:dunno: My 04 F550 with 6.0 is a SC truck and I recently brought it to NY. Any temp under 40 and it would start hard. If it got under twenty it wouldn't start at all. Crank til the batteries die and just get white smoke. If I plug it in it will start fine but at 30 degrees you shouldn't have to. Changed oil and fuel filters. No better. In the mean time I lost taillights and ft marker lights but not mirror or cab lights. Took it to dealer.... Bad FICM, bad GPCM, and bad EGR valve, and non serviceable relay in fuse box. Thats quite a list so I figured I should check everything myself. Got it back and put the GPCM in and no better. Tested FICM and all was fine except injector buzz it dropped to 13V. Called innovative and decided to get swamps 58v FICM and ordered sinister egr delete and new oil cooler. Put in all new parts. Starts better than before but not much. 20 degrees will still kill batteries from cranking. Batteries are fairly new and load test good. Alternator good. Replaced fuse box and that fixed the lights for a couple days. Same problem back now and no idea why. Went to start it this morning... 24 degrees out. Turned key and nothing. heard all the noises(glow plugs, fuel) but did nothing when I tried to crank it. Tried a few more times and it Cranked.. some white smoke..Killed batteries after a few min just like im getting used to with it. Plugged it in and put it on charge. Came back out half hour later and tried to crank and it wouldn't start. I don't know if it comes standard but when I turn the key it will crank for like thirty seconds even if I stop cranking and even if I take the key out. Of course today is the day I was waiting for where the starter had enough. Starter went. :dunno: Sorry for the long post but that is all the information. Also I forgot to mention this is my tow truck and the problems are killing me. I own my own towing company and I don't know what to do about this. Thanks in advance
I'm not sure. I would hope so. They did it last time it was at the dealer. What batteries would you recommend for these trucks? Especially with it being a tow truck and using all the extra power. I should brobably test them again. If they test good then what?
I dont believe it does. It has a light bar and some work lights. Also some accessories inside like chargers and gps. Nothing to cause extra draw in starting though.
Any ideas about the cold starting problems though? I know its more than batteries because even if its plugged in to a charger or hooked up to another truck it will kill the batteries before it will actually start if its cold out
If your planning on replacing the batteries i would recommend getting Optima batteries. Another Suggestion would be to get insulation for around the batteries. I know my 7.3 came with insulation from the factory but i don't think they put any on the 6.0's.
the standard 15W40 but Im starting to think that is too thick for my area this time of year. I know that and the batteries will effect it but I really dont think it will keep it from starting this bad. The insulation around the batteries is a good idea. I dont want to get new batteries unless I have to though. Money is tight and I have spent around 2K on it in the last two weeks on parts trying to fix this
would start with batteries 6.0s are touchy if the batteries arent tip top
2 i would change your oil to a lesser weight
3 how many miles ore on it maybe you have a slight injector stiction this would not help the situation??? if it hiccups and chugs on cold days untill high idle mode sinks in this may be part of the reason, i would suggest rev x oil additive it worked me
What weight would be better to run? It has 157K on it and I was wondering the same thing about the injectors but I didnt know how to tell. Once I get it started it runs fine. Smooth and no power problems. It does smoke white until it warms up a little though.
has the truck been flashed to newest updates. do the people working on it fix powersrokes. yes could be stiction issue. your batteries are dead from cranking. probably not the issue. alt dont charge till after truck is running so this is not your issue. on oil you can run 10w30 in these with no issues. how does it run after it starts could be bad inj. any codes.
I dont know if it has been reflashed when it has been at the dealer. the diesel techs work on it when it is there and give me the diagnosis then usually I get what I need and replace it because I dont have the money to pay for labor on something I can easily do. It runs great once I get it started. Maybe rough for five seconds at most but after that it runs great. does the 10w30 make starting any easier usually?
rev x 8 oz first oil change and 4 oz after that, me personally run a 10w in the winter it will help a little, and yes the latest update will do well, any fuel additives?????
Lighter weight oil like 10W 30 should help starting in cold climate situations like what your describing. I know alot of people that switch to lighter oil in their 6.0's for the winter.
I always add a quart of Lucas full synthetic oil stabilizer to my truck when i change oil. It says on the bottle that Ford recommends it for use in all Power Strokes.
