Ouch. Lots of threads here on EGR cooler. It's likely the source of the wetness.

 

It can be wet from oil and not be coolant and with no complaing of white smoke I wouldn't suspect the EGR cooler. The EGR valve didn't look bad at all IMHO. If you still get blue smoke after cleaning the EGR valve and it runs rough then it's starting to point to an injector/s.

 

>did the clean and reinstall of the EGR;
did the best i could to clean out the EGR chamber and some of the intake manifold but, while the valve itself cleaned up pretty good, i could not successfully clean the sooty, oily residue from the deeper parts;
reinstalled everything without issue / EGR was a bit resistant at the lower O-ring but seemed to seat right

>then started the rig WITHOUT the EGR plugged in; no change; ran it through 3 miles of WOT and returned to previous state; rough but power mostly there.

>turned the engine off and plugged the EGR in. started without issue and produced a slightly quiter, slightly less powerful run, but seemed to really smooth things out so i ran it a few miles this way - when this rig runs right it has awesome power so i enjoyed my few minutes of glory

>let it sit overnight - to try a real cold start;
rough as hell, barely started, and had almost no power when running; couldn't even eek it out the driveway after 1-minute warm-up

>disconnected EGR; returned to previous / pre-cleaning condition; started "normally" but running seems as bad / worse

so here we are and things look grim. not sure if i should drive it anywhere; to get the codes read or to my mechanic or just have it towed in and await the worst...

>so to ask something(s) productive:
can i do damage by continuing to drive it?
even if the injector's are failing, (for ? cause), what happened to foul the intake with all this oil? could that have been caused by my previous problem / the cracked oil filter base?
>if the injectors were fouled (?) by all this oil, won't replaced ones simply foul again?

give me your opinions guys. i thank you for your advice so far and appreciate your interest in my case. heh. thanks thanks, -c6

 

Check your fuel pressure i think you have a leak internally

 

no other responses to my investigation? i could use 'em! thx

 

It really sounds like injectors to me. What are you running for oil, how are you on oil change frequency?

 

Pull the turbo outlet hose and the exhaust off the back of the turbo and see if there's any oil there.some on the outlet is normal. Also check your ficm.

 

Rough/no power/blue smoke/runs like crap cold...........still saying injector stiction too. You might try a dose (2 bottles) of Rev-x to see if that helps your problem.

 

thanks for the input guys;
pulling the turbo outlet and checking the FICM are beyond my capacity for now, but won't be forever;

oil / filter are conventional oil/OEM/motorcraft;
oil change was less than 2,000 miles ago;
frequency (since i've had the vehicle/last spring) is at/less than 5,000 miles;
and i've been using lucas upper cylinder with every tank since last summer.

 

also:
drained HFCM 6/10, 10/10, 6/11
fuel filters replaced ~ 8/10

 

these are both simple tasks that you can do in an hour,and rule out both.chech ficm test procedure in the tech folder,and all you need to check the turbo is a 7/16 wrench.

 

I have been having a similar problem on my 05 6.0L powerstroke. It starts OK but rough. Use to have some blue smoke until it heated up. Was drivable but barely until it warmed up them all was good. Took it to my mechanic and he ran the errors codes. Looked like some miss firing on #4 and possibly something funny on #2 Suspected injector o-rings. I could not get it booked in so kept driving it. That was 4 weeks ago.

Last weekend drove it up into the mountains pulling my 5th wheel and all seems OK. Got up the next morning to go fish and had a huge white cloud of smoke and little power until it warmed up. Lasted for about 2 minutes. Next morning started it and had a huge white cloud with absolutely no power. Could not even move the truck. Took 20 minutes in idle before I could move the truck. I just about crapped my pants 60km back in the bush thinking it was toast. Anyways after warming up it was fine. Hooked the 5th wheel up and hauled it all home without incident. Turbo seemed a little whinny.

Next morning I could even move the truck to get it into my garage until after a 20 min idle and warm up was done.

