Hello, I have a F-350 6.0L, When I go to start the truck in the mornings it takes a few seconds of cranking over before it starts then blows smoke for alittle while until warm. The trucks starts normal for the rest of the day even when the motor is cold. But then by next morning it's back to slow starting and smoking again.

Makes things kinda hard for mechanics to diagnose without leaving truck at shop overnight.

Anyone else experience similiar problems?

Thanks

 

first thing the techs are probably gonna do if there are no codes is reflash the pcm. I would recommend the inductive heating strategy. it worked great on my rig. good luck and welcome to fte.

 

I wonder if you have a air leak letting the fuel drain back towards the tank. Did this start after you changed fuel filters. Wondering if one of the seals might have a nick in it.

 

Does it run rough while it's warming up? I'm thinking injector stiction also. Like Darsey said, get the newest computer flash from Ford if you don't already have it. It helps with cranky injectors.

 

may be stiction, get the newest flash if not already and you will have to leave it off overnight so the tech can diagnose it properly..we do it all of the time.we need to recreate the condition not guess.

 

My 6.0 is almost impossible to start cold. I have to keep it plugged in every night. This includes summer in New Mexico. This is my first diesel, and now I'm hearing horror stories about taking it to the dealer. Now it has developed a cutting out problem. Under a light load it starts to cutout and jerk. Also has started putting out excess black smoke. Changed oil and filter. Changed fuel filters. Added injector cleaner. I keep reading about "flashes" but don't know what they are.

 

sorry to hijack.. but what exactly IS injector sticktion ?? and what is the inductive heating flash.. ??

and also, how do i know what the latest flash i have is.. my truck has never been reflashed by ford since i bought it a little over a year ago.

 

LV-stiction is when your nozzles start to stick in the injectors and what actually causes the missing on cold starts alot of guys complain about. ford sent out the BUZZ flash to fix this but was not as good as they thought it would be, then they came out w/ the heat inductive flash, which I have personally seen on 2 different trucks that had a stiction/missing in the am complaint work excellent w/in a week or two. It keeps the solenoids energized in the nozzles and creates heat to clean the nozzles as I understand here. you may not have it, if your truck was bought new I think you got it a bit to early to have the inductive, the only way i know is to have it checked by your dealer on the IDS, it will tell the tech if there is a later calibration available if not then you have it.this is covered by your 3/36 and/or 5/100 warranty but may charge you the $100 if you are over 36K.basically it saves ford from having to keep replacing injectors for a colds start complaint and the customer is hapier because they wil not be w/out there truck for repairs.

 

I just brought my truck in for a similar problem.

during cold starts (even hot climates), truck starts rough and has sluggish acceleration until it gets running (clears its throat ), usually a couple minutes. Then all is fine until the next morning. Dealer says bad injectors and Ford doesnt want to cover it because they said i havent had my Fuel filter changed . My truck was in for problems last year, at 61k and they didnt change the fuel filter then. Nor did they recommend it. I now have 69 k miles and they want me to pay for the new injectors. Isnt there some kind of injector cleaner I can try?

 

I would try another dealer, I am a deisel tech and unfortunately recommended services should be done but are not required to keep your original warranty. They should fix it, otherwise you are looking at like a $3,000 repair for something that happens anyways and is not your fault and they cannot prove that the fuel filter caused this, also you could have told them you changed it yourself, but you need to change the fuel filters on these trucks every 10K!!!!

 

thanks....I wish they would have told me to have to fuel filter changed last year. And you are right they wanted 2,100 to replace the injectors. I said dont do it. I will fight it out with Ford. I think they are looking for every excuse they can to avoid paying out another warranty job.

 

The Dealer Is Not Ford, We Never Refuse Warranty Work. Lately We Had Only 2 But The Had Tons Of Aftermarket Parts And We Determined The Turbo Failures Were Caused By Abuse And Overpseeding The Turbin Shaft..cannot Believe They Would Not Recommend It To You..

 

Ok this sounds like my exact problem as well. So my question now is could i get away with not having a cat and still have reflash under warranty, and what would this cost from ford out of warranty?

 

they probabbly won't check it for a cat to begin w/ and the flash is covered under 3/36-otherwise if only if for a flahs you will be responsible for the $100 diesel co-pay. But that is most likely more than what that dealership chareges for just a flash-we would charge a 1 hr of labor or $70 if you had to pay for it..

 

ok wellthats good, but will i actually have to leave my truck over night for them to diagnose it or can i just tell them what its doing, have them check and see that it hasn't had the lastest reflash, and then have them just flash it then and there for me?