I appreciate all the replies but Im not sure that charging my batteries and changing the weight of my oil will fix everything. I will load test them in the morning. I would think maybe it would if it started a little hard but most of the time it just wont start until I try for hours. I ordered two bottles of rev-x to try. Maybe a stiction issue with my injectors. Im out of ideas other than that
read up on an issue called stiction. Check out the oil / cold start thread in my sig as well as the troubleshooting a no start condition. If it can be solved, its in that thread. Good luck!
Also do a search for "wont start" and you will probably find 15 other people with your same symptoms, hopefully a few of them came back and said what the problem was
read up on an issue called stiction. Check out the oil / cold start thread in my sig as well as the troubleshooting a no start condition. If it can be solved, its in that thread. Good luck!
Also do a search for "wont start" and you will probably find 15 other people with your same symptoms, hopefully a few of them came back and said what the problem was
heres your insight, do some reading and testing. 99% of no starts can be solved by the info in my signature. Thank Bismic later, buy him a cookie or something
i ordered rev-x to try and hope if will help because I believe I may have a stiction issue. I had it at ford this morning and they flat out told me they dont know whats wrong but for about 10 hours labor they could figure it out. They pulled 17 codes. 5 have to do with EGR I deleted. (will get custom tune eventually). 1 is PCM keep alive memory from having the batteries disconnected yesterday to change starter. 1 is FICM performance saying my FICM is bad but I just recently put in swamps 58V ficm so I dont understand that unless it just doesn't recognize the 58V as being normal. 1 is fan speed sensor circuit no signal. (This is the only one that Im not sure the general idea of the cause). The last eight codes are glow plug for each cyl. I tested them and resistance shows they are good. Must be wiring or something because the GPCM is brand new. Its funny how the dealer didn't mention the GP codes, they just gave me the numbers. Please let me know if you have any insight.
Take some of that money and buy yourself two brand new batteries. Both of them.
Dave, the first go to respond, is very knowledgable on this platform and I would listen very intently to what he said.
Also, the cold start issue sounds very much like stiction. You can read the link in my sig to show how amazing the lighter weight oil is in these engines. If you're still having troubles, then the Rev-X will definitely help. I would SERIOUSLY change the oil to the lighter weight before adding the Rev-X that way you have known good oil and Rev-X in at the same time.
Ignore ALL codes until you have two brand new batteries in and you change the oil to something better.
I just got done solving this problem on my 05 6.0. Turned out to be the Glow Plug Control Module. Located on the passenger side valve cover towards the front of the engine. About $180 from the dealer ( only from the dealer). I was fighting the EXACT same problem you had, crank but no start and lots of white smoke. If I plugged it in it would start great. I ended up spending $460 for Swamps FICM rebuild but still no start, but as soon as I put a new module on life was good.
Oil and batteries are a good idea but there worthless unless you can get it started.
GOOD LUCK
:thumb:
Sorry should have read ALL of your first post!!!!!!!1
Did a lot of reading, Changed the batteries but Im pretty sure mine were still good so that was a waste. Changed oil to rotell T5 10w30. Still doesn't want to start when its cold. As I said before, the codes say that I don't have any Glow Plugs working. I tested the resistance on all of them and it is within spec so they are all good and I replaced the GPCM last week because ford said it was not working. So the only thing I can find wrong at this time other than a little stiction is that my glow plugs are not functioning and im not sure what the problem can be now. Thank you everybody.
I have a 2005 and my 6L had the hardest time to start. The Ford dealer always told me it was the batteries. The first set I changed them after 6 months the second set lasted 3 years. But the truck was always hard to start. So I kept it plugged in. My friends 2004 was no problem the days mine had to be plugged.
This fall I changed the STC fitting at the HPOP pump and now the engine turns much easier and takes less power from the starter because the injectors are firing helping the starter.
The 2004 has no STC problems but is there a possibility you have a late model with the new model HPOP High Pressure Oil Pump.
thanks. Im not sure how to tell if it has it or not. Is there a way to look it up by build date? I'm new to the diesels but learning quickly from everything I have gone through so far. Where is it located and what does it look like? It probably would be easier for me to just go out and look if I know what Im looking for. I am going to look into this but at the moment I am still trying to figure out why I have codes for all glow plugs and dont seem to have any glow plugs working
easy way would be to look for where the icp is located. if its up by the turbo then you have a late build.
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