School me on 6.0L powerstrokes.

[JC316]

My dad's 01 5.4L king ranch spit a spark plug out, I am in the process of fixing it, but since it has 240K on it, he decided that he wanted a newer truck.

Picked up a 2003 F250 with the 6.0L in it. Has 173K on it and it's in fantastic shape. Has detailed service notes going up to 120K miles, including oil changes every 5K miles, new injectors, and a new EGR valve with multiple cleanings.

I know the horror stories about these motors, but it seems that the majority of problems happened when the trucks were new. Anything specific that I should be looking at for reliability? He will be keeping this truck bone stock.

[akfodysvn]

Scooter will give you the scoop. Guys at work have had them and love them after they have "bulletproofed" them.

[JC316]

Scooter will give you the scoop. Guys at work have had them and love them after they have "bulletproofed" them.

Head studs, oil cooler, egr delete, straight pipe seems to be the greatest hits for bulletproofing them. I know that the 03 EGR cooler is supposed to be better than the 04+ models, so I am hoping that it will last for a few years.

Just wondering if this is a case of "It's unreliable when you start modding it" type deal. I have a 6.5l turbo, which has the worst reputation of any diesel, but it's been nothing but reliable for me.

[4king]

I had a customer yesterday who schooled me on the 6.7 power choke, apparently the tip of the glow plug can break and fall into the cylinder and cause catastrophic damage. That was a new one to me, think his was a 3010-2011

[jluv]

If it were my 6.0.... I'd do a complete cooling system flush with the current oil cooler on it so it will catch the trash, then delete the EGR and replace the oil cooler. Put Cat ELC back in it. The Ford gold stuff sucks. Use Rotella T6 oil with Rev-X additive. That shit works wonders for eliminating stiction. Lots of people do fine staying stock on the factory bolts, but if you want to make it fun, put ARP studs on it with new Motocraft gaskets (avoid the aftermarket gaskets). From there, a good custom tune will make it a whole new beast.

Mine has been a money pit, eating water pumps, a fuel pump, starter, alternator, pulleys, fan clutch, etc. it's always something, but the internals, injectors, turbo, tranny, etc have been fine (knock on wood). I love the crap out of it, and have been modding it along the way. It hauls ass for a heavy pig.

[sc281]

Is that King Ranch a 4x4?

[Cooter]

Leave the fucking thing alone and drive it.

If it's been properly maintained, I wouldn't invite an oil cooler replacement job by doing a flush. I've got 200k on an original 6.4 oil cooler that carries 5 degrees EOT/ECT delta on the highway.

No way in hell I'm going to invite issues and thousands of dollars of unnecessary chain reaction repairs for something that works perfectly fine.

The 03 EGR cooler is not failure prone. You will invite more issues by removing it vs. just leaving it be.

Get an SCT X4, put it on a mild tow tune, turn off the EGR, and roll with it.

There's an entire money mill industry built off of fear mongering about those trucks.

I see more issues caused by over-zealous, fear-driven preventative work than I see on properly maintained OEM-spec trucks. It's the guys with ten extra filters and shit on their trucks that always have the most problems.

I have no dog in the fight. No money to make off of you. Just half a decade of pretty intensive, real-world case-studies with these trucks on top of the decade of diesel focus I had prior to really being exposed to them.

If you want a private life-line, PM me for my cell number. I'm happy to help prevent you from creating a nightmare ownership experience

[jluv]

Leave the fucking thing alone and drive it.

That was my original intention with mine. Didn't work out well at all.

If it's been properly maintained, I wouldn't invite an oil cooler replacement job by doing a flush.

I'd only do a flush when planning to replace the oil cooler anyway.

[David]

Forrest holds my hand through all my diesel woes. Great man to listen to.

[Cooter]

That was my original intention with mine. Didn't work out well at all.

hear ya... it boils down to what the truck experienced prior to purchase

I don't trust any 6.0 that's ever seen an auction house or dealer lot other than the first time it was sold

I'd only do a flush when planning to replace the oil cooler anyway.

for sure. but... unless the system is rusted/scaled up/sludged up, a regular drain/fill will work fine IMO. you go knocking stuff loose, and you can go through 4-5 oil coolers on a truck that's really bad.

of course, when they're that bad, I don't care to own them.

there's one at the shop right now that it looks like they used oklahoma pond water in the cooling system

I honestly have no issue with Ford Gold coolant unless you're spec'ing a 450-550 that's going to be hauling heavy all the time. With the EGR turned off, you alleviate the main point of silicate drop-out.

there are many ways to skin a cat, and there's nothing inherently wrong with actually bullet proofing one of these engines other than the fact that you can double (more more) the investment in the truck.

