Bruce Amacker

I love Snap-On's hand tools and power tools, but I'm not much of a fan when it comes to their scan tools. The software is always a couple of years behind, the charge you out the A$$ for updates, and they are filled with glitches. Have you tried a Solus or any Snappy scanner on a 6.0? Be prepared for some major disappointment! I suggest going with OE scan tools, but if you're backed into a corner and need a "one size fits all" scan tool, AutoEnginuity is undoubtedly the best value on the market. It gives you close to OE level capabilities and bidirectional controls on everything except Ford CAN vehicles. For the record, FMC never released their bidirectional CAN code to ETI, so no aftermarket scan tool has ANY bidirectional in it besides KOEO and KOER. If you look at AE, don't get the $200 DIY version, get the pro version, which runs $700-1000 depending on how many lines you want enhanced coverage on. Good Luck!

1. Take a long straightedge and lay it across the front of each pulley to verify that they line up with the next pulley. 1/8" of an inch out of true is enough to cause short life. Are you sure nobody messed with the PS pump? It's common to have someone push the pulley on to the wrong depth after replacing it. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif 2. Make sure the belt is the correct length. I was always amazed how many vehicles are running around with the wrong belt. Are there timing marks on the tensioner, where the "pointer" needs to be between them? If the belt is a bit long, the tensioner might go "over center" and put excessive tension on the belt. Are these OE belts by application? Or are they matching the (wrong?) PN from the old belt? I've seen that, too. The fan clutch isn't seized, right? Just thinking out loud... Good Luck!

Yes, the buzz test only checks the top of the injector, and the majority of injector problems are in the bottom of the injector. On a very small percentage of trucks, you can have a leak of HP oil inside the injector into the fuel side, causing excessive oil consumption and blue smoke. Take a look at Mass Fuel Desired in scan data at a hot idle. (MFDES) Perfect numbers are 8-10 MG, and I'll "allow" 6-12MG. If it's up at 14-16mg, it probably need injectors. MFDES is kind of like STFT to a gas guy. If it's running poorly, chase that first- you state it starts fine, but if it's blowing Contribution codes, it's running bad.

P.S. This is the procedure for getting a "dropped" fuel pump pushrod out of the oil pan, too. One small difference: use a piece of tie wire or welding rod to hold the inner "piece" out of the way while you fish the pushrod out. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

It's highly unlikely red fuel will cause any performance problems with a 6.0 Almost all diesel fuel sold these days is LSD or ULSD, whether it's dyed red or not. Even if you ran high sulfur diesel in a 6.0, the worst that could happen is to contaminate or plug the cat. If it's plugged, you'd catch it in the EP pid. Good Luck!

I had the opportunity today to go to the training center and play with a 6.4 for a while. I removed the DPF sensor and connected it to a push-pull MityVac that will generate up to 20psi manually. With the IDS I checked datalogger to see if the MityVac and DPF PID agreed, and they were exactly the same. I applied 12psi to the DPF sensor and was able to force it into a Regen with the IDS. (For those who weren't watching, IDS won't force a Regen if the DPF doesn't show a restriction.) The Regen took 35 minutes to complete, but some interesting things I noted along the way: During Regen: The downpipe measured 175F, the rear of the DOC 350F, DPF inlet 600F, outlet 650F, ahead of venturi 650F, after venturi 222F, tailpipe surface temp 160F, but the gasses were 500 if you point the IR in the center of the gasses. I was surprised at how cool it ran- I was expecting much hotter temps. The amount of temperature drop through the tailpipe venturis was quite surprising, too. I hooked up my scope and took a bunch of waveforms which were interesting, also. First was glow plug amperage, which one side (measured at the power lead into the module) measured 40 amps with a cycle time of 40 seconds at 75F. That would mean total amperage (both sides) of 80 amps initially, that would taper off to about 40 amps after about 20 seconds. I was surprised the cycle time was so long KOEO at 75F. Next was cranking amperage, which went off my max scale of 600amps initially, but showed cranking amperage to be about 350 continuous, which is really low for a diesel. Next was fuel lift pump, which showed only 1.58 amps, which I didn't believe until I hooked a DVOM up and got the same reading. The pump appears to be a 10 bar and spun at 3750rpm, which is pretty slow for the low pressure it gives. It was interesting to see that if you pull the FP fuse, the engine dies within 1-2 seconds, which surprised me. Most HEUI motors would run all day without the FP. I also tried using the IDS to enable the FP, which worked. I heard a rumor that you couldn't turn on the FP with IDS, but on this truck with my IDS, I was able to. The next test was injector amperage, which agreed with the book stating it's a triple strike system at an idle and reverses the polarity to collapse the field quicker. It almost looks like an AC sine wave and shows 8 amps peak in each direction, with the duty cycle increasing on each of the three hits to total about 3ms. Next was injector voltage, which surprised me. I couldn't find specs in the book about this, and found the waveform to be a peak and hold style with the peaks measuring 200 volts and the hold measuring about 130 volts. Does anyone know where to find this in the book? I looked in the service manual and coffee table books and didn't see it. I also did CKP, CMP, and a few other waveforms, but they weren't as interesting as these. Just thought I'd share these with you. Have a great day! Injector amperage: Injector voltage: Current clamp installed on FP fuse for Jim:

And more importantly, what's the hot ICP voltage? I don't like to look at ICP when there's an ICP problem, as the PCM will substitute a known good value, and that /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif guy gets your goat. Get yourself in the habit of looking at ICPV, which should be .2-.24 KOEO, and .8 to get it started. They usually make over 1.5v cranking if there's nothing wrong with the HP system. I think that's why the IDS automatically brings up both when you select the PID. FYI 7.3 and 6.0 use the same voltages. Good Luck!

