They say deaths come in threes, and I got two non-runners right now.

Found my brother a truck at the auction. 04 F550 bucket truck with 6.0 and 117k miles. Got in touch with previous owner and he said it ran fine before the minor wreck, and he'd recently had it "bullet-proofed."

I don't see ARP studs. Thought I saw the EGR cooler in place but it may have been a different kind of delete - the pipe into the exhaust was still there, but looks like a small 1 inch pipe connects to it, about the size of the Jpipe on my EGR delete.

Anyway, it started right up and sounds great. We drove it 250 miles home without a problem, but the batteries had been low, so we never shut the engine off. Brother started it up and couple of times at his house and moved it 50 yards, and while I was there today, we started it a couple of times. Cranks right up and runs great. I'm hoping the bullet proof service included a new low pressure pump, oil cooler, and EGR, or EGR delete.

Then, I drove it 50 miles from his house to mine last night, and stopped at the grocery story by my house. Came out and it didn't fire right up. Instead, it took a long crank, and it finally started after kinda winding it up, spinning faster and faster, and slowly firing.

All the basic data has always looked good. Good IPR, sync, ICP, IPV, FICM IPV. Plenty of voltage, Vref, ICV, FPW.

I was worried on the original trip from the auction because the EOT and ECT would never get above 160. It was in the 30s and raining. On the drive to my house, it did finally get over 180. The delta has always been less than 10 but I didn't drive over 60, and doubt I ever will drive this beast over 60, just too big.

Supposed to drive it around town today getting a trailer hitch installed and buying a rear window (that was a cold drive coming from the auction with no window until we put plastic on it). But a little scared of a hot no start. What typically causes those? Here's the truck:

 

I would swap known good batteries into it, or have the service batteries load tested. You state that the batteries were low on the initial drive home (maybe a product of being shuttled around the auction lot), but the slow crank speed on your hot start would not seem to have much to do with the HPO system.


I would verify the alternator(s) is/are up to snuff. I get the feeling the system voltage was OK from your post but it's not completely clear.


If those check out, I would look into the starter. Beyond that, maybe a drag in the belt loop, although the belt would probably let you know if it was slipping. Belt tensioner(s) free to move?


New thermostat.


Good luck with this one, I hope it does better for you and your brother than the ambulances.

 

Yeah, I've told him to replace the 600-amp batteries with some 850s. But they do test fine and once we drove it, they seemed charged up. Looks like a new alternator, and it's pumping 13.5 voltage.

I'm not saying it cranks slow, I meant that it took longer to start when cranking, and the crank seemed to speed up as it was trying to start, not from the starter or batteries, but from the engine starting to fire. It just gradually fired more and more over the last 2-3 seconds of cranking before finally running enough to take off on its own.

 

I think you are referring to the early build "ok, I will start if you make me start", but oil temp is for sure a factor.
No rhyme or reason to the early builds IMO. The kids will fire off cold within 2 seconds, hot sometimes it will take a little longer, sometimes I swear you barely hit the key and it fires hot. It's the pump style I am convinced.

I doubt the HPOP was new as part of the "bullet proofing" if it does not have studs but don't let it scare you.
Everyone likes to cuss about the early builds, pick your poison.
Early builds have the weaker HPOP, late builds you have dummy plugs, occasional stand pipes and the STC which is pretty much a guarantee.
Either way, the odds are at some point you are going in after something under that cover unless it's been done already.

 

Well, I hope you're right. Driving it to Dallas and back to pick up my trailer I left up there when my first ambulance died.

The temp acts a little funny. If I drive over 60, it warms up into the low 200s, under 60 and it stay around 180s. Over 60 my deltas go over 10, as high as 16 today, under 60 and they're under 10.

Also, the ABS light is on, but brakes work fine. However, I checked the brake fluid, and it's thick, almost like hydraulic fluid. Is that something they do with F550s? It has disc brakes on the back.

 

On my 2004 motor I see the following differences between ECT and EOT:
- driving 70mph up the mountain pass is 2 degrees
- driving 70mph down the mountain pass is 16 degrees easily
- driving 70mph on flat ground is 6 to 8 degrees

This is with motor temps between 185'F and 200'F and ambient below 40'F

 

Thanks, that sounds like mine - all over the place. I forgot to mention that the delta was like 30 degrees when I got back in after letting it idle for 20 minutes or so, but the temps were both low.

 

My temperatures cam after flushing the motor with Fleetguard Restore to remove silicant slime - I'm very pleased with my temperatures for now.

Yes they are all over the map based upon load or lack of load.

 

Don't forget that 550 already has a load , with the bucket, boom, and box bed, should factor in around 8deg , best bet is too keep monitoring the temps and don't let ER get to boil point, if your using your scan gauge you may need to reset the yr , model , ooh and keep an eye on those 550 fuel tanks , known to delam and clog up the lines.

 

Thanks, I think the temps are OK. The EOT never gets too hot - drove it 700 miles the last couple of days, half of that pulling 7500 lbs of trailer plus the heavy bed and boom, you could really feel it working hard, but EOT never got over 202.

On the other hand, the ECT was all over the place - I'm thinking the sensor isn't working right or my SG is screwed up. As the engine warmed up to 180, all was good, but after that, I'm assuming the thermostat opened up, it started acting crazy. ECT actually went down as EOT went up. And it'd fluctuate wildly - 20 degree difference within 30 seconds. I saw deltas over 30 degrees with EOT 190ish and ECT in the 160s.

Then, it seemed to snap out of it, and quit fluctuating. The rest of the day, the delta rarely got over 12. Am I right to assume that if the EOT doesn't go too high, I'm not going to blow anything up?

 

OK, drove this truck from Houston to Dallas and back yesterday, and then around Houston today. Definitely has hot no-start issues. Yesterday, it started every time, but most of the time took longer to crank. Again, first thing in the morning, it starts with like one revolution of the engine. Later, it maybe takes 5-7 seconds of cranking. But just now, after just pulling up to my house and unloading some tools. A few minutes later, it wouldn't start after 10-15 seconds of cranking. Tried twice, and there wasn't even a hint it would start, whereas the other times after a few seconds, you could hear it trying, and it'd finally wind up and fire off.

Where do I start?

 

You have some type of electrical interference around your location that is not 6.0 friendly.

 

LOL, I think you're right. And it doesn't like money either. Or women.

 

I think it may that you walked on a hidden grave and the occupant
has laid a curse on you.

You can do a few things.
Ignore it
Get a exorcism done
Hire a spell caster to clean things up.





Sean


6.0L Tech Folder

 

LOL, yep. Definitely cursed lately. I think I'm about to be ripped off by someone I did work for the past two weeks. Supposed to pay me today, but they quit responding to my emails.

Hey, do you know any good threads here that discuss hot no-starts? I read through a bunch but haven't found one yet. Trying to put together a list of possible causes that I can work through to determine what's up with this truck.

I did notice that oil pressure didn't register on the dash while I was futilely cranking, but I know that's not always accurate. Haven't checked my SG while cranking yet. Have to get it hot again first.

Isn't it often an oil leak? The solution begins with an air text, but I'll have to buy fittings for that, and having never done that am not sure I'd correctly identify the source of a leak if I find it.