Did a lot of reading on the net. Bulletproofdiesel.com was a lot of help with their videos on U-tube. Looked like a leaking EGR cooler or head gasket on top of the previous issues. They have a nice simple test. Check it out.

YouTube - ‪Bad EGR cooler or head gasket‬‏

I call it the the 'Heart Breaker Test'. Because I would have a broken heart if it was my head gaskets. So,basically you take the cap of the coolant reservoir and seal it off with a hose running out of it. Put the other end of the hose into a bottle of water and start the truck. Watch the bubble pattern for a while and then unplug the turbo. If the budbles reduce it is most likely just the EGR cooler. If they stay the same then it is most likely a head gasket. If it get more bubbles when you plug the turbo back in then they figure it is both. With mine the bubbles almost stopped, but my hose was not 100% sealed, so my heart was not broken and i am into a EGR cooler replacement.
I recommend the Heart Beaker Test.

I also took out the EGR valve and it was all gummy with black crap, which was another tell tale of a leaking EGR cooler

I ordered the Bulletproof EGR Cooler with lifetime warranty. Made the most sense to me. Seemed anything else was just a 1 year warranty. I wanted to go with the external oil cooler from BulletProof, but cost is high and will not be keeping the truck forever so I just ordered a new oil cooler from Ford.

Again Bulletproofdiesel.com has videos on EGR and oil coolers that suggest that the EGR problems are most often cause by a blocked or failing oil cooler. See

YouTube - ‪Should you replace EGR cooler and oil cooler at the same time?‬‏

So if replacing the EGR cooler, it is recommended to replace the oil cooler or re-build it if you know how to. I found their site very helpful.

So Parts I ordered:
- Bulletproof EGR cooler complete with full gasket kit
- new Ford Oil Cooler from Ford
- new Ford Stand pipes and seals from Ford
- replacing all 8 sets of injector seals, seals from Ford
- replacing #4 injector, re-manufactured unit

Got the top of the motor apart now. I have never taken apart a diesel in my life before, so this is an interesting experience. Gas not problem, but diesel is new to me. They say replacing the EGR cooler is a 12 hour job in the shop. So as I am doing the injector seals as well. I figured a few more hours a side, plus the 'me doing it factor' I figured about 20 hours or more.

I have also been told that being that I have the turbo off I should take it apart and clean it. IT apparently comes apart easily and there are some plates in there that get built up with carbon, so they say take it apart and polish up those plates and remove the carbon. Makes a big difference in any turbo lag. So I will be adding a few hours for that.

Lots of stuff to disassemble. Wow! A little over whelming sometimes.

I now have 9 hours into it and have the injectors replaced on the passenger side with the valve cover back on. I need to get the glow plugs out now and turn the engine over to get the oil out of the cylinders, so i don't hydraulic the engine cylinder. The Ford glow plug connector remover part #303-1114 is a ridiculous $90 plus shipping on e-bay and I hear $134 at the dealer. I cannot figure out how to get those connectors off without the tool.

[IMG]file:///N:/Data-K/Vehicles%20Bikes%20Quads%20Boats/2005%20F-350/303-1114%20a.jpg[/IMG]

So tonight I will be building my own tool for that from scrap metal so add an hour or so of labour, increasing total time for my repair.

Rotunda 303-1114 Release Tool, Glow Plug Connector 6.0 Diesel | Rotunda Tools
or
Ford Motorcraft 303-1114 Glow Plug Connector Remover / Installer

I expect the injector seal replacement on the drivers side to go faster as it seems to have better access (more room) and I have now the experience from the other side.
Going to do all the injectors and remove glow plugs to clear the cylinders first. Then get that all back together. Then go back to the top of the motor and take off the turbo, intake manifold and EGR cooler. See what kind of surprises I am info in there.

Got 9 hours into this, figure I am 1/4 done. So time estimates are being moved to 30 to 35 hours for this project with me doing it. Remember I have never done work like this to a diesel before. So it is taking me extra time.

