My 2006 6.0 is dead and wont start

[06F250PSD]

Last night while driving to a friends house my truck shut off as I was pulling up in front of his driveway. I slightly over shot the drive and I braked hard and went to back up and it was dead. It cranks but no start now. Not even a sputter just a flat crank. I checked the fuel cut off switch and this seemed fine.

Additional info. from the last week:

On Tuesday night I picked up some sea foam and put it in the oil (I know big no no per most people on here but did not know this at the time). I drove the truck Wednesday and it was rough and blowing black smoke. I had been having some slightly longer crank times and thought I had stiction issues and I thought the sea foam might act like the rev ex so many people on here talk about. Note: longer crank is always the first cold start of the day. After driving the rest of the day it is fine.

Now fast forward to early thursday, long crank, took 10 minutes to finally get the truck started. I changed the oil first thing that morning while it was warm and put my winter 10w30 of Rotella in. I also drained the water separater on the hfcm. I had a check engine light also this morning that showed injector 1,2,3,4 circuit low. After changing the oil and when I was test driving this day I cleared the codes and the light never came back on and all seemed fine.

Friday morning not wanting to take any chances I had plugged it in overnight and it started fine. Sat. morning did not have it plugged in and I barely got it started - I had to hook it to the wifes car to keep my batterys from dying. Finally got it started and again it drove fine once it warmed up and rest of day. Sat. night died in front of my friends house. Now it is sitting in his front yard dead.

Any ideas?? Long post I know but just trying to give all info. to you guys.

Drove the truck later that day and got on it and all seemed fine.

[NYC F-350]

Your FICM is toast. Either repair it yourself (if you know you can solder on electronic boards) or send it out for repair. Two places I recommend are Swamps Diesel and Ficmrepair.com.

[06F250PSD]

Thanks for info. I talked to ED from FICMRepair.com for some time. He seemed very knowledgable and legit so I am going to try the swap program they have. In the mean time I have to charge the batterys and check the float voltage to make sure they are good. I hope this solves my problem.

I dont think I mentioned I also had a crank shaft sensor code yesterday morning after a hard start. But ED was quick to point out that these FICM's can and will throw all kinds of codes when they go bad...so keep my fingers crossed.

What about the Sea Foam in my oil? Could this have caused any of this?

[NYC F-350]

Let me jump on the same bandwagon you have heard from since doing that.
I would never, ever, under any circumstances, use Seafoam on a diesel engine period. Nowhere. Use that stuff for your lawnmower, weedwhacker, and maybe your gas burning car.
An oil additive (no matter how bad of a choice) has absolutely nothing to do with this issue. This issue has to do with the solder that was used in the factory at the time your FICM was manufactured. The solder is not as flexible as it should be (because of low lead content). Add that together with the environment in which your FICM lives (heat cycles and vibration) and it will fail. The original solder actually detaches a little from the board. When the board heats up and expands, the contact between the solder and the board improves, explaining why your truck runs good when warmed up. When it is cold, and the board has contracted, you will have the biggest issue. This is the reason why your truck starts fine when you plug it in. There would be just enough heat created to improve the connections.
When you have other issues that cause extended crank times, finding cam and/or crank sensor codes are very very common and are usually nothing to be concerned with.

[sinner6.0L]

Originally Posted by NYC F-350

When you have other issues that cause extended crank times, finding cam and/or crank sensor codes are very very common and are usually nothing to be concerned with.

agreed, you have a ficm that is gone

[06F250PSD]

Ok replaced the FICM with the rebuilt one that I ordered. Made sure each of the 3 connectors clicked when I installed it. Still no start. Sounds the same as it did before cranks but that is all.

BTW before you ask I electrically isolated the batterys and charged/tested them. They were both at 13.08 after sitting overnight and over 24 hours off the charger. Checked all the fuses and nothing is blown. Tried to get more codes and nothing. I am having it towed to the dealer now because I cant wait anymore and need my truck to work. So the question is what are they going to find?? Ideas??

[shu873]

These things get expensive to fix by throwing parts at it. Best advise I can give you is if you don't have a good scanner or autoenginuity software yourself, is to take it to a good diesel shop or dealership for a diagnosis. These trucks need to be hooked up and scanned by someone who knows there way around them. Otherwise you just throw parts at them and cross your fingers.

[06F250PSD]

Originally Posted by shu873

These things get expensive to fix by throwing parts at it. Best advise I can give you is if you don't have a good scanner or autoenginuity software yourself, is to take it to a good diesel shop or dealership for a diagnosis. These trucks need to be hooked up and scanned by someone who knows there way around them. Otherwise you just throw parts at them and cross your fingers.

Agreed that's why its headed to a Ford dealer to get fixed. I'm not that mechanical but it seemed like something that I could do (ficm) but something else is probably go on. I'm thinking its an injector problem. They are going to look at it first thing tomorrow. I will post what the results are. At least I'm learning a lot about my 6.0 through this!

[NYC F-350]

What will they find? Probably a high pressure oil system leak. Usually the issues with the leak is that it will not restart when the oil is hot (which you experienced), or it may just cut right out (also experienced) and not restart until it has cooled off. The only high pressure oil system leak can give you trouble starting the truck cold is an STC fitting failure along with parking the truck with the nose elevated. By having the nose elevated, the hot oil could flow out of the failing fitting and drain the HPOP reservoir resulting in VERY difficult cold starts, if it starts. (I discovered this the hard way....).

Rest assured that your symptoms of not being able to start it cold, but having it start plugged in point to one thing. FICM You could have had both issues at the same time.

[m-chan68]

Stupid question. Before and after the FICM repair, did you hear the injectors pre-cycling when the ignition is turned to the RUN position (as it's supposed to)? The reason I ask, is because you can easily have multiple failed injectors that has caused your truck to fail to start, assuming that there is no issue with the high pressure oil system. Just the same as having either FICM_SYNC and/or SYNC data fail to switch from NO to YES when cranking the engine over will also cause a no-start.