Thinking About (ok bought) F-350 with PowerStroke 6.0L - Questions

The F-350 is back together enough that it would run. I helicoiled the affected hole, bolted the oil rail in, torqued correctly, and all the bolts are in for the valve cover. Need to tighten them, put in the turbo to intercooler pipe and I'm done.

But that'll be tomorrow. I ran out of daylight and that was enough progress to feel successful. :)

I thought about running it given the stopping point I was at but decided I'll just put it all together and run it.
 
Bated breath, Ted.

Bet it runs great now; very sad at the dealer's ineptness.
 
SCCutler said:
Bated breath, Ted.

Bet it runs great now; very sad at the dealer's ineptness.
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One cylinder does have lower compression than the others, that's a known. However regardless of whether or not that's the #2 cylinder, I do know that I managed to get the #2 cylinder to fire. So my guess is that it will run at least well enough.

We'll just see. I expect to get it back together and running tonight.
 
Tonight I got the truck buttoned up. Valve cover tightened, turbo to intercooler pipe on.

I ended up having to do one 10 second crank to start priming. ICP never got above 32 psi on that cranking, but not entirely surprising since the system was full of air and had to bleed. I let it sit a few minutes and then cranked it again, the ICP started coming up and then fired right up. Given that it was full of air I figured it might not fire on all 8 immediately, but it went right into a nice, smooth idle and ran great, quiet like it should (although certainly not as quiet as a 6.4 or 6.7). After letting it idle a few minutes to hopefully purge remaining air I took it up and down the block.

Power is way improved, especially mid range. I haven't gotten on high end power now, but acceleration is more what I'd expect it to be, so I'm happy about that. I still think it's not quite what it ought to be, but it's orders of magnitude better than it was.

Off-idle is still slower response than I'd like. I know that some of that is just how the 6.0 is, but I don't think this is how it's supposed to be. I noticed that the pigtail for the VGT solenoid is in really bad shape (don't know how I hadn't seen that before) so I'll get a new one of those coming and replace it. The VGT solenoid itself also looks pretty old, so I don't know if that's suspect or not. But with the pigtail looking bad, that needs to get replaced anyway. I haven't gotten on it hard so I don't know what max boost it makes now, I wanted to drive it a bit more gently before getting on it hard to make sure all the air was out of the high pressure oil system.

After the test drive, I shut it down for a few minutes while I finished cleaning up a few things. Started right up hot the same as it did cold. 15 minutes was the worst resting period and this was more like 5, but from that one start it worked exactly as it should.

I need to drive it a bit more to see how it does for hot starts and how the power is. The part throttle and mid range were definitely way better than before.

So, $2,500 in parts instead of $15k for a new engine. I think that's not too shabby.
 
Yay!
 
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Good deal Ted. Now if I could get a little time to figure out why mine still won't start.......
 
charheep said:
Just ask Ted to come over and fix it. He has the experience. LOL
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Last night I had a dream that the Ford dealer called me and said they were sending a guy with a 6.0 over because they figured I could fix it better than they could.

However I think Craig can fix them better than me. ;)
 
Drove the F-350 to work today and dropped my son off at school (this was intentional to get to test a hot start, albeit after only ~15 minutes of sitting).

On the cold start, the truck still smoked for a couple of minutes when cold and it seemed one cylinder wasn't firing at idle, but fired as soon as I got off-idle. Odd to me that it didn't do that yesterday when I started it, but it was ~90F yesterday and that might have had something to do with it firing immediately. This morning it was ~70 when I fired up to head to work. Still warm by anyone's standards, but given the weak cylinder, I think that's more or less to be expected. Once it warms up it doesn't smoke at all, starting or running. My guess is that the previous owner of the truck saw that behavior and decided to sell it quick before it got worse, and he might've noticed the beginning of the hot start cranking getting a bit longer, knowing that meant another high pressure oil system leak. So I came by, he'd let it run long enough before I showed up that it wouldn't smoke but wasn't necessarily a hot start and so I didn't see any of that until cash exchanged hands.

Still, one weak cylinder is not a dead cylinder. It makes power and runs well.

