Hi, All!

My F250 4x4 has 255K and usually runs quite well.
I'm one of those perpetually broke small farmers. My truck is essentially stock (I did have a 'blue spring mod' a couple of years back, though) I don't have any added guages

Truck is mostly driven short runs. Most drives are 2 miles. I keep my truck on the sump heater when it's not running. I have to admit that if temperatures are under 50 even with the sump heater and 2-3 minutes warm-up idle it seems to run cold for about the first 5-10 minutes..

Let me preface by saying that I had this same set of symptoms about 6 months ago out on the highway. I had just filled up at a gas station I've never been to. 4 minutes at 45mph (the speed limit) my truck lost power and felt for all the world like it was going to die. There was not place to actually pull off the road. Since it felt so much like I had water in my (new) gas, I tried to keep going. Things didn't get better, weak, shaky, but seemed to go as well up some hills as it ran on the flat. Eventually, there was a clearing in the roadside woods and I pulled over. I expected the truck to die when I took my food off the gas, but it didn't When I put my foot on the accelerator, it actually smoothly revved up!

I went back onto the road. My truck was running as well as it ever has. Not only was I able to drive home that day, the truck has run for the last 6 months like that bad patch never happened.

Until yesterday.

Same 'symptoms.' Top speed 35 but feeling like it's got dirty gas or some other fuel problem. (And only this morning remember that EGR trouble, which I used to have regularly, feels like a gas problem to me) About to die but doesn't die.

Preceding this episode, I was in the Walmart parking lot, having just found my the 12ft Bri-Mar dump trailer that was stolen from my farm 2 years ago attached to a very nice Sierra (wouldn't you know?) in the lot there. I left my truck idling for 20 minutes or so while I took photos of my trailer etc. The DIN plate was scrubbed so I had no basis for confrontation...I'll get back on the actual topic here. (DO YOU REALIZE HOW USELESS COPS ARE IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS...ooops!)

So, I left walmart and drove towards the farm. This is just off a 20 minute idle. Gas tank at half full (anticipating tank hose issues that apparently show up in trucks the age on mine) At about 2 miles the engine stumbled once. Nice necessary a 6.0l thing, it felt like I'd just passed a gas drop in the fuel. About 1000 ft late, the truck lost all power, I dropped down to about 35 and felt certain the truck would die at any moment. Unfortunately, I was headed home to the farm to swap vehicles and pick my wife who was just being released from the hospital - a very important appointment. Not having any emergency ride options in this town, I kept my foot on the accelerator and hoped the motor would kick in. I can say that none of the dash gauges read unusually. Oil pressure fine, motor not hot, etc.

Local temperature was a very cold 20F This was around 10am

Out there on the road, going 30-35, I noticed some black smoke above the tailgate. Not a big cloud, not dense. My passenger, however, 'clearly' remembers it was white smoke behind the truck, for what it's worth.

I guess I drove another 3 miles on country roads without letting the accelerator up. Didn't pull over and call AAA because of the hospital obligation. As I entered town, I had to slow for a vehicle ahead of me and took my foot off the gas. Unbelievably, when I put my foot back down, the truck was it's old self. I drove through town just as though nothing had ever been wrong with the motor. Judging from the gas gauge, I didn't use a lot of gas in this process.

So, I immediately suspected this was Karma for not washing out my HCFM, but now I'm suspecting it could be EGR.

Of course, it could be anything.

I'm in my 70s. I was a dealership (air-cooled) mechanic back in the 70's. Don't do much nowadays, but cash is an issue, as usual.

Help, please!

Thanks so much

-Allan in WV

 

You need a monitoring system and code reader.

The most economical approach is to download the ForScan Lite app to your smart phone (assuming you have one) and buy an OBDII ELM327 adapter (I like the BAFX brand). For the adapter, get a WiFi for an i-phone or a Bluetooth for an Android. Total cost is around $40.

The ForScan app reads codes very well. That should help us out a bunch.

If you just want to guess at the likely causes, it can be the EGR valve hanging up, could be a ICP sensor or wiring issue. Could even be an injector issue.

I assume it isn't a fuel issue or a fuel filter issue since it would clear up after a period of driving time, but who knows, crazy things happen.

If you could provide a little more information -
Where is your ICP sensor located? I am assuming it is a diesel even though you referred to the fuel as gas several times.
What oil are you running?
How long since an oil change?
How long since changing the fuel filters?
When was the last time the EGR valve was pulled and cleaned?

