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<p>Thank you DrQuad and all the other members that took the time to post their ficm problems, solutions and results. I too experienced the rough idle, poor performance, then the dreaded no start (at least it was in the driveway). Went to Google found this thread LIFE SAVIOR! Followed the instructions up to the actual circuit board repair for that I took it to Boydtek in Pendergrass/Talmo, Ga. They took a look at the PDF file went to work (it is a 7pin ficm)and made the repairs. I reinstalled it in the truck and we now have a better than before functioning 6.0. Again many thanks, from a just acquired in May 6.0 owner.</p>
Welcome to FTE 56fordfella and glad you found us. Enjoy the Tech Folder at the top of the 6.0L forum for much more information on your truck also.
Thanks for the welcome Maxium4X4 and for pointing out the Tec folders. I am now looking for an original air filter to replace my aftermarket one, all based off of what I read in one of the post about what is best for a 6.0.
Repaired mine today after a no start in the drive way. It had been acting up for a while now, finally died. Thank you for the info, the orange stuff was huge pita. found a broken resistor, repaired it and touched up all the solder joints and the truck runs better than ever.
Thank you DrQuad and all the other members that took the time to post their ficm problems, solutions and results. I too experienced the rough idle, poor performance, then the dreaded no start. Went to Google found this thread LIFE SAVER! Followed the instructions and made the repairs. I reinstalled it in the truck and I now have my truck back. Again many thanks.
This explains a lot to me. You have to resolder the connections is because they use lead free solder. I am a solder technician. When they went away from lead because of health concerns, the solder joints are very fragile and vibration will kill them. All electronics are suffering because of lead free solder. Thanks for the write up.
Not trying to be a Forum Troll or anything but,
-Lead Free solder melts at a higher temp than leaded
-contrary to popular belief, leaded solder has never been proved harmful. The element lead is poisonous in LARGE amounts. Typical solder is about 40% Lead, and 60% TIN.
-The components on this board are NOT to be blamed. Surface mount components are just a change in technology (cheaper,better, faster, smaller), in this specific application the only suspect is heat from the engine that melts the solder and causes a world of problems.
-They dont use Lead free solder, they use "solder paste" which is used for surface mounted electrical components. That allows them to apply the paste, stick the component on to the paste, put in a "re-flow oven" (which melts the paste) and voila!
It simply eliminates the hand soldering aspect of high volume manufacturing, which saves time and the all important $$$.
And wth is a "Solder Technician"?
Electronic engineering is soooo misunderstood here............
Are yall ready for this? my 05 f250 6.0 with 160k would not start the other morning. batteries ended up dead. had to take both off and have charged at parts house. picked up and put back in. truck chugged, would cut on and then off. lots of black smoke. i read about soldering ficm. from other posts, this does work at times but is a temporary fix. your resistors are at a stage of going out. i also had ficm readings all over the place when running. 23-46volts but never made it to 48. starting i had 25-40 and koeo id have 25-45. i took off ficm numerous times, cleaned connections, cleaned harness on truck with little improvements which all would lead to cold no starts in the morning. once warm, it would run like no body's business, the issue was getting it to start before batteries drained. trying to save some cash, i soldered all points following the videos and instructions at the top of this post. 2 days later, i was broke down again with a no start issue till batteries drained. it will be Christmas in a week, so i do not have the funds to buy swamps upgrade. after a week of reading forums and watching videos, i conclude that heat takes a toll on the resistors and they do fail. i looked at buying the pieces and soldering them myself since i am now a solder king i just cannot find them in individual pieces without having to buy 1-2 thousand at a time. i heard of a place called mouser.com that may have them, i am just tired of researching. i found me an international truck place here in town and got the bottom shell for 192. they did charge me a 250 core but will get that back once i return the old one. orileys also carries a dorman brand which i may use one day if im in a pinch. i have read that they use oem parts which fail. ive learned that the major cause of ficm damage is low batteries and bad alternators. i went to harbor freight and got me a load tester for my batteries because ive gotten inaccurate stories from the parts houses. maybe they did not want to test correctly or perhaps the employee was just lazy, so i bought my own equipment to test my batteries. i paid 20 bucks for the load tester and got me a battery charger from wally world rated at 1000amps. paid 160 or so for it. threw ficm and truck started right up. 48volts all the way around from koeo , to start up, to driving. when i get some more money saved, i think i will get me a swamps setup because i agree with the need for a higher resistance against heat and vibration is needed on these parts. relocating the ficm would be awsome. i guess a harness extender would be ideal in this case, i just have not been able to locate one. ive replaced my oil and egr with oem and truck is running fine. i've added a coolant filter from napa and changed over to elc final charge coolant from pep boys. thank you all for your invaluable help. this is my experience with my 6.0. selling it has crossed my mind numerous times, dont think i will tho, not that scalded ape
Newark, Digi Key or Mouser, Allied, ETC is where I get my electronic components for this repair. I prefer silver solder for this app with proper flux for higher strength and melting point. Common failures include the power MOSFET, driver MOSFET and the .0075 ohm current limit resistor. Root cause... Power FET fails as a short, taking out FET driver and the resistor acts as a fuse! Typical OEM repair parts total about $10.00 depending on where you shop and whether you want to upgrade the power FET's and Electrolytic Caps with higher voltage and temperature ratings.
