I took this video of our 6.0L F-250 starting this morning. Temperature was about 50 degrees F, but it was down around freezing overnight. The block heater was not plugged in.

Is this normal?


Thanks.

 

I can't hear any audio but even at -5*F my truck does not blow black smoke like that. And in warm weather no smoke at all. To me it's not normal how does it run? Is it down on power at all. Oooo just got audio going No NOT normal at all should be nice and smooth running esp. At 50*F. We have had our first up to freezing point in three weeks here been sub zero and well below freezing for weeks and even not plugged in my truck doesn't cold start like that. Do you have any way to read engine data? To check Ficm voltages and such. One I the more experienced guys will hopefully chime I. But you need to be able to read vitals to narrow down what's Happening.

 

Once it warms up, it runs perfectly. I don't think it's missing power, it can pull our Airstream over mountains at 70 mph without struggling. I bought the truck used about 2.5 years ago, so I don't know what they were like when they were new.

 

Agreed that is not normal and as suggested get yourself a set of gauges that read live data like scan gauge II or one of the smartphone apps like dashboss for IOS devices or torque pro for Android so you can keep an eye on things and also have the ability to trouble shoot and even catch problems before they leave you sitting on the side of the road. What weight of oil are you running? If its 15W-40 switch to Rotella T-6 5W-40, the 5W-40 is a year round oil. And X2 on checking that FICM voltage.

 

Here is my cold start this morning. Truck hasn't been driven since Thursday night. About 33*f at 9:15 am.

 

Mine sounds exactly like seans even on -10 degree starts. My old bosses 06 sounded exactly like the op's start. He had a few injectors that were nearly done. Ran ok when it was warm though.

 

That's not normal....has it been starting like that for the 2.5 years you've owned it?

 

my 03 sounded like that until I switched to synthectic 5-40 oil and added Archoil 9100, now it is very quiet at 0 without being plugged in, doesn't make that much noise at -20 not plugged in, plugged in it makes almost no injector noise

 

That's my -8*F cold start. Minus belt squeal and a brief lope, it goes into high idle right away and stabilizes within 45 seconds. I never plug the truck in and run 5w40 year round.

That's not normal and as others have suggested might be injector(s), FICM, or the oil you're running.

 

thats not normal being that warm. sounds like mine did when the ficm was on its way out. it blew the black smoke and everything exactly like yours. id get it checked out if i were you. mine left me at my buddies farm. once i got it running i had to run 80mph down main roads to keep it running. pulled in the driveway and she shut down. after it went to the shop my mechanic found out that the internals were fried on the ficm not all the way but to the point that the injectors were firing whenever they damn well pleased with no governing of fuel going into the cylinders. so on top of having a horrible miss she was loading up as well. just my 2 cents. hopefully you get it figured out and it aint something bigger

 

The "rolling" sound is getting worse - it sounds like a cylinder or two isn't firing. About a year ago, a Ford dealer said it's normal and I should use the block heater when it's below freezing (which can't be right - this is Washington, DC, where the lows are usually no worse than 15 F). I will say that today's start was an excellent one to record - it's not usually quite as bad as it was in the video - I thought it was going to stall, which isn't a feeling I usually have. No CEL. 112,000 miles.

I've never noticed the black smoke before. I don't know if that's because it wasn't there, or if I just never noticed it.

I run whatever oil the manual recommends for towing year round (15W-40 IIRC) because the amount of miles I drive when I'm not towing in the winter is small enough that I still put the heavier oil in.

Are these problems related to the coolant blowing out the recovery cap under load? Or am I in for yet more cash?

I have an OBD-II reader for my old iPhone, but I know at least it doesn't read the EOT for some reason...it just doesn't appear on the list of variables.

 

Hold up right there. You are having coolant loss as well under load? That can be a sign of a head gasket going bad.

My manual says the truck should start to -10*F without being plugged in. It recommends at least three hours of the block heater in conditions colder than that.

 

The coolant system was pressure tested not long after I bought the truck (when we first noticed the coolant loss, before I found out about the other issues) and was holding pressure for long periods of time.

I'm about 10 seconds from going on a rant about my newfound hatred of this truck. You've all heard it a million times I'm sure. This is the first diesel I've ever purchased, and it's the last.

 

I'd park the truck, get a Scangauge or similar, and report back. Based on what we saw and what you said about coolant blowing out, it's not sounding good.

Sure, it may be running/pulling great when it warms up....but you're rolling the dice everytime you start it.

 

Not JUST a head gasket....YET! And bet the oil cooler is plugged! Prob needs oil cooler and egr cooler....and prob a few injectors going out too.... How's your batteries? Do you know what the voltages was during that start?