03 f350 will not start

[mac2720]

Well I got the truck back today. Seems to be starting fine everytime so far now. However, it doesnt have nearly the power that it did before and it seems like to me the turbo isnt spoolin up. The turbo is still whistling loud as hell (seems to be even louder than before). When I got it back, I noticed it not having any power on the way back. So I stopped and filled it up with diesel fuel. Once I left the gas station, the truck was running absolutely horrible. It starting sputtering on take off and acted like it was missing. It was also POURING black smoke until it gets up to speed. The only other thing noticeably different is that the transmission seems to take a lot longer to shift. Even when you give more throttle it seems to take a while to downshift and still doesn't have much power to go. It is on 37" tires by the way.

So I took it back to the shop for them to check and all. They hooked the IDS back up while I was there and all of the injectors were working perfectly as they should. It was throwing one code for the turbocharger/supercharger balance? So I was told that the turbo could be bad all of the sudden because of the symptoms and because it is so loud. He also said that the EGR could be causing the black smoke or since #3 injector was bad, it could have messed up the rings in that cylinder. He also mentioned that the turbo could have went bad because it doesn't have enough back pressure because the truck is straight piped and has a bully dog cold air intake on it. I was also told that they had to erase the tune that was on it to do the work, which could be the reason for the noticeable loss of power.

However on the way back home the truck seem to be running pretty good. It never seemed to miss or sputter at all and I didn't notice hardly any black smoke like it was doing. Although it still didnt have the power that it did. It seems like one thing after the other with the truck and frankly I am really close to just getting rid of it. I can't continue to dump money in it and have more problems. I don't know if the turbo has gone bad, or not having the tune on it made that much difference, i'm just lost with this thing. Need major help or i'm gonna have to let it go.

 

[Atsah]

Your EGR could very well be all cloked up with soot and in need of removal and a good cleaning.. That will cause black smoke and a loss of power.. You are probably noticing the stock tuning as far as loss of power.. By the way, bully dog and 6.0's = nothing but problems.. Turbo removal and a good cleaning may be in order as well.. Get a hold of Hogdoctor if your in his area and ask him to have a look at it..

 

[Atsah]

6.0's can be a royal PITA, and if you know nothing about them your bound to have problem after problem usless you have someone that knows these trucks do some simple things to minimize problems in the future..

IMO, here are some things you should have a reputable mechanic do..

1. Sell the Bully Dog
2. Buy a EGR delete. (The EGR system on these trucks cause nothing but problems). I believe Hawgdoctor welds your EGR cooler shut, I could be wrong.
3. Have your turbo checked for shaft play and if it's okay, have it taken off and cleaned.
4. Have the coolant flushed.
5. If your going to add power to it (SCT programmer) Head studs should be on your list..

If you do these few things you may have a decent truck that you will like. I had two of them, one was a good truck and the other was a piece of junk.. I would never buy another one... IMO, the only people who can afford to own a 6.0 is someone who knows how to work on them and has a checking account with plenty of money in it..

 

[hawgdoctor]

Well I got the truck back today. Seems to be starting fine everytime so far now. However, it doesnt have nearly the power that it did before and it seems like to me the turbo isnt spoolin up. The turbo is still whistling loud as hell (seems to be even louder than before). When I got it back, I noticed it not having any power on the way back. So I stopped and filled it up with diesel fuel. Once I left the gas station, the truck was running absolutely horrible. It starting sputtering on take off and acted like it was missing. It was also POURING black smoke until it gets up to speed. The only other thing noticeably different is that the transmission seems to take a lot longer to shift. Even when you give more throttle it seems to take a while to downshift and still doesn't have much power to go. It is on 37" tires by the way.

So I took it back to the shop for them to check and all. They hooked the IDS back up while I was there and all of the injectors were working perfectly as they should. It was throwing one code for the turbocharger/supercharger balance? So I was told that the turbo could be bad all of the sudden because of the symptoms and because it is so loud. He also said that the EGR could be causing the black smoke or since #3 injector was bad, it could have messed up the rings in that cylinder. He also mentioned that the turbo could have went bad because it doesn't have enough back pressure because the truck is straight piped and has a bully dog cold air intake on it. I was also told that they had to erase the tune that was on it to do the work, which could be the reason for the noticeable loss of power.