I bought a Haynes manual for this truck. I do not recommend that. It was mostly based on the 7.3L and not much use other than for torque spec. I found most of the torque specs and better information with respect to the 6.0L for free here on this website or on U-tube. Thanks all for posting all that information here, It is a great help. When I get stuck I go here or to U-tube and watch videos for a while of what others have done and seen, etc. Again lots of help. That and the advice from my guy at the local Lordco parts store I seem to be well on my way.

I was originally rather scared to take on this diesel engine, but if you can re-build a gas engine ( like me) then you to can do this. You must stay organized ask lots of questions. Reading through this site is very helpful as well.

Biggest advice I have for the diesel beginner is don't hydraulic your cylinders. I did not know this and could have easily done that. Could have been serious damage. Pull the glow plugs, turn the engine over and push all that oil out of the cylinder. Put the glow plugs back in.

They tell me the best way to start this once complete is to leave the glow plugs unplugged. Spray some Ether into the turbo intake tube, put the turbo tube back together and start it up. DO NOT SHUT IT OFF they tell me. The mechanical across the street tried to start the one 6.0L they just did without the Ether and it turned over for 45 min and he gave up. A shot of the Ether and it fired up immediately.

Now they tell me DO NOT TURN IT OFF, because if you turn it off you can airlock the motor. BAD!!! The fuel turns to foam. Not always, but you just don't want it to happen so play it safe. So before starting ensure you are ready to drive it out of the garage, put a load on the engine and run it around until it is completely warmed up and more. Again all seriously valuable information I was unaware of that could have caused me great grief.

I am no expert at this my any means, just though I would share that for others that are considering taking this kind of repair.

20 hours would have been nice. Thinking possibly 30 to 35 now. But it will save me a big dollar as opposed to taking it to the mechanical or dealer. I figure all of this would have been a $6000 to $7000 bill. So hopeful I get it all right and it all good.
I think I have $1200 into it and that included about $200 for some new metric deep sockets, ratching wrenches (a must have) and a smaller torque wrench that the one I have.

I have not come across anything that is really difficult or scary, it all just requires lots of time. If any one has any other tips for the diesel beginner I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for all the posts here. Hopefully the remainder of my repair goes well.

Kev

 

it amazes me that there are so many shared symptoms between such varied (yet interconnected) systems. kind of like how fatigue is a symptom of both heavy labor and cancer.

in my case, we have apparently found it. and by we it's me and my mechanic:
failing-(soon-to-fail?) FICM.
codes showing all injectors and the p0611 code.
$900 for the module, labor and programming
(and he's throwing in the labor for my lower radiator hose replacement).
steelhead-i thank you for your posts, and if i hadn't been pressed to travel in 2 days, (and had already brought it in yesterday) i would have brought the truck home and done that test, and tried to re-solder my own. damn straight.

also thanks to everyone else. i feel like i've failed you somewhat. i have done some major repair on this truck and will probably do lots more. next time i'll be investigating without the pressure of a business trip, (hopefully) and with your help, i'll certainly be doing simple tasks like voltage tests, parts pulling, soldering, etc, on my own and keep that very hard to get cash in my pocket.

admittedly, i may have even caused the FICM failure; 6 mos ago i lost and replaced the starter, in the process lost a battery -- and replaced just that one. other one had tested fine so i left it. but good god when i bought a 1-ton flatbed i never really thought that i'd be driving a piece of fine fussy china around; subject to domino upon domino failure. anyway my 2 cents amongst the millions. i'll post again if anything notable happens post-FICM replacement. thanks guys. you are great!

 

Did you have a cel with the p0611 code?........

 

one heck of a first post!,but one question for you,who advised you to use ether to start it after the repairs?.you shouldn't do that,even with the glow plugs disconnected.you stand a chance of making even more work for yourself.just my opinion of course,and good luck on the repairs.you'll have a good reliable 6litre when you're done!.