My truck takes different amounts of time to start everytime I start the truck. Sometimes it fires right off and others it takes awhile to start. It doesn't matter if its hot or cold. It's an 05 F-240 4x4.

I'm thinking it's a sign of the STC. How much to update the STC myself? How much time to replace the STC myself? Where do I get the STC update? Are there other things I should replace while updating the STC?

 

IIRC 3-5 seconds to start is normal. More than that and you should start to worry. The updated fitting can be purchased from a ford or international dealer ($35-45). Time wise I say you're looking at 3-8 hr depending on your mechanical ability. You'll have to pull the turbo and pull the HPOP cover. I think the rear cover has to come off too.

 

Just did mine yesterday. I was worried because it's an early build 2006 (made in August 2005) and I was doing the coolers so I did it. It had the support bracket, and felt good and tight so I probably didn't have to do it, but it's done. You have to take the turbo off, which is nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think I could have the turbo out in an hour if I practised a few times. There's a rotten little bolt that bolts onto the back of the hpop cover to secure the heat shield that will make you swear, but the biggest thing for me was the fear of dropping something into the engine. Had to turn the shop heat off while I was doing it, I was sweating. Stuff a rag all around in the hole, and make sure your sockets like to stay on the ratchet/extensions. Also, the ICP regulator has a big assed nut on it, it has to come off before the cover, my inch and a quarter wasn't big enough, had to use a big cresent. The instructions tell you to torque the new fitting jamb nut down to 49 ls.ft, but you have to do it with a 15/16ths open end wrench, so you're guessing, at least I was.
I think there's a way to test to see if you're getting enough oil pressure to the injectors, but I wouldn't have a clue what it is, somebody else here will know. I would hate to change the stc and find out it wasn't the problem. Lots of other things can cause a hard start.

Edit. Have you checked your EOT vs ECT yet? If your oil cooler is plugged, your egr only has a while to live, and now would be the time to do it since you'd be halfway there.

 

I don't know how to check EOT vs ECT. I'm assuming I have to have other gauges installed? I'm assuming your oil cooler comment means to replace the oil cooler? Also, I forgot to mention at first that my brother-in-law said he saw white smoke coming out of my pipe while following me the other morning for a short while. We couldn't make it do it again though.

 

White smoke is a potential sign of an EGR cooler failure. Park the truck with the front end down hill over night, pull the EGR valve, and see if it's wet or if you see coolant puddled in the intake. If so then your oil cooler has probably plugged up and caused your EGR cooler to fail. You can check EOT vs. ECT through the OBDII port as the PCM reads both parameters IF you have something like a scan gauge.

 

Sorry for the late reply, been chasing cows all day.
Mine did the same thing - it would smoke once in a while and then quit. I thought it was the ficm and it was over fueling. I couldn't smell burning antifreeze, so I was pretty sure it was fuel related. The it started getting worse, doing it longer and more often, started to really use coolant, and at the end, I could clearly smell the antifreeze, and it would fog half a city block sitting at a stop light, and use up a gallon of coolant in a few hundred miles. The last couple of days it was even running of the back of the engine from somewhere - probably at one of the exhaust flanges. It would help to loosen the degas cap and relieve the pressure. I haven't did a post mortem on the oil cooler yet, but when I jam one end into the tap and hit it with water, it barely runs out of the other end. My temps were 30 -40 degrees different, now they're almost even.

 

My truck is doing the same as yours! Some days fires like it is supposed to, other days 5-8 second crank time! Tried Diesel Kleen and that helped for a little while seems like but then nothing helped. Two days in a row truck would do a very sudden fire after cranking 5-8 seconds. I went and bought the STC fitting but still not 100% sure thats the problem. I recently did a synthetic oil change to correct some injector stiction problems, thats fixed but now noticing random long crank times?? Strange! Mine could be hot or cold as well. Someone said something about a sticking check valve in the oil filter housing, I'm going to open it up tomorrow to take a peek and I guess go ahead and change the STC fitting since I have everything now.

As far as time wise goes the dealer said a couple of hrs to replace. I have some background on working on these things but never a STC fitting. Did the oil/egr cooler replace-pain in the BUTT got it done though and saved 20hr labor time@ $70 hr.

For the cost to do the repair its $58 bucks so far for the STC fitting kit with gaskets. Ford part # 4C32-9B246-F. The outdated # has a E at the end. These things have about 4 or 5 updates from what the parts guy showed and told me. This is the latest and greatest.

 

As soon as you loosen the oil cap, the filter housing will drain into the crankcase. By the time you get the cap off it will be empty.

 

It could also be a faulty IPR sticking in the low position occasionally, not creating enough ICP to allow a start.

 

how much was the oil/egr cooler replace? where did you get the parts? did you replace the egr or delete it? i'm thinking about just deleting it.

 

whats the cheapest route to take to replace oil cooler, egr cooler, and STC? i know cheapest isn't the best way to take but my funds are limited right now. how can i be 100% that my coolers are shot?

What else is included in doing the work? Coolant flush? Oil change? etc.

Anybody have a good writeup with pics on replacing both coolers?

 

We got parts off good ole eBay. I actually did the change on my dads truck he has a 05' 6.0 and the oil cooler went out at 112K. Just out of warranty!! Of course!

As for the EGR we put a new one on and the oil cooler. We should have done a STC fitting replace then being everything was pretty much out of the way. I didn't pull his turbo nor did I take the intake all the way off. If the turbo had been out of the way it would have made life much easier! The knuckles got a beating for sure.

It took me pretty much all day one Saturday and part of Sunday to get everything back together. Saved some major $$$$ though!

 

A sure fire oil cooler gone south will be engine oil in the coolant reservoir. The EGR cooler usually pours white smoke as if you have a blown head gasket speaking of which .....if you go with a bad EGR cooler too long it can lead to head gasket failure I was told. You can pull the EGR valve after parking (all night) with the nose of the truck in a downward slope, if you see that the EGR valve is wet or if there is coolant in the housing you got a EGR cooler leaking.


As far as parts get the vin# give it to Ford and they can tell you the parts number to be sure you get the right ones. I would recommend eBay for the oil cooler and egr cooler. We got both for around $400-450. We also replaced the intake gasket which through Ford comes in a kit $100 with all the o-rings, gaskets, etc you will need to do the repair. I just bought a STC kit through Ford for $58 so its not bad. I haven't replaced yet though, the truck is doing fine now for two weeks straight. The old motto....if it ain't broke don't fix it

 

Thanks for the help guys!!!

 

What do you guys think of this kit?

6.0 EGR COOLER BYPASS KIT NEW OIL COOLER AND SCREEN: eBay Motors (item 360311461949 end time Nov-17-10 14:10:13 PST)