I don't want to be a diesel mechanic.... I don't want to be a diesel mechanic... *closes eyes, clicks heels together 3x*

[Kaajot]

Hey gents-

So, neighbor Dale's truck got back on the road with a working plow again, but I swore it was running rough (sounded like a pig grunting at idle a lot) and well, it died in his driveway in Clayton. He was plowing our dirt road to my farm and his house at the end, but now that's shot and I'm probably hiring a guy tonight so I can go bring my chickens water.

That said, his truck is a 2003 F-350 6.0 Powerstroke. Dale's not a mechanic by any means and can swap a module out here or there, fix a hydraulic line on his tractor etc and he did pull a code when he called me this morning about not making it out to plow the road.

Code P2285. He originally wrote it down as 2235, but that code doesn't exist and when I went through the codes for his year and model, 2285 sounded right. After I read it back to him, it sounded right -- and it sounded vaguely like the code he explained to me with a low voltage at the end of the code verbiage.

So here I am, watching YouTube vids to go work on a diesel. I haven't gotten under the truck yet to look up through at the ICP Sensor to see if it's covered in oil which would be a good indication I'm on the right path. I'm going to have to buy this part for Dale and install it for him, hope he doesn't charge me for the next 2 years plowing if this does the trick.

I found a Genuine OEM part on Amazon for $79, plus wiring harness pig tail for $20, gonna jump on it I think since it can all be here Friday if I order soon enough. Can ship it back free if anyone tells me I'm doing this wrong.

The thing I don't know is, what are the chances Dale, who is hard of hearing (has his aides and everything) didn't hear the engine seize up with a good CLUNK and Hydrolocked? Is there any way to be sure it's not hydrolocked and is the ICP Sensor, or vice-versa? I'm barely mechanical and certainly not a diesel mechanic. I've watched some hydrolock tutorials because I was considering a Powerstroke for plow truck at one point, but no thank you unless I have one helluva a garage to work on it in my spare time, whenever that becomes an abundant thing to have.

No smoke or anything from the hood, which I've heard is sometimes found in hydrolock while running. A mechanic shop took Dale at his word and gave him a $5K quote to replace all injectors. That means he's sell'n the truck if that's where he's going.

Any and all inputs appreciated.

Here's the YouTube video I found helpful to give me enough confidence to fix a simple ICP Sensor swap and wiring refresh at the pigtail. The fella uses aluminum tape to finish it up due to its heat proximity, not too shabby an idea at all -- wish Ford had thought of that one too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBjmank0y44

 

[heavydoc]

Does the engine turn over, if it does it is not hydrolocked. If it doesn't turn over why. Is there sufficient battery voltage, starter good. Can you turn the engine over with a socket on the crank dampner pulley and a ratchet, both ways?

The Southern President

 

[Kaajot]

Does the engine turn over, if it does it is not hydrolocked. If it doesn't turn over why. Is there sufficient battery voltage, starter good. Can you turn the engine over with a socket on the crank dampner pulley and a ratchet, both ways?

The Southern President

Gotchya. Battery should defo be good but will bring my tester and a spare marine just in case (mine are good). Will be a first trying to spin the motor to check for seize at the dampner, but I've seen this done when I was stranded in an F250 many years back (and then towed back 200 miles to Maryland, fun tow).

Will report back Friday/Saturday as I get info together and fiddle with this.

Also, sorry I just saw there is a 6.0 Powerstroke Forum! But to be fair, I don't want to be a diesel mechanic.

 

[heavydoc]

FYI, there are 2 batteries in there. If it turns over with the starter, check codes

The Southern President

 

[Kaajot]

FYI, there are 2 batteries in there. If it turns over with the starter, check codes

The Southern President

Rodger that.

Can I jump it at starter solenoid in engine bay to try to get it to turn over? Any risk of further damage if hydrolocked?

Hoping he didn't clear codes, think he did. Hoping turn-over works and produces a code. Keith (old mechanic) is lett'n me borrow his fancy snap on computer I repaired for him this Summer, and it's been plugged into this truck before. Might have some old codes and show if there were injector issues brewing that were ignored.

 

[heavydoc]

Just hook to the batteries when jumping it if needed.

The Southern President

 

[Kaajot]

Update: It turns over with starter. Nomenclature with Dale (he thinks turns over means it starts and dies, not it moves but doesn't fire up the main engine).

Got that cleared up. Feeling hopeful about pulling codes tomorrow with parts in hand (if Amazon gods will it).

 

[Kaajot]

So, had to pull Dale out at the farm in his car. Crazy guy decided to go skiing in a sedan over our 1' of powder with ice under it. I think he literally shat his pants from the excitement. Spent 2 hours shoveling, then the county plow decided to give a hand and we could pull him out, but the frame was rotten so no good points to attach on that pos (he told me later that's why they refused to put a hitch on it last year, would have been good to know before I ripped out one of his "in tact and full of dirt points") At least the dirt's out... so's the metal.

While this was going on he told me he pulled the P2285 code again plus he had pulled a few other codes. OTHER CODES!? E-somethings.

Great. So I've got Kieth's snap-on and his fuel pressure tester kit, so we'll get this sorted out Saturday (snow dump'n on good old upstate New York again compliments of the north easter).

Will post the codes, but sounds like the ICP Sensor (horrible Juggalo music trivia anyone?) is at least a good start and glad I ordered it for him. I think he needs new Injectors this Summer, the bulletproof kind, any recommendations for those later? I told him to get injector cleaner for diesel (unsure if there's a difference) and put that in there every fill up and to drive it only when necessary if we get it running so he can avoid really gett'n tied up. I priced out some injectors, looks like $1200-$1800 for what folks online are calling the "bulletproofing kit" injector kits. Think his F350 has 150K+ miles, probably never had an injector changed yet. Would that be time then? Sounds like a good Summer project.