If it's going to lead a fairly easy life, OEM spec parts aren't the devil. Most every EGR delete kit is made in China. An OEM up-pipe configuration with the EGR cooler clamped to it will last far longer than a Chinese made pipe with no 3rd bracing point to prevent harmonics/vibration/cracking. The cheap hoses they use on the J-pipe are far more prone to developing leaks. The J pipe is also very prone to vibrating, etc.

I've just seen so many of these trucks with varying mileage from low mile units to 300-400k+ trucks with varying degrees of "bulletproofing", and I'm telling you, the ones with all the aftermarket stuff on them tend to have more issues than the ones that are left alone and/or put back together with OEM spec parts. (starters, alternators, water pump, injectors, etc.)

[jluv]

hear ya... it boils down to what the truck experienced prior to purchase

I don't trust any 6.0 that's ever seen an auction house or dealer lot other than the first time it was sold



for sure. but... unless the system is rusted/scaled up/sludged up, a regular drain/fill will work fine IMO. you go knocking stuff loose, and you can go through 4-5 oil coolers on a truck that's really bad.

of course, when they're that bad, I don't care to own them.

there's one at the shop right now that it looks like they used oklahoma pond water in the cooling system

I honestly have no issue with Ford Gold coolant unless you're spec'ing a 450-550 that's going to be hauling heavy all the time. With the EGR turned off, you alleviate the main point of silicate drop-out.

there are many ways to skin a cat, and there's nothing inherently wrong with actually bullet proofing one of these engines other than the fact that you can double (more more) the investment in the truck.

If it's going to lead a fairly easy life, OEM spec parts aren't the devil. Most every EGR delete kit is made in China. An OEM up-pipe configuration with the EGR cooler clamped to it will last far longer than a Chinese made pipe with no 3rd bracing point to prevent harmonics/vibration/cracking. The cheap hoses they use on the J-pipe are far more prone to developing leaks. The J pipe is also very prone to vibrating, etc.

I've just seen so many of these trucks with varying mileage from low mile units to 300-400k+ trucks with varying degrees of "bulletproofing", and I'm telling you, the ones with all the aftermarket stuff on them tend to have more issues than the ones that are left alone and/or put back together with OEM spec parts. (starters, alternators, water pump, injectors, etc.)

Ya, I never bought into the external oil coolers or coolant filters, personally. That stuff's all the rage on the forums. Mostly Motorcraft stuff for me, other than the water pump. I got tired of replacing it and went with a billet BPD piece, and so far so good. Oh, and Ford doesn't have an alternator that would begin to handle my setup.

The EGR on mine crapped out at 100k miles. The oil cooler looked like it had chocolate pudding going through it. Should have studded it then, but didn't. Made it another 40k before that became inevitable.

[Cooter]

BPD makes quality parts for sure. Made in the USA

[Mysticcobrakilla]

Lol@ Oklahoma pond water! Don't you mean gas compression package coolant? Lol

[JC316]

Leave the fucking thing alone and drive it.

If it's been properly maintained, I wouldn't invite an oil cooler replacement job by doing a flush. I've got 200k on an original 6.4 oil cooler that carries 5 degrees EOT/ECT delta on the highway.

No way in hell I'm going to invite issues and thousands of dollars of unnecessary chain reaction repairs for something that works perfectly fine.

The 03 EGR cooler is not failure prone. You will invite more issues by removing it vs. just leaving it be.

Get an SCT X4, put it on a mild tow tune, turn off the EGR, and roll with it.

There's an entire money mill industry built off of fear mongering about those trucks.

I see more issues caused by over-zealous, fear-driven preventative work than I see on properly maintained OEM-spec trucks. It's the guys with ten extra filters and shit on their trucks that always have the most problems.

I have no dog in the fight. No money to make off of you. Just half a decade of pretty intensive, real-world case-studies with these trucks on top of the decade of diesel focus I had prior to really being exposed to them.

If you want a private life-line, PM me for my cell number. I'm happy to help prevent you from creating a nightmare ownership experience

You're the guy that I have been waiting on. You seem to know your shit on diesels. This is what I needed to know, I will have him get the SCT and turn the EGR off, then just keep the proper maintenance up on it. Thanks for the reply.

[Sean88gt]

I loved mine. Wish I still had it. Outside of the headstuds, exhaust, mild tune, and intake, I left it alone and got rid of it around 200k.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one, but as Forrest said, I'd be a little apprehensive of one that has been overly "fixed".