'06 6.0l - Belching black smoke before turbo kicks in

The Warden

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Hello!

I noticed today that one of the buses at work ('06 F-550 6.0l) is putting out quite a bit of black smoke. Once the turbo starts building boost, the smoke mostly clears up, but before the turbo has a chance to spool up, she's putting out more smoke than my 6.9l does :shocked: you'd think that there was a 6-71 powering the bus with all the smoke that's coming out!

Seems to me to be a classic case of too much fuel and not enough air; the question is why...the turbo does build up boost according to the dash gauge; she'll get to just above 20 with a reasonable amount of pedal. Could the air filter be dirty enough that it's starving the engine of air before the turbo spools up, or could it be a sensor problem, or are the variable turbo vanes sticking, or what? FWIW there's no CEL or anything like that on the dash....but with how bad the smoke is, I'm worried about being pulled over!

Trying to give the shop mechanic a lead to go off of...

Thanks in advance ;Sweet
 

The Warden

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URGENT

I just got into work today, and my dispatcher told me that the driver who was supposed to take this bus this morning wasn't able to...according to him, the bus wouldn't go faster than 10 mph and is "billowing" black smoke. If anyone who knows the 6.0l has any ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!!
 

94iditurbo

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make sure to check the egr valve.... sounds like alot of carbon built up in the intake. just pop it out and take a look! very simple to do.
 

The Warden

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FWIW I didn't have a chance to talk to the mechanic today, but I talked to one of my colleagues who said he talked to the mechanic...he told me that the turbo went bad (probably frozen vanes) and had to be replaced. Apparently the mechanic finished that, but forgot to hook up the sensors, so when my colleague went to move the bus out of the way, he got a message saying "Check Gauges"...and apparently the bus is still undriveable until the mechanic goes back in there to re-connect the sensors. Apparently my boss is quite unhappy with the mechanic at the moment :shocked:

What's the best way to keep the vanes from sticking, besides the occasional Italian tune-up?
 

snicklas

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Italian Tune Up....... and do not let it sit an idle endlessly.... I know it is a bus..... but... or if it does sit an idle.... make sure to perform the Italian Tune up the next couple of stop lights.... before the stuff has a chance to "setup" in there..... that has been my MO and has not failed me yet......
 

The Warden

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Italian Tune Up....... and do not let it sit an idle endlessly.... I know it is a bus..... but... or if it does sit an idle.... make sure to perform the Italian Tune up the next couple of stop lights.... before the stuff has a chance to "setup" in there..... that has been my MO and has not failed me yet......
That's kinda what I figured. She has a high-idle controller, but I don't know how regularly the other drivers use it...I'm religious about using it and I don't let her idle any longer than I have to, although given the sort of work she's doing, she kinda has to sit and idle fairly regularly so the a/c can keep working. Unfortunately, one of the side-effects of being with a limo company is that drivers are generally pretty light on the pedal...I try to give the buses a fairly regular Italian tune-up when there aren't any pax onboard :angel:

I seem to recall that the other 6.0l (I believe an '04) lost her turbo about 2 years ago, probably for the same reason... *sigh*

Thank you again ;Sweet
 

snicklas

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The high idle can help..... but make it work seems to be the best thing to keep them running well!!!!

I understand.... having human cargo makes a difference, for those of us that tow, or just have a personal families in the truck/van that is one thing..... but paying customers, especially those that are riding in a "limo" expect to be whisked around, and "pampered" like they are fra-gee-l-ee and do not want to "feel" the vehicle they are in.

I assume this bus is in an "executive shuttle" type of service, not a shuttle bus between the terminal and a rental car desk (city bus type duty).......

I know the last thing you want is to have a complaint back to the boss that you were driving aggressively and "damaging" the cargo....
 
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The Warden

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The high idle can help..... but make it work seems to be the best thing to keep them running well!!!!

I understand.... having human cargo makes a difference, for those of us that tow, or just have a personal families in the truck/van that is one thing..... but paying customers, especially those that are riding in a "limo" expect to be whisked around, and "pampered" like they are fra-gee-l-ee and do not want to "feel" the vehicle they are in.

I assume this bus is in an "executive shuttle" type of service, not a shuttle bus between the terminal and a rental car desk (city bus type duty).......

I know the last thing you want is to have a complaint back to the boss that you were driving aggressively and "damaging" the cargo....
Exactly!! The buses basically operate as charter buses...for example, on Saturday when the problem first cropped up, I was shuttling people between a hotel in SF and one of the piers so they could go out for a dinner cruise. Basically, we do whatever the pax ask...some straight-up shuttling around like last Saturday, or running a group to dinner, or taking people from the office to their hotel, or taking people to a concert, stuff like that. They certainly spend more time on the freeways than city buses do, although a significant chunk of that's in Bay Area traffic cookoo and, really, the service isn't any different than a stretch limo except for the number of pax and the amenities (they're shuttle-type buses and not the fancy decked-out limo-buses that you see sometimes).

Fortunately from a fuel economy standpoint but unfortunately from a "working-it" standpoint, the F-550's aren't that heavy...they hold 32 pax and are tagged at 15K. Since the only load is passengers, she doesn't get that much heavier when she's loaded. It could be worse...we also have a Chebby C5500 Duracrax 36-pax that's rated at 26K, and while I don't think she's had the mechanical issues that the 6.0l's have had (yet; she's also newer/lower mileage), the D-max is really underpowered for that weight...even empty, she tends to lug. Doesn't help that the tranny tries to keep the engine at 1500 RPM and she won't begin accelerating before 2500 RPM cookoo
 

CDX825

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I'm not positive but I thought there was a PCM flash update that caused the turbo vanes to cycle open and closed at idle to prevent them from locking up.

Ive noticed a few of my buddies 6.0s the turbo will spool up at idle briefly then go back to normal. Ive noticed some that don't do it as well witch makes me think they were never re flashed. But again I don't know the whole story with the flash updates.
 

snicklas

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Mine has been flashed, and it does NOT do what you are describing CDX..... do they have an aftermarket programmer also? Mine is stock with no programmer. It stays at idle, and the turbo does not "spool".
 

CDX825

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These are stock trucks that are doing this with no tuner.

The one is straight piped so you really notice it.
 
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