Top 5 Problems Ford F-350 Truck 4th Gen 2017-20

All right, friends. It's Len again here from 1A Auto. We've got another top problems for you. And this one's going to be on a Gen 4 F-350. Let's get started.

Okay. So, you know me, one of the first things that I always like to talk about in these videos is a safety issue. With that said, we're going to talk about the block heater cable. Now, if you have one of these 6.7-liter diesels more than likely you have a block heater. That block heater, of course, is going to have a cable that connects into your wall. With that block heater, if you were to take apart the connection of the two pieces, you're gonna end up finding some corrosion in there. What happens when it gets corroded? A lot of times it will actually build up resistance which will in turn cause heat. The heat is gonna end up melting the wires in that area, and you could potentially have a fire. So, the fixes for this is something pretty basic. You can either replace that cable, which generally speaking will probably be underneath some sort of recall, but if it isn't, well, replace the cable on your own, or just don't plug it into the wall until you have access to one.

All right. So, underneath the hood, the next problem is located right over here. It's called the PCV oil separator. The problem that happens with this is inside of it it has a little spring unit with a valve. The spring that actually is in there that's supposed to make the valve go up and down and open and close as it's supposed to just isn't up to spec the way it's supposed to be. Now, if you happen to notice that you have an oil leak probably about at the upper oil pan gasket, more than likely it's because you have too much pressure inside your crankcase system. The way that you could tell if you have that pressure issue would be running the vehicle. I don't recommend doing this without safety glasses on, of course, but you want safety glasses and hand protection, run the vehicle, and then you would open up your oil cap. Once you opened it up, you would hear an audible, like it's trying to let pressure out because inside the crankcase system, it's building up pressure due to that PCV separator system not functioning the way that it should. So, now, it's time to talk about fixes for this. Of course, what you want to do is you'd want to test to make sure that you don't have any blockages anywhere that you shouldn't. Overall, the most likely cause for this actual issue would be, like I said before, the PCV oil separator, which is located right here. The little valve inside there just doesn't move the way it should due to the spring. They sell an upgraded kit for this and I would recommend it.

So, the next thing I want to talk about is located underneath the vehicle right here, the fuel tank. Let's talk about it. Now, if you were to look inside this fuel tank, you would see a coating. For some reason, the coating that's on the inside of these doesn't tend to stick around where it's supposed to do, and it'll start to shift and/or come completely off of the tank and get caught inside the screen for the fuel pump or fuel filter. Some of the symptoms for this would be, of course, well, lack of power because your screens are getting clogged up with a whole bunch of gunk. You might also notice that your vehicle just doesn't want to start for some reason, or, of course, you could start, and for some reason, just kind of spit and sputter and act all funky on you. All right. Now, some of the fixes for this, of course, will be to drain your tank, drop it down and take a peek inside. If you happen to see that the coating's no good, well, you're going to have to replace the fuel tank more than likely. When you do that, I would also replace the filters that are involved with the fuel system. That way there you can make sure you get out as much crud as possible.

So, the next thing I want to talk about is the EGR valve cooler. It's located right underneath the hood over here. And what happens with this is it actually cracks internally and it'll leak coolant into the exhaust. And then, of course, once the coolant starts burning, it starts blowing white smoke out your tailpipe. And now, for the fixes for this, of course, you would have to replace that EGR valve cooler. Well, like I said, it's messed up internally, so there isn't much you're going to be able to do about that. And, of course, having coolant going into your exhaust and then getting burnt and blowing out your tailpipe is not a good thing for anybody. Now, if you were to look right here, here's your EGR, here's your coolant tube that runs into it. And the issue is actually located internally, right behind there.

Now, the next thing that I want to talk to you about on this vehicle is turbo hose blow off. That happens on this vehicle. It's very loud and very sudden and a little scary. Let's talk about it. All right. So, let's say you're driving your diesel down the road. Maybe you're towing a little something. You hit that hill, make you accelerate a little bit. The turbo kicks in like it's supposed to, thank you. Builds up that pressure like it's supposed to, also thank you. But then you hear this loud pop. What was that? And all of a sudden, a sudden and drastic loss of power. You pull over to the side of the road, you pop the hood and where do you look, right here. So, the cause for this, like I said, is located right here. You have this plastic housing that's located between the intake. And, of course, the turbo hose. The plastic housing gets dry, brittle, and cracks. Once that happens, the pressure from the turbo getting rushed into the intake, of course, blows this off. You hear that loud pop, and now you don't have any pressure from your turbo system. And you're, of course, pulling unfiltered air. Now, fixes for this, of course, would be replaced this unit right here. You can find an aftermarket one that isn't going to have this same problem. If it's cracked already, I wouldn't try fixing it with something like J-B Weld or anything like that. It might be a temporary fix. It might get you off the side of the road to at least get home or to get to a reputable place to be able to deal with it. But it's not something that you're going to want to keep on there permanently.

All right. So, we had a lot of fun making this video. Hopefully, you learned something along the way. If you did tell me about it in the comment section below. While you're at it, why don't you go ahead and click that like button, subscribe, and ring the bell. That way there, you can be kept up with all of our latest content. Thanks.

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