FYI, all those parts would be $300 plus your choice of shipping... That's what I paid for them from Tousley minus the shipping, which was pretty steep.

 

You talked to him on the phone didn't ya?

 

Nope, just went to his website... Though now I think I'm gonna have to skip it cause of money. I can send it back to him next year for it when I have more cash.

 

I completely understand. At the time I got mine done, it was unknown what else was wrong with my truck. Turned out to be a bad HPOP also. I am glad I got the tune done, give it some thought.

 

Ok, update:

Left it overnight, pulled EGR valve, dry but nasty dirty. Cleaned it with carb cleaner and stuck it back in. The inside of the hole was also dry, and also dirty, but I really had no way to clean it out.

Also left my block heater plugged up all night (got a cord... separate thread with questions on that) and when I went KOEO this morning, my ECT was at 98 degrees and EOT was at 118. Turned the key, cranked right over immediately with no smoke and no rough idle.

Is it possible that all my problems have been due to a damn cold engine?

Finally, I e-mailed the dealer where I bought the truck yesterday to ask if they could send me a receipt for the alternator, and complaining that I shouldn't have had a truck come from them with a bad alternator and a bad FICM... got a phone call from the manager this morning, and he upgraded me to the top-level warranty for free, which will cover anything and everything in the truck (except tires, etc.) and goes into effect immediately. SO, if the verdict is that I still need to get the work done, I've got the warranty available immediately with only a $250 deductible, which is awesome! So, that means my next question is... is Ed's FICM repair considered a "licensed repair facility" such that he could bill my warranty service for the work, or is he not? Cause if he is, I can have him do the fix plus an Atlas 40 tune and buy the upgraded alternator from him, pay $250 out of pocket, and have the warranty service cover the difference. That would be really nice! I've PM'd Ed and we'll see what he says.

Thanks for all your help, everyone! Any thoughts on the instant start with no rough idle and no smoke after having the block heater plugged up all night?

 

Same as with the hair dryer (but more invasive). The block heater heated the engine and the FICM (just like the hair dryer) it also heated the injectors and every other part of the engine, so in essence you were starting the truck at 80 degrees (or more) where stiction and FICM issues are minimized.

 

Got it.

Would y'all recommend I go ahead and run Hot Shot Secret in my next oil change and in my next few fuel fillups or should I wait and see how the new alternator and FICM handle things?

 

I just had a similar thread to this. Most people on here will reccomend RevX. I used Hot Shot Secret about 800 mile ago now and the truck has been getting better every day. I was told to add HHS for one oil oil change because it it more of a cleaner then switch to RevX.

here is the link to the thread i started
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ting-temp.html

 

I have never used HotShot's but I have had success with Rev-X. I am testing out Archoil now and am very pleased with the trucks performance.

 

Cool... I haven't checked what my local Carquest or NAPA have yet, but I've got Amazon Prime which is awesome for getting stuff cheap, fast, and with no shipping. Amazon has a conventional 5w40 from Mobil 1 formulated for Diesel trucks that would be $136 for four gallons (shipped). It's not synthetic, though. What are the benefits of switching to a synthetic oil?

 

Ok, this question is aimed at Ed, but anyone who knows the answer is welcome to chime in...

Assuming Ed's unable to serve as "warranty" service for fixing this FICM, I'll be taking it to the dealer to have it and the alternator replaced.

I understand that not being able to start with a cold FICM implies it's bad. However, according to TSB 4-18-06, the way you check the FICM is based off of voltages. (I realize that's been superceded by 8-26-3, but the new TSB isn't available online so I have to assume that the troubleshooting portion is the same or similar.)

Since none of my voltages are incorrect, what do I tell the dealer to convince them that it's bad so they'll replace it?

 

I've never seen or heard of any non-synthetic 5w40 Mobil1 and that's crazy expensive for non synthetic oil (which I don't think it is) at $34/gal., even shipped.

 

Huh, ok. It may be synthetic, then. I was going off of Amazon's description which said it was conventional oil as opposed to synthetic. Course, I've seen Amazon's descriptions be totally wrong a number of times! I'll go pull up the images and see if can see synthetic on the bottle anywhere...

 

Yep, it said synthetic on the bottle :-) Is that an appropriate price for synthetic oil or am I paying too much?

 

Walmart usually has the best prices on oil whether Rotella or Mobil 1

Josh