The lag off the line is a known "feature" of the 6.0s by design and I know there's limitations on what that will do. That said, I don't think the VGT setup is doing what it should. So I'll change out the pigtail (that looks really bad) and potentially also the VGT solenoid itself. Also needs to look at the EBP sensor.

A major weak spot on these engines is the sensor/wiring system. I have never had a vehicle where pigtails were such an issue, and where replacing entire wiring subharnesses was both common and necessary. In fact, I don't think I've ever had to change a pigtail on any over vehicle. These modern diesels have a ton of sensors and actuators subject to very high temperatures and pressures, so their failures with age aren't unexpected but are annoying on an aging truck.

As for the bottom end, hard to say. Obviously I have a weak cylinder at 189k, but who knows what the reason is. I'm not tearing into the engine for it, that's for sure.
 
I wouldn't describe either of my 6.0's as sluggish off the line. Have previously owned and put miles on 7.3L, and 5.9L Cummins and the automatic 6.0 would best either truck off the line. My manual will also, until I have to shift.

I'd make sure turbo doesn't have stuck vanes or other issues (though you'd likely see smoke off the line in that case) and I'm guessing you have an injector on the way out... They run line crap until they warm up when they go.

Knock on wood, I know that from buddy's trucks, not personal experience.
 
SaltH2OHokie said:
I wouldn't describe either of my 6.0's as sluggish off the line. Have previously owned and put miles on 7.3L, and 5.9L Cummins and the automatic 6.0 would best either truck off the line. My manual will also, until I have to shift.

I'd make sure turbo doesn't have stuck vanes or other issues (though you'd likely see smoke off the line in that case) and I'm guessing you have an injector on the way out... They run line crap until they warm up when they go.

Knock on wood, I know that from buddy's trucks, not personal experience.
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My injectors are all freshly overhauled. I put in 8 overhauled injectors (bought from the Ford dealer) as part of the work I'm doing.

Given the observations of the VGT pigtail that seems like a good place to start. The vanes on the turbo may be stuck as well. This is sluggish off the line, definitely worse than the 5.9L Cummins I had or the 7.3L Powerstroke (which was also a V7 dead cylinder, oddly) that is now a parts truck.

I'll keep on working on it. This level of improvement has me very positive.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
My injectors are all freshly overhauled. I put in 8 overhauled injectors (bought from the Ford dealer) as part of the work I'm doing.

Given the observations of the VGT pigtail that seems like a good place to start. The vanes on the turbo may be stuck as well. This is sluggish off the line, definitely worse than the 5.9L Cummins I had or the 7.3L Powerstroke (which was also a V7 dead cylinder, oddly) that is now a parts truck.

I'll keep on working on it. This level of improvement has me very positive.
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Touché. Forgot about new injectors. The 7 cylinder thing is a head scratcher then.

Yeah I went from an 02 7.3 to an 05 6.0, same gearing, same transmission...6.0 walked circles around 7.3 stock for stock. (Owned both trucks concurrently for about a year... So had real world comparison).
 
SaltH2OHokie said:
Touché. Forgot about new injectors. The 7 cylinder thing is a head scratcher then.

Yeah I went from an 02 7.3 to an 05 6.0, same gearing, same transmission...6.0 walked circles around 7.3 stock for stock. (Owned both trucks concurrently for about a year... So had real world comparison).
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One cylinder is lower compression than the others and has a "puff puff" blowby. So I think that it's just marginal. Works fine when warm, I'm good enough with it.

But your comparison makes me think that I still need to work on a few things, which I had figured. These engines, they're complex. The 7.3 was a lot simpler.
 
It's interesting just how many sensors this engine has. The ScanGauge is really a great tool to have for one of these trucks, simply because you can monitor what the computer thinks the various sensors and actuators are doing. The flip side is that since the sensors and actuators are often what's bad, you end up using the monitor to help you determine which sensor/actuator to replace.

I added the VGT percentage and the EBP values, so I'll look at those tomorrow and should help me get an idea of what's going on. I still need to change the pigtail on the turbo. I don't think the VGT setup is working correctly, which would explain the sluggish off-idle. And while mid range is way better than it was, there cold be some room for improvement.

