sorry to hear about all the problems, have you checked the FICM fuse just in case?

 

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Will do. Thanks.

Any other advise in terms of what to look for after I pull the FICM again?

Thanks

 

Check the fuse and the FICM relay to make sure they are ok. Check the ground wire that was mentioned to me when I replaced mine. If you look down below the ficm and a little more to the back, there is a wire that comes off the harness that grounds to the motor. That wire can be broken off, or damaged thus providing no ground to the ficm, and no power. I think I have read of people breaking this off while removing or installing the ficm and they do not realize it. It does not come off of the three connectors that plug into the ficm. It comes off the harness in another location, but you will see it under and to the back of the ficm. The ficm relay is the same part number as a few relays next to it, and can be switched out to check that. Let us know.

 

Did you ever resolve the broken middle ficm connector? You said you broke one of the clips and I am wondering how you repaired this.

 

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Thanks for the much needed advise. I'll check all of this out. I have not replaced the middle right connector clip as of yet. Once it was determined that I had 0 volts, that was the first thing I checked. With just the one clip, the middle connector snapped in and was perfectly flush with the mating part on the FICM base so I am fairly sure it has a proper connection. I am concerned that once I install the FICM to the brackets and tighten, it may possibly unseat itself on the broken clip side since it is very tight undet the FICM when you tighten (little to no room between the bottom of the FICM and what's beneath it. The harness does a very tight 90 degree under the FICM and wedged itself pretty tightly under their).

After I discoonect, inspect and reconnect, I'll do a voltage check before I bolt the FICM back down.

 

Cheezit told me it is common practice to just wrap a ziptie around the connector and FICM to keep it in place. I didn't do this to mine as it left my house on a rollback, but it must be OK since the Ford tech didn't do the ziptie thing either, and knock on wood it has been running good since I picked it up 7 weeks ago.

 

Quesion guys. Regarding the largest, and first FICM connector looking from the front of the truck. This connector has 22 total female "pin holes". I see 4 holes that do not have a round metal receptacle inside the hole. These 4 holes without the the metal receptical are hole numbers 6,11,28 and 29. The male pins on the FICM number 22 total. Are there 4 pins that do not plug into the mating portion on the female connector?

Thanks

 

If you want the FICM guide, which gives you what each pin does and where it's located ( which position and plug ) PM me or possibly Gmhorse, as I sent it to him when he was having issues. I can send it to you. If anyone knows how a person can post this info as an attachment, or add files to your member page, let me know. I would love to have a folder I can upload this stuff to so people can just download it when they need it.

 

The following is the results of my testing on the 6.0L FICM 48V DC-DC converter board. These measurements were made on the board with it removed from the FICM housing, stand alone and disconnected from the main processor board. Voltage and load resistance measurements were made using a Sears model 82418 DVM, current measurements were made using a Sperry model DSA-540A clamp on DC current meter. All tests were performed at room temperature (70 F) because I don’t like working outside in the cold (7 F). You may get only one chance to understand the need to use CAUTION when working with the DC-DC converter board as the 48V can be deadly! I started using a battery charger as the power source to become familiar with the board and then moved onto using a fully charged car battery for the high current measurements. Note….if you make any mistakes using a car battery in testing this board, you have 5000 peak amps on tap that will release a mushroom cloud of smoke before you can say, what happened!

Connections to the board were made using four #8 1-1/4 machine screws and nuts which allowed easy connection between the battery charger and board using small alligator clips. The interconnecting cable to the battery charger was fabricated using 4 ft of 12 gauge stranded wire. The connections as looking at the board from the bottom (components on the back and the notches facing down) left to right are 1.neg batt, 2.neg batt, 3.Pos batt, and then 4.pos 48V as referenced to neg batt. These connects are for the newer 4 screw version of the board and does not relate to the seven screw version.

Measurements include Vbatt as measured at the board, Ibatt as measured using the clamp on current meter, the Vout and I out of the converter as measured with the DVM and clamp on current meter, load resistors were measured using the DVM, and lastly the converter efficiency is calculated from the input and output power.

