I am new to owning a diesel. I bought an 05 Excursion with the 6.0 diesel with 67,000 miles 1 yr ago. I have put 10,000 miles on since then. It broke down a McDonald's drive through of all places. I shut it off to order and went to start it after and it would turn over but wouldn't fire. Some would say its a sign. Anyway had it towed to a dealer. They put it on computer and said it needed FICM repair dummy plugs and possible STC kit, $3000 worth with labor (consistent). After talking with a friend, I brought it to a mechanic that specialized in these types of repair, he could do it for half the price with FICM up grade to 56v). He got it in his shop, charged the battery because they were dead from tying to start it. Said it fired right up. He did a closed system air test and said there were no leaks but said the FICM was at 37v. He drove it around for a week or so and could not get it to fault again. I picked it up and drove home (40 miles) no problems. The next day I drove it to Drill (50 miles) parked it, shut it off and about 10 mins later had to move it and would not fire. waited an hr or so and fired right up. I called mech. and he said it was in need of the dummy plug repair. He also told me that my HG were bad. a few days later I started it to let it warm up and the heater was blowing very little heat after 15 min of running. It does however blow hot when driving. My question is do you think I need the STC kit and dummy plug repaired. Does Bars leak work for HG fix? Thank You ahead of time.

Mike

 

The FICM needs repaired, anything under 45 volts is shot. See Ficmrepair.com for exceptional service and quality work.

Second, you need a set of gauges (digital) that plug into the OBD2 port to monitor the motor and help diagnose problems. Scangauge2 is a common gauge and found at Autozone.

Sounds like you might need new Standpipes and Dummy Plugs. The STC fitting upgrade is good for piece of mind that it won't break and leave you stranded. Once it breaks, your motor will shut off if its running, or not start until replaced.

Is coolant puking from the degas bottle? Pressure test the coolant system before committing to replacing HGs. But for no reason, ever use Bars HG stop leak on your 6.0. Especially if you plan on keeping it.

 

Welcome to FTE. First things first, you need a set of gauges that read live data like the scan gauge II or one of the smartphone apps like Dashboss for IOS devices or torque pro for android as they are absolutely necessary for diagnosing these trucks.

You describe exactly what the 05+ trucks exhibit with a HPO system leak. There is a good chance it is the dummy plugs or standpipe orings that are leaking causing the no start hot. Here is the link to the standpipe/dummy plug kit from white bear ford that usually has prices that cant be beat, https://parts.autonationfordwhitebea...catalogid=7351

 

Thanks Justin, I had the ficm upgraded to I think 56v, There is no puking from degas bottle.

 

Thank you mustang_309. I will check those apps out.

 

There are many on this forum, myself and therefore my company included, that wouldn't call a FICM voltage modification an upgrade. Essentially, your injector coils were built to operate within a 45-50 volt range. Asking them to operate with more than that is just not a great idea.

Further, additional voltage generates additional heat and heat kills electronics. When voltage modded modules fail, they tend to do so catastrophically - like someone turned off the key and you are coasting to the side of the side of the road wondering what that burning smell is catastrophically.

That said, picking up gauges as suggested is by far the best next step to for certain determine what is going on your Ex. It may well be a high pressure oil system issue at this point.

If you'd like to send your module in to get repaired to operate once again in the proper voltage ranges while perhaps (and optionally) getting some software installed on it that will make you completely love your Ex's throttle response along with the very real possibility of better fuel economy, just visit ficmrepair.com, grab our Intake Form, and ship it on over. Do a search on these and the other forums to grab a sense for what folks are saying about our services and the software that we can load.

Good luck!

Ed

 

What if Bars leak was already used to fix HG problem?

 

If you don't have evidence of head gaskets leaking ( white residue on the degas bottle from puking coolant or puking coolant under high load/boost ) I wouldn't worry about the head gaskets, are you losing coolant? And there is no magic stop leak you can use to fix a head gasket leak, the only way to fix it is replace the head gaskets.

 

The mechanic that worked on it said he added some. Since then the level is normal.

 

The maximum level of the coolant in the degas bottle should be at the minimum mark. From the sounds of your situation, your HGs are fine.
Next step to locate your problem is to buy gauges. The Scangauge2 is $160 at Autozone. Figuring out a problem like this takes time and any mechanic will have more then $160 in diagnostics so it will pay for itself instantly.

 

If bars leak has already been used be prepared to replace egr cooler/oil cooler/heater core/ maybe radiator. If you didnt have head gaskets problem you probably will now if that junk has been used.

 

You may or may not need the stc update on the hpop. Look at your build date on the driver door sticker to tell you the build date. Or just look at the passenger valve cover...blue is an 04 engine in a 05 model year and yellow is an 05 engine in an 05 model year. 04 engine does not have the stc fitting 05 does. Different hpop cover also...04 is cast and 05 is aluminum

 

If your mechanic put Bars Leak in a 6.0, never ever let him touch your truck again.

 

X2 or any of your vehicles for that matter.

 

Yikes some really old urban legends never die.

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