On the other hand it is 90F out these days so my expectations could be too high.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
It's interesting just how many sensors this engine has. The ScanGauge is really a great tool to have for one of these trucks, simply because you can monitor what the computer thinks the various sensors and actuators are doing. The flip side is that since the sensors and actuators are often what's bad, you end up using the monitor to help you determine which sensor/actuator to replace.
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Perhaps not ironically, I have seen new owners of aircraft engine monitors play that same game. Terrified of the numbers coming out of the thing until they realize the numbers aren't right.

Guess the difference is, those are brand new. At least the vehicle stuff seems to work for a while.
 
Thinking about, ok, bought '17 F150 3.5L Ecoboost...I think I'll be very happy with it for a long time. 12,000 something lb tow rating.

4kiCUmO.jpg


Time for Ted to buy a new one.
 
jesse said:
12,000 something lb tow rating.
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Highest tow rating on the XLT 4x4 SuperCrew EcoBoost 3.5L is 11,500 with the 3.55 rear end, and 11,400 with the 3.73 rear end, and in the 3.73 only if you have the upsized wheels. Essentially the same numbers on the Lariat, but as you go above the Lariat you lose some more due to weight of the options. You can't get above 12,000 unless you drop back to a standard cab. (I can't tell if that's an XLT or a Lariat.)

The dealers like to tout the maximum towing number for the entire F-150 lineup, which is 12,200 lbs. "When properly equipped..." Properly equipped is the tiny cab, 4x2, 141" bed, and the 3.55 rear end.

No doubt in my mind that thing will tow your boat... but if you put it on a CAT scale it'll probably be over GCWR if your boat weight number you shared with me is correct. Still do it safer than any older truck, and I'm sure anyone here who's ever towed anything has towed overloaded... :)

The yellow door pillar sticker will tell the real GCVR number. They make FOUR rear end ratios for that truck (seems kinda silly) and the GVWR climbs from 15,900 on the highest ratio rear end and 4x2, to either 17,100 with no 17" or 18" wheels and the 3.55 rear end, or 17,000 or 17,100 depending on which heavy duty payload package with 17" or 18" wheels is on it and the 3.73 rear end.

That's actually one of my complaints with both Dodge and Ford... it's great to have options, but man the towing chart is ridiculous.

Sometimes you can figure out all of this on the window sticker, but often times they don't print all the data there. Only the yellow sticker doesn't lie. :) :) :)
 
denverpilot said:
Highest tow rating on the XLT 4x4 SuperCrew EcoBoost 3.5L is 11,500 with the 3.55 rear end, and 11,400 with the 3.73 rear end, and in the 3.73 only if you have the upsized wheels. Essentially the same numbers on the Lariat, but as you go above the Lariat you lose some more due to weight of the options. You can't get above 12,000 unless you drop back to a standard cab. (I can't tell if that's an XLT or a Lariat.)
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I bought it expecting 10,000 something based on my research before-hand. The salesmen insisted I was wrong and that it was 12,000 something based on the sticker by the hitch. I was quite sure that the sticker by the hitch was for the hitch not the truck..but..salesman told me I was wrong. I doubted him but hadn't taken a chance to research yet. Doesn't really matter because I know it's a wide margin over what I need even at the 10k. Looking at the Ford towing sheet - it looks like it is 11,500 towing (which rounds up to 12 something ;) )with a 16,900 GCWR. Plenty for anything I'll ever tow or buy.

Door sticker - at least the two I see there - do not say the GCWR.

https://www.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/17RV&TT_Ford_F150_Sep7.pdf

Supercrew, 4x4, 145" wheel base, 3.55, max tow package.


denverpilot said:
No doubt in my mind that thing will tow your boat... but if you put it on a CAT scale it'll probably be over GCWR if your boat weight number you shared with me is correct. Still do it safer than any older truck, and I'm sure anyone here who's ever towed anything has towed overloaded... :)
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It'll definitely tow the hell out of the boat...and my pop up camper :D Though I imagine a camper upgrade will probably be on the table next spring. I'll be testing it tomorrow when I go pick up the boat from the custom cover guy (hour drive away). There's no way I'll be over the GCWR. Not even close. The truck would have to weigh like 10,000 lbs. It definitely doesn't weight that.

