I've got a 2005 F250 6 Liter Powerstroke turbo diesel that has been starting rough and takes a minute to smooth out. I've been losing power and yesterday had to crank and crank to get it started, it would just barely run for about 3 seconds and die, each time even if I attempted to keep it going by idling up. When I did get it to stay running it emmitted lots of white smoke and today I can't get it to start at all. I need to get it to the service center to get a proper diagnosis but am wondering what to expect. Is this the EGR failure or a blown head gasket? Running it yesterday in very hot temperatures all of the temp gages were normal, though the fan kicked on a few times at lower speeds.

SOURCE: 2003 F-250 powerstroke

Could be one of many things:

-Clogged fuel filter
-Leaking fuel line
-Bad fuel pump
-High or low oil level
-Overdue oil change (Will explain both these possible causes later)
-Bad high pressure oil pump, ICP sensor (injection control pressure sensor), ICR (injection control pressure regulator), or bad HEUI injectors, or oil lines
-Leak in the high pressure oil system (unlikely because you would have noticed this... This does not go undetected as the underside of your vehicle would be literally covered in oil and dripping in a very short period of time after the leak develops)
(Powerstroke engines use a HEUI fuel injection system, "Hydraulically actuated/electronically controlled unit injection", which relies on a high pressure hydraulic pump that uses engine crankcase oil and pumps it at high pressure (500 psi or so). This oil is sent to your fuel injectors to provide means for actuating them and pressurizing the fuel into the cylinders. High or low engine oil level, or old, diluted, additive depleted oil will cause this system to aerate the oil and result in poor fuel injection capabilities)

There might be other causes but this is the Powerstroke`s weak point... The HEUI system was first designed by Caterpillar, which makes a lot of excellent/bulletproof HEUI based engines, both in passenger vehicle and heavy trucks and equipment. The Powerstroke is an engine designed and made by International Truck and Engine, which cannot seem to make a HEUI engine, in any market, whether passenger, heavy truck, or equipment that does not suffer from fuel injection issues.

Marvin

• 85242 Answers
• Posted on Nov 04, 2008

SOURCE: 1998 ford explorer 6 cyl

Most head gaskets don't get in the oil, just leak into the combustion chamber, your friend is probably right, have another shop confirm his diagnosis

SOURCE: 1996 F-250 Turbo Diesel 7.3 liter won't start

check the fuel pump and injectors

SOURCE: 1989 Bronco starts but dies after a couple of seconds

try checking the thermostat control senser. it caused my bronco to start for a second and then die. after a while it would finally start and run for a while then die driving down the road. i changed the thermostat control senser and it fixed all problems of dieing

SOURCE: 1996 f250 7.3 powerstroke has rough idle on starts

it sounds like to that it is either worn/ old injectors,dirtly HPOP (high pressure oil pump) oil worn HPOP pump or dirty fuel filters or fuel. you can take truck to a qualified diesel shop and they can do a buzz test on your injectors and see if they need to be replaced with a buzz test the tester will buzz all eight injectors with engine off and you can hear the buzz of the injectors then it will go through and buzz each injectors individually in firing order to der determin witch ones are bad. the bad injectors will be alot quieter than the other and most testing equipent will show what they are running at. hope this helps.