Hi all,

I am posting this thread for my brother in law, who owns a 2005 F-250 with the 6.0 V8 diesel engine. He has the problem that when is car is cold, he has very poor performance, he really has to struggle to reach 40 mph (and that's just as fast as it will go). When the temperature of the engine goes up, he slowly regains his power. When the engine is at normal operating temperature, it runs the way it should, and he has plenty of power. Does anybody have an idea what the problem might be? He is considering changing his injectors, but that does not sound logical to me, because he has normal power when the engine is at normal operating conditions.

Thanks,

Bart

 

First, is it under warranty?

 

How can you tell it's under warranty?

 

Get the VIN.

Then go on ford's site, get the "in service" date when the warranty starts.

Check what warranty is left.

That question has a huge bearing on what we tell you.

 

I had the same problem with my 05. i bought the truck in az and then when i moved to WI it wasnt happy. take it to ford and tell them you want the newest flash. i think its called the "inductive heating" flash. now that i got it done, i can start my truck at 20 below with out plugging in and one glow plug cycle. if its under warranty it should be free. if not then its like 100 bucks. but it makes a difference. and if its under warranty and they say its not free throw a fit and try to get it for free. warranty is 5 years from date of first sale or 100000miles

 

Another vote for having the newest ford flash update on the computer module, mostly for the FICM. The newer strategies have better cold starting. If that doesn't seem to fix it I would say it is time to try some REV-X since everyone I have heard from loves it or next would be getting new injectors.

 

Those injectors should be in good shape, given there are no major performance upgrades. If it is a mostly stock truck i would rule out the injectors. If you take it in for the flash,Ford can tell how the injectors are acting. Dont tell them you might have an injector problem. Then they might try to sell you something you dont need. Just let them flash and see what they say.

 

Hey all,

Thanks, the truck is located in the Netherlands and as you might understand, it is not a very common truck here. I doubt if it is under warranty, because he has already 160k miles on it. Do you have some kind of flash number to which he can refer at the local dealer here. I will check his VIN no and post it.

I would like to add that in his 160kmiles, he did not have this problem before, so is a flash upgrade the solution? Or is there something broken that could also cause this problem?
Also, his car has good cold start performance (it start right away), but just has bad performance the first couple of miles, it just does not rev up.

Thanks

Bart

 

VCXF9 is the most recent PCM calibration update.

 

a car is much different from these beasts

 

Hi all,

The Vin of his truck is 1FTSW31P03EC80269, the truck is an 03 instead of 05.
This morning we tried to reset the ECU by taking off both minus poles of the battery. This did not help, it actually stalled after starting, which it never did before. After starting again and driving, nothing changed, so it took a couple of miles to get power. Any ideas on checking sensors or anything, before going to the dealer?

Thanks,

Bart

 

A proper diagnosis by a qualified tech is your best bet now, and then go from there.My $.02

 

I had this issue on my 04. under warranty they changed the turbo and EGR and some other things, also the latest flash. Then told me that the only thing left was the injectors which were not under warranty. Looking at a $3K bill for the few injectors it needed, someone told me about Hot Shot's Secret. It took 2 treatments to clear it up completely. But it did work for me. at $50, it was worth the chance.
Also I start the truck, then put on my seat belt and drive away. No extra idle to warm it up or anything. Also the smoking when cold cleared up also.

 

I'm not a mechanic, I don't really know my engine that well...have the 6.0, w/167,000 miles, but had almost the same problem, engine would run rough until the temperature came up it would smooth out and run fine. It's out of warranty, took it to local mechanic had the injection control pressure sensor replaced, that seemed to correct the problem. No promises, that's just my experience.

 

I would check that out again with the dealer. I have an 04 that had exactly the same problem, very hard to start in even mildly cold temps, no power until it warmed up. I took it in and first they replaced the fuel injection control module and then they diagnosed it with 3 bad injectors. Replaced all that under the emissions portion of the warranty, which is apparently longer than what would cover engine related items. Saved me $2600.