It'll definitely have enough power - I watched plenty of tow videos through the rockies on Youtube of the truck before making the purchase. Towing weights way higher then I will be. When all the other V8 trucks are dropping below 60 mph floored - the 3.5 ecoboost is humming along happy and quiet turning 2 or 3,000 rpm and perfectly willing to pull harder and accelerate to whatever speed you'd want. That's the experience I had with a diesel and I think this will replicate it well enough (i know it won't be quite the same) that I will be quite pleased for a long time.
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
It's interesting just how many sensors this engine has. The ScanGauge is really a great tool to have for one of these trucks, simply because you can monitor what the computer thinks the various sensors and actuators are doing. The flip side is that since the sensors and actuators are often what's bad, you end up using the monitor to help you determine which sensor/actuator to replace.

I added the VGT percentage and the EBP values, so I'll look at those tomorrow and should help me get an idea of what's going on. I still need to change the pigtail on the turbo. I don't think the VGT setup is working correctly, which would explain the sluggish off-idle. And while mid range is way better than it was, there cold be some room for improvement.

On the other hand it is 90F out these days so my expectations could be too high.
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VGT is monitoring/displaying commanded vs actual. Can still be useful if it's commanding min or max (15-80 or some such range) for any lengthy period as that points to it not seeing the results it's expecting from the percentage it commanded.
 
@jesse nice truck! I had a hard time not buying an STX a couple weeks back. Ford is offering so much money on the hoods right now it's ridiculous. I ended up buying a much older truck that I could pay cash for, couldn't bring my self to make a vehicle payment.
 
@jesse , one of my coworkers just got back from a trip towing an airstream all through Wyoming, the Badlands and Yosemite with what looks like an identical truck (I know it's the 3.5 eco boost engine and 4 door cab). He said it worked great the whole way. Above 12,000 feet he could tell some difference in power but still handled the airstream fine. He's _very_ happy with it.

Enjoy!
John
 
denverpilot said:
Perhaps not ironically, I have seen new owners of aircraft engine monitors play that same game. Terrified of the numbers coming out of the thing until they realize the numbers aren't right.

Guess the difference is, those are brand new. At least the vehicle stuff seems to work for a while.
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Seeing as I've spent thousands of hours figuring out whether the engine is screwed up or the instrumentation is screwed up, the numbers don't scare me and they help me figure out what's going on. I really like the ScanGauge. It's not as shiny as the individual gauges, but in many ways it's more useful. But I'll get to what I'm seeing with it in a minute.

jesse said:
Thinking about, ok, bought '17 F150 3.5L Ecoboost...I think I'll be very happy with it for a long time. 12,000 something lb tow rating.

4kiCUmO.jpg


Time for Ted to buy a new one.
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After you told me you were buying it I went back to the local Dodge dealer website and just couldn't get excited about the prices and offers they had compared to what I want, what it would cost, and then especially thinking about some of the ergonomics they changed for the worse vs. my old 2004.

Besides, I have a hard time selling something until I've fixed everything on it, and I'm not there yet on the F-350. And we need to do our tow-off to see whether your new F-150 or my 14 year old F-350 tows a heavy-ish trailer better.

SaltH2OHokie said:
VGT is monitoring/displaying commanded vs actual. Can still be useful if it's commanding min or max (15-80 or some such range) for any lengthy period as that points to it not seeing the results it's expecting from the percentage it commanded.
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Yeah, I figured that it was displaying commanded, but that still can be helpful.

I added EBP and VGT. EBP doesn't dispaly at all, which made me wonder what's going on, so I did some research. Apparently on the earlier trucks there was a reflash that eliminated the EBP sensor from an electronic perspective and just did calculated values. So, EBP isn't an issue here.

The VGT showed values ranging between about 66% (idle) and 46% (driving down the highway). I didn't see anything in the 15-80% range and was expecting to see something closer to the peaks. The turbo does spin and makes boost, it just doesn't do it as quickly as I think it should, and it also doesn't do as much boost at lower RPM as I think it should. I'll start off by changing out the pigtail for the VGT since I have one of those already and I know it's bad. I also haven't done the test of disconnecting the VGT pigtail at idle to see if I can hear a difference. And maybe I'm just expecting too much. The truck was a lot more responsive on the drive in to work (~75F vs. ~95F OAT yesterday). But the max boost I'm seeing is in the 22 PSI range, which reading up looks low compared to what a lot of others are seeing on their stock 6.0s. Also, when the truck was running as a V7, the max boost I saw was 19 PSI. I'd think that the turbo would be targeting a boost/airflow, and seeing the max psi change with a deactivated cylinder makes me think the vanes aren't moving.
 
