2008 Ford E450 Turbo Problems

[dustoff30]

We have a 2008 E-450 with a 6.0 it has been in the shop several times, The check engine light comes on and it falls on it's face and won't do over 40 MPH.

We took it to a large Ford Dealer that does a lot of work on Diesels their answer to us the first time is we don't run it enough and the Turbo wasn't broken in yet "we bought this as a demo with 13,000 miles" The third time they tell us the Octane rating was too low and we need to buy better fuel. I cried BS as the octane rating of Diesel fuel is between 15 and 25. My research is the octane rating for Diesel fuel does not really matter it's the Cetane rating that is the big factor and reading what it takes to test for the cetane rating I think this was a total SWAG. This is getting really frustrating! does anyone have any suggestions? I'm considering installing a block heater? My thinking is cold start up problem as the problem seems to occur within the first 5-6 miles.

I searched past threads concerning this problem but I never really found much of an answer in any of them.

Any help would be appreciated, and please no Bus jokes

[Rescue101]

Yup. TONS of Turbo problems with this engine.It uses a variable vane Turbo that between it and it's control stuff has given Ford some(many) headaches. A few injector problems and SOME Head gasket problems. A town near me has had THREE Turbos changed in LESS than 10,000 miles. Dieselstop.com can furnish you with some insights on this Engine. The 6.0 was NOT one of Ford/navistars better ideas. T.C.

[dustoff30]

Thanks for the tip on the website I will check it out, I would gladly take our 93 E350 with the 7.3 back any day, but I guess this is what they call progress!

Hows the midmount working for you? I did the precon with you guys @ Smeal

[Rescue101]

Very nicely! Did a 1 and a half story Cape full of fire the other night pretty much by itself. We can run 4 Truck companies and an Engine company off the sole rig. Pretty handy. You're getting hosed by your " Ford dealer", sounds to me like they don't have a decent diesel tech. there isn't any "break in" to a Turbocharger. At least not one that holds you to 1000 rpm and 40 mph. We've worked on a few of these and put bluntly,they Suck. T.C.

[WBFD25]

Check this site out: www.fordf150.net

My pov is a Ford and I use this site to quite a bit when an issue comes up. Lots of Ford mechanics and enthusiasts with the knowledge to back them up are on there.

[FIREMECH1]

As Rescue noted, the 6.0's have had their many problems across the board. If you own one, you have my sympathies. There is a reason why they are commonly called the "6. Oh NO".

Any "dealership" coming back with the use of the wrong octane level or the need for the turbo needing to break in, needs to be seriously looked at. Looked at, as in they are completely incompetent to work on diesel engines.

FM1

[Rescue101]

Check this site out: www.fordf150.net

My pov is a Ford and I use this site to quite a bit when an issue comes up. Lots of Ford mechanics and enthusiasts with the knowledge to back them up are on there.

A few ford techs there but 150's NEVER had diesels in 'em. The OP has a TURBO issue and Dieselstop,being devoted to POWERSTROKES is the best place I know of to get educated/get answers. I work on these engines and still get amazed at the wealth of information on that site. T.C.

[firefighterbeau]

yea if you have a Ford with a 6.0 or early 6.4 be ready for a turbo and injector eating monster. worked for an ambulance service with the whole fleet having 6.0's and it was a nightmare!

[Fireres908]

We've had a very similar experience with our 2005 Ford E450 with a turbo. This past winter we started having problems with the transmission not shifting. Only for the first few minutes of a response though. The village we respond out of is only about 2.5 to 3.0 miles long and we're located right in the center of it. So we're talking the first 1.5 miles of a response. Once warmed up it shifted fine. The first time we had it at one of the local ford dealers they said there was nothing wrong and they couldn't get it to duplicate the problem. Their problem was they're located in the city of Green Bay and couldn't hammer on it anywhere in the city because by the time they got up to 20 mph it was time to slow down for a stop sign/light. Well by the time they got it out to the highway it was all nice and warmed up and worked fine. Well long story short they ended up tearing it all apart and decided to replace a couple injectors. Worked fine for a week then started the same crap. Finally after having it there several times they got the problem to duplicate and then replaced all the injectors. We had it back for a week and noticed transmission fluid on our floor. Now they found a hole in the top of the transmission case. THATS RIGHT A HOLE!!! It was at their shop more this summer than in our own station. Now we had to replace the whole transmission. Ford paid for half (after alot of bickering). Cross our fingers it's been running good since. We have 3 squads all fords and have never had problems like this one.

[islandfire03]

There have been issues with the earlier variable vane turbo's. They have been changed to a different part number that solved that issue.
The biggest thing you need is a ford technician that understands how to properly troubleshoot the system. They need to hook up a laptop computer while doing various road test to simulate the conditions you use the truck in and record the data of the entire system.
Doing this will allow them to find the correct issue and replace the component that is causing the problem the first time.
Swapping parts out until you find or fix an issue is not conducive to good customer relations.
Find a dealer with a factory trained technician that knows what he/she's doing and you will be much happier.
Our tech found an oil pressure sensor issue that was causing the injectors to float at a certain RPM range, by not suppling a high enough oil pressure to the injector rail. this repair solved the issue for us.

[Rescue101]

Thanks for the tip on the website I will check it out, I would gladly take our 93 E350 with the 7.3 back any day, but I guess this is what they call progress!

Hows the midmount working for you? I did the precon with you guys @ Smeal

Out of curiousity,out of HUNDREDS/Thousands of Precons,how is it that you folks at Smeal remember US? And our rig? Have to say it was one of my most satifactory encounters. And Outcomes. Rig EXCEEDS my expectations. T.C.

[islandfire03]

Out of curiousity,out of HUNDREDS/Thousands of Precons,how is it that you folks at Smeal remember US? And our rig? Have to say it was one of my most satifactory encounters. And Outcomes. Rig EXCEEDS my expectations. T.C.

I would find it hard to believe that ANYONE who has met you will ever forget their encounter Tim :=} Just sayin!!!!

[Rescue101]

I would find it hard to believe that ANYONE who has met you will ever forget their encounter Tim :=} Just sayin!!!!

Is this a Good or a Bad thing? T.C.

[ffemt2466]

Problem Solved

I wont post and Bus jokes as ours is a 2003 E-450 and our trucks are yellow!

We had a very similar problem with ours and after many many trips to the Ford Dealership they finally discovered the problem to be that the fuel tank de-laminated due to the bio diesel. Apparently when they designed the tanks they weren't expecting people to be using predominately bio diesel and that the old tanks were coming apart, clogging the fuel pump and filter. They replaced the tank on ours and it fixed the problem. Now if the OEM could ever catch that damn electrical bug we'd be ok! Always funny to yell up from the back "hey can ya flip the lights off so I can use the radio!" Anyway hope it helps! Be safe!