Took my dads 2003 6.0l into the shop finally. I had assumed hg and maybe some egr work. The local dealership says it needs the oil cooler and the egr replaced, and the exhaust manifold. They have to do all that before they can look at the hg/heads to see if they need replaced. Just with the egr, oil cooler, and manifold they're saying $3000. I know more than the average guy walking down the street about the 6.0l, but im far far from an expert. what do you all think about what they're telling us?

 

My 04 is at the shop right now. Blocked oil cooler and blown headgasket, cost $4500 to $5000. Before they found the bad HG's I already had a quote for EGR and Oil cooler at $3000. That is what I can tell you. If you can find a diesel mechanic that is not the dealer I would think you could get it done cheaper. Unfortunately I was not able to find one before mine went south in a hurry. Good luck, hope it works out for you.

 

so the dealer is able to tell you you need a head gasket repair with a egr cooler leaking? as well they can tell you that you need headgaskets with the ect/eot out of range.
both of these statements go againt the coolant loss tsb and diag instructions.

 

I get the distinct impression that some shops ignore the diagnostic instructions and "just wing it".

 

they havent definitely said any head work needs to be done, but from the symptoms it's kinda expected

 

I understand the symptoms very well. I have done so many its laugable. I work on alot of MICU's they run around with a 10-12k box on the back. It is absolutly impossible to diag a set of head gaskets with a failed leaking egr cooler.
the egr cooler is a direct path for exhaust gas to enter the cooling system. so any amount of over pressure can be soly from the cooler. I had a MICU come in that was shooting coolant to the hood.. I would have bet 100 that it was heads turned out i would have been 100 lighter.
All I can say is from what I have seen day in and day out. replace failed egr cooler
retest with the PVT and moniter pressures under load. this is the correct and right method.
If you have been running a lot of mods witha heavy foot they more possibly then not, I have seen plenty of these truck come out of the oil fields and off the streets with better then 200k and still on the orig set.
If you have absolutly NO question as to weather its a hg issue then go with it. Its not my dime.

 

If you do the EGR cooler do the oil cooler also. You are already there and odds are the oil cooler is why the EGR cooler went south.

 

Ya, they're doing both. Just got of the phone with the dealership. The center rotating housing assembly for the turbo is pretty chewed up they saw. About another $1000... Managed to save the rest of the turbo though...

 

When you get her back, make sure to install a coolant filter.

 

Yep. That'll be the first thing. And he's never towing with that bully dog connected again...

 

Ebay or trash can for the bullydog. JMHO, Get rid of it.

 

Mine too... Unfortunately not my truck though...

 

Just saw the turbo... the center rotating assembly is chewed to hell... he thought maybe the last guy that worked on it left something in there that banged around. It was only beat up on the combustion side.

 

Just got back from Ford. They've done $4000 worth of work with the egr and oil cooler and the turbo. Now they've tested the cylinder heads and decided they need to replace them and are quoting me another $5164.74. The service lady said she would get the numbers down as much as possible but not to expect much. I'm just kind of blown away by this... What's everyone's opinions/advice here? They've priced each cylinder head at $1,460... Do you know of any options to get them cheaper? I guess we can do the work ourselves...

 

Diesel Part # 60-Oring-Heads - FORD 6.0 O-RING HEADS - Diesel Performance Parts
800 ea. cut for o-ring head gaskets.
maybe ones not cut are cheeper.
Man Im glad I can fix these things.