Hey guys. I just bought a 2003 Excursion 6.0 Diesel for my wife. Our first diesel so I am not very knowledgeable about them. I am looking to bulletproof it. We plan to keep this Beast for years. It appears to be completely OEM. As an opinion, should I do EGR delete or updated EGR cooler? Also, are studs better for the heads or stock bolts? I am leaning towards studs for tighter, more uniform pressure.

 

So, it's running it fine, and it's all stock - I wouldn't do anything to it. Just keep clean fluids in it. How many miles?

 

204000 miles. Previous owner did light towing with it. I will be towing a pop up camper several times a year but mostly my wife will be hauling kids.

 

Good Lord. Don't put studs on one just to say you have studs. Many trucks with 250k miles on original head gaskets and bolts. I tow hard with mine and it has the original gaskets and bolts.

Head bolts aren't really the issue anyway. Its the cupping of the heads. NO WAY ON EARTH I would pull the heads off a perfectly good running motor.

 

Ditto, I got 303,000 on mine and the head gaskets are fine - and I tow all the time. There are many good upgrades - blue spring, dummy plugs/standpipes, maybe the STC fitting. Nothing wrong with doing a delete, if you just have to do something. You'll be looking at some injectors sometime soon, and maybe a fuel pump. Get yourself a device to read data on your smart phone, and a fuel pressure gauge, and watch them. You should be fine.

 

The early 6.0 let yours and mine do not have the STC fitting mentioned. Also as mentioned don't do anything to a perfectly good running 6.0. Read through the tech folder to learn about the engine. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...ch-folder.html
Go to YouTube and watch the video’s by Diesel Tech Ron a lot of good info.
To monitor the engine and trans download Forscan or Torque Pro on a smartphone or tablet and get an OBD-II adapter to communicate with which app you prefer.
Don't try to hotrod the 6.0 with a turner, Ford has already pushed the HP up more then International it will just cause you problems. Turners are not go code reader either.
Use only Ford OEM parts and not the ones on ebay or Amazon a lot of counterfeit parts.
Do the maintenance oil changes and coolant your engine will love you for it.
I'm no expert on the 6.0 there is many here that are and will do what ever it takes to help but they need data to give accurate advice.

 

Ditto what these folks are telling you. I have 5 6.0s and all but one of them has studs. And they were done when it was required, IE when the head gaskets started leaking. At that time other work was done as well y pipes etc. basically if you have to pull the body off the you address some of the known things like Y pipes and sensors but till then if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

 

No dummyplugs or stc fittings on 2003. But blue spring would be a new upgrade worth doing. He should also consider a fuel pressure gauge and a good monitoring app such as torque Pro or Forscan.

 

No STC fittings on any 04's either - contrary to internet chatter (just fyi since it is totally not applicable to the OP's engine, lol).

 

I have to agree with the other guys on the ”if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” logic. There is lots of good reading in the Tech folder. If you are itching to do something, check into engine monitoring options. Much of what you’ll be interested in is on the trucks computer but a few important things are not. Fuel pressure, coolant pressure, low side (crankcase) oil pressure, exhaust gas temperature, and on some trucks even boost are either not on the dash, inaccurate, or not available to view on whatever monitor you may choose without adding a sensor. As mentioned above, the blue spring for the fuel pressure regulator was an update from Ford and isn’t really a “mod” but it’s important for the life of the injectors. Depending on your state, I’d go with an updated EGR over a delete. A stealth delete will pass a visual inspection and support the exhaust down pipe with less chance of coolant leaks if you decide to go that way. Unless you KNOW the service history, the first thing I would do is a full service. Diff(s), trans filter/fluid, transfer case, oil change with correct filter, fuel filters, maybe even coolant flush and fresh ELC, along with a good look at the brake fluid. I’d also pull the EGR valve and look for moisture in the intake, if it’s bone dry in there I’d put the EGR cooler delete on the back burner, 2003 had a more robust cooler and the design was copied for the upgraded version on the later model trucks.

Unless the coolant is filthy, I wouldn’t worry with a coolant filter. That’s a common mod many will mention and there are vehicles that need it but the potential for leaks outweigh the benefits on most trucks.

BulletProof is a non specific term and a company name, you’ll hear the word often but it means different things to different people. You’ll hear it a lot in the Diesel world but take it as shorthand for “some parts have been replaced with stuff I think is better” -lol. There is ultimately, no such thing unless you’re talking about the company.

so full service of every fluid, blue spring, check for uneven brake pad wear (it’s kinda common for the caliper slider pins to stick). Shop for gauges/monitors, clean/insp EGR valve, and roll with it! As things fail make repairs with quality parts and consider upgrades then. Congrats on the new ride!

 

Thanks Rusty. I am tending towards the same conclusion. I kinda want to head off any problem before it shuts down the truck. It is for my wife and the kiddos as a daily driver. Of course, our teenage sons are drooling to learn how to drive on the Beast as they named it.

 

The best thing to do IMO is getting either Forscan or Torque Pro to monitor the PCM data to know how the engine performs and learn what those parameters are. The next two things are to get a fuel pressure gauge and a coolant pressure guage. Those two inputs are key to knowing a potential issue coming up that can cost you the most amount of money, injectors and head gaskets. Unfortunately, HPOP tends to give little warning.

At your age and mileage, addressing the deterioration of the fuel pickup foot would be good so you don't have to rescue your mad wife, and the potential for replacing the HFCM or it's pump with a genuine Racor unit would also be a proactive move. These trans seem to have ~250k+ life, to keep in mind.

I would debate that studs give more uniform clamping pressure as the tensioning technique is far more problematic than TTY and maybe not so different in tension as we get with OE bolts, which would be a real kick in the ***.

 

If its running good, monitor, don't repair/upgrade.

Gets torque Pro and monitor. Take it from the wife a couple days a month to drive into work so you can check the health. When you see something different (elevated oil temps, for example), then do some upgrades when you go in to change the oil cooler. Don't touch it until you KNOW there's an impending issue. Gauges will tell you when WAY before it causes you any real problems. It may never give you problems. And certainly don't change the head gasket before you KNOW it's blown--and don't take the mechanics word for it. It's my opinion that lot's of 6.0s have DECREASED reliability because of unnecessary head gasket replacements.

 

Thanks for all the info. I too just picked up a 2003 (door post tag says built 1/2003) F-350, with 86,000 mi. I just received the BAFX adapter and downloaded the Torque Pro app. Sounds like one of the most important things to monitor is the difference between Engine Oil Temp and Coolant Temp. The Torque Pro app lists Coolant Temp, but it doesn't have Engine Oil Temp (its listed, but not highlighted in green and doesn't have a value when I was monitoring}. Does anyone know if the early 2003 F-350, 6.0 has an Engine Oil Temp sensor?

 

All 6.0's have a coolant temperature sensor (ECT). Torque Pro will retrieve the coolant temperature PID on all 6.0's.