Results:


Seq Vbatt (V) Ibatt(A) Vout(V) Iout(A) Eff(%) Rload(ohms)
01., 5.5, 29.4, 39.4, 3.49, 84, 12.2
02., 5.6, 24.2, 41.2, 2.54, 77, 16.2
03., 6.1, 27.3, 45.7, 2.85, 78, 16.2
04., 6.5, 29.2, 45.1, 3.69, 80, 12.2
05., 10.5, 19.5, 47.7, 2.94, 67, 16.2
06., 11.7, 20.3, 48.2, 4.01, 81, 12.2
07., 11.9, 15.2, 48.3, 3.01, 81, 16.2
08., 13.9, 9.1, 48.2, 1.96, 75, 4.5
09., 16.1, 3.65, 48.3, 0.98, 82, 49.3
10., 11.7, 22.9, 48.2, 4.55, 81, 10.9
11., 11.7, 24.5, 48, 4.94, 82, 10
12., 11.2, 42.8, 44.7, 9.16, 84, 5

During the entire testing period the converter appeared to operate normally without any unusual problems or generating any excess heat. In summary the converter appeared to be quite robust with a wide operating voltage range. The only unusual observation was oxidation on the circuit board pads under the screws which might cause a problem (higher resistance) under some circumstances. Also on the power components I would have liked to have seen more solder used to minimize the issues as other have reported. This converter was removed from a FICM which I purchased off Ebay as a “core only” which the seller claimed had a P0611 code but in fact when I received the unit it functioned normally in my truck.

Note that in TSB 09-24-3 it is indicated that the wrench warning would normally be set with operation below 10.25V for 60 seconds or set in 4 seconds with operation below 9V. Even though it has been posted that operation at low battery voltage has been known to kill the FICM, I did not see any negative effects or excess temperatures when operating as low as 6.5V for short periods of time. Since the unit I have appeared to operate normally and was without any defects, maybe the problems occur when the units have soldering defects and is then operated at low battery voltages. The circuits board which I have worked with in the past it has been common practice to hand solder all large components or power components due to the fact that the machine soldering never did that well on those components. It should be note that at a lower battery voltage the current drawn does goes up which would have a tendency to heat up a poor solder connection or even an oxidized connection under a screw head.

This information should not be taken as a recommendation for any particular operation but only as a tool for assisting in diagnosing a problem with the 48V DC-DC converter board. Hope the readers find this useful in diagnosing their FICM problems.

As a side question, does anyone know the DC resistance of the injector coil?

 

Guy, I think I may have found the problem. I checked the 10Amp FICM relay fuse (under the hood) and it was good. Out of desperation I started to look at the fuses in the fuse panel located under the driver side dash.

In the owners manual, it showed a 50amp (red, square fuse) fuse that is labeled "Ignition switch (gasoline engine only), FICM power (Diesel engine only)" and it is clearly broken.

I wonder what caused it to break, and if it will blow again due to a possible other issue. I'm not sure if Autozone carries these or if they are a dealer item.

Thoughts?
Thanks

 

The Autozone in my area does carry some of those type fuses. If it is the FICM fuse, it could be due to the soldering you were doing on the DC-DC converter board.

 

I was wondering about that. God I hope not! I figured it was either due to that or, the only other thing I could think of, was that I might possibly accidently contacted the multimeter alligator clip to the FICM housing when I clipped it to the right hand FICM screw. Although I have not seen a spark or cracking noise...who knows. I had better buy two fuses!

When I removed the FICM for the second time, I touched up the solder on the 16 joints again.

 

Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to you all for your help. I just went from the pits of depression to an all time high. I have been brooding over thoughts of a $150 tow bill and a $1500.00 dealer repair bill..

After I discovered the blow 50amp FICM fuse, I ran down to Autozone and picked up another. I reinstalled the FICM, re-connected the batteries and inserted the new fuse. I hooked up the multimeter and crossed my fingures. The truck was stone cold and at about 35 degrees ambient temperature, I turned the key to on, and got a voltage reading.......finally. Now here's the strange part in terms of the new voltage reading:

Turned to on:
Before; 20V for 4 seconds then jumped to 48V
Now; 20V for 7 seconds until glow plug light turned off then it jumped to 48V. I was concerned.

Cranked the engine and it stayed at 48V and started immediately! Ran very smooth for the outside temperature.

After start:

Before; showed 26.1 volts when running
Now; shows 36 volts when running

Again, it ran very smooth for being so cold and I let it idle for about a minute and a half. I took off and it ran with exceptional power and actually shifted almost normally perfectly. After another couple of minutes, it shifted perfectly. Before, even when it was 50 degrees outside, it shifted very sluggishly and I had to back off on the accelerator to let it finally shift to the next gear.

I took it for a 10 mile drive and ran about like now. Seems to have more power.

I'm just ecstatic................can you tell!!!

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be in the 20 degee range so I'll start it bright and early to see how she does. Will keep you posted.

Thanks again all!

 

teddysmith1952 sorry to hear about all the trouble you had and glad to hear you got it running i know what you mean about being excited about getting your truck running. Mine has still been starting good. I have also been plugging it in.

 

Glad to hear you got her going !! I may be as excited onc mine is back together.