The EB F-150s are stout towing vehicles in the 1/2 ton class. It'd be hard for me to give up my V8, though, just for sound alone, I wish they'd make an EB 5.0L. I definitely wouldn't be towing 10Klbs with an F-150 more than a very short distance (like 20 miles or less). I've towed over 9K lbs once or twice with my '08 F-150, towing an equipment trailer with a skid loader on it. I have the 3.55LS rear, and it certainly wasn't going anywhere fast from a stop, and braking (rental trailer surge brakes) was less than desirable. It was definitely getting tossed around a bit on dips/bumps by the heavy tongue weight, but I wasn't going over 40mph with it. If I needed to do that kind of work on a monthly basis, I'd be getting a 3/4 ton at a minimum, probably F-350 SRW. However, towing a 5K boat or 7,500 GWR car-hauler is a breeze and is really in the sweet spot for comfortable towing.
 
Here's another question for the 6.0 drivers. I feel like the engine sounds kinda "whiney" normally. I know Ford power steering pumps often whine, but I'm trying to figure out if this is just the power steering pump or an inherent engine sound by design.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Here's another question for the 6.0 drivers. I feel like the engine sounds kinda "whiney" normally. I know Ford power steering pumps often whine, but I'm trying to figure out if this is just the power steering pump or an inherent engine sound by design.
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Turbo? 03-early 04 turbo's scream like a banshee. They shifted to a 13 blade impeller from 10 blade and it quieted down after 2004.25.

My manual 6.0 has a come and go whine that my automatic does not. I've never been able to narrow down, is not the turbo, and is possibly my downpipe (aftermarket and larger than stock) just barely touching tranny and/or pinch weld on cab as the engine torques over on throttling it, but I've yet to figure out a way to even semi-safely ride down the road under the truck to get a first hand view, so after maybe 100k miles of intermittent "whine" that I can't identify beyond that hunch, with no progression toward a problem, I've learned to ignore it (cut up the radio).

Just fly to KMFV, and I'll have my f350 waiting on the ramp, bomb you down the runway a few times (after appropriate radio calls, of course), you get your baseline data, fuel up your plane, fly back home!
 
SaltH2OHokie said:
Turbo? 03-early 04 turbo's scream like a banshee. They shifted to a 13 blade impeller from 10 blade and it quieted down after 2004.25.
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Hm. One thing I don't know is whether this has the original 10-blade impeller or if the turbo got swapped to a 13-blade. The turbo is not original as far as I know. However the only 6.0s I drove in I think were '03s or early '04s back when they were new. Next time I have the turbo inlet off I'll count the number of blades. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it with the turbo off. I do remember the turbo noise on the ones I was in as stupidly loud, but it's been ~13 years since that happened.

My manual 6.0 has a come and go whine that my automatic does not. I've never been able to narrow down, is not the turbo, and is possibly my downpipe (aftermarket and larger than stock) just barely touching tranny and/or pinch weld on cab as the engine torques over on throttling it, but I've yet to figure out a way to even semi-safely ride down the road under the truck to get a first hand view, so after maybe 100k miles of intermittent "whine" that I can't identify beyond that hunch, with no progression toward a problem, I've learned to ignore it (cut up the radio).

Just fly to KMFV, and I'll have my f350 waiting on the ramp, bomb you down the runway a few times (after appropriate radio calls, of course), you get your baseline data, fuel up your plane, fly back home!
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Good info, thanks. As I've said, I think Ford/International screwed up the sound on these engines.

This morning when I started up the truck to drive to work there was no smoke at startup. There was a little smoke coming off idle to back up the driveway, but very little. Yesterday morning there was smoke at startup which tapered off. Once I get going down the road, no smoke. So this actually seems to be improving, although that is probably a false sense of hope there.