However on the way back home the truck seem to be running pretty good. It never seemed to miss or sputter at all and I didn't notice hardly any black smoke like it was doing. Although it still didnt have the power that it did. It seems like one thing after the other with the truck and frankly I am really close to just getting rid of it. I can't continue to dump money in it and have more problems. I don't know if the turbo has gone bad, or not having the tune on it made that much difference, i'm just lost with this thing. Need major help or i'm gonna have to let it go.

That's typical. They are deffinatly blowing smoke up your ass though. These turbo's are known for sticking vanes, and that from them sitting, and getting scaled up with rust. Best thing you can do is take it out, and run her hard for a while to blow it out. If it still seems sticky after that I would clean it. In stock for these trucks are dogs down low I can atest to that, but if you put a good street tune in it she would be golden. Hell even a good ficm tune would do wonders for the stock file. Biggest thing is to stay away fromm the box tuners unless you like throwing alot of money, and parts at these things. Custom tunes is where it's at for the 6.0's. Pulling you up on the map you're about 4 hrs away from us, but we are always just a phone call away. I would deffinatly find another shop with half the bs they've already told you.

 

[mac2720]

That's typical. They are deffinatly blowing smoke up your ass though. These turbo's are known for sticking vanes, and that from them sitting, and getting scaled up with rust. Best thing you can do is take it out, and run her hard for a while to blow it out. If it still seems sticky after that I would clean it. In stock for these trucks are dogs down low I can atest to that, but if you put a good street tune in it she would be golden. Hell even a good ficm tune would do wonders for the stock file. Biggest thing is to stay away fromm the box tuners unless you like throwing alot of money, and parts at these things. Custom tunes is where it's at for the 6.0's. Pulling you up on the map you're about 4 hrs away from us, but we are always just a phone call away. I would deffinatly find another shop with half the bs they've already told you.

Yeah it seems that way to me. So you don't think that the turbo is bad? Maybe that it just needs to be cleaned. When you press the throttle you can see the turbo spinning inside (not sure if that means anything). I drove it today and it ran bad the whole time, with the sputtering and black smoke the whole time. It seems to mainly do it upon takeoff, but continues to puff out smoke when you touch the throttle even at higher speeds. It also makes like a jake brake sound when you let off the throttle when you first take it down the road. Sounds like some type of pressure problem, However, when you give it a lot of throttle pressure, it doesnt seem to blow any black smoke. I haven't really drove it hard since I got it back cuz frankly im scared to. I am not trying to mess anything else up on it.

So you think that a good tuner would fix these problems? Ive been looking at the sct flash and the new itsx to get for it. But I have a buddy selling his edge juice with attitude also.

Before I took it to the ford dealership to get these injectors replaced, it didnt have any of these problems and was running absolutely perfect once I got it started and warmed up. I do know that the truck was on a street tune when I got it and it was on there the whole time until I took it to the dealership where they had to erase it. Since then, its been running like crap. So before I spend more money on a tuner, do you really think that will help and possibly fix these issues? Thanks again!

 

[TonyG]

Sounds like the VGT is dirty/scaled up..... its common and you can probably find a DIY vid on youtube on how to remove and clean turbo up.... ford dealer will prob recommend a new turbo or unison ring/clean, like the other guys have said its common when a truck sits or is ran like grandpop drives it.... or i also see work trucks that idle for extensive periods have the issue..... i probably address this issue 2-3times a week on customer trucks..... if i was you i would get a EGR delete and have someone clean that turbo ASAP.... did the dealer mention anything about the oil cooler? we do dozens of EGR deletes a month and 50% need a oil cooler also..... im sure this all seems like alot of money now but let that egr fail and youll be trying to compress water in the cylinders.... epic failure....

