Cylinder injector circuit low?

[fixxxer22]

it would not hurt. you can use standard mercron dextron fluid if you wanna pour a quart in each fill. the only issue with that is here in iowa ag. fuel is red. it will give the fuel a slight tint so you may have to do some explaining if a DOT agent takes a fuel sample from you. but that is highly unlikely unless you have an aux. tank in the back of the truck. also lubricity can be added every couple of tanks to help with the lubrication of the fuel. it is just going to help. also on a huei injection system like the 6.0 and 7.3 the cleaner the oil and the more detergents it contains will keep the oil side of the injectors and spool valves moving freely. steer away from amsoil and try to change the oil every 3k or so. also DO NOT use the aftermarket oil filters for the 6.0 and 6.4 they have been proven to depress the drain in the oil filter basin causing oil to partially bypass the filter. use ford or fram fliters that utilize the factory oil filter cap. fram makes them for ford. so if it snaps into the cap it is good. if it is carquest or napa and comes with its own cap its bad. be sure once again to use standard dextron mercron if you are going to add it to your tank because some older atf have a metal content to the fluid that may get stuck in an injector.

I am currently working on a fuel pressure gauge setup in vehicle to ensure adequate fuel pressure in a 6.0 due to the fact that is the the most common cause for injector failure. also it would help me in finding out how much used atf i can use in my fuel without loosing pressure.

[fixxxer22]

Everything in the engine is covered to 100K with a $100 deductible.

ATF is one quart per tank.

Disconnect the Deutch connector from the EGR and leave it hang and alot of your odd driverability problems will disappear. No downside.

And start using the Stanadyne. First product I've ever tried of that type that actually worked.

i have over 20 coolers under my toolbox that can be blocked off to prevent exhaust flow to the egr valve and also keep the cooler from failing. removal of that system takes care of so many issues. i have a machinist here that machines stainless plugs for the coolers and then welds them in. i have installed them in at least 20 trucks so far and it beats the crap out of the $600.00 kit to delete the cooler all together.

There are also spools you can install where the egr valve sits to keep the valve (though it is unpluggd) from opening under high boost conditions. like when towing the boat and it is overdrive and you start to pull a hill and it starts to cough and puff black smoke.

[BUIZILLA]

great topic....

[waterboy222]

^^^
Agreed..

Will be adding some ATF now to my tank..

[38fountainSC]

Whats wrong with rotella? What oil should I be using in 7.3?

[fixxxer22]

rotella and motorcraft are the only 2 oils reccomended by ford. so you are doing just fine. motorcraft oil is conoco oil for the diesels.

[cigdaze]

fixxxer22,
It's so great to have you on board! Thanks for all the good info! And welcome!!!!!

[BUIZILLA]

did Ford put the Rotella hype in writing? that stuff is crap since the zinc went bye-bye..

Delo, Delvac, Valvoline Blue and Ursa are farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr superior to Rotella

CAT kinda holds (or did) the patent and manufacturing rights for those injectors

at least in my experience, they built them for Navistar, few people know/knew that... CAT does NOT endorse Rotella in writing, in fact CAT branded oil is NOT what you think it is...

I can't begin to show you the HEUI injector failures we see due to Rotella... i'm talking every hour of the day, 5 days a week.. yada yada

and yes, I do own my own HEUI test stand, and we do ALL of the local HEUI dealer work...

[fixxxer22]

Yeah ford did for the 7.3 but then the 7.3 was gone in 2003. as far as the 6.0 they only say motorcraft oil but i do beleive that back in 2003 the zinc was in the oil. I'm not sure who holds (or still does) the patent for the injectors. but we have not used a huei system since 2007. I wish i had a test stand but i got a cancel box. if i just watch mfdes i can get a good idea which are not contributing. also since 2003 all of our engines are equipped with a cam and crank sensor which makes it easy to see non-contributing cylinders also. as far as 7.3 injectors go, i have not seen many problems with rotella, delvac, or valvoline. And our biggest enemy in light trucks is low fuel pressure. the injectors will hammer apart with low fuel pressure. I have only blamed oil concerns when they were treating the truck like an over-the road truck and not changing the oil for 15k.

[Tantrum]

That is an indication of a bad FICM (fuel injector control module). The injectors fire at 48V. the ficm mutliplies the voltage source 12v. One bad battery can wear on the ficm during a cold start due to the fact that the glow plugs may still run for up to 120 seconds after the truck is started. there is a later calibration available from a fod dealer that might put a band-aid on the concern. but it is unlikely that it iwll fix it. you can put any year ficm on your truck. if you find one used then i would replace it. i can provide workshop manual instructions. but you will need to have it programmed to your application from a dealer. i have replaced over 100 FICMs here in the past year for this concern. it flaggs the circuit low code because the flyback voltage is low on the signal return. the module is producing poor power, is smart enough to see it is low but cannot react. check your batteries and test them both disconnected from each other. Deka batteries offers a 880 cca battery for about $70 and they are great batteries.

Yep,
Chris and you nailed it. Replaced FICM under warranty. All good now. Thanks for the help.

[fixxxer22]

I have replaced 4 FICMs this week! seems to be the norm this winter

[waterboy222]

We lost our first FICM this week.. A total of almost $3k in repairs I think.. Truck had 200k miles on it..

Also started putting ATF in the tank because of this thread.. Mostly just been driving it at night, so I didnt notice any smoke, but will it cause it to smoke even more?

[fixxxer22]

Might see some black if you went to wide open. Other than that you may see a little at throttle tip in. Blackish smoke.

[waterboy222]

Ive got a bigger turbo, injectors, head studs, exhaust and intake so black smoke is a norm form me, but I was wondering if there would be constant smoke while driving because of the ATF..

edit: Sorry, i was corrected by my installer that i have a "better" turbo, not a "bigger" turbo.. not sure what he meant.. oh well.

[Chart]

Ditto. i pour in ATF also it helps the piston in the injecotrs and lubes the fuel side of the system. In the summer time i put in a 10 gallons of used atf from the trans flush machines here. .

Don't you worry about contaminates in the used ATF, or is that not a problem?

[fixxxer22]

I pre-filter it through an old fuel pump that contains a filter from a 6.0 before it enters my tank. also it is trans fluid from the flusher in our shop. not from destroyed trannys. that is junk.

[ZBODaytona]

Ive got a bigger turbo, injectors, head studs, exhaust and intake so black smoke is a norm form me, but I was wondering if there would be constant smoke while driving because of the ATF..

edit: Sorry, i was corrected by my installer that i have a "better" turbo, not a "bigger" turbo.. not sure what he meant.. oh well.

man i need to get that better turbo and injectors.. got the head studs, intake, exhaust, and different inter-cooler..

[Chris]

ATF is a buck fifty a quart. One quart takes care of my 40+ gallon fillups. That adds 3.75 cents to the cost of each gallon burned. I'm not going to F around with used.

[fixxxer22]

man i need to get that better turbo and injectors.. got the head studs, intake, exhaust, and different inter-cooler..

Prob a VGTSS or the new recessed style.