Yes. The dealership did a contribution test. I replaced the injector myself. High speed stutter and odd Idle at startup are gone now

 

Thanks everyone. I ran the simple FICM voltage tests this morning. During the buzz cycle before starting the car, I read 14-19 volts. One the buzz stopped, it jumped back to 48v. Then my helper started the car and the voltage sat at 14-19v again for the 10 seconds I ran the car. (Shut it down after that to stop flowing coolant out the expansion tank hose you have to disconnect)

Obviously I have a problem with the FICM. Luckily I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron. I know tonight's tv watching project!

 

Wow I've been hunting thru these forums for this same issue. And this post nailed it for me. Just one year later. I have a 03' F350 SD CC 6L with 320,oookm. Injectors were changed at the 190,ooo mark. Only chugs when the gauges show the truck is cold and it syncros into overdrive. No other gears. 5-10 minutes and it's all good. My question to you is after a year did your search with the FICM turn out to be the problem. If not did you find the problem. I've read to change the oil, look for a faulty wire harness that may be grounding out or an injector. Always seems to be the #5 or 8. Damn these diesels can be so unrewarding at times.

 

My problem was indeed the FICM. It sure masks itself as a transmission problem but it was the FICM. The car pretty quickly broke down on us about 1/2 mile from home. I finally got it restarted and hobbled home. What I'm saying is don't delay on fixing this. The car will most likely breakdown soon.

I tried soldering the FICM boards to repair the loose chips. It was darn near impossible. I had a number of loose chips and the more I messed with it, the worse it actually got. My advice is to send your FICM to ficmrepair.com. They were very helpful and took good care of me. I used their exchange program because the X was our only car at the time. I also had them stick an Atlas tune on the FICM. Makes a nice difference in drivability and power and I get a very solid 20mpg with lots of short trips to schools and stores, better mpg if traveling on a longer trip.

I also now only use Rotella T6 fully synthetic (WalMart) and change the oil every 5000 miles as recommended. Only use a Motorcraft oil filter. Switching oil did actually quieten down the engine a tad. I also use Rev-X with each oil change. It keeps the injectors happy.

 

Great news. Thanks for the reply. I will start the looky loo process on the FICM. I've also been using synthetic and I just realized I'm due for the change. This chugging issue has been coming on slowly (coincidently) now that I'm at the end of the oil cycle. People on these different threads talk about injector stiction as well. And as for the RevX , well , that sure causes for some great discussions on here. Quite entertaining really. Love it or hate it.
For me I'm all about giving my ride what I think it's asking for. And lubrication is #1 on the list. Thanks for telling me about it. 👍Cause in about 6 hours I'm gonna be feeding it to the old girl and and see what comes of it.

 

Forums can indeed be entertaining. Some people will say that Rev X is just ignoring an injector problem. I say whatever. The car runs good with Rev X and I don't have to spend $1000s on injectors that may or may not be bad.

I got mine off Amazon with my prime membership. Rev X says to use 2 bottles the first go round and 1 there after. There are also some opinions about some special way to add Rev X to the oil. I just pour it down the oil filler after I've filled up with new oil. I don't think you need to go through all that crap with messing with the area where the oil filter goes.