'07 F350 King Ranch Crew Cab S/B SRW 91K miles. Beautiful truck that I purchased in January for a great price. I am not wealthy so a 6.7 was not an option, the 6.0 "shortcomings" are well known with after market solutions, never interested in a 6.4.

Bought the truck with eyes wide open, knowing I would need to make the necessary repairs someday. Well, the day came....... Degas bottle pressure over 20 psi, warmed up, starting load run at 0 psi. Rapid acceleration up hill = 20 psi within 500 ft. .

Ordered Bullet Proof Diesel EGR, AIR/OIL COOLER with remote spin on filter, ARP STUDS, BLUE SPRING UPGRADE, UPGRADED STAND PIPES, STC FITTING, OEM HEAD GASKETS SAVE THE FAN WIRE CLIP, ETC. The full meal deal. Took heads to machine shop. Shaved enough from heads to clean them up, they were not warped or cracked, bronze valve guides, o-ringed, etc. Again, the full meal deal. Now you know why I am not wealthy!

Ready to start re-assembly process last weekend. My son-in-law law, a certified Ford 6.0 certified tech who had let me know if I bought a 6.0 I would "be on my own" for repairs, magnanimously came over to help me place the heads (pretty sure my wife placed a call to him so she wouldn't have to run the valve on the crane). He was in a hurry and seemed not too happy about helping with the cab on repairs. Hmmmmm. The two of us placed the passenger side head, rocker box components placed and torqued, heads torqued. Ahhhh. One down, one to go.

This is where the day turned disappointing. All of the 6.0 work he has done has been cab-off. He was not willing to take the time to set up the crane, lift the head with my OTC head placement tool etc.. "I just want to set the head in place". I tried to explain the interference between the drivers side head/rocker box and the firewall. No luck in getting him to understand, although he was aware of the issues. Put 2 studs in place, OEM gasket, and away he went. Could not adequately support head long enough to place head without setting my newly machined head on top of an arp stud. He then lifted the head over the 2 studs and set the head in place. Something happened and he needed to lift the head off the gasket. The head caught the upper part of the gasket (firewall end near the area of the pushrods). I heard the sound of the gasket being lifted. He said the head gasket got bent "a little bit" but it was not near the cylinders so it would be ok".

I was devastated. Except for the placement of the heads I have turned every bolt on the whole project with no assistance. I do not EVER want to have to replace head gaskets on this thing again so I spent the money to do things right. The problem is I was unable to see the machined surface of the head after being held up by one of the ARP studs. Scratched? Gouged? I don't know. The head gasket issue just makes me sick (and pissed off beyond spoken words).

Do I remove the head to inspect or do I take my expert and impatient SOL'S word that there is no problem. To inspect I would just be out the time and a couple hundred $ for a new head gasket.

I think I know the answer.....

Loren

 

I would be more concerned about the head gasket than the scratch, probably not gouged head. There is an awful lot of pressure in those cylinders. Bent "a little bit but not close to the cylinders so it would be ok"??? So my question is how close it too close?
I suggest you email Bill Hewitt at POWERSTROKEHELP.COM - The Information Source for Ford Power Stroke Diesel Owners & Mechanics. and ask his opinion. From what I have read and heard they have done a lot of work on 6.0 PSD's.
I like the site and have gotten some good info and had a few questions answered. He seems like a good guy.
BTW - I think you know the answer..... also

 

You just sunk all that cash into it... take it off and inspect it. You know it is the right thing to do. Do it now, do it right, and replace the gasket if need be. That is way better than being left stranded somewhere.

As for your son in law, if he want's to cut corners on customer trucks, that is one thing (that I do not agree with), but to cut corners on a family member's truck.... that's even worse. The fact that he knows how to do it right and does not want to take the time really irritates me....

You are angry and disappointed as your rightfully should be. Good luck with getting the truck up and running.

 

If it bugs you, you have to fix it, otherwise you'll always be worried about it.

 

That guy is a clown...

 

what happened?

 

As pointed out, if you don't replace it, you'll worry about it or even worse, you'll have problems with it.
Shame you can't replace the son in law...

 

That guy is really polarizing. either you live him or you hate him. Most of us figure out at a young age how to interact with others in a way they find acceptable. This the becomes our standard way to interact Very few REALLY DON'T CARE what you think if them. He is just doing what works fr him.

As for my head/head gasket? i
k

 

Sorry... to continue....

The gasket is coming off tonight. No confidence. Everytime I would climb a hill with the fifth wheel on back I would worry about it.

Please forgive the spelling errors in the above post. I couldn't get the edits to stick.

Thank you all for your great input.

Loren, RN

 

You are making the right decision to pull it and inspect it. Sometimes free help is as good as what you pay for it.

Do right by your own work ethics and get the job done right and have confidence in the build as you go down the road.

 

I'd pull the head and inspect/replace as well.

Just do it yourself.

Did you remove the hood? I would have done that as well for more room to work with.

 

I pulled the head today. I am certain that the gasket would have failed in a short time. There were 2 layers that had been bent. Not the top or the bottom layer. They were creased which forced the top layer to stand up when the head was removed.

Anybody looking for a 'only slightly used head gasket'? 0 miles you know.

Thank you all for the encouragement and advice. I will post a pic when i get a chance. Pretty sad but there was one bright spot. I called a Ford Truck Dealer in Portland, told the parts guy the story and he sold me the gasket at wholesale. Much appreciated. So much so that I opened the box, took out the bag of head bolts, and the 2 bags of dowels and gave them back to him. I did keep the standpipe though.

Loren

 

Certainly the right decision.

 

Glad to hear you pulled it off. You put it the right way...every time you put the pedal down you would have worried about that gasket. And it sounds like you were right to worry.

Did you take any pics?

 

Anybody looking for a 'only slightly used head gasket'? 0 miles you know.

After you drive the truck 10K miles w/o issue, then hang this gasket on the garage wall to remind yourself of the importance of doing it right the first time. I need reminding of this, too - we are all tempted to cut corners as time goes by.