Yes temperature does matter, I think the inductive heating does not work above engine operating of 60F.
See my attachments in the post Detailed FICM Repair Procedure.

 

Well, I ran out and tested it again... it's been sitting about 5 hours.

During the initial buzz phase the voltage dropped to 32V slowly falling to 30V. I have noticed the buzz has been much weaker the last few months.

Next the voltage came up to about 42V. Giving it a little gas actually pushed the voltage up to 44 but I would guess since there is no real load this is just a side-effect of the alternator. I wouldn't be surprised to see it drop off below 40 under load.

I'll be pulling the ficm soon. I noticed a comment about increasing the output voltage. I'm curious as to what the perceived benefit is to doing this? I'm sure any switching events may see a benefit but it seems during high power draw periods (initial buzz, inductive heating, etc) this could be detrimental depending on the setup. If the current to the injectors isn't regulated a higher voltage simply means additional power and thus additional power dissippated on the circuit board. Anyway, I'd love to hear the argument... if it's worthwhile I'll probably make the mod.

Thanks much for the guide! This really helps out those of us who don't want to hand more $$$ over to ford.

PS - My batteries died this last weekend. They were probably weak most of the summer... I wonder how this affected things...

 

Thanks for the guide!

I pulled my ficm apart and resoldered the connections mentioned as well as a few others. I'm not sure how much this helped but it certainly didn't hurt. There were definitely a few joints that looked sad (especially the inductors).

At the same time I modded the ficm to put out 58V. On my first cold start the voltage stayed above 50V and stabilized around 53. I suspect it will creep up near 58 as everything warms up. An initial drive test showed my stutter/miss/hesitation is gone. I completely expect the ficm was totally at fault.

Again, thanks to everyone who tried this before me. I didn't even know of the ficm before this.

Cheers!
Brad

 

Way to go!

 

Wicked post guys. Well done. I think I am having a FICM problem ( still ). Has anyone here heard of a weird whine/whistle coming from the FICM area during acceleration ? It's not the turbo for sure, different, I can't explain the noise but the truck has been running like crap since I repaired the Crank Sensor ( which caused me a no start ). At first I thought it was the FICM, but once I switched that sensor she ran again. Mileage since that time has dropped from 13.6 ( ish ) to 10.5 period, that's over about 15 tanks so it's very consistent. Can't explain the drop in mileage but I know that since I got it running again, the power is also terrible. Something is amiss but my AE reader shows no problems anywhere... Any idea guys ?

 

This is a long shot but worth a check. Did the CCV port get knocked off/loose by chance? I know when mine was off some strange sounds could be heard. It is a black elbow right in front of the ficm (toward the front of the truck) and has a tube which connects back into the intake to recirculate the released gas.

Otherwise I can't think of much over there that would make much noise other than the turbo. Have you checked your power steering fluid lately? When mine got really low not only would it whine when turning it would also whine under acceleration.

There's nothing in the FICM which should create noise. It is possible the noise is unrelated to the poor performance and the FICM is still at fault... only way to really know is do the voltage check.

Good luck!

 

Hey thanks for the tip.. you know I actually had a break in that little bugger so I replaced it with a new one, it was like $60.00 for a tiny piece of plastic but I am going to check on that little guy again. Then I will do the voltage test manually ?? I read somewhere that someone had checked voltage with the AE unit and they were of the opinion that if it read under 40 volts say 35, the Autoenginuity tester would just show 40 anyway, which doesn't make sense and sucks all at the same time. Anyone know of this as being true ?

 

Am I just stupid at the moment, or have I missed a post? Or do I not know how to properly utilize the search function?

Have yet to find any info on the 58V mod....



-blaine

 

Hi all,

I'm having the same issues this year with my 2004 6.0 F250 in terms of cold starting probs. At or around 0 to 25 degrees the truck will not start or will barely start after multiple tries. The block heater is awesome and of course starts right up when used. I just completed the FICM test using my multimeter.

One quick note to the procedure. On my truck, when moving the coolant overflow assy, the one hose running towards the passenger side fender has to be removed to clear the overflow assy to the right for access to the FICM cover plate. No biggy, no loss of coolant if done carefully.

