idle in the driveway for about 15 minutes while I puttered around checking tire pressures, some spot cleaning, etc.

Got out of the housing subdivision and punched it to get up to 45mph on the main road. There was a pretty reasonable cloud of black smoke that poured out of the tailpipe in my mirror. Is this typical? I don't have a monitoring solution yet, and it's definitely on my short list.

For those that haven't read my other intro, it's an '05 6.0L PSD, seems mostly stock but has a K&N filter. Original airbox wasn't included, and I'm planning to dump the K&N ASAP as well.

Looking forward to your thoughts / assistance :smile2:
 
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#2 ·
If you were at a very low speed and the turbo wasn't spooled up at all and you put the pedal to floor blowing out black smoke it normal yes. If you were to just roll into the throttle I'd bet it wouldn't happen. Without the turbo spooled up and giving it that much fuel is going to make it smoke until the turbo spools. Getting a monitor should be #1 on your short list! Stick around and you'll learn a ton from this site I promise
 
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#4 ·
I call BS. Unless it's tuned up heavy and the turbo is frozen or the CAC Tube is blown off, or the FICM took a dump (which would indicate other obvious issues) there shouldn't be black smoke just from sitting for a week...ever; especially if you are just rolling out of the subdivision at 45 mph. Oh my!
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the thoughts. I should have said that I also saw a similar cloud pulling away from every stoplight. This is very different behavior from what I was seeing before the battery change, when I don't recall ever seeing smoke.

I sent an email to @Corey@CNCFab already regarding the edge line of products.
 
#8 ·
I'm going to be heading out this afternoon to run some errands, so will see what it's doing. If it's still smoking like that I'll grab a video when I get home.

I have no clue what the ECM has programmed on it. Is there a way of checking without going to a Ford stealership?
 
#10 ·
Did I miss something here?
I'm no expert, but i do know poor batteries, alternator, glow plug system, corrupt good FICMs.

From your posts its obvious you are electrically savvy so start testing the charging system, FICM, and such.

You recently bought the truck from a small used car lot, yes?
No known history on previous owner(s)?
Any sound service records?
You passed inspection, so it has the EGR cooler intact, did they smog test it?

1) You could have a tune on the PCM and/or FICM.
2) The junk batteries could have (likely) fried your FICM.
3) Hows your alternator? Is it a parts house 60A POS?
4) What brand Glow plugs went into the truck at the car lot before you bought it?
5) Did anyone Ohm out the Glow plug system?
6) Buzz Test, Contribution test
 
#12 ·
Get a ScanGauge or similar monitor. I recently bought one for my 05 Excursion and immediately realized I should have bought it years ago. It it a very good way to diagnose problems with the 6.0. Immediately found out my FICM was bad. AutoZone has them but they are not programmed for the 6.0, however programming is very easy.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I've got an UltraGauge that I had on my Acura TSX for years as a basic monitoring device since mine was before all those gauges got built in standard, but it doesn't read a lot of the info I need off the port for the PSD. I'm looking into the Edge products, but can't decide between the Insight CTS2, Insight Pro CTS2 or Diesel Evolution CTS2. Seems like the latter is the simplest for having monitoring plus some basic tuning capabilities. Since I'm not planning on modding my truck like crazy, that might be my best choice?

Anyway, I took the truck out yesterday afternoon, and definitely didn't see the large amounts of smoke I'd been seeing the day before. Normal acceleration from a stoplight I could see just a small puff, and if I really stepped in it there was a little bit of a cloud, but not enough that it seemed abnormal.

I did notice that even after returning from errands with the engine fully warmed up, there was a smell of unburnt diesel in the exhaust as it was idling in the driveway. I decided to check the FICM voltage, but due to the oversized aftermarket air intake, I was unable to get the coolant reservoir far enough out of the way to access the port on top of the FICM. It's supposed to be better to check that voltage with engine cold anyway, so if my honey-do list is short enough today I'll get out there and remove the airbox so I can get that measurement. I suspect that it may have the cold solder issue regularly reported, based on my brake controller also having that issue.

@Durapig Eater - thanks for the suggestions for things to check. I haven't looked at the alternator, am assuming it's factory but will double check. At casual glance, there did appear to be 2 alternators in there, but I haven't actually read labels on them. The mom&pop dealer said that they replaced with Ford glow plugs, but didn't specify on the invoice. They also claimed to have replaced the primary battery, but I discovered that they clearly didn't so I'm questioning that they did anything other than stuff the bearings full of grease to make them quiet... I've got a Fluke multi-meter, will read up on how to measure the glow plugs and see what I get there. I'm not familiar with the buzz test or contribution test, so again some learning to do. EDIT: Just looked up the buzz and contribution tests. Looks like the Edge products allow running those tests, so another bonus to going that route.

