I have been having a problem with my 04 excursion when starting out after sitting for a longer period (like overnight). After glow plugging it starts easily but as I try to accelerate the engine will stall, glow plug light, water in fuel light and occasionally theft light comes on. It is especially noticeable if you try to pull away at a light. I have had it stall 8 to 10 times trying to get out of my driveway. However, I just found that if I start the truck, place the transmission in tow haul, then accelerate the problem is a whole lot better. It seems that by not allowing the transmission to shift, the rpm stay up and the truck will still hesitate slightly but will not stall. It will sometimes hesitate enough that it disables the tow haul and then trys to stall before I can push it back into tow haul.
I have been experimenting with the tow haul button for about a week and find that if I use the tow haul feature the truck runs a whole lot better when cold and rarely stalls.
Does anywone know what might be causing this problem and a possible fix for the problem.
Thanks
Exploreman

 

Try letting it warm up a couple minutes before you drive.

 

He has a point there!
The latest heat flash usually takes care of the rough idle, rough run while cold issue.
I don't have any issues like that, I use synthetic oil, and I still let it warm up in high idle for a few minutes before I take off. With a cold engine of the 6.0 using the tow/haul mode is just like abusing your engine. You should not let your RPM get up to 2k with the cold engine, and we all know, that in tow/haul the shift is way over that.
Get the latest flash from the dealer, and try to be a little more patient, and let your truck warm up some before you take off. It might help.

 

I also have an 05 F-250 PSD and it runs just fine. When I said cold, I meant that it had not been running lately. It can be 95 outside and after glowplugging and letting the engine warm up for a couple minutes when you pull away with the transmission in Drive, the truck will stall, it easily restarts and will stall again as soon as you try to accelerate. It seems that gradually accelerating does not help. From trial and error, it seems like trying to keep the rpms up a little higher keeps the truck running. I only tried the tow haul because it keeps the rpms up. Unless the truck is completely up to running temperature the stalling is subject to happen. It even tries to stall in the tow haul mode. It will stall enough that the tow haul mode is switched off, and if I do not switch it back on the next time it shuts the engine off and I lose all power including steering. If I move the transmission to nuetral it will start right up and stall immediately unless I engage tow haul again. After about 15 minutes it runs like a different truck. My 05 has never done anything similar to this. I had this happen two years ago and the dealer replaced the engine wiring harness under warranty because of a short. It has about 115,000 miles on it now. Other than this problem it has been a good truck and gets about 16.7 mpg.
Thanks,
Exploreman