So lately I have been having issues with my 6.0 smoking, hesitating, and chugging. It seems worse when the vehicle has been idling for a minute or two (as in at a red light) and when I depress the accelerator it starts to move, but chugs and sputters, spurting light gray smoke, then the boost hits hard, the truck surges forward, leaving a massive cloud of smoke behind, then seems to run fine until I come to a stop again. I got the usual EGR codes, so I cleared the codes, pulled and cleaned the EGR valve of all built up soot and carbon, and reinstalled it. It seemed to run okay again right after doing that work on it, but then started acting up again this afternoon.

Shot the same codes for EGR (P0404, P1335). I cleared them again, and it continues to drive like crap.

Anyone have suggestions other than EGR that I can look into? Or will I need to pull and clean the valve again tomorrow when the sun is up? At first I was thinking I might also be having fuel injector stiction issues, possibly turbo vane stiction issues, maybe FICM issues, but it's only feeding me codes for EGR.

 

If you egr is cacking up then you have some problems. How do you drive it? Doest it see alot of idle time? Make sure you stretch her legs once in a while. Make sure your map sensor, vacuum line going into the intake, and the fitting itself is not clogged with gunk these will make your rig run like chit

 

Moved to the 6.0L PSD forum.

Stewart

 

remove the EGR valve, clean it good and re-install. The P1335 is saying the valve can't fully close. P0404 is saying the EGR can't respond fast enough, it sticking open or closed. Check the electrical wire and connector to the EGR valve as well.

Clean your EBP sensor and tube, use weedeater line down the tube to get it going, this may help with the delay in throttle response.

 

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I will look into cleaning the MAP sensor and vacuum line and making sure everything is intact. As for the EBP sensor, that's referring to the Exhaust Backpressure Sensor, right? I'm guessing this is on an exhaust manifold somewhere, right?

I'm not into a "throw parts at it until it works" method of repair and maintenance, so thanks for helping me to hopefully narrow things down.

Oh, also, one other, potentially unrelated thing: does anyone else fill their trucks with B5 biodiesel blend? These problems only seemed to rear their heads once I ran a couple of tanks of B5 through it.

 

EBP is exhaust back pressure and the sensor is mounted to the thermostat housing or a small tube fitted to the drivers side exhaust manifold.

I run biodiesel whenever I can, no issues.

 

See item #3 for EBP location.

 

I have had this happen before. You clean the valve and all is well. Then a week later the same problem arises. The problem is that hunks of sooty build up are breaking loose and sticking your EGR valve open. The only cure I know is to remove the intake and EGR cooler and clean the build up out. Its been 3 years ago since I did this to my truck and its been fine since.

 

Or do an EGR cooler delete and never do it again... might even save the expense of doing an oil cooler as well!

 

Thanks for the replies, fellas.

I want to do an EGR delete as soon as friggin possible. But I live in an emission controlled county (Pierce County, Washington), and an EGR delete probably isn't feasible until I move. I have my emissions check this year, which sucks.

I haven't had to do my EGR cleaning since last spring, so it seems more like an annual deal, though this time the symptoms were many times worse.

Since it has been so long since my last EGR cleaning, I can't remember exactly, but were the tapered ends of the inlet and exhaust sides of the valve supposed to contact the chamfered surfaces on the valve body itself? When I let the tension off of the sliding valve shaft the valve springs shut, but I can still see daylight between the valve and the valve body. Is this normal? Or am I having a problem here? I am 100% willing and ready to replace my EGR valve if there is an issue.

I checked out the MAF sensor and everything looked okay, there was no indication of blockage on the sensor or the hose from the manifold. The sensor was plugged in, and the hose was intact.

The EBP sensor was FILTHY. I pulled it, and the nipple on the exhaust side of the sensor was almost completely plugged, with only a maybe .040" hole in the carbon buildup. I scraped it out and am soaking it in solvent (not the electrical side) and attacked the hose with weed eater line, as suggested above.

My truck is down until this afternoon, as I go to replace the EGR o-rings. If anyone has any other suggestions, I am all ears, so I can check other things before I go to run it again this evening.

Thanks everyone, you guys are amazing.

 

Its a valve, and Valves are made to close and seal. You should not see daylight between the chamfer of the valve.

 

Okay, that's what I figured. I'll keep manipulating it, hopefully get it to close again, and plan on ordering a new one. Thanks!

 

Positive news, I reassembled everything and ran the truck. Put it through its paces a bit, hard acceleration, rapid changes in throttle position, etcetera. Truck started fine, idled fine, accelerated fine, without too much smoke.

Thanks to the posts above, it looks like I need to look into removing my entire intake system to get the gunk out, and remove my EGR cooler and clean it as well, but it seems better for the time being. I do need to replace the EGR valve, as the valve itself doesn't properly seat into the chamfered faces on the valve body, but at least the truck runs well enough now.

And as for the suggestion on the backpressure sensor, that was spot on. I had a pending code for that stored. Well done, gentlemen. I'm in your debt. Gotta get that intake system cleaned, and since I'll have it off anyway, might as well clean up my turbo!