 

Thanks, Mark.

I'll get the software and the wifi thing. I'm not clear, though. Do I need ForScan light ($4.99 for iPhone) or will ForScan View (FREE) do the job/ ?

Here's some answers.

THANKS!!

Where is your ICP sensor located? I am assuming it is a diesel even though you referred to the fuel as gas several times.
>>>>It is a diesel. Do not know where the ICP sensor is located. Would appreciate hints. Sorry if I confused
What oil are you running?
>>>>MotorCraft SuperDuty 10/30
How long since an oil change?
>>>> less than 2000 miles, within the past 3 months
How long since changing the fuel filters?
>>>>>It's been a couple of years but it's probably within 5000 miles.
When was the last time the EGR valve was pulled and cleaned?
A friend pulled it for me within the last few years. I'd say less than 10k ago. Although in the first 100,000 on the truck i had to EGR issues at least 3 times, one time requiring (or so the dealership said) pulling the manifold and rodding it out) My typical symptom was this same sort of 'performance' issue, except at 50 mph, if I recall right) When the EGR was last pulled it was amazingly clean. very little gunk on it

 

I am impressed w/ ForScan Lite and would say it is what you want.

The 04 model year had some fairly big changes mid year. The high pressure oil system changed quite a bit. The position of the ICP sensor tells us what "version" you have. It is either on the passenger side valve cover (late 04) or behind the turbo (early 04).

Once you find the ICP sensor, you could try running it w/ the ICP sensor disconnected. Take a good look at the connector also, sometimes they leak and get oil soaked (which causes them to act up).

Clearly you aren't driving it a lot now days, so I am wondering what the fuel filters look like just because of age, not miles. You could have some scale and algae, but as I posted earlier, it just doesn't fit what you are experiencing ... at least in my mind.

The EGR valve is a prime suspect, but I think the codes will tell us whether or not it is an issue.

 

A couple of images from this site that may help determine your truck.

 

wish I had seen these earlier today! Still not sure what I've got but with these maps I should know soon! Thanks!!

 

THIS IS my truck. Is that the sensor in this picture?

 

I picked up the Forscan lite sofware

I seems to be advising using the OBDLink MX+ hardware. That's a bit more pricey, around $70 on Amazon.

Anyone know if this is a good one? (It sure seems solid but it's not like I plan to use this reader every day for another 20 years, ya know)

I'm on iPhone. Would like Bluetooth (which this one is)

Advice appreciated.

Thanks

-Allan

 

Correct, that is your ICP sensor, you have a later build 04

Get something like this, you don't need to spend $70 on an OBD II reader, and yes the bottom one works with an iPhone
I have the Android version but this one should suffice as well


https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

Nice post Mike - thanks!

A google search for what was posted (BAFX ELM327 OBDII) gives a number of other options as well:
https://www.google.com/search?q=BAFX+ELM327+OBDII&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS722US72 2&oq=BAFX+ELM327+OBDII&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.7155j0j 7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Thanks, everyone.

I'll order the BAFX ELM327 OBDII from Amazon this morning and should have it tomorrow (but what time?)

Should be back here with 'more questions' by Thursday.

Plan to drive the truck to the farm 2 miles today. May have more to say after that BUT I hope it's still in 'normal' mode after parking it running OK.

Thanks again to everyone

Allan in WV

 

I picked up forscan and a $35 adapter from amazon and the software is really amazing. It even knows that my overhead mpg display isn't working. It's amazing how indepth you can get with that software.

Another thing: I never shut my truck off before it's fully warmed up, short trips and frequent start/stops i've been told are hard on it, so as long as I'm stopping for under 15 minutes, I'll leave it running, then get on it to blow the crap out when I get back in. Incomplete burns that you get when engine is cool result in a lot of build-up that you really don't want in the engine.

 

 

JaySVX - Fortunately, it appears that my daily commute takes almost exactly 15 minutes with several minutes at 55 (2 miles) in there.

What is your routine to 'blow the crap out'?

I have yet to figure out how to add my email to forscan. Haven't found very good directions for it at this point.

Suggestions?

Thanks, and thanks to everyone!

-Allan

 

What does it mean to 'retrain your ERG'?

I was checking on quotes for having it cleaned in a shop and mechanics have stated 'retraining' as the necessary final step after cleaning the EGR

Thanks, Everyone

-Allan in WV