04 f350 6.0L diesel misfire

[veedubmechanic]

I have this 2004 Ford f350 powerstroke diesel in the shop now 5spd manual
It had codes for the crank sensor p03?? and p21??, and cyl 1 and cyl 3 imbalance.
It is definately misfiring at idle or giving it gas but when the revs come down its fine and smooth. I replaced the crank sensor and MAF sensor(burned black and full of debris) and it idles alot better now but still misfires. I replaced both fuel filters 500 miles ago added diesel fuel cleaner and changed oil with castrol diesel 15-40 synthetic.
With the scantool I did a injector buzz test and it passed with no codes.
I did the injector dropout test and every cyl runs worse when the injector is cut out.
I did the glow plug test and it passed with no codes.
I pulled the glow plug harness on the passenger side (1-3-5-7) and the harness ohm out at .04ohm for every plug and they look fine not melted. The glow plugs are also ok and look fairly new.
The truck misses hot or cold.
When the truck is not running it smells like clutch material arround the turbo by the back of the engine. Before the truck started missing it drove fine and did not miss or have any clutch slipping issues or chattering. I do not hear any dual mass flywheel clunking either.
I dont want to condem the injectors in 1 and 3 but I dont have access to a diesel compression tester either.
Also when its warmed up and you rev it and it comes back to idle it chugs and seems like its running out of fuel and then when it dies it is very hard to restart, but one it starts it runs smooth as glass for about 10sec. ????

ANy help or hints? there are no specs for injector resistance online!

[trannyman52]

hows the fuel pressure to the engine??????? cutting out and hard to re-start sounds like a fuel pressure problem.....diesel engines do not run well with air in fuel lines,,,,tough to compress air bubbles!!!!!

[veedubmechanic]

Well I found one problem. Water in the fuel, lots of water. I have drained about 1gallon of water from the sepearator. Every time I do so, I can start the truck fast and it idles smooth and has the good exhaust smell, after 10sec it runs like crap and I drain more water. I siphoned out as much fuel as I could but it only has 1/4 tank fuel so its hard to get out. i dont know if it messed up the injector pump and or injectors yet but I will attempt to get as much fuel out of it and replace the filters and put in some atf into the top filter and see what happens. I dont care to replace the high pressure pump or any injectors right now. Funny thing is, as always the customer said AFTER THE FACT WE TOLD THEM WATER IN THE FUEL, "oh yea the truck started running like crap afterwe filled it up"....

Oh and I disconnected the fuel feed line from the pump at the water seperator and tried key cycling the ignition and the pump does not run. I put the line back on the water seperator and the pump runs....????

[RahX]

You might get lucky if the water hasn't caused any rust. Usually it will take out the pump and possibly injectors And trannyman, you might wanna rethink that statement again. Internal combustion engines are giant air pumps, they compress air for a living :P

[veedubmechanic]

I did notice a bunch of chunks of rust that came out of the tank, but its a plastic tank not steel, so.... yea. I am pretty sure the injector pump is shot but wont know till I drain all the fuel and put in fresh fuel and change the filters. sure that lower filter is just clogged to heck now.
Oh and that water in fuel light, is it supposed to turn off right away after the key is turned on or is it supposed to turn off when the truck is started?

[trannyman52]

U R right Rax,,,,problem with diesel,,,,,air trapped in injector lines will cause injectors not to fire !!!!!air acts as a cushon in lines,,,needle seat will not open,,,no fuel injected,,,no run !!!!!!!!! old school !!!!!!!
I get to play with the big ones 645-E7 EMD's 24cyl Fairbanks-Morse,,forget what the Cat ones are but 4,500 BHP 8cyl 950 rpm wide open!!!!!!fun,,,fun,,,fun The 645 stands for cubic inches per cylinder,,,all 24 of them..would install one of them in my truck but they burn about 50 gal per hour,,,no room for gas tank!!!!!

[dfordski]

Toss in a can of Seafoam. It was originally designed for Marine Diesels. It wont cure a massive amount of water in the fuel, but will help assimilate residual amounts & provide some combustion chamber detox. Seems like fixing the problem is only an occasional by-product of the auto repair business nowadays. I suggested replacing a $12. part (which he somehow managed to pay $20. for) to someone on another Forum, & later, he posted his displeasure in spending $20. and the problem returned shortly afterward. I was so caught off guard, I forgot to ask him what planet he lived on. I then suggested maybe taking it to a "professional", but to be prepared to spend most of his time with his hands around his ankles! His back (among other things) is probably pretty sore by now. Still waiting for him to post the outcome. Haven't worked on auto diesels, but marine diesels have inline particle filters in addition to water separating filters & air can be purged at the fuel rails before the injectors. Water's inability to be compressed can really raise h*ll w/ diesels as compression is the name of the game w/ them, and it sure ain't afraid of a little air. I liked RahX's comment about ICE's compressing air for a living. Even w/ the current hi level of unemployment, their job's are secure! I really like diesels in boats & ships, but cant get used to their sound in vehicles. I can't help wanting to add oil & retard the timing! If I drove one every day, I'm sure I'd get used to it.

[veedubmechanic]

Well I for most the fuel out of the tank and put in 21gallons of fresh diesel and a can of the "ford" diesel fuel cleaner from the dealer and removed the egr valve and cleaned the crud out of it. Now the thing smokes SO BAD out the exhaust. I didnt think that it had an egr issue as 1000 miles ago the thing drove like new no isses or lag and LOTS of boost. I dont see how in 1000 miles it can clog to hell causing so many driveability issues. It runs ok now but has lower boost and smokes alot of white (egr burnoff) and grey when you boost opast 2k rpms (unburnt fuel). I removed the turbo and disassembled it today and there was little to no coaking inside of it or on the Variable vanes. Looks good. Shaft has play in it (alot in my opinion but my boss says ok) there is little amount of oil in the turbine housing inlet side and none on the exhaust side.

ANywho going to let it idle for a day outside tomorrow and drive it a couple times to help blow all the crap out of the intake.

[fordtrucksonly]

Needs two injectors, they wont clear up i promise... Also powerstrokes dont have injector lines.. They have ports in the head for fuel... EGR valve is bad probably because the cooler is blown... And if the coolers blow the head gaskets probably went with it. PM me. Im the powerstroke guru.

[skyline supra]

hey there we have a 05 6L with all the same issues beside the water in fuel. it has no codes after the intector buzz and it is missing all the glow plugs are fine and it has little to no throttle responce. before we did the egr bypass it would be a son of a bitch to start and it would run rough and then would just die and it would only stay running if we kept the starter ingaged but after a couple mins of sitting it would start back up but die 30 seconds later.we just did an egr by pass and after that it will run for about 2 minutes and then die but it will start right back up. both the fuel filters are good.