I've attempted to do my due diligence in searching the forums and doing a little troubleshooting, but I'm obviously missing something. Any help, guidance, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The vehicle is a 2003 Excursion with ~180k miles on it. Bought it in October, so not too familiar with past history on it. I do know it's been EGR deleted, rebuilt turbo, and a new HPOP put in it 1-month prior to my purchase. The vehicle has been having issues "cold" starting. I live in Houston, Texas, so when I say "cold starting," I mean 75 degrees this time of year. Over the winter it struggled too, but not even as bad as it is now, although ran more rough after starting.

So onward to what I have done. Glow plugs were tested and I found 4 that were showing to be problematic. I changed all 8 glow plugs with Motorcraft plugs. During the process I broke both bus style harnesses, so the harnesses were replaced with Motorcraft replacements. All glow plugs show to be good now when checked with a meter - no codes were ever thrown in regards to this.

Several codes were present for low circuit input, all 8 cylinders actually. Reading and talking to some, I tested the FICM out. The FICM was an "upgraded" unit, I believe it was a 58v unit, but I was only getting 49v out of the module. Took the truck for a drive with Forscan and my laptop connected, saw voltages down to mid 30's. Replaced the FICM with a unit from CircuitBoardMedics.com (had a brother who had a good experience with them) and a new FICM relay. Unit now constantly shows 48-48.5v when out and about driving or idling.

With replacing the FICM it was believed that my alternator caused the issue to begin with. Voltages were low, so the 110 amp OEM alternator was replaced with a 140 amp "large case" alternator. Voltages are now proper, 13.9-14.2v at idle and 14v+ when driving. Batteries are good and were tested, sit at 12.6v and drop off a tad when cranking the truck.

ICP shows to be responsive. At idle it's requesting 637.9psi and getting 638-640psi. Idle voltages is around 0.85v-0.90. Driving the voltages and pressures properly adjust, increasing and decreasing as expected.

All injectors show to be ok, no abnormal issues with stiction. All 8 buzz test just fine and no codes present on anything in regards to the injectors. The only codes present on the truck right now are those for the EGR valve (which was deleted) and a P0603, indicating a recent battery/PCM disconnect.

Truck takes 2-3 longer than usual cranks before it fires and runs after sitting. Seems to "struggle" for a second or two and then purrs away. No smoke, no real struggle, no running issues when out about driving. Shut it off and turn it back on, after it's been run a bit, and it fires up. From what I read, sounds like it could be dummy plugs? How can I go about testing that? Or, am I just in far left field and you need more info to help me out?

Any, and all, help is appreciated. I'm a beginner with this truck/engine, treat me like I'm ignorant (not stupid - big difference there), because I am.

 

Sound like you're on the right track. Have you tried switching to 5w40 synthetic to help with stiction? Also fuel pressure readings are often overlooked and no codes will pop up since theres no sensor. It's a simple and free test if you have an oil pressure guage. Blue spring upgrade is recommended also.

 

Double check the Ficm koeo cold , I've seen Alternators bad out the box so add some load to it , like every light on HVAC fan ,wipers , radio, etc, you don't want anything lower than 13.3v, check the ICP for oil out the back and on the electrical plug connection, while your under there the IPR is up there too, you'll need a special socket to get around the connection , when you pull this check the screen it could be torn or packed full of gunk from the work done.

 

x2! If the alternator IS bad, consider moving up to a dramatically larger alternator as well. The smallest we carry puts out at idle what the factory one does at its peak!

www.ficmrepair.com

Ed

 

Bumblebee,

Yes, actually I have, just didn't mention it. Truck has been running with Rotella T6 5w40 for a little over 1,000 miles. When I say "stiction," I mean pretty light issue here. By no means is it heavy, at least in my opinion. I'll try to get some fuel pressure readings on it to verify fuel isn't my issue.

Also, I recall the previous owner saying it had a spring upgrade in it. Perhaps this is the spring you are referring to. Any way to easily check?

BadFord and Ed,

I'll double check everything. With key on engine off, battery sits around 12.6v with the glow plugs, radio, and running lights on. While cranking it doesn't really drop below that either. As soon as it starting running it'll sit around 12.8v for a few seconds and then climb rapidly to 13.9-14.2v at idle and sit there. Truck doesn't have any "aftermarket" electrical items on it, no lights bars, big sound systems, etc either.

P.S. Ed: I probably should have went with you on the FICM deal. I might pay for that later... Not sure yet.

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I'll try to get a video today of it having issues starting to better help explain what I'm having occur.

