Kert's tow rig 2005 F250 6.0 Diesel

[kert0307]

Well as some of you know, I've been looking for a tow rig/new dd for awhile. I finally found exactly what I was looking for (well almost, the 7.3 was the first choice) for a price I couldn't refuse. I picked up a 2005 f250 crew cab 4x4 lariat with the 6.0 turbo diesel tonight from a friend of my father-in-law for under half of what KBB says it should list private party at. Only damage is a dented up tailgate that still functions, otherwise it's in great shape. I'll post some pictures up tomorrow in the daylight.

Only plans for the truck are EGR delete, intake/exhaust, chip and pyrometer.

[worshiprocker]

keep the stock intake on that truck, it performs really well even with High HP tunes.. I'm a big diesel guy... i just sold my 7.3 with custom tunes, fully built trans... etc. I know a lot of guys with the 6.0 and everyone say changing the intake it a waste of money... what kind of tuner you looking to get? I wouldn't run anything too high unless you want to invest in a new head gasket and studs....I would also suggest the SCT for a tuner.

[kert0307]

Good to know on the intake. I'm still undecided on the tuner. I'm looking more for economy than more power at this point.


Here are a couple pictures. It's in good shape minus the dinged up tailgate. Its still a bit dirty in the pictures, we got the inside fully detailed and haven't gotten to the outside yet.

[worshiprocker]

nice rig man... I love them strokers!! Stay away from Edge and Superchips on the tuners they do bad things to the trans..

[kert0307]

Originally Posted by worshiprocker

I would also suggest the SCT for a tuner.

Originally Posted by worshiprocker

nice rig man... I love them strokers!! Stay away from Edge and Superchips on the tuners they do bad things to the trans..

Um.. ok I was thinking of going with Bully Dog anyway. I know someone with one and they really like it.

Have you ever used Hot Shot Secret? Lots of people have good things to say about it on the Ford-truck forum.
http://www.hotshotsecret.com/faq.html

[kert0307]

Bought an EGR delete kit. I plan on installing it and doing 4" straight pipe exhaust when I can find a free weekend.

[worshiprocker]

are you going 4" turbo back or are you keeping the 3.5" down pipe?

[kert0307]

The kit i'm looking at now has 4" turbo back. There is a local company here that makes a 3.5 downpipe to a 4" about were the cat is (or was ) though.

[worshiprocker]

the 6.0 guys like the 3.5 to 4 downpipe.

[1AJeremyD]

Good looking rig! You planning on doing some offroading with it or is it strictly towing and street?

[kert0307]

Towing and street only. I may put some 33" tires on it at some point just for looks, but the tires that are on it are almost new, so it will be awhile. I do plan on adding an aluminum tool box too.

[ford99_1979]

Congrats on the truck. Glad to hear you got a good deal on it.

[Sams01XplrSprt]

nice diesel

[whitetrashfab]

Originally Posted by kert0307

Bought an EGR delete kit. I plan on installing it and doing 4" straight pipe exhaust when I can find a free weekend.

Hope your doing the updated oil cooler while your in there and replacing the hpop intake screen with the stainless one. While the turbo is off pull your IPR and check the screen for signs of debri and replace it with the updated "reseal kit" (has a better screen also). I just installed a 4" straight pipe system on a customer's truck, theres no way I would be able to stand it for towing.The turbo whine is terrible, its hard to have a conversation in the truck under any load. I like the sound of the straight pipe on my 7.3, but its to much on the 6.0L without some kind of muffler.

How many miles are on the truck?

[my pos mounty]

Congratulations on your new (to you) rig. I bought an 06 Lariat FX4 recently and LOVE it.
That was some very sound and wise advice from whitetrashfab about the oil cooler and the screens.

BEFORE you rip into the rig, buy some VC-9 from ford (1 quart).
Remove the thermostat from the housing (its a little different than a regular one, push in up and turn to get it out) start the truck and add the VC-9. Get the truck to normal operating temperature, then drive it for 30 minutes (don't baby the rig on the drive).
Drain the radiator, pull lower hose and pull the plugs on the block, the one on the passenger side is above the starter and a royal pain to get out so most guys don't bother with it.
Put plug(s) back in, reconnect hose, refill degas bottle with distilled water. Do not use tap water. Once it is full, drive truck up to operating temps, drain, refill, drive, drain, refill, drive, drain....so on and so on...until the water drains out clean.
Ford used a coolant (Ford Gold) that contained silicates that will drop out of the coolant as time passes, creating a goo that plugs the oil cooler and the EGR coolers. Add to that the casting sand that leaches out of these engine blocks over time and leaving that stuff in there is just asking for disaster to strike.
Once you get all the Ford Gold coolant out, refill with a high quality ELC coolant and distilled water (after doing the EGR and oil cooler, of course). Seriously consider adding a coolant filtration system to catch the crap that is still in there, and will continue to leach out. I have a coolant filtration system from Dieselsite.com, reasonable price and easy install.

