I have a 05 f250 6.0 diesel, its my second diesel and I have heard a lot about the engine being "weak". I have been doing a lot of research and came to the conclusion that most importantly I need to get new head gaskets/studs and get rid of the EGR. (Correct me if I'm wrong). I was just wondering if you guys could help me find head gaskets/studs to get. I cant seem to find any..

 

Stock Ford MLS gaskets are fine unless you're really making some power(big injectors and turbo).. ARP head studs are readily available and do the trick.. Getting a quality install performed is the hardest part.. The 6.0 engine is not weak.. The stock headbolts are..

BTW: Welcome to FTE!!

 

Back in April 09 I replaced the OEM bolts with ARP studs and did not replace the HGs. I have had no problems since I installed the studs.

I verified I had exhaust gas in the coolant but it was very minor. Just because there was exhaust gas in the coolant did not mean the HGs were bad. As willian_04_x says, it is not the HGs that are the problem, it is the OEM head bolts that are the weak link in the 6.0. IMO, I believe a lot of HGs are needlessly replaced when replacing the bolts with studs would cure the problem. Of course there are those that would say that I am biased since I had success with what I did. You would have to evaluate the severity of the HG leak, as I did, before deciding a course of action. If you have a lot of white smoke and or coolant running out the tail pipe, then you probably have a good case for replacing the HGs.

If you are going to stay stock, the the OEM bolts will be OK unless you do a lot of heavy duty towing where the engine is under a constant high boost load. Just for reliability, I would replace the bolts with studs.

If you are going to install a tuner, I would definitely install studs before the tuner.

The 6.0 is not weak just needs a few mods to get some great power and studs is one of them. Adding a 4" exhaust with no cat is another. This lowers EGTs and significantly reduces turbo lag which a lot of stock 6.0s have.

Eliminating EGR flow is a good thing. Most guys install an $300 EGR delete kit. I pulled my EGR cooler out recently, when I rebuilt the oil cooler, and pressed a freeze plug in the inlet end to totally block any exhaust gas flow through the EGR cooler. This keeps the EGR components in place for potential future environmental issues. If I have to resurect the EGR, all I have to do is remove the EGR cooler and knock out the freeze plug.

DSMMH

 

Thanks for the help!
DSMMH- I don't actually have any problems with my head HG's I just want to prevent future problems when I start adding tuners and such, and what you did with your EGR sounds like that would be the way to go, ill have to look into that.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but blocking the exaust flow to the EGR is only fixing one of the potential problems in this system, the other being the potential for coolant to leak into the intake manifold if the cooler goes out?

 

dieselpwr14, welcome to FTE. If you haven't already check out the Tech Folder for lots of good info.

I would personally recommend copious amounts of research before adding "tuners and such" to your truck. The 6.0L is very unforgiving with respect to adding performance modifications unless you are really on top of your game. Unless your really know what you are doing you will become an owner who claims the 6.0L is a piece of junk because of all the problems you will encounter. I'm not saying it can't be modified w/o problems just that you have to know what you are doing to select the right components and perform some reliability modification first.

Good luck

 

I don't plan on throwing crazy amounts of power in. As far as tuners I'm not throwing bullydog or edge in there ill probably end up getting superchips or sct.

 

Most would recommend against using Superchips in favor of SCT or Spartan custom tunes.

Just remember make sure you know what you are doing.

 

Alright, thanks a lot for the help!
One more question, I don't know if I will have this done at the local shop or try to tackle it on my own, I know you guys are saying that the HG are not weak but when I crack her open should I replace them since I'm already in there?

 

OOOOO, another newbie to get the mod bug. Always love it when new blood comes around.

 

if you pull the heads, you HAVE to replace the headgaskets. If that's not what you meant, I apologize.

 

You should replace the headgaskets if you lift the heads to do the job. I think everyone is saying that you should just replace with the stock gaskets instead of going with something like Hypermax gaskets or something like that.

Just to throw this out there, I'm running stock gaskets and I'm at 508 hp and 721 ft/lbs. I know a couple that are closer to 550 and still using stock gaskets. I wouldn't go through the effort having had to install the hypermax (or equilivant) as they are more particular with how the install is done.

 

dieselpwr14, if you want solid advice on how to mod a 6.0L send Tex a PM. He may not tell you what you want to hear but he will tell you how do it the right way so that you don't have problems down the road.

Tex -- I never heard your final decision, are you sticking with the 6.0L or going over to the dark side with the 6.7L?

 

In the end I couldn't part with the ole girl. I guess it was just a wild hair that I had for a second, then when I had talked to the service guys and mechanics to try to get some scoop on the new engine, they acted as if they were going to gang up on me and beat me for even remotely thinking about getting rid of the truck.

I guess I just couldn't handle the knowledge of someone else getting my truck and not really "appreciating" all that it could do or what went into getting it to do what it could do.

 

IMO, what causes the EGR cooler to fail is a combination of exhaust flow, insufficient coolant flow through the EGR cooler and debris. There are varying amounts of debris left in the 6.0 block and head as a result of the casting process. This debris will start to restrict coolant flow through the very small coolant passages in the oil cooler and also start to collect in the EGR cooler coolant inlet. The oil cooler coolant outlet goes to the EGR cooler inlet and that is where the exhaust gas first enters the EGR cooler. With the reduced coolant flow through the oil cooler, that reduces coolant flow through the EGR cooler. The exhaust gas flow remains the same. With 500°F to 800°F exhaust gas going through the degraded EGR cooler, the reduced amount of coolant will flash to steam and cause puking. This puking is sometimes mistaken for blown HGs and requires an Exhaust Gas Test Kit to verify. Also, as this debris collects at the EGR cooler inlet it starts to adhere to the EGR cooler HX tubes, since there is no coolant flowing over the tubes. Without coolant flowing over the tubes and the continuous flow of hot exhaust gas, the tube(s) will crack and you get a coolant leak and start loosing coolant.

When I installed the studs back in April 09 at 75,000 miles, I installed the Neal Technologies UPGRADED EGR cooler. Ken Neal sent me a picture of my EGR cooler cut open at the coolant inlet and it was almost totally blocked. I had been running a coolant filter since about 55,000 miles but the damage had already been done. In December 09 I rebuilt my oil cooler and removed the EGR cooler and installed a 1.375" freeze plug. My logic was that if I completely stopped the exhaust flow through the EGR cooler, I eliminate any future EGR cooler failure. And if you have the early build round cooler out for whatever reason, installing (it is a press fit) a less then $2 freeze plug is a no brainer for eliminating exhaust gas flow through the EGR cooler.

DSMMH