 

[mac2720]

Yeah I am gonna see if I can't remove find a video to help me remove te turbo and clean it. The truck had been sitting for over a week when I got it back from the dealership. But it's really been sitting for weeks cuz its been in and out of the shop with repairs. Yeah I expect to do the egr very soon, once I find a reputable shop around this area who won't try to dick me. Although when te glow plugs were replaced, the mechanic had told me he checked the egr and cleaned it up for me while he was there. The dealership never mentioned anything about the oil cooler being or going bad. I think I'm get a tuner and see how it runs on a small tune because it ran absolutely perfect when it was on a street tune before.

 

[TonyG]

Get a innovative diesel tune from Eric, and get a edge insight CTS... All the 6.0 I own/owned and my fathers have IDP tunes, good reliable power and he's a freind of mine so have to recommend his work

 

[mac2720]

Get a innovative diesel tune from Eric, and get a edge insight CTS... All the 6.0 I own/owned and my fathers have IDP tunes, good reliable power and he's a freind of mine so have to recommend his work

Well I got a buddy that is wanting to sell his edge juice with attitude CTS to me for $500 bucks. He is selling the truck and wants to sell the programmer seperately. Those things are expensive brand new so I really want to get it. I've been looking at getting the sct itsx for a while now but don't think I can pass this deal up on the edge. What do you guys think? I'm probably going to get it tomorrow so any advice would be awesome.

 

[Atsah]

Well I got a buddy that is wanting to sell his edge juice with attitude CTS to me for $500 bucks. He is selling the truck and wants to sell the programmer seperately. Those things are expensive brand new so I really want to get it. I've been looking at getting the sct itsx for a while now but don't think I can pass this deal up on the edge. What do you guys think? I'm probably going to get it tomorrow so any advice would be awesome.

I don't have any experience with Edge products but I'll bump it for ya to see if someone else has..

 

[HOOV3R]

Personally I wouldn't use the edge for tuning. For gauges, yes, but for tuning I'd say get an sct with custom tunes.

 

[TonyG]

Yes sorry sct for the win on tune hardware, edge only for monitoring but the edge is the best in-vehicle unit we have found thus far, leaps and bounds beyond a scan gauge and or normal piller gauges and almost as good as readings from auto enginuity, I honestly feel all 6.0s should have-- edge Cts,egr delete,coolant filter,cat EL1 or zerex equal... And tune of your choose, I run Erics towtune on my 450 and 550 and extreme race on my 250, the 250 gets 17-18mpg on 37s w/x-tune

 

[mac2720]

So you all think its better to go ahead and order the sct instead of getting the edge cts for half the price it is brand new? Like I said, I have been wanting to get an sct but then this was offered to me at a hell of a price. Also what sct tuner do you all think I should get if I go that route. Not looking to spend more than $500 on a programmer.

 

[TonyG]

Www.innovativediesel.com, you just need the basic programmer, edge programming is no good, I'm sure 99% of the people on here will recommend sct w/innovative tunes.... He's second to none

 

[TonyG]

 

[Atsah]

OP, this is one of the most, if not the most important decisions you make for your truck.. If you go the wrong way like so many others have done in the past 6 years I have been reading these forums, it will cost you lots of money in repair work, trust me.. If there is anything I have learned about adding reliable power to a 6.0 it would be that SCT is the programmer and custom tuning for what you want your truck to do from one of the tuning vendors here is the only way to do it correctly..

 

[mac2720]

Thanks so much for the quick responses! Looks like I am going to be ordering one tonight. I see you posted the link for the sct sf3 flash programmer, is there any advantage to getting the sct x3 or does it matter?

 

[mac2720]

Just ordered the sct sf3 programmer from innovative diesel. Thanks everybody for the advice to help me get the right programmer for my truck. Supposed to have it in 2 days and I cannot wait!

 

[TonyG]

Must suck to wait 2 days haha IDP is 2miles from my house

 

[mac2720]

Must suck to wait 2 days haha IDP is 2miles from my house

Haha yeah that must be nice. Its alright though, work will keep me busy until it gets here. I just hope that it clears up these problems im having now before I go on vacation this weekend. If not im gonna have to figure out how to take this turbo out and clean it