Hard start and entire driver bank going dead!

[AZ Blacksmoke]

My father in law has an early 04 and at start up its hard starting, then when truck comes to temp he says the whole driver bank of injectors goes dead. He said he checked the FICM voltage and it tested good. What else could be causing the issue? Any help is much appreciated!

 

[AZ Blacksmoke]

Any ideas?

 

[FallenAuthority]

Check fuel pressure

 

[webb06]

So on cold start all injectors are operating fine? Then when it warms up the drivers side lays out? How about a hot start? What happens then?

 

[AZ Blacksmoke]

On cold start it starts rough, then on a hot start it won't start. It will start after about 10 min of sitting

 

[webb06]

How does he know its the drivers side that's "shutting off"? It almost sounds like one of the FICM plugs has unplugged itself from the back of the FICM. So it's only running on 4 cylinders

 

[Zmann]

with that much drama you would expect some codes ?

 

[AZ Blacksmoke]

No codes which is weird! He did a heat check with a gun and the whole side was cold

 

[PowerStrokeEnginuities]

I've had where an injector areates the fuel, and kills the whole bank. If you remove the fuel filter cap it would let out a while bunch of air. Then it would start right up. But we would follow it on the ids, and you could see one injector dropping.. Then the others followed until the whole bank would shut the truck off. Best thing to do, replace that bank, have done a bunch where I replace one.. Then the other three start doing the same thing. Just some info and experience from our end bud. Good luck. Check fuel pressure.

 

[webb06]

I've had where an injector areates the fuel, and kills the whole bank. If you remove the fuel filter cap it would let out a while bunch of air. Then it would start right up. But we would follow it on the ids, and you could see one injector dropping.. Then the others followed until the whole bank would shut the truck off. Best thing to do, replace that bank, have done a bunch where I replace one.. Then the other three start doing the same thing. Just some info and experience from our end bud. Good luck. Check fuel pressure.

That's interesting. Good stuff to know

 

[AZ Blacksmoke]

Thank you Dorian :thumbup:

 

[Mdub707]

If a FICM plug was loose it wouldn't be one bank either. One of the FICM plugs runs injectors 2,3,5 and 8, the other plug runs 1,4,6,7. Typically anyways... but I've seen crazier stuff happen.

The injector theory sounds completely plausible though.

 

[Lassie]

Agree with combustion gas. A bubble test will verify if that's the issue.

 

[PowerStrokeEnginuities]

^^^ bubble test! yes!

 

[Big Angry Hillbilly]

Easy bubble test, tells you if you have to into isolating the banks:

Pull the secondary filter, and crank the engine over using the wire under the hood with the key off. If you've got bubbles in there, then unhook each fuel line and put a finger cut off a rubber glove over the end, and put a tie wrap around it. Crank it again and see if the glove inflates.


If you have compression gas in the fuel rail:

Typically this necessitates replacement of the entire bank of injectors, and thorough inspection of the cups to make sure there's no damage (especially if you find a burnt copper washer) replacement of the check valve in the head, as well as verifying base fuel pressure as this can lead to injector failure/harmonics that cause the injector to bust itself apart and cause this occasionally.