2006 6.0 PSD in a F350. When I go to start it in the morning or any other time the motor is cold, I have to crank between 2-3 seconds before it starts. My dad's 2006 PSD starts right up when it's cold. I make sure the glow plug light is off before I start. I also use the block heater. I'm in Colorado and see morning temps of 10-20 degrees. When the engine is warm it starts right away. Is this normal or is that too long to crank? Glow plug(s) going out maybe?

 

Wow are you sure the block heater is working? Im in Ne lots of days colder than that and even when the FICM was going south (last days of FICM life) never has mine cranked that long. Im sure one of the smart guys will figure it out for you!

 

First question - is it stil under the 100k mile warranty? If so, take it in.

If you just want to troubleshoot yourself, then make sure your batteries are healthy (charge them, then load test them individually) then test your FICM voltage (posts in the Tech folder on how to do it).

 

116,000 miles. Batteries are new and crank the engine over fine. No smoke or other issues. Just takes a couple of seconds of cranking to cold start.

 

Probably not the batteries with what you describe, but there are plenty of cases where even new batteries fail (bed cell, etc). Load testing is recommended for routine maintenance - wise to do it a few times a year.

Has the truck ever been re-flashed? What oil is he using, and how old is it?

 

Oil is 15-40 Rotella. Fresh oil change with all new Motorcraft filters including fuel filters. I think it was flashed back in July 08 per TSB 40754 (hard to read fax copy I have of the Oasis).

 

wish i could help

 

I believe the Heat Induction flash came out in 2007. That TSB number does not fit the list of TSB's - not sure what TSB you are referring to. Depending on the dealership's consistency with updating their IDS software, he may or may not have gotten it. He might benefit from a new flash and would quite likely benefit from using 5W40 oil. After that, check FICM voltage as suggested before. These things FREQUENTLY help.

 

Ok. Thanks for the suggestions. I just bought the truck a month ago. I've been real happy with it. It just seemed like it was taking a little long to fire off on the cold starts. But even my dad's PSD which starts quicker cold runs rough for a while, whereas my truck runs smooth soon as it starts. I have a co-worker with a 06 PSD and he says his cranks like mine when his is cold. So maybe it's nothing unusual.

 

put Mobil-1 Turbo diesel truck oil in it

that will help with cold starts

 

I'm starting to think I might have a glow plug issue. I tried searching for a thread on 6.0 glow plug testing, but I could only find one for 7.3's. Anyone know where I can find something on 6.0 glow plug testing?

 

My '05 6.0L PSD F350 ( hot or cold) with either 3 mi new or now 5 years later with 106K miles has always taken a good 2-3 sec's to fire up, it will idle smoothly with little or no smoke. When I purchased the truck new I questioned what seemed to be a lengthy crank time and the salesman and I tried 2 other new trucks on the lot, they all cranked for a similar amount of time. Of the 2 or 3 6.0L which friends have, all seem to take longer to fire up then most Dodge or Chev diesels. In fact the 2-3 sec seemed to me to be almost forever when compared with the Rabbit diesel and Toyota diesel PU I use to own which would pop off with barely over 1 rev of the crank. The rabbit diesel when 1 out of 4 glow plugs were dead it would start and idle fine cold but just smoke a little until warmed up. As more glows plug went dead the smoke woud increase until with only 1 of 4 glow plugs still working it would not start cold. The rabbit diesel with over 278K miles on engine had about 3 sets of glow plugs in that period of time. The Toyota diesel I never had any problems with the glow plugs in over 200K miles.

If you had a bad glow plug or several bad glow plugs, when the engine started cold it would not idle smoothly and there would be a lot of smoke until it warmed up. I believe you previously stated that yours idled ok on cold start. Hot you don't need the glow plugs to start, so probably not glow plugs.
One of the guys with a Ford shop correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Ford spec is greater then 5 plus secs cranking is a problem. Maybe a small HP oil leak ???

A quick simple test of the glow plugs would be to clamp a DC clamp on amp meter(capable of at least 200 amp DC) around the smaller wire on the passenger side battery positive terminal. The very first time when you hit the glow plugs (COLD glow plugs) you will read around 180 amps which decreases as the plugs warm up. Note that the plugs draw around 22 amps each COLD. Now if you had one bad plug you would have 180-22 or about 158 amps initial draw. Or if you had multiple bad plugs your total initial draw would be 180 amps - (22 X the number of bad plugs). You should also verify your battery voltage while the glow plugs are heating up, this should be (at the battery terminals) greater then 10.5V (while glow plugs are heating) with charged and good batteries. Hope this helps.

 

I don't understand why my truck takes 2-3 seconds of cranking to start cold when my dad's 06 PSD starts in a fraction of a second when cold. His isn't plugged in and has the same mileage as mine. Once mine starts, it does run smoother than his.

Thanks for the info on checking the glowplugs. I don't get any unusual smoke on start up. Just the normal very small puff that all diesels do when cold.

 

According to TSB #05-19-14 "Crank times of 3-5 seconds in cold temperatures should be considered normal." Maybe i'm just being too **** about my cold cranking time. This is my first diesel and I'm loving it so far.

 

Personally I've been using Rotella 5W40 since 20K miles, seems to help in colder then 20 F temps as far as to cranking speed and MPG but no matter what dino or syn oil, hot, cold, block heater, no block heater, -34F or +98F outside temps NO difference. One can almost count the same number of revolutions in 2-3 sec before it will pop off. Still wonder if there might be a subtle HP oil problem??? or maybe in the electronic control there is a built in hold off for that period of time (I still have the original FICM flash)? But then again it's a FORD.

I believe in the HP oil circuit there is a sensor that if it does not sense a specific pressure the engine will not start? Maybe some else might be able to add to this thought and how it might apply to a delayed start or excess crank condition?