So this guy asked me for help with his 04 6.0 52k miles. He topped off with fuel the other day. . . the next day it wouldn't start. It sputtered clanked and knocked a little but wouldn't start. Ran his batteries pretty low. He changed both fuel filters. Still no start. That when I got there. Batts have been on charge all night. . . I go to pull codes. . . no codes. Did a KOEO test. . . no codes. BUZZ test. . . not sure exactly the sequence of the buzz but no codes and appeared normal. Went to crank. . . cranked for about 7 seconds and it was clear the batts were dead. Left on charge for 15 more minutes. go to crank and batts are totally dead. ONly clicking no turn over. Install new batts. Cranks like crazy. . . no start. Pull top fuel filter. . . full of DIESEL. Crack fuel delivery lines to the heads and turn pump on. . . large spray of diesel. Thats when I noticed that after cracking a line. . . it would sputter a little and then just crank. Fuel pump sounds like crappy. . . like its cavitating. . Pulled the allen head plug off of the pump assy and diesel came out. . . but dribbled out not a huge flow. Assuming its draining through the filter. Pulled top filter. . . drained bowl. . . filled with kerosene. . . reinstalled filter. Noticeably more sputtering and attempts to fire. At this point I noticed the snow by his tail pipe was black. While cranking when its sputtering and damn near running but never quite. . . Tons of black smoke out the tail pipe. Totally stock truck. It sounds kinda like bad fuel. . . but I can't see anything wrong with it. When I pull the top filter out. . . and run the pump. . . lots of bubbles come with it. So. . . long but lots of info. . . what do you guys think?
Timmy

 

Might be an air intrusion coming from the HFCM with the bubbles you described.

 

The "lots of bubbles" is a clue. It sounds as if the filter cap on the HFCM is not fully seated or the o-ring is cut.

Visually inspect the fuel filter cap on the HFCM. The cap should be fully seated against the body of the HFCM. Sometimes you think the cap is fully seated since it is in a poor position and hard to tighten.

Lou Braun

 

Tim how cold it has been by you ? a lot of people had geling problems lately, and 6.0 are sensitive. id say get a clear jar and dump some of his fuel and compare it to a good fuel. or put them outside and see if it gets murky faster than yours.
bubbles might be an indication of a air leak like the other guys said.
btw bad batts have been known to kill FICM modules. i hope thats not it....
but i suspect gelled up fuel.
keep us posted Tim....

 

HFCM and FICM. . . what are they? I"ll check out the filter cap on. However I'm leaning towards it not being the problem only because it wouldn't start before he changed the filters. Its been cold. . . but not that cold. I'm concerned about the black smoke. . . does anybody have an explaination for this? ICP is at 1400 while cranking. . . but with the smoke it seams this thing is loading up with fuel. Is the CPS ever an issue with these? My computer didn't see a problem with it. where is that located on this engine? Thanks.
Timmy

 

Links to the FICM (Fuel Injector Control Module)

HFCM (Horizontal Fuel Conditioning Module)

ICP (Injector Control Pressure Sensor)

Air in the fuel will cause the bubbles you see. A minimum 500 PSI or .8 volts is required before the injectors will enable.



Unplug the ICP on the right valve cover and try cranking it, the module will default with the ICP unplugged, if it starts you have two things to look at. One is a bad plug or a bad ICP Sensor.

If the truck does not start you could have a high pressure oil leak.

 

Ill check the ICP. . . Although like I said my computer is seeing 1400 PSI during cranking. Any comments on the CMP(Cam Position sensor)? Havn't heard of these being much of an issue. I'm still kinda stuck on a few issue. . . as it happened right after fillup. . . or at least the next startup after fillup.
Timmy

 

Also is the tach supposed tomove during cranking?
Timmy

 

Are the Fuel heating elements on the HFCM a replaceable item or do you have to purchase a whole new HFCM?
Timmy

 

Tim a lot of them had problems with FICM, cause of low Batteries. might want to look in to it. ill call my friend at FORD and see what he will say...

 

Thanks pete. . . I think I might have pissed off the 6.0 guys. . . your the only one responding
Timmy

 

hahahaha no its just slow here... LOL....ill get the tech to give me some pointers on what to check.

 

Mine does move a couple notches up. I can't tell you exactly how much, but I do notice that sometime ago.

Good Luck

 

any progress?

 

Not really any progress. . . She didn't start again this morning. It got below freezing last night. Anybody with glowplug issues out there? Lets say the module quit working and the computer didn't know it. . . if it actually started. . . does it start with tons and tons of black smoke? I've never seen a cold engine smoke black. When my truck starts in the cold. . . one of the cylinders doesn't fire till it warms up because of a compression issue. . . it belches white smoke till it starts firing. but black smoke. . . . totally looks like an injector issue. Also. . . I ohmed out the glow plugs at the four pin connector at the top of the valve covers. . . all of the passenger side wires read .7 ohms. . . which looks normal. All of the drivers side ones were at 3.3 ohms. Anybody ever see this? Why is it that the connector from the glow plug module shows around batt voltage all the time at each pin? When do the glowplugs shut off?
Timmy