Hello.
I purchased a 2005 F-350 6.0 4x4 C/C DRW a few months ago with 70,000 miles on it so far. Ive been running my 2000 F-350 7.3 for the past few years and pretty much know the limits and weaks spots of that truck. I tow what i think is a lot roughly 20,000 miles a year or so. I usually will have in the range of 18k between trailer and equipment and a 100 gallon transfer tank of fuel along with a full tool box. My 2000 weighs in at around 10k alone... Ive beefed the suspension up a lil bit on the 05, replaced the stock leaf packs with 4400# packs with helpers like i did on the 2000 and put a 2.5" leveling kit in the front to make up for the rear springs ( gained 3.5" with the packs) and i've got the rails in for the hitch. What do you guys recomend that i do engine wise. Ive heard EGR Delete and i was planning on either 4" or 5" turbo back straight pipe. I'm open to any comments and opinions, i just want to make sure i change anything that could cause a problem when i'm on a 1,400 mile trip I would like to run a programmer with just a slight increase in power not to crazy. Thanks for any Ideas
Dave

 

I wouldn't normally recomend a high priced mod but in your case I would recomend the bulletproof diesel oil cooler setup, it slike 2K, but it would be alot safer for your long trips with alot of weight, it will help save the injectors too by keeping the oil cool, oil that is too hot can kill the injectors. and definately delete the EGR cooler and you should be fine. Alot of guys are going to recommend the coolant filter but if you go with the bulletproof kit the filter should not be nessesary because they are desighned to help keep the stock cooler from clogging. 4" exhaust will be fine, 5" will interfere with most goosenecks frame, trust me, mine rattles like crazy. be carefull when using a tuner and towing, the trans are tough but you can overpower them if you aren't carefull. make sure you have a pyro guage and you should have a top notch truck. I forgot if this is an 05 truck also replace the SCT fitting on the high presure oil pump now so it doesn't leave you stranded somewhere.

 

Thank you for the advice! Are there any other options on the oil cooler? if not i guess i'll have to bite the bullet and go for the bulletproof kit. Are head studs anything i should be worrying about right off the bat? As for the tuner i was thinking of an adjustable one with a tow/economy mode like the bully dog on my old 7.3. I always just ran that on the first setting or stock when towing. Would that be acceptable or should i just do exhaust and skip tuner? Do you have a recomendation on where to get the guages?
Thanks for the input!
Dave

 

I don't think there is any otion for the oil cooler, that is how they can get ya for 2K, when someone else comes up with a less exspensive one BPdiese; will come down. As for tuners alot of guys are going to recommend SCT but keep in mind NONE of them are getting very good mileage, I use an Edge juice with attitude and it is a guage itself, you can set it to read most of the perameters you want, the newer ones/platinum/ let you control the trans performance too, just make sure you use the tow mode to be safe.

 

The reason people are recommending the SCT tuner is that it has transmission tuning also. I run the looney tune from Vivian at Quicktricks diesel and get 22 miles to the gallon on long trips. I consider that pretty respectable. I agree with the EGR delete and if long trips are your game the oil cooler isnt a bad investment. Headstuds come with the territory. The thing that really kills head gaskets is running a bunch of timing on the tune ie...edge and other tuners. Stay away from the Diablo tuner on these trucks unless you feel like replacing transmissions. You can run a SCT custom tune with NO timing MORE boost and be on stock headgaskets like me. Ive got 10000 miles with the Looney tune now and some of it down the drag strip and no issues. Even though you just got this truck I would load test the batteries and test the FICM to see if there are any voltage fluctuations just for piece of mind.

