Without a gauge, I can't say. I'm thinking a call to Glow Shift for a new sending unit is going to the top of my to do list. However, I will say this, I bought two, put one in mine, one in another 03, and didn't see any Earth shattering results. I mention this because there was no extra smoke or surging or a plunge in MPG. Honestly, I'm glad it was only 10 bucks. It may be a good thing to have when I do the banjo bolts though.

 

I've also heard that the stock coolant that comes in these trucks is garbage. Is this true? What kind of coolant is everyone running in their trucks? Thanks

 

Right, and I haven't tried it myself, just read the reviews quick at the bottom of the page there. You typically wont see anything at all with the upgraded springs, it's more of a fail safe. You also wouldn't notice if you were running 35psi of fuel pressure, as the truck would probably still run ok, but Ford says it's doing damage. The higher pressure wont directly result in any sort of performance (unless of course your pressure was so low before that it was not running right). All that spring does is pop off once pressure builds up. The only damage you can do with too high of a pressure is pop o-rings out.

Any coolant is "garbage" if you don't maintain it. Just flush it every 50k or so, I think it's fine. A lot use the CAT ELC coolant, or some other ELC, but honestly I've never had any issues with the stock stuff. There are a lot of sheep on the forums that follow information blindly, the Ford gold coolant was one of those things that spread like wildfire. I wont say the CAT stuff is bad, because I would probably run that too, but sometimes people don't stop and think about what they're doing before jumping to conclusions. Why did Ford spec this coolant for our trucks and not the ELC stuff in the first place? Hmmmmm....

 

Thanks Mdub, I just wanted to clarify some stuff that I had read. That's pretty much what I figured, but who know's better than the guys on this site! Thanks a lot!!

 

Head studs are a very high urgency item, but also depending on your mechanical experience and pocket book will determine just how urgent they are. The cheapest I've heard to have a shop do studs is around $3k. To do it yourself you will be at less than half that if you do some of the other areas of interest at the same time, but this involves tearing down the whole topend and getting down and dirty with your lady, can be easily completed in a weekend with all parts on hand without over exerting yourself (my buddy Bill and I did his, granted at a hobby shop with all the tools we could think of, and we started Friday evening and drove it Sunday to get lunch), so the DIY route is an option but with that as with anything major like that, do your research so you know exactly what kind of a project you're taking on.

Coolant filter is a very wise choice, even if you delete the water/exhaust EGR cooler and water/oil oil cooler. Sinister has a great one, compact, easy, installs in about 10 minutes with basic tools (even a Leatherman if that's all you got)

Gauges are never bad, especially EGT, HPOP and ECT

As far as EGR goes. BulletProof has some amazing setups for upgrades and deletes, if your state is doing any inspections on diesels, get the upgrade not the delete.

Lastly, try to keep up on Mdub's posts, he DEFINITELY knows these trucks and is an encyclopedia of knowledge, I learn something new from him just about every time I log in.

 

Very well put!

I think a lot the ELC craze is from the gaga numbers associated with the coolants. Lives of 600-1 million miles BUT that coolant is designed for trucks that cover 80-120k a year and if you look at the time life span they are typically 6-8 years, not all that far off from the recommended life of a HOAT coolant (aka MC gold and mopar pink).

Test and take care of the gold coolant and it will take care of you. The 6.0 wasn't the first engine to run it, 02+ 7.3s and 2003+ 5.9 CTDs got it too and they don't seem to have the same issue that a lot of people have with HOAT coolants.

 

Thanks to all