The boys I work for most of the time called a few days ago and asked if they bought a truck, would I work on it? Well there's not a lot I refuse to work on for these boys, but I should have run, far, far away!
It is a '04 F550 6.0 PSD that isn't even running I think everyone here knows of my dislike for the PSD and this puts the icing on the cake. I have spent hours doing research on the 6.0 forum, learning much more about this boat anchor than I ever wanted to know and still haven't gotten it to run. Beginning to lean towards a bad FICM, but without a scantool, I am reluctant to spend the $$$ for one. Anybody here got a scanner that will read a 6.0? After talking to the arrogant little ********* at the local dealer today, I would scrap it before I take it to him to pull codes.
I'm trying to convince them that this truck would be a great candidate for a Cummins swap

 

It's a great motor...especially if you've had ANY dealings with the 6.4L; besides it's allot better than the motor it replaced.Uh, sort of. I ordered a AE with the Ford bundle (able to read any Ford built after '95)...but the last I heard it hadn't arrived at the house. And when I talked to Clay at Riff Raff, it wasn't going to ship with the rest of the "upgrades" I ordered for the Princess for another week.Why in the world would you want to ruin a great chassis with a MoPar reject? Too bad a 3126 won't fit in a F550...from my personal experiences over the last 10-15 years I think it's the best motor Cat designed/built for the school bus world as far as reliability, power & efficiency. I'll PM you when the AE shows up.

 

OMG. Really? You really said that?

 

Yeah, yeah I really did.

 

Strange as it may sound, IH did do a few things right when they built the 6.0. At least you don't have to pull the valve covers to replace glow plugs But I'd still take 2 IDIs over one any day
I did get it to run today after plugging the block heater in overnight, confirmed that the FICM is at fault. I should have a new one in hand in the AM.
Zack, thanks for the offer for the scanner, but found a local diesel hotrodder that has one, he scanned it and erased the codes this evening. Hopefully I can install the FICM in the morning and get this thing out of my hair. If I had to work on many of them, I wouldn't have any hair left.

 

x34357688906543456789765467890765

 

Yip, you just have to pull the cab off the frame, or pull the motor out of the frame to replace a head gasket. To each their own on that IDI thing. Glad to hear you got 'er going. Just for the sake of discussion...what kind of codes did it through? Last summer when I lost those injectors (low fuel pressure) at first we thought I had a FICM going because of some strange readings. Thus we pulled the small cover off the FICM and put a meter on it to check the voltages.Anytime on the offer. If you keep your hair cut short you don't have to worry about pulling it out.Say what?

 

Replaced the power supply section of the FICM and the truck is running well, we'll see if this fix holds up.
Zack, not sure what codes were stored, but the fellow that pulled them said they all pertained to a failed FICM, low voltage on the FICM, low voltage on all 8 injectors and such.
I'll still take my old IDIs, hopefully I can forget all of this gibberish I have learned the last few days looking over in the 6.0 forum. I still can't believe these boys are considering running this truck, they are diehard goat fans.
Hey Zack, one question, do you remember what voltage readings you had on your FICM? This one would hold 46.6 volts KOEO and while cranking until the engine would try to fire, then it would drop into the mid 20V range. It will idle and rev up roughly there, but if the voltage drops below 21 volts, it will die The new one holds a steady 48.1 volts

 

There's seven screws/pins under that cover. Going off the top of my head, only one is supposed to have 48 +/- VDC...standing at the driver's side/fender it will be the top & left screw. The one below that should have about 5VDC; 3rd down is a ground and the bottom one (nearest to the fender) should have 12V the entire time. Mine was 46V KOEO; dropped to 43V while cranking; then would go to 49V with the engine running (like crap, but running).

For the record..this might be a little helpful if your going to spend allot of time with that "wonder of technology"

6.0's, FICM's and Cold Start Problems - PowerStrokeNation

I don't know how much reading you spent in the 6-leaker forum...but you might put a fuel pressure gauge on that dude and check the health of those high dollar injectors. Those sticks have got to have 45 psi MINIMUM at all times the engine is running. The more the better, though 70-75 is the maximum recommended pressure. Mine was 38psi at WOT...thus after everything was check out and four sticks replaced; life is well with the Pavement Princess.

 

The one I'm working with has the 4 screws instead of 7. The one closest to the fender has 48V, the next is 12V, next is 5V and the last is ground. Fuel pressure on this one is a steady 60 PSI, so I don't think there is a fuel problem, injectors were replaced 2 weeks before the FICM crashed. This truck has been sitting for over a year, the PO thought the HPOP had gone out for the 3rd time.