 

As you will hear from Mdub soon. SCT is the only way to go with the Ford 6.0s. Its the only tuner that will tune your trans and keep it alive. As for the exhaust just go with the 4inch turbo back. Gauges that all 6.0s should have it #1 fuel pressure. and EOT ( engine oil temp) and ECT ( engine coolant temp).
The EGR get rid of if you can and dont have strict smog laws. Here in Cali Id love to get rid of it but cant. As for the Oil cooler you can get a stock one as they are good. Remember its the EGR cooler that fails. So once the EGR is out you should not have any problems with the Oil cooler from what I understand... If you go the way and replace the oil cooler get a Coolant filter and put it in. matter of fact Id just get the coolant filter anyways. These engines were cast with sand and they always have some left in it.

 

Just to clarify what happens is the stock oil cooler has small passages and cloggs up, when it cloggs up coolant can't flow through the egr cooler and it steams and ruptures inside. the stock oil cooler is the main cause of the EGR cooler failures

 

I say go with the coolant filter then do a coolant flush and refill with what you prefer. If you still have a warranty stay with gold and keep up with it. I would also do a coolant flush to be safe and run some gauges. as far as a tuner i would suggest the sct. im running it and so far no loss in mpg. and definitely delete the egr if you can. I wouldnt do the oil cooler until you start monitoring temps and when they start to get further apart you should then consider a bpd oil cooler but if you keep up with your coolant and flush it you shouldnt need to do it at all.

 

I also own a 6.0 PSD and I am just learning about it. There is a ton of info on this forum to learn from (check sticky notes @ top of the page)and also a ton more on the web. Here are few links I found helpful

POWERSTROKEHELP.COM - The Information Source for Ford Power Stroke Diesel Owners & Mechanics and Home of EDAS® "Engine Damage Avoidance System" for Powerstroke Diesel Trucks

dieselmann's Page


Powerstroke 6.0L Technical Intro Manual

Like I said there is a ton out there - YouTube can be your friend and the guys here are GREAT. Just remember to try and give them as much info as possible on the problem you are asking about.

 

stud it, Stud It...STUD IT!!! A 6.0L without head studs is a ticking time bomb.

EGR/oil coolers:
Bob is right, the EGR cooler is only part of the problem, the oil cooler has the same waffle design that gets clogged with sediment. As far as the remote oil cooler goes, pulling that kind of weight, your oil is still going to be in the 190ish° range so it won't be THAT much cooler that your ECT. You can replace the factory oil cooler (do a complete coolant flush first) and add a coolant filter, which will give you piece of mind until you can put enough money aside to do the remote cooler if you choose to. The coolant filter is a good investment no matter what your further plans are (not many items that you can buy for these trucks that only set you back $130 and actually do a lot of good)

Gauges:
HPOP (oil press), EOT (oil temp), ECT (coolant temp). Since you will be pulling, invest in an EGT gauge as well to make sure that turbo stays alive and happy. I'm not saying go for broke and buy the fanciest AutoMeter gauges you can find, but you get what you pay for, these are not the kinds of things you want to rely on a cheap @$$ $24.99 Glow Shift gauge for.

Programming:
SCT is one of the top choices for the 6.0L and for good reason, it works.

Extras:
With how many miles you will be putting on, I recommend an oil bypass filter and save yourself money in the long run with oil changes...
Regular- ~$100/oil change every 5k-7500= $4-600 every 30k
Oil Bypass- ~$400 up front + ~$100/oil change every...well I can't answer that, there are guys running full synthetic at 100k (sampling every 10-20k with a filter change). I have 26k on the oil that is in my pan and had it sampled at 25k, still good as new.

As far as questions go:
Be as detailed as POSSIBLE, to an extent there is no such thing as too much information...telling us you spilled coffee on the seat that morning is a little ridiculous, but we would much rather hear about the coffee and every other detail about the way the truck sounds/reacts/smells (I don't mean "smells like french vanilla") than be asked to diagnose "Yea, it sounds funny and doesn't run right."

Other than that and don't be afraid to pick our brains. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.

P.S. I stole the coffee line from someone else, don't remember who it was, but if I remember which thread it was on I will give them the appropriate credit. Was probly Mdub. Lol.