By myself with the multimeter ready, I turned the ignition key to the on position and raced over to the front of the truck. Within about 15-20 seconds I connected the multimeter probes to the battery negative and the far right screw (four screw type) on the FICM. It fluctuated between 47.9 and 48.0, and within a few more seconds steadied on 48.0 exactly.

I was a little confused on the next step when measuring the "intital key on buzz test". When under the hood, and the multimeter probes connected, I had my daughter turn the key to the on position. For about 3 seconds after turned to on, it read 20V then jumped to 48V exactley. I then had her crank the engine and while cranking, it was at 48V.

Now when I conducted this test, the truck was not stone 15 degree cold but I would say pretty darn cold. The truck had sat for about an hour after i disconnected the block heater which had only been connected for less than an hour anyway.

I look at this with mixed feelings! Based on the data provided, is my FICM good?

Thanks all,
Jim

 

Nope, don't be confused. The concept of upping the output voltage has been thrown around. I think it's carry-over from a mod which originated in the 7.3 Powerstroke injector controller. If you read earlier in this thread someone (Swamps?) will repair your ficm and for a few extra $$ increase the output voltage to 58 Volts. I'm an electrical engineer who knows a little bit about power supplies so I had no difficulty figuring out how to do this myself.

I'm not going to comment any further on the modification here, however. I don't know what Swamps standing is as a vendor/supporter of this website. If you want to know more I would ask him. This modification isn't for the beginner. You need to work with moderately small surface mount components which is best left to someone skilled in the art. It's just too easy to mess it up and have a trashed power supply.

I personally think it's an ok idea to bump the voltage up (after looking at the board). 10 Volts isn't too much and you're less likely to drop down to marginal voltages during high current periods of operation.

Cheers!
Brad

 

I suspect it's bad. 20 Volts is really low. Do you notice a difference in the way the buzzing sounds compared to last year? I know my buzz cycle became very weak.

My results don't sound much different than yours. Mine held 48 Volts quite well after a 3-hour rest. However, testing it another 3 more hours later yielded different results. I'd let it sit overnight without the block heater plugged in. When my engine is acting right it will start without the block heater easily down to 0*F. Past this point it isn't so happy but I've successfully started it without it plugged in down to -20*F.

If you have the soldering skills (and a good strong soldering iron, not a little 7 or 15 watt jobber from radio shack) it doesn't hurt to pull it and touch up the connections. That way you'll know for sure.

This is a good time to get some alligator clip adapters for your multimeter probes. This way you can hook everything up, sit in the drivers seat and run the tests.

Good luck!
Brad

 

__________________________________________________ ____________________
"I suspect it's bad. 20 Volts is really low. Do you notice a difference in the way the buzzing sounds compared to last year? I know my buzz cycle became very weak."
__________________________________________________ ____________________


Thanks for all the input. I think I'll wait for more feedback just to make sure. I'm not convinced that the 20V initial (3 seconds) after turned to on is an issue as it jumped to 48V pretty quickly. I have not noticed any different sound change in the buzz process but.....I could certainly be wrong.
Thanks again.

 

I completely understand. It's a bit of work to pull it out and work on it.

FYI, I'd try to describe a poor working buzz cycle like this... It sounds like the injectors are trying to go, and they do, but it's not smooth. There's a little surging, some buzzes are quieter than others, others are louder, and the pace is staggered / unequal.

A working buzz cycle, even well below 0*F is strong. The cycles are even, consistent both in pace and volume if not getting slightly faster from start to end (only in the extreme cold).

This is my experience. At 30 Volts during the first three seconds I experienced the poor buzz state. Hope this helps.

 

20v anytime is bad. you can also fry injector coils like that.

 

I did finally find out exactly what the 140V mod for the 7.3's is... THAT doesn't seem too difficult to do.

Actually, I do have some experience in SMT soldering... Not a LOT, mind you, but I suspect I could probably get away with what's necessary IF there's reasonable access, and it'd save me $800.... That's QUITE the motivator.

-blaine