 

Try parking it nose down overnight to see how it starts cold the next morning. If it pops right off, you have a seal going out on the HPOP. Even though you have a "new" HPOP, the PO probably put a reman Ford back in, and there are numerous cases on this forum alone of bad pumps out of the box, one where it took a guy up to three pumps before he got a good one.

Your ICP sensor is probably under the turbo since this is an early build, and if so you don't have dummy plugs to worry about. If it's on the passenger side valve cover near the glow plug module then you have dummy plugs, but again I doubt it since it's an 03.

Does it have a factory oil filter and cap? If not, it needs to have those two items.
Did the PO give you any receipts of work done?

At any rate, this is sounding initially like a HPO leak or leak-down of some type after it sits.

 

When you say nose down would say backing it into the driveway be sufficient if I had a moderately steep driveway? Not sure how much of an angle you'd need for this test, but it does make sense.

Yes, ICP sensor is back behind the turbo! Didn't know that was a indication of dummy plugs being present or not, but now I know - thanks!

Yes does have a factory oil filter and cap. Just changed the filters just around 1,000 miles ago when I switched to 5w40. No receipts of the work was given. It's probably one of those typical "sketchy" deals y'all are use to hearing, but basically the guy was a home diesel mechanic. The Excursion was actually an older couple's who used it to tow their two Harley's. They were going to trade it in, as they stopped riding, but the HPOP went out right before they got a chance to. The guy who I bought it from was the one who replaced the HPOP and who had cared for this specific Excursion under the previous owner's care - he did all their maintenance work to it. So while he didn't own it for long, he knew all what had been done with it.

Anyway to perform a type of leakdown test on the oil system? Sorry if that's a dumb question!

 

That's going to need to be rechecked as it's, like, impossible ........ unless there is something wrong with the cabling or the rear of the truck is filled with a huge amount of batteries. A cabling issue might be the cause of what your describing.

 

TooManyToys,

Let me correct that, as you're right, quite hard to get those results! While cranking, it goes down to right around 11.8-12.1v. When I said "really drop," I was more saying it didn't plummet down to say 6v. Sorry for that!

 

We're still not in the right range.

Here is a video of a 140a alternator with a small diameter pulley, so it has a higher output. This is with a set of good batteries, although the alternator has no input until the motor is at full spin. Meters are volts, glow plug amps, time, and alternator output. Your not going to have this measuring capability, but I'm just trying to give you a reference. If you're reading voltage off the drivers battery and not seeing this type of voltage drop in the winter (my check was under 12°F and your picture looks like snow background) then there is a continuity problem across the batteries and the starter is not getting full current. Edit, or your glow plugs are still not pulling the full current that would draw down the batteries.

 

If I can find all my meters I'll try to do a similar test this evening! Is that the 57-58mm pulley on the 140 amp? I have one on order and plan on installing it when it gets here - just not sure when it'll arrive. No snow here! I'm in Houston, Texas - that was just a really, really bright day and a bad exposure of the camera on top of that.

On that note though, I did check grounds and positive cabling to at the batteries, alternator, and starter. Battery terminals are super clean as well.

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Hopefully I can get a video together for y'all this evening that might make something stand out. As of right now, my to-do list/homework for this evening is getting fuel pressure readings and verify voltages.

 

From the way you're describing the PO/guy who did repairs and that he mentioned spring upgrade, I'm sure he put one in. There's no way to tell unless you pull the fuel pressure regulator cover off on the side of the fuel filter bowl. The test port is just to the bottom left of that cover.

As expensive as injectors are I would recommend everyone have an idea of how good their fuel pressure is. A weak fuel pump can take out injectors quick. Anything lower than 50 psi @WOT means pump needs replaced. Fords spec is 45, but everyone here will recommend using the 50 spec.

 

Right on. I appreciate the information. Being new to the diesel realm as been a pretty harsh wakeup call. Perhaps the 6.blow or 6.oh (as family and friends refer to them as) wasn't the ideal first diesel purchase for me, but I love the "little" truck thus far.

Is there a baseline of what fuel pressure I should see if I did have a blue spring upgrade done on it versus a OEM/original? For instance, from the factory it had 60psi tops where as the blue spring upgrade would move that to 80psi (just tossing out random numbers).

 

Yep, that's the pulley.

Houston, your not going to get the voltage drop I got then so not so conclusive. I was hoping you had an easy cable fix for your issue.

 

Ya, the high today is 80°F with 80% humidity. Lowest we saw all "winter" was 22 degrees for two nights, other than that, we stayed above freezing all winter.

I'll still do attempt to perform a very similar test for y'all to look at. Maybe I'm missing something or just not looking at the meter(s) when it happens. I think I know where my two Fluke amp meters are, if so, I'm set.