The dash gauges are just short of idiot lights and not reliable. By the time they report an issue, severe damage has already happened.
Minimum gauges you should run on the 6.0 is Fuel pressure (anything under 45 will kill your injectors), oil pressure, trans temp (especially for a tow rig), engine oil temp, coolant temp, exhaust gas temp. Boost is more of a "fun to watch" gauge in these trucks. Monitor the EOT and ECT temps carefully, a 15 degree difference between the two point squarely at the oil cooler/egr cooler being plugged and need to be serviced. Ignore this at your own risk, as the head gaskets will go shortly after this.
I have an Edge Insight to watch my EOT, ECT, trans temp and I added the exhaust temp probe into the maniflod and have that connected to the Insight as well. The Insight is just a monitor, not a tuner. Then I added the manual gauges into a pod for fuel pressure, oil pressure and boost.

The oil cooler will always plug before you have EGR cooler issues because the goop in the coolant will plug the oil cooler passages along with the EGR passages. The EGR fails beacuse of the excessive heat that can not be dissipated by the cooler because the coolant passages are plugged.
If you have the $$$ and really want your engine to never have an EGR or oil cooler issue the bulletproof diesel EGR/oil cooler package is awesome (CHA-CHING).

Stay away from ALL tuners until/unless you have replaced the head bolts with ARP studs and the gaskets with "black onyx." From all that I have read, you will just be flirting with disaster.

Alot of guys run the REV-X to keep injector "stiction" problems at bay. Hot Shots secret claims to do the same thing, but according to a forum I belong to, REV-X is far superior to HSS for this issue.
Check this thread over at Powerstroke.org.

If you have no issues with the EGR now and will put off the delete for awhile, pull the EGR valve and give it a good cleaning. Heres a great writeup on that from a great site to bookmark. You will want to read alot about the 6.0 on it. 6.0 EGR valve cleaning @ Diesel Technician Society. I also recommend reading about the turbo cleaning for if/when you have the turbo out of the truck.
When you pull the EGR valve, if it is wet in there (or looks like it was steam cleaned), you need to do the EGR/oil cooler now rather than later.

About fuel pressure: Ford has an updated regulator spring kit (part number 3C3Z-9T517-AG) that raises the fuel pressure from the typical 50 lbs @ idle to 60 lbs. Over time the spring will weaken and could result in the pressure going below the 45 lb threshold, resulting in injector damage.
Alot of guys are replacing the banjo bolts on the fuel line to head connection. The stock ones have 2 small holes and a check valve, they are swapping in the ones from the 6.4 (part# W302472, and 4 crush washers part# W303659) which have no check valve and 4 holes. This mod is supposed to give better fuel flow to the injectors.

Sorry for the looong post. Hope it helps you.

[whitetrashfab]

The last Ford training class I went to they told us about another new flash avaliable for the injector "stiction". Ford had the thermal injector "run on" flash wich basicly dose nothing to fix the problem. The new one superheats the injector coils before start up to help prevent the spool's from sticking. However I have found a good Injector flush will fix the same problem almost everytime.

The coolant is huge, we flush the crap put of every 6.0L that comes into our shop but by the time we see them the damage is already done... Other big thing is using MOTORCRAFT FORD FILTERS! Do not use any POS aftermarket ones on your truck. There are to many quality control problems with the aftermarket world and the 6.0L's. As for the fuel thing, we have replaced injectors at our shop due to failed fuel pumps (low fuel presure) but the number one thing takes them out is fuel contamination. I see lots filters installed incorectly, filters leak and bypass, I see alot of broken and missing pedistals on the main fuel filter alowing unfiltered fuel straight to your injectors.

If you take care of alot of this stuff before it becomes a problem then you will be happy with your truck for a long time. If you dont... it will be in the shop more then it will be on the road. One last thing, I wouldn't recomend a programer on a 6.0L, they cause all kinds of driveability problems... as if these trucks didn't already have enough problems stock.

[kert0307]

Thanks for the info guys. I've been doing a lot of research on some of those forums and found a lot of that info. The guy I bought it from claimed the turbo and egr had been recently cleaned.

So far I have:
-Changed oil/filter - had to track down an OEM style cap because the previous owner used a wix style.
-Changed both fuel filters
-Installed the factory option Ford upfitter switches and did the high idle mode in the process.
-Put on a new starter (old one was weak and starting to slip)
-Had to get a new clamp for one of the charged air connections because it was stripped out.


I'm planning on putting the exhaust on tonight. If it's too loud, Ill find a muffler for it.

[worshiprocker]

awesome progress.... it shouldn't be too loud until you start running tunes

[kert0307]

I forgot to mention, last week I took it on a 740mile road trip for work in one day. Truck preformed great, I got a hand calculated 16.5 mpg. Average speed 77mph, only had about 500lbs of parts in the bed though.

[kert0307]

I got the exhaust put on today after a couple of trips into town for more muffler clamps (the bolt on the "special" clamp that clamps the pipe to the turbo broke and had to track down a dealer that had one in stock)

Specs: MBRP turbo back 4" kit with 3.5" turbo downpipe.

It's a lot quieter than I thought it would be at road speeds, I really can't even tell a difference. At idle all you hear is the turbo out of the muffler, sounds like a jet turbine . It sounds great when accelerating too, like a big v8. Only complaint is an exhaust drone right around 1200 rpm it's not bad, but that is were my high idle mod puts the rpms at warm up, so it is very noticeable then.

Edit: Wife rode in the truck yesterday. Said she didn't even notice a difference in how loud the truck was inside the cab. There is a lot of turbo wine out at the exhaust though, it just doesn't make it into the cab.