Really what's important is that I can't let @jesse 's little baby V6 turbo cute engine beat my big diesel. So I may have to stud the thing after all and put a +300 HP chip in it.
 
jesse said:
I bought it expecting 10,000 something based on my research before-hand. The salesmen insisted I was wrong and that it was 12,000 something based on the sticker by the hitch. I was quite sure that the sticker by the hitch was for the hitch not the truck..but..salesman told me I was wrong. I doubted him but hadn't taken a chance to research yet. Doesn't really matter because I know it's a wide margin over what I need even at the 10k. Looking at the Ford towing sheet - it looks like it is 11,500 towing (which rounds up to 12 something ;) )with a 16,900 GCWR. Plenty for anything I'll ever tow or buy.

Door sticker - at least the two I see there - do not say the GCWR.

https://www.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/17RV&TT_Ford_F150_Sep7.pdf

Supercrew, 4x4, 145" wheel base, 3.55, max tow package.



It'll definitely tow the hell out of the boat...and my pop up camper :D Though I imagine a camper upgrade will probably be on the table next spring. I'll be testing it tomorrow when I go pick up the boat from the custom cover guy (hour drive away). There's no way I'll be over the GCWR. Not even close. The truck would have to weigh like 10,000 lbs. It definitely doesn't weight that.

It'll definitely have enough power - I watched plenty of tow videos through the rockies on Youtube of the truck before making the purchase. Towing weights way higher then I will be. When all the other V8 trucks are dropping below 60 mph floored - the 3.5 ecoboost is humming along happy and quiet turning 2 or 3,000 rpm and perfectly willing to pull harder and accelerate to whatever speed you'd want. That's the experience I had with a diesel and I think this will replicate it well enough (i know it won't be quite the same) that I will be quite pleased for a long time.
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Cool. Yep the 3.55 and maxtow is a great spot to be on that chart.

I have a friend who pulls a 10,500 fifth wheel with his EB V6 and he walks on up the hills out here just fine. The transmission does some of the work but he's not slouching up the hill by any means! (He beats the other guy with a similarly loaded fiver who still has his 5.0 in his F-150 but not by much.)

Isn't that chart hilarious, with how many versions of the F-150 there are nowadays? I was scrolling forever to get down to what I figured your truck was. LOL.

So the real question is: Did you keep the Crown Vic? And what is it going to become? Hehhee.
 
Tonight I replaced the pigtail for the VGT solenoid. It was really in much worse shape than I had realized and I'm convinced it wasn't doing anything. Someone had put butt connectors pretty much right up against the connector itself and spliced about a 3" section in between the connector and the harness (with another set of butt connectors). When I took it apart, the exposed wires basically broke right off one half of the male end connector. When I cut open the electrical tape and then went to remove the 2nd set of butt connectors, one of the wires basically fell right out as if it was never crimped.

With that said, I'm also not convinced the VGT solenoid itself is that great. The female end connector doesn't look in great shape, and the solenoid itself looks very old. Might be original.

And if the VGT pigtail/solenoid weren't doing their jobs, then the VGs on the turbo themselves might be stuck, in which case even having the system doing its job won't matter. So we'll see. I might luck out and the pigtail will solve it, or I might not. Either way, I think this helps give me some confidence that the truck still isn't running quite how it's supposed to,

One thing that's interesting to me is the fact that the VGT number looks as though the PWM is just a lookup table rather than some sort of PID equation. Might have to do with issues that stemmed from the EBP sensors on the early trucks which caused them to ignore it. That would definitely make a VGT system working correctly be extra important.

@jesse will end up with an "I wish I had a PowerStroke" sticker on his F-150 yet.
 
I've put about 70 miles on the truck today after having changed the VGT connector. It's definitely driving better, so it seems to me that the connector was the issue. The boost comes on quicker, especially when in 5th gear and the torque converter is locked up. There's still some lag, but that's going to happen. Off the line does seem to have improved.

I don't think I'll ever be fully happy with how this automatic behaves, but that's because I like manual transmissions. Once it's in 5th gear and the torque converter is locked up, it mostly does what I want it to. But I prefer to shirt earlier and lock up more regularly. I'd be curious how it does towing a load now, I'm sure better. It's still hot out so it's not going to perform as well as it will in the winter, but that also makes mow a "worst case" scenario. Be curious to see the mileage once I drive it some more. I'm pretty certain it has the newer style turbo. It makes more noise now but it's still a lot quieter than the ones I remember riding in, which would've had the original turbo.