Oh last piece of crucial info -- he said the truck was started by having Triple A jump him. I dunno why he pays for Triple A and doesn't keep a reliable booster on hand to jump himself n save the Triple A for tows. But apparently the truck does start with a booster, so I'm bringing my battery tester and multimeter. Are both batteries easy to find under the hood? It's the little details here.

I still do not want to be a diesel mechanic. This is just 'cuz I'd hate to see him throw away a truck that might be fixable. It's in nice shape, not rotting on the frame, good exterior. Think its engine has had neglect.

 

[Sparky83]

bulletproofing involves tens of thousands of dollars worth of modification to the engine... stick with the factory injectors.. theyre the best ones tbh.. ntm if you need them theyre easy to get at any ford dealership.. not only that.. but there is no such thing as a 100% brand new injector for the 6.0's theyre all remans reguardless of the band.. especially the aftermarket ones are just rebuilt with larger injector ports and components... short of him pushing a ton of power theres no need to go off the factory ones... and to diagnose a problem with the injectors on these things you really need a computer thats able to read the live stream data from the trucks computer and run diagnostic tests on it.. (not cheap).. theres alot of hidden codes in the 6.0's computer that dont show up with ordinary scanners.. need something that can really deepscan the computer... these trucks are totally computer controlled...

the 2285 code is an indication of something up with the ICP sensor as youve discovered... unfortunately on the 2003/early04 models they can be a pain to change because of where they are... tip on these.. pop the heat shield screw out on the back of the engine (13mm iirc) itll allow you to push it outta the way to access it from the top.. unplug the sensor. sink the socket onto it then attach the ratchet.. (can sometimes be a pain) once its broken loose remove the wrench and socket.. then unscre by hand (dont do it with the socket and wrench itll get pinned and you be pissed then start cussing)..

youll probably have to unplug the IPR sensor too.. it was in my way... personally to me i never saw the need to replace the pigtail unless they were melted or really badly damaged... just clean it out real good... the correct year ICP sensors on the 03/04 were problematic because of their location.. ironically theyre the same ones used on the 7.3's which that engine never had problems with them but the 6.0's do for some reason... what alot of the 03/04 guys do is swap them out for the later 6.0 icp sensors.. theyre a bit more sturdily built and less prone to failure..


as to being hydrolocked... as docs already stated... if it was hydrolocked it wouldnt even attempt to crank over at all as the cyls would be full of coolant or some other fluid.. preventing the engine from turning at all.. youd just hear the starter click in and out of the flywheel with the turn of the key...

these trucks need a beefy battery setup to get them to turn over fast enough to start properly... as they fire the injectors via oil pressure on the injectors... if the engine cant turn over fast enough with the starter (weak batteries or weak starter or both) then the high pressure oil pump cant build the necessary pressure to fire the injectors to start the engine... scan tools come in handy for diagnosing issues with the oil pressure system and starting... IPR reading of 85% while cranking indicates the systems desperately trying to build pressure to fire the injectors.... the injectors require a minimum of 500psi on the oil rail to fire those injectors for start up... being an 03/early 04 he has the log style so he doesnt have to worry about the problematic STC fitting that was added to the later 04 model and also has the less complicated log style oil rail vs the wavy oil rail that had problems with the dummy plugs...

good fresh batteries are really needed on a diesel.. most likely if hes needed constant jumping its time to replace them as they are not going to be strong enough to really start the engine anymore.. and a diesel is not one you want skimp out and buy cheap batteries for.. theyll kill them in a hurry.. he will be in the 65 group size unfortunately.. personally i recommend nothing smaller than 950CCA but you can go to 750CCA (what the factory rated ones were) but itll struggle on cold mornings...

also another downside to running these trucks on weak batteries is the Fuel Injection Control Module (FICM) is very sensitive to power fluctuations and low voltage.. so running them on a weak charging system or weak dying batteries will kill the FICM.. (another $300 part to replace..)

alright ill put the scary book away now... lol sorry late to the party but dont get on much anymore... lifes been a bit of a bother lately.. no time for fun...

 

[heavydoc]

Well said

The Southern President

 

[dustybumpers]

Nice write up Shawn. Thankeeee

 

[Kaajot]

Thanks Shawn!

 

[fatherdoug]

My one time experience with a diesel....weak batteries can cause all kinds of problems....

 

[heavydoc]

^^^THIS^^^

The Southern President

 

[Kaajot]

Update:

Supercharger (FICM) was eff'd as suspected, causing issues with the fuel rail and oil pressure via bad voltage. Fixed the FICM with new capacitor set installed.

Also pulled codes. #2 and #8 needed new injectors. I did not do the work. I told'm while he was doing that to change all the injectors and to make sure the guy put in the longer bolts to bullet proof when reassembling, but unsure if better bolts were installed and only 2 of the injectors were replaced. Truck runs a lot better but I have a feeling he'll be back again replacing more injectors despite my suggestion to fill injector and carb cleaner in every fill up from now on.

Now he needs to get a shroud installed so that plow doesn't cause issues this Winter.

Sorry about disappearing. Been in love. And busy. And repairing my F-700. et puis la!

Hope all is well. I triple checked his batteries since I do solar and they were fine, it was primarily the ficm and secondarily the injectors causing his 6.0L to be crap running and then finally limited to a crawl (stopped going above 35 mph).

We'll see how long them injectors hold up.