Ditto on Rickster. The CMP code is set falsely when you crank one of these for 30 seconds. I'd be looking at the IPR and HP oil leaks, too. What's the IPR % at a hot idle? It should be 9-11%. It could be leaking top o-rings on a longer shot, also. Pull the VC and run the motor to verify if you suspect o-rings. The IDM codes can be fixed with an updated IDM per TSB. '99's are famous for IDM codes. Good Luck!

Bench test? The only way I know of is with a HEUI machine, and I don't consider them accurate. Can you elaborate? Thanks!

Dwayne's correct, but I don't go into the diagnostic mode, I just change the o-rings. 97% of them will be the center o-ring on the injector leaking and causing the oil to seep into the fuel galley, where it returns to the tank on a the first generation truck. 3% of them will be bad injectors. There is a passage inside the injector where the same problem can occur, but this is pretty infrequent. You may be able to see this as an increased IPR command in scan data, it should be between 9-11% at a hot idle. With the slow rate you're using oil it probably won't show up unless the upper o-rings are leaking, too. Put 8 sets of o-rings in it and you should be fine. Ugh! There he is again! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif Good Luck! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif

You ain't the only one. I've got a F550 6.0 grossing 42,000lbs pulling a triaxle trailer with a full size backhoe on it. He never runs light, and in 100K+ only a tranny on the repair list.

This is a long shot, but I have in my notes that a bad DPFE can cause false P0340s on Mustang V6 engines. Good Luck!

More evil: /forums/images/%25%25GRAEMLIN_URL%25%25/grin.gif

Not really a short cut, but a comment. Some of my E-Van guys are pulling all three together, and some are leaving the A/C condenser in while pulling the other two out. To get the condenser, I'm pretty sure all three have to come out. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif How come there's no smiley of Satan? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Good Luck!

I was talking to one of my buddies today on the phone who was driving behind a 6.4 and it blew quite a black cloud every time he accelerated. That's gotta be a bad DPF, right? I wonder if this is going to be a pattern failure.....

Clarification: Parasitic of 15-20ma is AFTER all of the modules got to sleep, which takes 30-45 minutes. I've done this test a bunch of times on a variety of Fords in my electrical classes. It's kind of cool to hook a DVOM in series and physically watch the modules go to sleep. The parasitic will commonly start out at .5-.7a and drop down in 4-5 steps to 20ma after a half hour. When they have a theft light on the dash that blinks the draw jumps up to 25-30ma. It means a bunch to the students to demonstrate this.... Emphasis- Gen's pull the I-line to ground to relay a fault from the Gen (regulator, actually) to the PCM. I'd find that Gen2 I-line and see if it exists on this truck. If it does, I'd snip it at the PCM and go for a road test.... Good Luck! I happen to have a good pic of it. See if this wire exists.....

What's the deal with the high charge rate? I'd find and fix that first. Excessive parasitic draw? It should be under 50ma (.050A), I commonly measure 15-20ma on Fords. A normal truck will have an amp spike on startup of 60-100amps for under a minute, and will settle down to a charge rate of under 20 amps within 1-2 minutes. Many trucks will settle down to 5 amps or less in a minute or two, as long as the bats are good and there's no slow drain. These are all measured at the battery, not alt output. You're measuring your 100A at the alt, right? What do you measure going into the bats? In my notes I have: The PCM automatically recognizes single/dual alt's by looking at voltages on the harness. It may forget a dual alt setup if the battery goes dead, but will recognize it after 3 key cycles. How about a grounded Gen 2 I-line? Even if the Gen2 is not there, maybe the wire is. If the PCM decides to feed it's normal ref V down that line and it's rubbed to ground, you're going to get a Gen2 code. Gen's pull the I-line to ground to relay a fault from the Gen (regulator, actually) to the PCM. I did have a big time ghost Gen code from a rubbed harness on a 6.0 that caused a bunch of parts to be replaced. My notes have the I-line at VBAT unhooked, and 1-3V connected. Ford uses “generations” to label alternators. They went from 3-G (3rd Gen) to 4-G and then to 6-G, and back to 3-G. Could your truck have the wrong generation of alternator? More stuff from my notes and class: The PCM can become confused and think the truck is a single alternator system if one alternator is unhooked and the key is turned on. Disconnect the batteries and turn on the lights to drain capacitors and the PCM will “relearn” upon reconnecting automatically. The PCM will also automatically learn dual alternators are present after 3 key on/run cycles by watching pinout voltages. I-line may go dead while running, effectively shutting down one alternator. This is a normal occurrence in strategy. PCM uses IAT to infer battery temperature for charging voltage. There may be one dead alternator, and BAT or MIL light may not light up. There will be codes, though. This info was proofread by one of the best electrical guys in our industry. If anyone sees any typos or wrong info, please let me know. Good Luck!

