You may want to spend a hundred or so and have the FICM reflashed at the dealer to try to rule out more costly repairs as injectors etc. Glow plugs could be an issue I would think!

 

no loss of antifreeze
changed over from 15-40 dino to 5-40 synthetic
yes, buzz for a few with the key on, voltage stays at 47.7v the whole time
and like i posted... white smoke blows out for a second then clears right up at idle.
fresh batts. as of thursday
dealer just scanned for codes on thursday and all is good . i did not have them diagnose anything just wanted a scan.

 

I spent 21 years in the Navy, a good portion of 17 years of that was strapped to a 2M Repair/Rework Station. Here-here on the Lead Free Solder. An excellent solder to use is 63/37 (Tin/Lead ratio) Rosin Core RMA. (Rosin Mildly Activated)

Do not use RA (Rosin Activated) solder! The "Activated" Rosin, provided any moisture or a form of electrolyte is present, will corrode the soldered connection unless ALL of the Flux/Rosin residue is removed with Isopropyl Technical Alcohol. It would not be nice to find your plated through eyelets eaten away a year from now!

BTW, The Isopropyl Technical Alcohol leaves no residue.

Just some Helpful Hints, for Hopeful Heroes.

Eric

 

I followed your proceedure and installed abck in my truck. It worked perfect. I was doughtfull at first but when I hooked it up and hooked the computer to it and the voltage did not drop past 46.5 volts and the truck started and ran with no vibration I decided it was time to go to the bar and enjoy some of the money this saved me. Thanks for everyones help.

 

Well, not loosing coolant is a good sign! Oil sounds good, You may have an injector sticking on start up ( spool valve), ever try some injector clean?

White smoke could be a sign of the egr cooler going out, but if you not loosing coolant, than may not be the case. The coolers on these truck are pretty well known to go bad and let coolant into the exhaust system.

 

well i removed the egr valve and cooler a few years ago, threw them away. so rules that out. i have tried a few different fuel additives with injector cleaner in them? what are some that you would recommend. i definately give another one a try.but whats weird is when shes plugged in for about 30-40 minutes she fires up before you can say come on.

 

I use power service diesel kleen Power Service Products, diesel fuel additives, prevent gelling, clean injectors, disperse water, boost cetane, reduce emissions, improve fuel economyPower Service Products, diesel fuel additives, prevent gelling, clean injectors, disperse water, boos. Not sure what else could be going on other than sticking injectors. I will do some research to see what I can come up with!

 

well unfortunately that is the same stuff that i am running in every tank since ive had her., well maybe i will try something different for a change see if it help. i know someone on here had recommended this other really expensive stuff, that im not ready to try yet.thanks for the info and replies.

 

So I tested my FICM last week and found my voltage dropping down to around 20 volts. I pulled it out, opened it up and found one of the resistors completely loose and one burned up. After freaking out a little bit, since I wasn't planning on doing any replacing of tiny electrical components, I did a little more looking on FTE and found the resistor to get to replace the one that burned up. I also found that all places online were out of them and had a 15-20 week backorder on them. So, following another forum, I found one with the same specs but a 3W power handling instead of the 1W and ordered 8 of them.

I replaced the burned up one and the one that was loose and after I put it all back together I plugged it in to test it. Voltage didn't drop below 47.2 V. Unfortunately it started raining and the truck won't fit in the garage so putting it back together was kind of miserable but when I finished I get the whole family (fiance and dog) came outside to watch me fire her up. She had been sitting for 5 days which usually would mean a really hard start and lots of missing for the first minute but it fired right up and was purring like a kitten.

Thanks everyone that was brave enough to try this before me!! I have 6 more resistors if anyone has a need for them.

 

THANK YOU DOC!!!!,,you just saved me $4700 ,,,
I took my truck to ford a few weeks ago figuring I had an EGR problem,,well when ford called me back they said my truck had serious issues,,and one of them was the FICM,,what he said was it could be this could be that ,,pretty much take the whole thing down to the head gaskets,so his estimate was $4700-$6600+,,,after doing alot of research and finding your post I tackled it myself....I put everything back together,,and my truck fired right up!,,after sitting for 4 days in 15 degree weather,,truck runs totally different now ,,

THANK YOU AGAIN DOC!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

My truck has been running bad and eventually wouldn't start. I tested my FICM - 48v with key on and 21.2v with the key turned. I gave my FICM and your pdf file to a computer tech who works for my wife, he followed your instructions and now my truck runs better than ever! FYI, he told me two of the resistors fell off the board when he took it apart.

Now he's going to do the 58v upgrade for me, I'm ordering the parts Monday. One question... could you tell me where you got the digital dc meter? I can find them but they only go to 20v. Any direction would be appreciated.

Once again, thanks Doc!! You da man!! Saved me at least $1,000!!!!! Reps on the way!

 

has anyone done this repair without having codes that indicate there is a problem with the FICM? if so, what were the results?

 

My '06 didn't throw any codes, it just died after running crappy for about 5 months. I tried the FICM repair back in Oct '10 but that didn't work. Had a guy come today and ran diag on it, shows 48v. He said he's done this a million times, and that this repair was on the right track, but that I missed two components (can't remember what he said they were). Gonna pull the FICM back off to reflow and see what happens... will update as soon as I get it back on and turn the key. Keepin' my fingers crossed

 

Not sure about the no codes part, but you can have 48V and still have a toasted FICM. That's been proven more than once. I'm NOT an electronics guy nor do I solder well so I'll take mine to a repair shop IF it happens. I do know there are components that come loose and appear intact due to the staking material holding them in. Please keep us informed on what you find.

 

Ok...I'm jumping in the mix...lol. I have been having what I thought was a sorta hard start problem. Even after it was warm..it would act up sometimes. I went out just now and did the test (2005 F350 SD 4x4 KR DRW). I took the extra red wire off of the passenger battery, and turned the key to "on". Voltage was at 43.7, then started to drop all the way to 20 something. Turned the key to start...got 47.5..then it dropped to in the 30's as it was being turned over. Hooked the red wire back up and tried to start it, and the voltage after it started was at 28. Guess its time to tear this apart ? Truck seems to run fine other than that.