So the other day I had my neighbor (ASC Diesel mechanic/business owner) change my oil for me since he owed me some money. I normally use full synthetic. Neither of us thought to talk about it, he uses Rotella 15/40 non synthetic, and he uses Motocraft filters. That day when I took it for a drive it started doing what I would describe as a miss like on a gasser. Driving down the highway, engine not quite fully hot yet, but temps in the 150's. Once fully warm, it stopped doing it for the most part... with the occasional faint miss.

I don't see how an oil change would be responsible, but it hadn't done it once before that, and it's been doing it consistently since. Sometimes it's barely noticeable, a few other times I was seriously wondering if it was going to die and make me pull off the road.

He recommended that I run some injector cleaner through it. So I ran a bottle of BG 244k through it this weekend when I had to make a road trip to deliver a trailer (~400 miles). I wasn't keen to driving it long distance not knowing what's wrong, but I didn't have a choice. I religiously run Power Service white with EVERY tank. And I plug it in every night when it's cold out.


Scan gauge II is showing no codes.
Economy is crap. I am averaging 9 mpg, when I normally average about 17.
And it seems to be starting harder than normal also. Normally it only takes about four cranks before it fires over. Now it's been taking almost double.

One thing I've noticed. It seems to diminish once the engine is up to about 190 - 200 degrees.

Power. When it isn't "missing", it seems to run like it's normal self.
I changed the fuel filter last winter when I had gel issues.
"LAST WINTER?!" You are saying? I have put about 10K miles on it in almost 3 years. It doesn't get driven a lot. Yea, when I bought it I was excited. Went nuts on mods. Now I sit back and look at it. lol.


Anyway. This is the first time that I've had to trouble shoot a diesel. Not sure where to start, and hoping someone could assist.


Thanks.

 

go back to synthetic, it doesn't like it. Use 5w-40 if you like Rotella.
Whats the FICM reading when cranking?
ICP and IPR when cranking?
Battery main voltage at KOEO and once the truck starts?

My truck doesn't like the non-synthetic.

 

Really? I've heard of guns not liking certain ammo, but I've never heard of vehicles not liking oil. Crazy. lol.

FICM fluctuates between 48.0 and 48.5
ICP and IPR I don't have programmed. I will check that.
Batteries at KOEO are about 13.9 / 14.0. They dip to about 11.8 when cranking. But quickly jump back to 13.9 to 14 within seconds of starting.

Normal cruising on hwy, the EOT runs consistent 10 degrees hotter than EWT, if that could have anything to say also.

Been looking through the tech folder. Could it be stiction? I had never heard of that before. Seems out there. But at the same time logical.


Thanks for the input.

 

it could be... but my truck really hates non-syn oil.

If you change back to synthetic and it starts better and mileage goes up... being that you noticed all those symptoms and correlated it to possibly an oil change... I would have already changed it back!

 

If the batteries and FICM are good, which it sounds like they are at 13.9v and 48.5v. I would agree with you on the stiction. Especially if it changed going from synthetic to conventional oil.
Last winter I was having cold start and stiction issues, I put 16oz of archoil and 14 qts of T6 in for one oil change and that cleared it up. It's been 25k miles later and I went back to my cheaper conventional oil too.

 

10* delta nothing to worry about really, and that would have nothing to do with a slight miss.
Am curious what your ICP and IPR are running.
During start up, while warming up, warmed up at idle and WOT.

Do you drive it like you stole it sometimes? Not driving it very often you need to beat the snot out of the turbo to keep the vanes moving freely.

As Randy said maybe just go back to what you were running. You might have been on the verge of stiction already, and living in CO running heavier oil is going to bring that out I would think.
You can always switch back and add some Archoil stiction additive. Many here, myself included, swear by it.

 

I haven't changed back yet, because I didn't want to be bashing my wallet against my forehead for throwing perfectly good fresh oil away.


I will program the SCII tonight and try for those other two read outs.
Curious should I look for? (ICP and IPR ) What is good/bad/start crying now?


Drive it like I stole it? Yea, I do. I like to hot rod it now and then. I've raced a few people. I have a pure hatred for the bicyclists around here that think they own the road. They get smoked religiously. Although I still plan on taking the turbo off this summer and cleaning it. From talking to that same guy, I think that it has been slow to spool as long as I've owned it. When I was test driving trucks, I drove a black one the same day that was much snappier off the line. My truck, if I have to jump off the line, has always seemed to lag, then BAM! The boost kicks in and...well, I have no complaints when this happens. lol. It's fun.
But I still don't think it's correct.

 

Now that you have something to measure them with, here's a list of what stuff should read: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...4&d=1424302615

 

No need to start crying, I'm sure you are just fine.........more for the sake of curiosity
Likely see upper 500's to mid 600's ICP and IPR mid 21% up to 23 or 24% at hot idle.
Cranking cold, common to spike IPR up towards 80's % tile if I am thinking correctly, this is normal, PCM is calling for full on oil, ICP will shoot over 1000 cranking as well.
WOT not uncommon for you to see 3500 plus to over 4000.

Don't read into this too much, most of us here have those PID's up often so it's the first question we will ask lol.

As for your turbo spool, the Atlas 40 would likely address that. Might also clean your EBP for starters.

 

What did he use for an oil FILTER???? Did he need to put in some kind of "fill in the space" gadget? Did he also change the fuel filters? Ummmmm

 

Ok, I got a few of the readings. Ironically, it doesn't seem to be acting up at all now. Could bad fuel be culprit too?

BPofMD, he only uses Motorcraft filters. And no, didn't change fuel filter.
I will probably go back to the full synthetic, but until I know it's the oil causing the issues, I'm not going to change it for now.


So for readings. Last night I programmed the SGII. But without thinking about it, I was freezing while programming so I started the truck to get warm. Then of course, duh, I couldn't get cold readings. LOL. So I waited until this morning for that.

KOEO: 12.9VLTS then dropped to 11.1 while cycling plugs.
ICP 0
IPR 14.8

COLD START: 10.3VLTS while cranking - Might be time for new batteries.
ICP 1020
IPR 45.7

COLD IDLE: volts jumped right back to 13-14 after a couple of seconds
ICP 770
IPR 30

HOT IDLE: Volts go back and forth between 13.9 and 14.3
ICP 582
IPR 23

WOT: Didn't catch volts
ICP jumped to like 4500
IPR I didn't catch...was too busy keeping the truck straight.... Still a lot of ice/snow on the road.

 

Nothing jumps out at me on those numbers. Your ICP at WOT is great, and hot idle right where it should be.

 

You have an OEM oil cap installed? Its a short one, not more than about 1/2-3/4" tall, if it's nearly 2" tall, that may be the issue.

Those numbers all look great, except the WOT at 4500.. 3500, OK, can't hit 4500. The numbers you posted are all in line with the condition they were taken, nothing alarming.

Anything else you changed except oil?... just prior to it starting to show bad manners?

 

I don't find the ScanGauge II to be a reliable code reader, IMO.

Also, I would not tear down that turbo, seems like unnecessary work. You probably have the latest flash on that truck which makes it fall on it's face when you slam the pedal down to the floor at first. I had this same issue, as I had the latest flash from Furd. I had my FICM sent in an added the that Atlas 40 and this problem is now gone.

You really can't compare one 6oh to another without knowing the history, mods, or reading live data. As there may be things done to one then the other.

 

Or a picture of the engine bay would nice too, we like to look!