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Surging at start-up

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Old Oct 8, 2006 | 08:11 PM
  #1  
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Surging at start-up

I have a 2003 6.0L with almost 115,000 miles on it. In the past week after the truck has been sitting a while and cooled down and I start it back up, the truck starts to surge/lurch. Blue smoke comes out of the exhaust until I drive the truck around and get it warmed up. All the fluids are fine and where they need to be. I have asked several diesel shops in my area and they don't know what could be causing it. I was wondering if anybody here had the same problem and what caused it. Thanks for all the help.
 
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Old Oct 9, 2006 | 11:22 AM
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check the icp sensor and connector first. seen many of oil leaks cause similar problems.
 
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Old Oct 9, 2006 | 04:20 PM
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My turbo seems to surge too

I have the same problem with surging of my turbo when the engine is not warmed up yet..
When I do a cold start, and drive away, I can hear that the turbo is not a constant whistle, but it seems to kind of surge up and down...
I don't have any other symptoms like smoke, my turbo tube comint loose, etc, but if I tried to take off, the truck kind of stumbles, like the turbo is really surging, and the engine is feeling that..
I have a boost gauge, and I can see the gauge kind of surge also, but it is VERY minimal on the gauge, like only 1/2 psi...
I am concerned about this though, as I don't remember it always being like this.
I run a Superchips Flashpaq, and my boost never goes over 30psi at WOT, and rarely ever goes over 20psi, so I dont' think that my turbo has sticking vanes, and is overboosting..
Anyone else have this surging of their turbo's hiss when the engine is not warm?
Is this a problem?
It goes away when the engine is warmed up...

BowTieHatr, thanks for the reply bud.. How can I check my ICP sensor and connector? Where are they? Can I do this myself, or do I have to take it in?

Thanks..
 
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Old Oct 9, 2006 | 07:22 PM
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look at the right vale cover where the glow plug module is. if there is a connector that looks like it goes into the valve cover, then you have other issues, if you dont then it is under the turbo and is kinda a pain to access. unless you notice oil around the insulation you have to pull the insulation back.
 
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Old Oct 9, 2006 | 08:55 PM
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I have the same sort of problem. There is no blue smoke or any smoke whatsoever. I can hear the turbo whistle up and then down when it reaches a certian point. After the truck warms up, its not as bad but you can still hear it and feel the truck surging.
 
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Old Oct 10, 2006 | 10:26 PM
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My truck was in the shop about 3 weeks ago for a coolant leak that was coming from a busted EGR Coolant Tube and a oil leak that was coming from the turbo. I called the shoped that worked on it and they told me that they replaced my old ICP and installed a new one, so that is not the problem. But I would still like to unplug it to see if it would help any but I don't know exactly what it looks like. Does anybody have a picture that could show me where it is and what it looks like.
 
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Old Oct 11, 2006 | 11:05 AM
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I don't think it will run at all if you unplug it.
 
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Old Oct 11, 2006 | 07:31 PM
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it will run but i would not want to unplug it just on a hunch because they are not fun to get to. pull the egr valve out and check it and see what it looks like. it should be sooty, not carboned clogged. if it is carboned, replace it. i have cleaned 2 egr valves and both started sticking with me and when they do this you could push the truck faster than it goes.
 
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Old Oct 14, 2006 | 11:27 PM
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The truck has not lost any power at all. It runs and pulls great. It just wants to surge at the start up. It almost smells like it is flooding itself because you can smell raw diesel, but I thought that black smoke was flood smoke not blue smoke. Right now I'm stumped and don't know anything to try until my local diesel shop gets the new 6.0 software in for their scanner. But I will check my EGR valves if someone wouldn't mind telling me where they are. I think I know but I'm not quite sure. If I think of anything else the truck is doing I'll let yall know.

Thanks,
Blake
 
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Old Oct 15, 2006 | 08:30 AM
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it is right behind the elbow shaped inlet on the intake. two 8 mm bolts and one electrical connector. these are pretty difficult to remove. if you have a lady foot pry bar, you can just put it under the lip and pop it out. i use a pair of channel locks to twist it a little then i place my pry bar through the channel locks and pop it out.
 
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Old Oct 15, 2006 | 08:58 AM
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EGR valves--grrrrrrrr--what a pain to remove even with the tool. Mine was "sooted" open so that you could only see it with a very strong light---probably .002" or less (I couldn't measure it) and it gave me problems. My wife noticed that the truck had a different smell to the exhaust (I guess it's a woman thing--LMAO) but she was right! It doesn't take much with these systems to drive the PCM nuts. I read somewhere that the 6.0 was the most sophisticated/complicated device ever released to the public? What are the 6.4L gonna be like?
 
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Old Oct 15, 2006 | 12:08 PM
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well hopefully it will have a egr valve style like on the lcf 4.5
 
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Old Oct 22, 2006 | 06:40 PM
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Well on Saturday I took off my EGR Valve and it had a little carbon build up on it but it was not too bad. So since I had it off I went ahead and cleaned it with some carb cleaner like I read in some post. I put it back on the truck and it worked fine for about an hour and then It started to surge again. It didn't start to surge until this last time with my employees changed my oil. I checked the oil and it is in the normal range but I asked them how many quarts they put in it and they told me 16. Could that be causing it to surge and pour out blue smoke out the exhaust like it is doing.

Thanks,
Blake
 
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Old Oct 23, 2006 | 06:11 AM
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you sure its blue smoke?
 
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Old Oct 23, 2006 | 05:28 PM
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Yeah. It's a light blue color and if you smell it is smell just like raw diesel. I've tried everything that yall have told me to do and everything my mechanic told me and nothing has worked yet. Any more suggestions.

Thanks,
Blake
 
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