Hey guys, I'm looking at buying an 06 6.0 and the guy told me he just had the egr delete done. Should I look at buying this? Also I am new the desiels, can someone tell me if I need to bulletproof this engine even though he had the delete done? And what's the difference between them

 

At the top of the page is the Tech Folder and in there you will find
a section on what to look for and how to go about it if I recall correctly.

EDIT : Yes it's still there right near the top of the Tech Folder.
You can use the link below my name for easy access.

 

Welcome to FTE. By the sounds of your questions you are defiantly new to Diesels, so for sure read the tech threads Yahiko mentioned. EGR delete is just one thing folks do while bulletproofing but that is not all inclusive. Read up and ask questions, you came to the right place to do that. Before you go looking at this truck you will want someone who knows these trucks to go with you or you. Also you want a scanner to monitor truck vitals when you test drive it. More to follow but let us know more information on this truck you are looking into.

Photos

 

It has 167k on it, is it okay to bulletproof or does it have too many miles?

 

i'd be wondering what kind of miles are those 167k. and any service history available.
also, snoop around the internet for pictures of a stock 6.0 with an egr and one that's been deleted. you can tell by looking from the top

edit: and be sure you get to hear it start up COLD! lol, that will tell you a little bit about the injectors possibly

 

Why is it the first inclination is always to tear an engine in half? It might not even NEED the "bulletproofing" package, which is itself an outdated (and silly) term that covers a grab bag of random problems that any given engine might or might not have. These supposedly "bulletproofed" trucks have the same injectors, same fuel pressure regulator, same HPOP, same LPOP, same leaking glow plug buses, same bedplate leaks, same standpipes, same lifters, same oil bypass regulator, same transmissions, aka ALL THE SAME potential problem points that the non-studded (and unmolested) 6.0s have and "bulletproofing" doesn't always address. It's just a stupid idiom that means you put in studs, an EGR delete, maybe a BDP oil cooler, and talk like your engine is special.

Sure, if you like lighting cigars with $100 bills go for it, tear that sucker apart and probably cause about as many problems as you solved. If you don't, save the money for real problems that might or might not come later.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself, I am in this camp as well. A lot of well intentioned people turn their 6.0 into a basket case with a laundry list of problems they created.

 

First let me say that I agree w/ the above statements on the general frenzy to say that you have bulletproofed your 6.0l!

However, there are some weak areas that aren't crazy expensive to address.

IMO, the main issues that CAN cause more significant dollars to be spent on the 05-07 trucks are:

1. catastrophic failure of the STC fitting (if the rear cover is cracked when the fitting fails)
2. EGR cooler failure (dumping coolant into the cylinders and hydrolocking them)
3. low fuel pressure causing early injector failure - the fix is usually cheap .... an updated regulator spring.

The majority of people seem to mainly focus on head gasket leaks (head studs) and oil coolers, but IMO the first priority would be to address the three issues above because the repair bill can get big if these components fail "catastrophically".

That said, most people probably don't have large failures without warning signs. The weak late 04-07 EGR coolers typically fail with small leaks at first. Same with the STC fitting, usually there are hot-start issues at first. Injectors operated with low fuel pressure are damaged over the long term operation under these conditions.

That said, my advice will always be towards addressing components that have the potential to cause big problems.

Before all of this is the need for proper maintenance - fluids, filters, etc. This includes proper coolant decisions and maintenance, transmission fluid and filter maintenance, differential fluid maintenance, etc - along with the standard oil and fuel filter changes.

Many people have great luck with stock (non-bulletproofed) trucks, but when you buy a used one, you really don't know how well it was taken care and I think it is money well spent to address the issues above.

Part of the attraction of buying a used 6.0L is that you can get a good truck at a fraction of the initial purchase price. I use that as justification to do some of these upgrades. That said, I would rather do them myself instead of buying a truck with them already done.

The time to make these types of decisions is BEFORE purchasing the truck though!

Just my 2 cents and all of ths is HIGHLY dependent on what you want from the truck and how much can you afford repair bills, upgrade bills, and "downtime" for repair. Everyone has opinions (usually strong ones) and free advice is often times worth only the price you paid for it!

 

Welcome to the forum. We are all glad to have you on board. Honestly, if your really new to diesels, then the 6oh's take a big learning curve to get over versus driving a gasser or older diesels.

The maintenance is intense and key, you need a live data scanner to monitor the health of the engine, you will need to do a couple of upgrades to help ensure you don't have problems as has been mentioned in other posts on this thread.

The money put into them with the maintenance intervals is costly, IMO. If you drive alot you have more money into the oil and fuel filter changes, and other items.

If you let it sit, or take short trips with it, then you may have problems that way too. These trucks need to get up to operating temps when being used, and the charging system needs to run.


Well, being that he is completely new to the diesel world, more than likely he tried to do some home work with Google searches. When you Google search these 6oh's the term bulletproofing is one every search find for at least 50 pages.

But you are spot on with the explanation of people who think bulletproofing is the fix all.



Great point Mark.


To the OP, you have a lot of good info here. Although it may seem we get irritated with the potential buyers questions, its not that at all.

Its the fact that so many sellers use terms such as "bulletproofing" to sell these trucks, that's where the irritation comes from.

The term "bulletproofing" is a marketing scam IMO. I am more interested in detail repairs and upgrades, then a term that supposedly encompasses the upgrades.
And that the problem, bulletproofing means too many things to too many different people. When I hear or see people write that there truck is "bulletproofed" it has no merit to me.

Good luck - Preston