Today I had my 04 PSD with 81k parked outside for about 5hr.The temps are starting to drop here in NE to about 45. So I hopped in to head home from a friends place. The truck started no problem and ran fine. I was on a back road then a short trip on the highway. Well I'm driving along and all of a sudden the I step on the pedal and the truck won't accelerate. So my speed begins to slow and I back off on the pedel then try again. Same thing so I floored the pedal and the truck started to buck and blows puffs of black smoke out the tail pipe. I then pulled over and turned the truck off and back on. The truck started right up and the issue seemed to be gone. No dummy lights or anything were on. I drove another 5 miles or so on the highway and was on and off the throttle to see if the issue reappeared. It didn't but I'd like to know the possible cause. I've been having the puking of the degas bottle while towing but no other real issues. I had pulled the EGR valve a few weeks back to see if the coolant issue was a cooler leak. I did clean the EGR valve with my parts washer, it really wasn't too dirt. The truck is out of warranty so before I bring it to the stealer I'd like to get a handle on the issues.


Matt

 

hopefully you didnt get any solvent in the weep holes in the top of the egr...that could cause problems

 

Very good observation Slowmans.

If Greatwhite didn't protect the weep holes in the gasket face of the EGR valve and cleaner got in the holes, that's very possibly the cause of the problem. If cleaner got in thos holes, it's time for a new valve.

 

I was very careful when cleaning it. I was maybe a month ago thinking back. Does this sound like an egr valve issue?

Matt

 

And just to let you know if you havn't read many threads, most of the techs that reply here and on other threads will not reply to anyone that arbitrarily refers to the dealers as stealers. If referencing a particular dealer that has given problems, they will overlook that. You however may not get any help from the people that really anchor these sites.

 

EGR valve was the first thing that popped in my mind based on your description.

 

Sorry, I have a local dealer that is really bad. I didn't mean all dealers. This dealer has one diesel tech and he's not too sharp. I've gotten more info from reading here than this guy has. When this truck was under warranty it spent so much time there since they never were able to troubleshoot any thing with out wholesale replacement. Now back to the issue, the turbo failed at 35k and didn't act like this. I was thinking injector issues but that just from reading on the net.

Matt

 

DTC's would help troubleshoot.
You may start looking for wire chaffing.

If the EGR valve is original, I would replace it "just because". There were a lot of bad ones over the years and the new ones have some improvements.

 

So the EGR valve is the likely culprit? I believe the valve is the original. Any idea what the egr valve cost? Should I take to have the codes read? Why don't diagnostic trouble trigger an idiot light to come on?

Matt

 

I actually think that wire chaffing is more likely. DO a search and a TON of threads will come up. This would be where I would start (especially the ICP harness, the EBP harness, and the FICM harness). I would especially recommend inspecting the ICP sensor. Yours is most likely under the turbo. They are hard to get to, but the early ones were prone to failure (getting oil soaked and then failing causing bucking, surging, and no-start).

The EGR valve could very well be SOME of the issue. They are around $150 to $200 IIRC - maybe a little too much to replace on a whim, but there were design improvements in the new ones.

Who knows why Ford decided that you could have DTC's without a CEL.

There are many ways to lose money in todays economy ..... one quick way is to start throwing parts at a 6.0L without doing all the "legwork".

You really do need to have the codes read.

 

Did you (or the original owner if you bought it used) by any chance buy this truck AFTER Oct 18, 2004? If so, it could still be under warranty. Then, the better news is that the EGR system is warrantied at $0 deductible under the emissions warranty.

 

No the warranty is over. I was going to buy an aftermarket warranty but other than the coolant issue(this just started with in a month or so) I really haven't had too many issues. A few minor oil leaks and the turbo but all fixed under warranty. If I had a good dealer I would just take it in. I was thinking this was an injector issue. But it seemed odd to me that just restarting the truck would fix it. The EGR wasn't really dirt, can I pull it an put 12v to it and see it operate? I did have the water in fuel light come on a few days back. I'm due to change the fuel filter soon also.

Matt

 

Just another thought,If the truck is puking you probably have head gasket problems, when the truck is off a small amount of coolant could be seeping into a cylander, when the engine starts this can cause steaming in the intake thru the egr resulting in loose carbon deposits witch we all know can reak havoc on the EGR.

 

So should I pull off the EGR valve and take a look? Can I apply 12v to it to check it's operation?

Matt