I know many have tried to relieve stress and frustration by railing against the dark forces that break our hearts and empty our checkbooks that swirl about our 6.0 turbo diesels.

I haven’t yet, so please indulge me.

I’m not going to share my thoughts about Ford and Navistar engineers or the money grubbing managers, board members, and large stock holders responsible for the number of head bolts, bed plate gaskets, oil cooler location, lack of coolant filtration, and all things EGR. I assume that the engineers have either fled the country, faked their own deaths, or worse. The others don’t have enough shame to do anything but get richer.

No, I’m ranting about anyone who works anywhere that oil changes are done.

How can anyone remove the stock oil filter cap, feel the upward thrust that can only be attributed to a spring expanding, feel the clicks as 4 indexed tabs release, and feel that the oil filter fits snuggly to that thing in the center (that may have a purpose!) and then DECIDE to shove a filter that does NONE of those things in there and put on a cap that’s over an inch taller than the stock cap?

Much less the owner of a 6.0 doing it on their own truck. Unbelievable!!!

 

Usually the same people who change the filters and oil as the first try when it doesn’t run right. Air filter if they are really clueless.

 

Oil change is the first and only thing some people can think of when something isn’t right, but even THAT person should wonder why the first filter and cap did …this..and the new filter doesn’t and the cap isn’t the same size!

 

I stopped going to those "Lube-n-Go" crap holes long ago when I caught them repeatedly not performing full services. Since then I do it myself or go to an independent full service automotive repair shop. B.

 

The only vehicle I don't service myself is my company car. Last time I had the oil changed on it, it puffed a huge cloud of white smoke out the exhaust at start up. Pulled the dipstick & could immediately hear the crank whipping oil up in the pan & found they had overfilled it by about 2 quarts.

 

I don’t know whether the previous owner/owners of my 2006 F250 6.0 had someone change their oil for them or did it themselves. Whatever the case, they apparently destroyed the oil filter drain tube long ago. How can someone takeoff the oil cooler and see a broken jagged tower of plastic and not scratch their head as to whether or not the truck was built that way and why Such a thing was there at all?

 

I would never go to those lube oil places. I personally know 2 different people at 2 separate shops who had to replace engines after the yahoos forgot to put oil back in the engine.

 

The Rant might be good for your blood pressure but probably not anything else. I would recommend that you purchase a set of heavy duty ramps, a Fumoto valve to replace the oil plug, and a Lisle oil filter wrench. Diesel oil seems to be on sale everywhere these days and you can purchase a genuine Ford oil filter locally. Make sure you have the OEM filter cap.

The local oil change place is about two miles from my home. I can change the oil properly in much less time than it takes to get to the oil change place, have the service done and drive home plus it saves me money and I know that it is done right. Good luck to you.

I hope this doesn't sound mean, but anyone who buys a vintage 6.0 and doesn't do their own maintenance is asking for trouble. Just my opinion.

 

The part I don't get is why the aftermarket filter mfgs decided to use a taller filter that requires a special cap in the first place? Why not just match the factory filter so the stock filter cap can be re-used? You figure that would have been cheaper on the R&D side and cheaper to mfg as they don't have to include a filter cap. Who knows. Maybe there was some patent in play but dang!

BTW this idiot is guilty of running a motorcraft filter with an aftermarket cap for a few thousand miles on my previous 6.0. It should have been obvious as the Motorcraft filter is very difficult to install in an aftermarket cap but I'm stubborn. Didn't realize till I started reading here and quickly remedied the situation. Truck still built oil pressure quickly so I don't think anything was damaged long term.

 

How easy was it for you when you swapped out the stock cap? Did you wonder why that springy thin in there did compress? I can see someone buying a truck where the previous owner let the stock cap thrown away and replaced with a new one. At that point one might think that’s that how it was supposed to be and carry on the tradition. I’m thinking that, it would be hard to convince oneself that putting in the wrong filter and cap would be the best thing to do.

 

Dude, you need to chill.

Dave, they had to because of the patents. The interface and the sealing material was patented, so the only way at the time was to change the setup, the cap.

 

Yes, chill. My rage has waned, and I’m back to working through my list. Next on the list is the death wobble. I guess the explanations are as old as mankind. Greed and sloth.