Hard cold starts......school me

bboteler · Jan 11, 2013

I've done it overnight no problems

GreenMachine · Jan 20, 2013

New issue guys. A oil leak from the top of the motor. It look like where the intercooler tube meets the flange on the intake manifold.

Would this be cause by excessive amount of blowby? I noticed it after I pushed her hard with a plow on the front going up the highway. And I noticed again pushing it hard with a trailer a few days ago. Here's a few photos.

Btw it has gotten worse since these photos. Oil on the underside of the hood. And more on top of the intake manifold.

bboteler · Jan 20, 2013

What's your egr status?

hawgdoctor · Jan 20, 2013

Looks like egr cooler is still intact, but that looks like its from boost boots leaking from oil saturation.
sent from the shop making things fly.....

GreenMachine · Jan 20, 2013

It seems to stem right at the connection of the hard plastic pipe and the flange where it joins the Intake manifold ( excuse my lack of knowledge).

Egr is still intact up top. I assume there's no block off plate.

hawgdoctor · Jan 20, 2013

Those plastic tubes are garbage. Wouldn't hurt to pull the I take elbow really quick, and check the o-ring where it meets the manifold too.
sent from the shop making things fly.....

bboteler · Jan 20, 2013

Sounds like you nailed it Hawgdoctor, will the plastic pipe leak that bad? I'm assuming that's something that is masked by not having the metal pipe on that side??

GreenMachine · Jan 20, 2013

Is there a alternative to the plastic one?

Again stupid question but why is there oil coming into the manifold out of the intercooler?

GreenMachine · Jan 20, 2013

Think my mileage is suffering if that is leaking? I assume yes

bboteler · Jan 20, 2013

If your like me and have bypassed the ccv the. Your crankcase vents to the intake (increasing oil to the turbo) that oil is then passed into intercooler by way of the piping.

Yes metal pipe and upgraded boots are available....check that o-ring first

bboteler · Jan 20, 2013

Fords theory was it increased oil to the turbo...it really just makes a mess.

hawgdoctor · Jan 20, 2013

GreenMachine said:
Think my mileage is suffering if that is leaking? I assume yes

If it is its minimal. The oil mist I. The whole intake system being full of oil mist will make it find all kinds off weak points in the joints/boots, and clamps. If you get the intake tube for an 03 it will be the metal one, and have real boots on both ends.

sent from the shop making things fly.....

GreenMachine · Jan 20, 2013

hawgdoctor said:
If it is its minimal. The oil mist I. The whole intake system being full of oil mist will make it find all kinds off weak points in the joints/boots, and clamps. If you get the intake tube for an 03 it will be the metal one, and have real boots on both ends.

sent from the shop making things fly.....

Good info, thanks to both of you for the help.

I was hoping this would be the answer to my chitty mileage. Truck has a 4" exhaust and I believe a Air Raid intake, but no tune. Right now its hovering around 12mpg. And its on stock tires and 18" rims.

Kinda lost as to why mileage is low, truck just rolled 100k on it.

hawgdoctor · Jan 20, 2013

GreenMachine said:
Good info, thanks to both of you for the help.

I was hoping this would be the answer to my chitty mileage. Truck has a 4" exhaust and I believe a Air Raid intake, but no tune. Right now its hovering around 12mpg. And its on stock tires and 18" rims.

Kinda lost as to why mileage is low, truck just rolled 100k on it.

Could also depend on the condition of your injectors also. 100k ain't bad, but what kinda oil have you been using, at what interval, what gearing is in it? There are lots of factors that can play in.

sent from the shop making things fly.....

jdc753 · Jan 21, 2013

GreenMachine said:
I was hoping this would be the answer to my chitty mileage. Truck has a 4" exhaust and I believe a Air Raid intake, but no tune. Right now its hovering around 12mpg. And its on stock tires and 18" rims.

Something is up with that mileage, as crappy as my truck is for mileage I have never quite gotten that low. Winter fuel doesn't help, but with a regular cab I would think you would be getting a good bit better mileage than I am. Right now I am hovering around 15.5 with mostly mixed driving.

You could see about getting an FICM flash maybe. There is a guy up in NH that comes down to MA pretty often and does them. He did my truck and I have been quite happy with it, I tried a older calibration and actually lost mileage, but the PHP flash brought mileage back up for me.

When was the last time the fuel filters were changed?

While you are checking into the intake elbow, pop the EGR valve out and give it a good look. Only takes about 2 minutes to pop out and back in.

imelmo · Jul 5, 2013

HOOV3R said:
Some of the failing signs of a FICM are rough cold starting etc.

jdc753 said:
FICM going bad...

For this the truck would crank and crank and crank and crank and crank some more, then when it did fire up it would run relatively normal. The truck always ran relatively smooth after firing up, it was just getting it to actually fire that was the struggle.

When the FICM is going out you can crank and crank and you will see ZERO smoke coming out the tailpipe. If the FICM is good and it was glow plugs you would see white/grey smoke coming out the pipe while cranking.

Mikeh1725 said:
Mine's pretty grumpy for the first 30 seconds then smooths out.

Mine just started doing this a couple days ago. Crank and crank in the morning but no smoke coming out the pipe. Once it lights off it runs rough for probably 15-20 seconds then idles perfect. The CTS shows about 19V but iirc it showed me that before a while back and as the truck warmed up it came back up to 47-48V. I'm gonna put my meter on it a little later.

.