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Last night I was towing home from the drag races and my 2006 6.0 Diesel acted up. Everything was fine. I stopped at a stop light and when I took off. It had no power, was making a poping sound, like it was running out of fuel. The turbo was making a bunch of noise. I pulled off and shut it off. After restarting it was not as bad so I thought I would try to drive it home. 4-5 Miles down the road it started running fine. I dont know much about Diesels but it sounded like the waste gate (if it has one) was stuck open or something. The truck is not driven very often and has under 20K miles.
Any service engine light or anything? Your truck doesnt have a wastegate, its a VNT turbo. First thing that came to mind was an CAC (intercooler) pipe came off but I doubt it if it started running fine again.
So my 2004 had a similar experience, however not towing so the factors are a bit different. The problem did not go away, once it started it stayed. Warranty replacement of the turbo. I was told that the variable vanes in the turbo were "stuck". Based on the fact i had no boost, a ton of black smoke and the truck didn't have enough power to go faster than 65 . . . i could see how that might've been the case.
Either way, get it in. If it never happens again, then so be it, but i don't like to take my chances with a truck that costs that much.
The popping noise sounds like what many folks here call the turbo "fart". Some say it is common, but it probably comes from the turbo inlet guide vanes sticking. The turbo needs to be cleaned and possibly replaced. To keep the turbo / EGR system from sticking (or at least to give it a good shot to not happen again), I posted on turbo coking an hour or so ago.