Take a look at the screen shots I sent you, I think those regen shots are there. I've also tried it on 3 different 6.4's with the same results. It wouldn't run on an IH with the scan tool, either. On my "research list" /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif is hooking a Mityvac to the DPF sensor and tricking the PCM into needing/doing a regen. Anything else I should put on the list?

Perform a manual regen? I haven't been able to do this. It revs the engine up and watches DPF pressure, and if it is clean, it won't allow a manual regen to be done. Is there a trick I'm not seeing?

Yep, exactly. Real quiet, poor throttle response, sluggish. We never put a fuel pressure gauge on it, though. I looked up your last post to see it was in intermittent stuck IPR. Mine could be this too, but I'd lean towards a bad ICP since it's showing a bunch of voltage KOEO. Thanks!

1FDXW47P44ED65096 2004 F450 35K This truck was an intermittent no start today in class, but it ran when I got to it (for a minute!) I ran the basic stuff and got a P1725 (Insufficient RPM increase during self test). OK, I need some questions answered. The ICP showed .57V/311PSI KOEO with no ICP codes. While cranking the data looked like this: 1. Why were there no ICP above 0 KOEO (P2289)or Low ICP (P2290/P2291) codes? 2. The calibration was really old, so I reflashed it. No change in data or starting. 3. I unplugged the ICP and both V and PSI went to zero KOEO, and the truck started. Now it sets P2285 (low ICP) and P2617 (open CKP). I know the CKP is a ghost code from cranking. 4. Why did the IPR only go to 16% cranking? I'd think it would go to 65% or something like 7.3's would with really low ICPV. 5. We went for a test drive and the driver said it never ran so good. ICP/IPR and scan data looked perfect. I assume the ICP is going to glitch out again and suggested he get it changed. Sidebar: Can someone run this on OASIS for me and get a recent history? The drive claims it was just in for a tranny shift complaint, and the cal update had a couple of tranny updates in it. He was really happy with how it shifted. I was surprised the dealer didn't update the cal. Any comments?

Boy, I'd really like to have that SOB. If by some slim chance they don't call for it back, let me know. Thanks!

Wow. I doubt I can help you fix this truck, but I'm surprised that thick smoke can make it through the DPF. How's STFT per cylinder in datalogger-all even? I might think the FRP sensor could be biased, but that's just a guess. I'd be looking at the DPF PSI and voltage to see what's going on there. Is it possible the DPF is broken/damaged/modified/inop? Could this be a normal truck with a bad DPF? Is it a complaint from the owner, or did you happen to notice it? Sorry for all the questions.....

2004 F550, 120k Just a quick question: I looked at this truck yesterday that I see regularly and it had a bunch of new ghost codes I've never seen. P0261, 264, 267, 270, 273, 276, 279, 282,(all 8 injector open circuit codes) 401, 611,(FICM performance) 2263. I'm most concerned about the injector circuit codes and the FICM code and think they might be related. It drives fine with no complaints and passes all tests except the boost test, where it only builds 1.6psi. I asked him about dead batteries, new batteries, or low voltage problems that might have generated the codes, but he knew of nothing. I flashed this truck a couple of months ago and put in a new EBP because it was out of range. There's probably low boost too, but as long as he's not complaining about power it probably won't get fixed. Any guesses on what might be going on? I cleared them and will look at it again next week. I was actually there to look at another truck but thought I'd plug into this one, too, as it was handy. Thanks!

Even though you don't suspect head gaskets, these are a pattern failure and a quick check is a good idea. I'd "tee" in a (0-30psi) pressure gauge into the coolant bottle degas line and drive the truck to see how fast the pressure rises. If it rises too fast under WOT, it has a combustion leak into the system. If you don't see anything there, it might pay off to "go fishing" at the WP and radiator. I wouldn't suspect a broken water pump shaft as this would be immediate overheating. It sounds like you can drive this truck lightly loaded and it doesn't overheat, right? What's the EOT doing? I think it should be within 30 or so degrees of ECT. (this has been a great discussion here, any comments are invited) Do you have an IR gun? I'd be shooting stuff to see what's going on. Look at the stat, and as much of the radiator as you can- inlet and outlet, etc. Is there anything odd in history that you can see like recent repairs, chip, mods, etc? The fan should really be roaring at that temp and blowing a ton of air. You should be able to command the fan on with IDS to make sure it is working. It's also common to have crap blocking the fins in front that you can't see until it's taken apart. BTDT many times on a variety of trucks. Good Luck!