It starts up very well now. The spec says under 2.5 seconds and it consistently does it in about 1 second, maybe 1.5. This is hot or cold, no difference anymore, very consistent. So that part is very good. So I'm inclined to call it "done enough" at this point mechanically. I like it and I think we'll keep it a while so I'll do some other items to help spruce it up a bit. Not planning on doing a chip or anything, would rather not blow up the engine.

Since I've been trying to diagnose things on the truck I haven't been leaving the radio on. Really the engine is quiet enough that with the radio on, the noise of the engine doesn't bother me as much. But it's not an engine that I'll leave the radio off specifically to listen to the engine...
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I've put about 70 miles on the truck today after having changed the VGT connector. It's definitely driving better, so it seems to me that the connector was the issue. The boost comes on quicker, especially when in 5th gear and the torque converter is locked up. There's still some lag, but that's going to happen. Off the line does seem to have improved.

I don't think I'll ever be fully happy with how this automatic behaves, but that's because I like manual transmissions. Once it's in 5th gear and the torque converter is locked up, it mostly does what I want it to. But I prefer to shirt earlier and lock up more regularly. I'd be curious how it does towing a load now, I'm sure better. It's still hot out so it's not going to perform as well as it will in the winter, but that also makes mow a "worst case" scenario. Be curious to see the mileage once I drive it some more. I'm pretty certain it has the newer style turbo. It makes more noise now but it's still a lot quieter than the ones I remember riding in, which would've had the original turbo.

It starts up very well now. The spec says under 2.5 seconds and it consistently does it in about 1 second, maybe 1.5. This is hot or cold, no difference anymore, very consistent. So that part is very good. So I'm inclined to call it "done enough" at this point mechanically. I like it and I think we'll keep it a while so I'll do some other items to help spruce it up a bit. Not planning on doing a chip or anything, would rather not blow up the engine.

Since I've been trying to diagnose things on the truck I haven't been leaving the radio on. Really the engine is quiet enough that with the radio on, the noise of the engine doesn't bother me as much. But it's not an engine that I'll leave the radio off specifically to listen to the engine...
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Time for a little visit to the Ford service manager yet???
 
ElPaso Pilot said:
Time for a little visit to the Ford service manager yet???
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I sent an eMail to one of the dealer principals who didn't respond, so now I sent an eMail to the other and made it clear I expected a response.

I've put a few hundred miles on the truck now since rebuild of the high pressure oil system, and around 250 since fixing the pigtail. The truck keeps on running better and getting more responsive. The engine is getting quieter, especially at cruise, and I'm hearing more turbo whistle. I'm about 95% certain this has the later style turbo on it now, because it's not nearly as loud as I recall from the ones I rode in when they were new.

Now it's at the point where it drives like my Dodge did effectively. The torque is almost instant, and there's lots of it. It's what I remember and expect this was like new. So, I'm happy about it.

Interestingly, it's started rolling coal a bit when I get on the throttle hard once moving (not off idle). This is making me think there was some lingering air in the high pressure oil system that has gone away, and so now it's delivering the full amount of fuel. That, of course, is helping the turbo lag as well since there's more energy to spool up the turbo. It's not an obnoxious amount of coal like some folks (*cough* @denverpilot *cough*) so I'm fine with it. Really, I'm happy with how it drives now. Even the automatic doesn't bother me as much. I think with the power back where it should be it's shifting more like I expect it to, so I'm happy there. On my commuting/normal driving cycle (which is a combination of stop-and-go and highway) I got 16.3 on this tank. That was also not with me being as easy on the throttle as I would more normally be, so I think the normal number will be closer to 17. That's pretty good, about the same as I get with my Mercedes E55.

The off-the-line is improved, but really I've found the sayings on the forums of learning to start off with a little throttle and then roll into it are true. You can't just gun it like you can in a gasser. But it's more responsive without a doubt.

Now I need to spruce up the interior a bit...
 
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