Hey guys, im not new to the site but ater years of saving I just bought my first diesel a few days ago. It's a 2006 4x4 f250 with 142,xxx miles on it. The previous owner had the FICM replaced about a year ago and claims to have never added a tuner to it. About 2 months ago he took it to the ford dealer and had them look over it and it came back with no problems (he showed me the papaer work). So as i was letting it warm up yesterday the check engine light came on so i took it to have the code read and was told the glow plug in cylinder 1 was bad but it wasnt a major issue. While at the dealership i asked the mechanic why it may be running rough on cold mornings and he said my injectors were probably bad. I plan to have the batteries load tested tomorrow and will check the FICM as i have red on here that those could be the problems and not the injectors. When i opened the hood today i noticed white residue on the degas bottle... So i guess my heads have been lifting since it was taken to the dealership. Im working through college so i dont have much money to throw at the problem.
My question is, if i have to pick between fixing a possible injector problem or the head gaskets, which do i go with?? Im assuming the heads would be first.
Id like to say thanks in advance for any help i get. Ive learned a lot from yall over the years but clearly not nearly enough.

 

First thing would be go to Napa and get a replacement coolant cap. I don't know of a single 6.0 that has the stock cap on it, they leak. Could also be over-filled (the stock Ford "Min" line is actually the realistic "Max" line). Could also be a bad EGR cooler which can lead to blown gaskets if not fixed in time.

 

Just checked the coolant level and it's at the min line with the stock cap so I will address that tomorrow. Thanks a ton! I've been freaking out all day.

 

Cold morning rough running could also be stiction. When was the last time the oil was changed? If you haven't done it I would advise you to change oil, filter, and both fuel filters. Make sure you only use motorcraft, racor, or fram filters. And by all means DON'T use a filter that comes with a new cap and if it has one of those in it buy a stock cap and put it back to stock filters. Also not a bad idea to run some rev-ex oil additive should help your stiction. I'm by no means an expert but these are some tips I've picked up on here. Since your in Louisiana I'm assuming its not super cold there. Injectors is a possibility but don't get sucked into slinging parts to fix an un-diagnosed or improperly diagnosed problem. The stuff I've suggested wont cost as much as one injector and is a good idea to do regardless of any problems and may fix the cold morning start issue. Also the load test film test as you suggested is a good idea before jumping to injectors. I'm sure mdub and some others will chime in as well. Good luck and welcome to the 6.0 world!

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*ficm not film!

 

Any mods on the truck? What's the maintenance schedule like? What kind of oil and oil filter are you using? What about fuel filters? More info on the truck would help tremendously.

It's easy to just say "oh it's bad injectors" without actually proving anything. I would have the batteries individually load tested, then test the FICM to ensure it's working properly. Once that is done and everything checks out, and you still have rough cold starts, check the glow plug system. I've attached a PDF document that goes over "hard starting." You can read through it, but the key focus here is the test specs for the glow plugs and the glow plug relay. It's not often we have glow plug issues on 6.0's, but not impossible. I can't imagine it throwing a check engine light either. It'd be really nice if you could get the actual trouble codes and post them here too. If that all checks out and your glow plug system is up to snuff, buy two bottles of rev-x oil additive and dump it in, works wonders. KT Performance on here seems to have the best price and fastest shipping IMO.

 

One of the batteries was bad so i went ahead and replaced both of them which seemed to help. The FICM tested 49v on all 3 test. I also replaced the radiator cap and drained some of the coolant. The coolant didnt seem to have any oil in it, it was a darker yellow.
There are no performance mods to the truck, just a 3in lift.
The oil was changed roughly 5000 miles ago and has been changed every 7000 miles with rotella 15w 40 and all by the dealer with OEM filters. Im not sure of the fuel filter maintinance schedual but all were done by the dealer. Since its been 5000 miles I will go ahead and change the oil and all filters and get the rev-x as soon as i can. I am unsure of the code but will find out tomorrow and will try the glow plug test as well.
No its not cold here 07Black250, the coldest lately is about 38* but usually about 44*.
Thanks Again.

 

Glad you found the battery issue before it had a chance to take out the ficm. Sounds like your on the right track mdub knows the 6.0 pretty well so I would take his word over mine and test the glow plug system as he described. Like said the oil and filter changes definitely won't hurt anything. Also from hearing that all maintenance has been done at dealer and coolant is yellowish it sounds like you still have ford gold coolant. Do some searching on here about it it's pretty much one of the worst mistakes ford made on the 6.0. And should be properly flushed and drained but the flush can possibly clog your oil cooler so I don't want to give you the wrong info about scrapping it immediately. I would suggest you fix the other problems first and then plan on changing the gold for a cat 1 elc coolant, I believe most agree that you should run a coolant filter for a bit before the flush and change to keep it from further clogging the oil cooler. Like I said though do some searching on here because I can't remember all the details. Others may add some info here as well.

 

You're on the right track 07black250.

FWIW, my cab is going up for headgaskets/new oil cooler, etc... the whole works. Guess what coolant I bought to put in the truck.... Ford Gold. I'm going to see what happens. Worst case is I tell you guys in a few months my oil cooler is clogged again and I do a flush, swap, new coolant.

 

The trouble code is p0671.
I have a coolant filter on the way and will flush the system after running it a while. Ill read up to find the best oil and coolant. I couldnt change the oil or test the glow plugs due to the weather but will asap. Apparently the batteries didnt help as much as i thought but i will keep working on it and reading up on here.
Thanks for the replies guys.

 

I changed my oil from 15 40 rotella to 5 40 rotella synthetic and didn't notice anything, but then again my truck starts very well warm or cold. My trucks sits a lot so I just changed the oil after 3k miles. But I hear changing to 5 40 synthetic and adding rev x helps ALOT.