Hard cold starts
 

Hi I have a 2006 6.0 and never had a problem until now. The engine has progressively been getting harder to start on cold mornings. I live in MN and it used to start fine even at 10 below not plugged in now it will not start at 25deg unless it is plugged in. If it does start not plugged in it is very noisy and black smoke pours out, that is if the battery does not rundown while trying. The Ford dealer says it needs all the injectors and a new injector control box. And wants 3500.00. Can any one help. Thanks Jay.

Moved to the 6.0L Powerstroke Diesel forum.

Its probably your FICM ( fuel injection control module ) cold hard starts are usually the sign of a failing FICM. There is a test procedure in the tech folder at the top of this forum that out lines how to test your FICM with a DVM, your FICM main volts should never drop below 45 from KOEO ( key on engine off ), cranking, idling, wide open throttle or any time in between. You should cruise by Autozone and have them read the codes, write them down and post them here. If in fact the FICM is bad you should send it off to Ed at FICMrepair.com he does a fantastic job repairing these and is an excellent value. You should also spend some money and buy yourself some gauges that read live data, like the scan gauge II or one of the smartphone apps like dashboss for IOS or torque for android. If you already had one you would already know if your FICM was faulty.

Where in MN are you located? If you are un able to test the FICM yourself and youre close enough I could meet you and plug in my AE..

Thanks for the reply. Just read your comment already told the dealer to go ahead and put one in. Holy crap they get $800.00 for the part. Wish I new about that rebuild guy sooner. Will find out tomorrow if it is fixed. Already had them put in new battery's today didn't fix it. Tomorrow they will have the injection module in. They want me to replace all the injectors. I told them no lets see how it works first.

Oh man that sucks, Ed could've done it for half that and it would have been more reliable than a new one.
I find it funny they thought batteries might fix it, then jump to replacing the FICM and all of the injectors, its like they are just throwing parts at it.

Had the same problem, (2003 6.0) After checking other things like the FICM, Glow pugs and Glow plug module it come down to the injectors... (Lots of money) I attributed the problem with “injector stiction”. I tried one last cure for the problem.
• Oil change with Shots Secrete Oil. (Mobil 1 turbo diesel)
• 1 of can Sea Foam in the fuel tank.
• Drove the truck about 2,000 miles, added correct amount of Sea Foam each fill up for the 2,000 miles.
• Another oil change, (Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel) this time I added 2 bottles of RevX. Remove the oil filter center post and pour the RevX down into the reservoir under the oil filter.
• More Sea Foam. I have sense changed to Power Services Fuel additive with injector cleaner every time I add fuel.
The truck runs fine now; all in all I invested about $300.00, whole lot less than new injectors.
Hope it works for you…

I agree Mustang with your comment on throwing parts at it. Also wish I could have given that Ed a try. Thanks No Ammo I will try that before replacing any injectors. The problem will be spring is coming and with the warmer weather I might not know if I,m fixing any thing or it is just getting warmer. Thanks Jay.

What weight of oil are you running? If you are running 15W40 that alone will cause issues with low ambient temps, if you are running 15W40 switch to a 5W40 as that should work year round where you are. I use rotella T-6 5W40 and will never go back to 15W40.

Weak batteries will take out your ficm.
Likewise low fuel pressure will take out your
injectors..
consider the upgraded ford fuel pressure
regulator spring kit.
Search "blue spring" easy do it yourself.
good luck...
X3 on running rotella t-6 5w-40

Thanks my batteries were weak. Who would guess it would cause this kind of trouble. Will follow up tomorrow when I get truck back. On the plus side this is the first problem of any kind in 160000 miles. Still seems like a lot of money for fix.

Ok new ficm was put in at dealer truck still runs ruff when cold started but does start now. He says injectors are still showing bad. I did ask him about running cleaning additives if they would fix the injectors and was told that that was nonsense. ??

Seems to me parts are being thrown at the rate of your pocket book. What happened to diagnostics?

Isn't 15w40 rated down to like -20-30?
@Maxium4x4, diagnostics went out w/ the pocket book lol. Ford charges way to much to run diagnostics imo. My neighbor got charged $250 and still didn't know for sure what the problem is.
It wouldn't be uncommon if the problem was injectors also..

Depending which Ford document that is referenced Ford doesn't recommend 15W40 under +20 or +30 degrees.

Josh