I know that the Edge monitors are pretty much the defacto preference, but I haven't seen many reviews of their tuning products, particularly with stock setups. Thanks in advance for input!

Also, would it be a good idea to call up a local dealer and explain that I just bought the truck used, and would like to have the latest factory ECM/PCM/FICM flashes put on it as a precaution? Is that something they usually charge through the nose for? Is there any other way of making sure it's got reputable programming on it?
 
#14 ·
Waiting for my key turning assistant to be done on the phone to get voltages, but in the meantime, here are some pics I took while getting everything ready for measurement. There seems to be quite a bit of oil in the intake around that tube that appears to be a crankcase vent. Normal?

There's a lot of oil on the side of the tube near the oil filter. Is this possibly a symptom of someone incorrectly installing an oil filter cap at some point that sprayed all over the place? I need to get it cleaned off and see if it comes back, I know.

Looks like there have been some mods flashed on the FICM at a dealer - 280105 and 6487703 at dealer 07492 in June of 2012. It also looks like the tech there had an opinion "6.0L SUCK" to share...
 

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#15 ·
Vehicle is a 2005 Excursion with 2005 model 6.0 Powerstroke. My FICM would show 48 volts with key on not running cold, would drop to 30 to 35 volts when first started cold until warmed up then would show 48 volts until cold again. Sent it in for repair at FICMrepair.com, had the ECO tune installed, very pleased with performance. Power supply was bad beyond repair and had to be replaced. I really had no symptoms other then a slight longer then normal start time. I probably killed the FICM by letting the battery voltage get low by long periods of not driving or starting. I had previous problems with long crank times that was cured with STC fitting, dummy plugs, and stand pipe replacement.
 
#16 ·
6.0l probably made a metric **** ton of that tech's mortgage payments...

Oil from ccv is normal.
The ccv mod, although done by thousands, has been called "pure Internet foolishness"...

Looks like possible leaking cac boot and ccv misty goo to me?

Boost leak causing black smoke?
Too much fuel and/or lack of air?
It would likely also show symptoms of no balls too though.
 
#18 ·
Good info. I'll look into the cac boot, etc. I don't feel like it's lacking in oomph, but this is my first F350, so maybe I'm just not sure what I should be feeling. I do feel like it's getting too much fuel just based on the nose test when standing near the exhaust.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Finally got some solid voltage numbers. First crank of the day:
FICM read 47.9V key on, plugs on
FICM read 48.1V key on engine off
FICM read 47.5V while starting, then bounced right up to 48.1V once running.

All those numbers look really good to me based on the diagnosis procedures.

Batteries are brand new sitting at 12.5V when not running, 14.07V when running, so it looks like the alternators are putting out appropriate charge voltage. I couldn't find any kind of sticker on the top alternator, but the lower one had a sticker that read 3C3T-CA BSB with a date code of scratch/21/05 - guessing the factory original, google search for that part number says 135A.

I did find a vacuum hose on the passenger side of the compartment that appeared to have been disconnected from its correlated sensor. I plugged it in, and now have a check engine light.

No problem, I'll just plug in the UltraGauge and read the trouble codes. My UltraGauge will not even light up when I plug it into the OBDII port, though! Just to make sure the gauge wasn't dead, I plugged it into the Honda sitting right next to the truck and it immediately started scanning normally... Uh, any tips for that one?

EDIT: Searching for no power on the OBDII port indicates might be a fuse issue with #12 - I do remember the other day that my son stuck a screwdriver in the dash powerport while I was checking something else out and not paying attention to him for 2 seconds... Might be related - will check that out as soon as daddy daycare gets a break.
 

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#19 ·
So the radio fuse (which also powers the outlet directly beneath the radio) had popped. Fuse #11. This prevents the OBD port from getting power, apparently. The error code was P0113 - IAT sensor, apparently. Perhaps fiddling with the airbox jiggled something in the intake manifold. I reset the code and it didn't immediately come back, will see if it returns with some driving/bouncing.

The vacuum valve I was referring to is the one I've circled in this picture, right next to the oil fill cap. When I reconnected the tube, it pulled the valve open. Which system is this in? What is normal behavior?
 

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#21 ·
@curlysir - thanks! That might explain why my temp settings have been so far off. I'll see if having it connected gets them closer to what I expect. I've had it set at 60 on these warmer days to get the temp to about 65-70 in the cab. That would be cool if that's all it took to fix it :)
 
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