Although Doorman appears to be a spin off of OEM it will do in a pinch to get you back on the road if you can find for < $100.
For the money I like the Bullet Proof six phase design, (I have my own eight phase design which incorporates 2 modified Doorman boards in the OEM FICM housing, yes the housing is kind of cobbled on the inside to make things go together).
Huge thank you for the resolder fix! The ol girl was having a rough time this winter starting. Pulled the module and resoldered all the spots on the write up. Fired right up with no rough idle and shaking! Killed the batteries earlier in the day before I found this fix, so after a battery charge in the morning, I'm fairly confident she will fire right up! Thank you again!
Thank you for the fix. My Excursion has been having a really hard time cold starting and I was about to take it to a presumably expensive shop visit. Now with a few hours of work (that box is a bit tight in there and I took the time to flush the coolant system while at it) it's like new. Awesome.
FWIW, I work in electronics and the board seemed to be in good shape. However, lead-free solder is far more prone to failure due to brittleness than traditional SnPb solder. It doesn't make Pb-free solder bad, but simply narrows the envelope in which it performs as designed. Production process also has much narrower limits for time and temperature, and if those are exceeded there is the possibility of accelerated failure. There are tricks to extend the envelope of Pb-free stuff, but nothing Pb-free gets to the simplicity SnPb. (It should be obvious what kind of solder I used to touch up the board.)
Keep in mind the ten year lifespan of these round larger electrolytic capacitors.
Replace them with good ones from Mouser, Allied Electronics or Newark. Not shelf dead ones from uncle Paul's Radio Shack collection.
Use good radio solder and electrical solder station. Not your Butan one!
Secure the new capacitors with hot high temp resistant glue sticks.
08-03-2013, 08:03 AM
and glad you found us. Enjoy the Tech Folder at the top of the 6.0L forum for much more information on your truck also.
ficm no start black smoke low voltage SOLVED!
Are yall ready for this? my 05 f250 6.0 with 160k would not start the other morning. batteries ended up dead. had to take both off and have charged at parts house. picked up and put back in. truck chugged, would cut on and then off. lots of black smoke. i read about soldering ficm. from other posts, this does work at times but is a temporary fix. your resistors are at a stage of going out. i also had ficm readings all over the place when running. 23-46volts but never made it to 48. starting i had 25-40 and koeo id have 25-45. i took off ficm numerous times, cleaned connections, cleaned harness on truck with little improvements which all would lead to cold no starts in the morning. once warm, it would run like no body's business, the issue was getting it to start before batteries drained. trying to save some cash, i soldered all points following the videos and instructions at the top of this post. 2 days later, i was broke down again with a no start issue till batteries drained. it will be Christmas in a week, so i do not have the funds to buy swamps upgrade. after a week of reading forums and watching videos, i conclude that heat takes a toll on the resistors and they do fail. i looked at buying the pieces and soldering them myself since i am now a solder king i just cannot find them in individual pieces without having to buy 1-2 thousand at a time. i heard of a place called mouser.com that may have them, i am just tired of researching. i found me an international truck place here in town and got the bottom shell for 192. they did charge me a 250 core but will get that back once i return the old one. orileys also carries a dorman brand which i may use one day if im in a pinch. i have read that they use oem parts which fail. ive learned that the major cause of ficm damage is low batteries and bad alternators. i went to harbor freight and got me a load tester for my batteries because ive gotten inaccurate stories from the parts houses. maybe they did not want to test correctly or perhaps the employee was just lazy, so i bought my own equipment to test my batteries. i paid 20 bucks for the load tester and got me a battery charger from wally world rated at 1000amps. paid 160 or so for it. threw ficm and truck started right up. 48volts all the way around from koeo , to start up, to driving. when i get some more money saved, i think i will get me a swamps setup because i agree with the need for a higher resistance against heat and vibration is needed on these parts. relocating the ficm would be awsome. i guess a harness extender would be ideal in this case, i just have not been able to locate one. ive replaced my oil and egr with oem and truck is running fine. i've added a coolant filter from napa and changed over to elc final charge coolant from pep boys. thank you all for your invaluable help. this is my experience with my 6.0. selling it has crossed my mind numerous times, dont think i will tho, not that scalded ape 
