Greetings, I'm seeking input from ye ole Powerstroke gurus! I recently purchased a 2019 F450 with 114k mi. on it. Turns out the last dealer to fill the oil overfilled it so I drained the excess and tightened / sealed things up and I think I have that under control now / most of the leaks seem to be tamed. That said, I have a couple of minor issues I'm trying to identify / track down that remain. I'm coming from a 2017 F250 with the same engine obviously so that is my basis for comparison.

The F450 runs a little rougher around 800-1200 RPMs, but seems to run fine and smoothly / quietly at idle, which is around 650 RPM. I'm hoping someone can point me to what I should look at to further investigate that? It's not super rough but it is noticeably rougher than my F250, but only in that range. It's also possible that it could be louder under load than the F250, but that could be in my head. It is very quiet at idle though.

The other lingering issue is an "exhaust" smell at idle in the cabin, and especially after reversing - but it could also be crankcase smell or maybe even fuel/oil on the manifold but I'm not seeing any, unless I'm just looking in the wrong place. This smell definitely occurs before the engine / coolant is up to temperature. If I turn on recirculate the smell goes away, so it's being pulled in from somewhere. I will add that I did the 'redneck' test of punching the throttle while standing on the brake to engage the turbo / put it under load and had someone examine in the engine compartment and exhaust as best as they could for leaks / black smoke and they saw nothing. Note also that the smell is definitely not the same as what comes out of the (filtered) exhaust that comes out of the tailpipe.

Any advice is appreciated! I have Forscan and Torque Pro so I can observe / check data points if I know what to look for. Thanks!

 

exhaust leak. Somewhere in the engine bay.

 

Thanks for your reply... that's what I was thinking but it's not obvious, at least not with my head in the engine compartment. Are there any places I should pay close attention to? Where can I attach a smoke machine to test? Thanks

 

So, update on this... I used my leaf blower to pressurize the exhaust system- not sure how effective this is on a diesel with DPF, EGR, et. al. - but anyway it works on non-diesels so I sprayed soapy water at all the junctions that I could get to, and nothing, no bubbles. However, I did poke around a bit more and found that there is still some oil in the valley between the cylinder heads- probably got in there from when it was overfilled with oil. Maybe I never got the engine hot enough since then to really burn that off. So I sprayed my soapy water down in the valley with the oil, and I sat in the truck, reversed, high idled, put the blower on fresh air and high in my face. All I smelled was dawn dishwashing soap... I may have found the culprit... time will tell. So until it burns off I just need to keep the engine valley reservoir full of soapy water and the F450 will smell clean as a whistle!

 

Two things come to mind based upon what you said.

Turbo coolant and oil lines or as you said a very over filled situation. That overfill must have been so bad it was coming out of the pours of the motor.

Rinse with degreaser and watch the valley of the motor.

 

You might check in the 2017+ subforum. There were a few threads there where guys were getting a lot of exhaust odor in the cab.

Here's one thread to start you off: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...nside-cab.html

 

Thanks, if it persists after degreasing the valley area I'll go down that road (again). It's frustrating because I specifically asked the dealer to perform a smoke test (that was the whole reason I went there, because I didn't have a smoke generator) but they didn't even do that. I will find a diesel mechanic to do that and track down the culprit if it's not just the oil cooking in the valley. This vehicle was made in March of 2019 so it's not covered by the TSB that others mentions in the 2017 model year, but it's possible that a clamp somwhere is not secure. I did try my best to shoot soapy water on all of those connections I could see, and didn't see any bubbling, but that area is very difficult to access without removing things.

 

Kind of off topic but I'm reluctant to pressurize the exhaust system. When I had to track down an exhaust leak I used a vacuum. Sure, you don't see bubbles but if the leak is there you can see soapy water being sucked in. If there is any loose particulate matter in the exhaust system, it could get blown back up the exhaust into places you don't want it to go.

 

I would have taken the truck back to the dealer if they overfilled the oil. I wonder how much oil they overfilled it with. My diesel guy said that the crankshaft would hit the oil if it was overfilled and the truck would run ruff. Not sure how oil would get in the valley unless there was a oil line in there and it has a leak. I would differently check the oil level again. Check the invoice to see how much oil they charged you for. Truck uses 13 quarts.