OK, this truck of mine is starting to drive me insane.

-Early 2003 F350 6.0L
-EGR delete, new oil cooler, batteries and new IPR 9 months ago
-new FICM with Atlas 40 tune 2 months ago
-new ICP sensor 2 weeks ago
-cleaned MAF and IA2 2 days ago
-5w40 Rotella T6 synthetic w/AR9100
-NO CODES

Current Scangauge II readings with truck at idle:

FLP - 13.5
FVP - 13.5
FMP - 47.5
ICV - 0.78-0.90
ICP - 640-645
IPR - 21.5
VLT - 13.2-14.0
SYC- 1 (CMP and CKP in sync)
FSN - 1 (FICM and PCM in sync)
CCS - 1 (CMP and CKP signals in sync with PCM)
FIS - 1 (FICM values match PCM for CMP and CKP)

Now the problem:

At no particular interval, the truck is hard to start and I will have to crank it for 10-15 seconds while watching the raw fuel smoke billow out of the exhaust. Once it starts running, it blows greyish smoke (definitely raw diesel not coolant) for a while (5-10mins) but once warm it runs like a top.

Now, when it doesn't want to start, I've tried to monitor the ICP, ICV and IPR. Depending how long I have to crank, these readings have hit as high as:

ICV - 1.9
IPR - 60
ICP - 1950

When it starts fine, those same values are as follows:

ICV - 0.45
IPR - 45
ICP - 550-650

The problem is happening more frequently and now that we are well below freezing it is starting to get old REALLY fast. I am planning on replacing the MAP, CMP and CKP sensors just because they are 120K miles old now. I've suspected that the CKP is done for a while but I really need to get this solved.

I am also pretty sure I have one injector that is hanging up when cold but I am waiting for my diesel tech to get back from a knee replacement so he can do a balance test and see which one it is.

Suggestions?

 

icp senor leaking any oil?
whats fuel pressure when it happens?

 

As mentioned above, the ICP was changed 2 weeks ago because the old one was puking oil.

Haven't checked fuel pressure but it seems to be getting enough judging by all the raw diesel fumes coming out of the exhaust. I did the blue spring mod earlier this summer and it would hold 65psi unless I was running my biggest tunes and then it would drop to about 45psi for a few seconds at WOT.

 

Set SGII update rate to FAST

Did you change ICP Pigtail tooo?????????

Program SGII for FPW

FPW 07E0221410 046205140610 3010 000800010000

Really just want to see anything But 0 FPW when it dont start


What RPM do you see when wont start????????????

 

Did you change ICP Pigtail tooo?????????

Not this time around as it was only 20* when I was doing the ICP in the driveway which already took 3hrs to do. I did change it 2 years ago when I did the last ICP. I did use some contact cleaner and cleaned the plug up though.

Program SGII for FPW

FPW 07E0221410 046205140610 3010 000800010000

Really just want to see anything But 0 FPW when it dont start

I will program that in today and see what it does.

What RPM do you see when wont start????????????

I haven't watched that really closely, but I seem to remember that it's over 200 while cranking. I'll be sure to watch next time it does it which will probably be soon.

 

Any other suggestions guys? I had somebody suggest unplugging the EGR valve as it may have been giving a funky signal even though the tune turns it off, but that made no difference at all. I am completely at my whits end here and have to get this figured out. I'm quite mechanically inclined and I've worked on a lot of vehicles in my 40yrs, but this truck is starting to send me towards a padded room!

 

there some new ideas

 

I already answered the ICP sensor question a couple of times above - it is only 3 weeks old.

I haven't had a chance to check fuel pressure yet, but when I did the blue spring earlier this year it was over 60psi at idle. It was giving me the same hard start issue before that which I had hoped would have been solved when I did the oil cooler and EGR delete.

I reconnected the EGR valve at lunch when it didn't want to start, but also found that I had left the filter minder out of the filter housing when I cleaned the MAF and IAT2 last week. I'm not sure that would cause much of a problem as it was plugged in before when it wouldn't start.

RPM doesn't register on dash or SGII while cranking which I believe is normal. If not, that would certainly point to a faulty CKP.

 

faulty ckp/cmp issues normally come with no sync and no fuel.
whats ficm voltage when it wont start?
do you sync and ficm sync when it wont start?
have you tried unpluging ebp yet?

you dont get any codes? p1000 or p0603?
all that said 03's were full of wire harness demons

 

said he Blows LOTS diesel smoke out the Tail pipe

makes me wonder if the inject that hangs open is letting Lots of Air into the fuel Rail making it hard to start

might be worth the Bubble test


BTW your ICp keeps getting brought up because you Posted Good and Bad Values and actualy the Bad Value is in the starts fine catagory



I beleive rpm signal comes from Cam sensor

 

Whats your oil pressure look like when cranking????
Was this going on before you did all your upgrades in original post????

"Haven't checked fuel pressure but it seems to be getting enough judging by all the raw diesel fumes coming out of the exhaust. I did the blue spring mod earlier this summer and it would hold 65psi unless I was running my biggest tunes and then it would drop to about 45psi for a few seconds at WOT. "

How did you tell the psi????
45psi is danger! 60psi is perfect. My truck sits at 61psi and at WOT drops to maybe 57psi. Just to let u know how much it should drop. But it seems like your getting fuel...and when it eventually fires up it runs good right???

If you do all your work, see where u went wrong. One injector shouldnt be causing this niether should the air restriction gauge or egr valve. Leave that unplugged it might help it flow a little better. How many miles on ol girl????<!-- / message -->

 

Did you get a code for that injector???? If SGII doesnt pick anything up do the Odometer trick. It picks up info from pcm through the odometer

 

the white smoke is a sign that the injectors are comming on line. white smoke is often a sign of poor fuel conditions or hung open egr valves.
so on top of what is fuel pressure? what is egrvp and egrdc# at koeo durring no start?
also note low icp also equals fule delivery issues and will cause the same thing.

 

Sounds like my 03 when the glow plug module went out. Just throwing that out there...

 

this crossed my mind to John
Did you get any DTC when this happened to your 03