My buddy has the exact same truck as I have and he has been complaining about very poor MPG and very low power. I test drove it today and he is right, the truck is gutless. It makes a whirring noise from the turbo that I havent heard on any other 3rd Gen. At idle, with a hot engine, the idle seems to stumble every so often. I checked the oil level, and it is WAY off the chart. It reads approx 1/2" up on the metal part of the stick.

He told me that all the problems seem to have started after he ran the truck out of fuel while driving home one day. He did change the fuel filter after that incident though. Funny thing is, there is absolutely no smoke.

Im no mechanic, but from what Ive read on this site, its prolly his injector(s) that have gone bad. I advised him to drive it to the dealer in the morning and let them look at it. Does anybody have any other input that I can give him...We would appreciate any input. Thanks in advance.

 

I have seen several trucks brought into the dealership like this. Yeah he needs to go to the dealer ASAP from what you are telling me. When I get a truck in like that its usually one or more injectors that need replacing. You say his dipstick is showing more than normal levels? Is it going up the more he drives it? If so he has one or more injectors bleeding off into the cylinders and he is filling his oil pan with diesel which could cause that noise in the turbo too. Does the oil smell like diesel?? Lets just hope its not too bad. The only thing that sounds odd about that being the problem is the fact that you say that there is no smoke. There is usually smoke when this is happening. Let me know what happens, i would like to know.

 

It sounds like it might have a cracked injector body. I would take it to the dealer and have them run a flow percentage test with the DRB.

It doesn't nesicarily have to smoke to have a bad injector, it can be leaking fuel up top in the valve train. Smoke comes from fuel getting in the combustion chamber, like a cracked nozzle or sticking needle.

 

i got smoke on start up and rough idle with a knocking noise from the injectors at idle. Dealer told me they would replace all 6 injectors

 

Yeah, everything that I know points to injectors. But again, there is no smoke whatsoever and the oil didnt smell like fuel like I thought it would, but man, the oil level is high. He told me that he checked the oil level last week and it was perfect. Could running out of fuel while driving cause this? Is it ok to drive the truck approx. 10 miles to the dealership or should he get it towed? Sorry for all the questions, he just want to keep damage to a minimum.

 

We had to put injectors in my dads 06. It had very little smoke same as always. Was not filling the crank case. Milage wasn't that great but its got
4:10s in it. It had a miss at an idle. Jus standing at the back of the truck you could hear it and get higher up in rpms and it was bad. Had 2 cracked tips and 2 with bad inturnals. Got a set of F1 40 hp tips for milage and put them in and haven't had any trouble with them. This truck is also not under warrenty is why it didn't go to the dealership. Good luck

 

I was hoping to get alittle more input as to what the issue was, but the consensus would be something with the injectors.

Was running out of fuel the most likely cause?

 

My truck recently started a LITTLE rough Idle ( Only happened 2X) and an intermittant " Puff" of white smoke. Mileage is good, power is good, oil level has Not changed, etc.. Dealer is going to update ECM they said it is NOT likely an injector...

You can pull an oil sample on your friends truck and send it in. If it comes back with High fuel, then you found your problem...

 

If it is overfilling the crank case, you have an injector/feed tube problem.

You can change the oil and see if it rises again, like roper said a oil analysis will tell you a good story about any problems. I would change the oil, send the anaylisis in and watch the level.

Has he been driving the truck?
Have you had a flow% check?

 

Thanks everyone...I passed along the info and about the oil analysis. He said that he didnt want to mess with that. He got an appointment at the dealer for next Tuesday. I will let you guys know the outcome when I get it. Thanks again!

 

The problem with running out of fuel, or running low on fuel at any time , is that the parts per million of contaminates skyrockets up! Think about it...........( not trying to be rude , but here is an example ) ........contaminates/dirt/water/ect, are all at the bottom of the tank. The more fuel that is in the tank, the less parts per million. Try mixing a tablespoon of sugar in a quater cup of water, compared to the same tablespoon of sugar in a cup of water. See where this is going? When you run it low/out of fuel, the more likely you are to suck up dirt & water. Depending on what filter he has, a lot of that could have gone through the injectors. So I guess to answer the original question....Yes. Sounds like bad injectors.

 

mines getting worse. cant wait till monday. It wouldnt even idle hardley and the whole truck was shacking

 

I totally agree with you...I warned him never to run it out of fuel. He would be constantly running around with the low fuel light on. He even said that there is an alarm that will come on when its really low. As for my truck, I have never even seen the light come on let alone the alarm.

 

The dealer called and said that they could not find anything wrong with the truck. All they did was change the oil and suggested to him to change the fuel filter(which he just did 100 miles ago). The check engine light was also on when he took it in on Tuesday. They said it was something about high voltage or something like that(my buddy didnt explain it real good to me).

Im here to tell you that the dipstick read extremely high and the truck was gutless(compared to mine). Dealer says all is good..???

I told him to monitor the oil level and if it starts going back up, find a new dealer!

On edit: He just called and the paperwork stated code P0514 was present. I looked that up and it says: BAT Temp Sensor Rationality. Whats that mean? Also, he says that the turbo is still making the "howling" sound that wasnt there before the issues. Any help is appreciated

 

The batt temp rationality code is due to using the block heater. There is an ECM reflash to correct that issue. If the dealer doesn't even know that.........find a new one! QUICK!