Join Our Ford Truck Forum Today

Document your Ford truck project here and inspire others! Login/Register to view the site with fewer ads.

6.0 is all messed up

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
Ok guys, so it started the other day i was out hunting and coolent went low. I filled it back up and driving home the truck starts driving like its missin on an injector. It kind of went away but i can still feel something is wrong.

This morning i went out to it and fired it up and OMG cloud of smoke about suffocates my entire town.

Huge wite cloud, after a while it went away. I started driving. I have the black cloud just following me around. its massive. under any load it looks like a frieght train.

The truck is running good, but i can hear something isn't right. its not idling like it should, but not bad enough to really say something is wrong.



I had some fuel filters so i swapped em out. motorcraft. and now its WORSE! Its idling not so good, hard starting and blows more smoke than bob marley.

So now i have coolant being eaten, and a truck that is running like $$$.

What should i do?


I made sure my orings were good on the fuel filters. first thing i thought of, but ive been down that route before and am very careful now.

im headed down to the dealer i need to pick up a rig that will get me back to work on sunday. i would trade it off but i know with it smoking, they aren't gonna give me anything for it.


I have checked for water leaks, but cant find any. its holding pressure for a long time after shut down.

I havn't pressure tested yet, but i think i have 2 problems at the same time.

Whats yalls take on it?
 

blacksnapon

Moderator
Staff member
Which cylinders have a problem would be a good start. Getting coolant into the cylinders could possibly be a contributor to your symptoms. If an injector sleeve were leaking, coolant and fuel can mix (more likely to show fuel in the degas bottle).
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
How would I know? Can't exactly pull the spark plugs. :)
 

blacksnapon

Moderator
Staff member
Easy way----IDS or comparable scanner. Difficult way---pull glow plugs and crank then see which hole the coolant comes out of.
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
I wish u lived closer. Lol
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
Lol. It would be cheaper to ship you here!
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
What do you think about a ficm issue. When my ficm died before it ran similar and had massive white/gray/black even brown smoke.
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
Fuel. No doubt
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
I am pulling 49.5 volts on the ficm.
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
I wonder if there's a way to test it myself. I'm afraid to drive it far. I just fired her back up to move it around and it's running fine but it's a HUGE smoke cloud. The biggest problem for me is to take her to the dealer for a buzz test it's 50+ miles. No where close by. And now that alligator doesn't do any work anymore it's ford dealer pretty much exclusively.

I'm gonna do some research to see how much it would be for me to get some kind of diagnostic device for these rigs.
 

Sparky83

Virginia Chapter member
5,566
219
Norlina NC
I saw you said it looked like black smoke when you were running down the road but what about when it was idling after you first start it up??

Black tends to be over fueling.. On a VGT engine you really dont want a smoker as it can make heavier soot deposits on the vanes and actually get them stuck in the unison ring. So over fueling can actually cause a lot of harm to performance.

Brown tends to be oil burning.. usually sign of worn out seals on the valve stems or bad head gasket.

White is a sign your burning water.. On the 6.0's this can be 1 of 2 things. EGR cooler (if you havent deleted it already). Or and sadly to say the worser of the 2.. blown head gasket letting the water leak into the cylinders. ironically blown head gaskets can also allow the oil to get into the cylinders to be burned..

Funny thing with the EGR cooler is the coolant leaking from it can go 1 of 2 directions.. 1 up into the intake through the EGR valve (rare as the intake tends to be under positive pressure. but has happened when the EGR Valve pops open to bleed off boost pressure when you let off the skinny pedal).. and the other way is back down through the Up pipes.. Coolant will settle down in the Manifolds if its going that way and at start up will "burn off/vaporize" like a boiling pot of water on the stove. Easiest way to tell there is to pull the EGR valve and see if the cooler looks wet.. if it is time for a replacement.

Wouldn't advise deleting it if you haven't already done studs yet...
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
Egr has been deleted for a while.

When my ficm died it poured a white/gray smoke. I took the ficm apart and did a self e pair that was nearly 13 months ago.

The smoke it's laying now is very similar. It's whitish gray and it burns the HELL out of your eyes when u get in the cloud. I've been around coolant burning before, this is not that. This is 100% fuel.

My theory is that it's throwing soo much fuel through 1 or 2 cylinders that it just can't burn it. It's just flowing through
 

Sparky83

Virginia Chapter member
5,566
219
Norlina NC
did you do head studs when you did the EGR delete?

If its throwing that much fuel id be worried about your pistons... too much heat can and will damage them. its the equivalent to putting them in a forge to be melted... Might want to pull your FICM back apart and see if your repair held. even though your test came back with 48v you may still have something broken loose in it again. would be a quick and easy solution since youve been in it before.
 

jebadiah04

Rooster Snorkler
849
27
Yeah I'm afraid of driving it because of that reason.

No I did not do head studs. Hasn't been deleted for very many miles. And i don't go out and hot rod the hell out of it.


What type of scanner do I need to be looking for
 

Ford Truck Articles

Top