My 2cent: I would do nothing as long as there is no need for action. I would monitor the coolant pressure with a pressure gauge. Here you can see immediately if problems arise.
BUT: if coolant is burned, action must be taken.
Otherwise, catastrophic damage can occur.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ked-6-0-a.html

 

I hear you, but you did have a recent and obviously frustrating "problem" while on a long trip ...............

I didn't want a breakdown on a hunting trip in the middle of nowhere, or on a vacation when I didn't have tools and then be forced to trust a shop with which I was totally unfamiliar!

I also think that your list of spare parts that you carry is probably longer than anyone else I know (only because you are capable of fixing most anything - even when on the road!)!!

As stated above - the weak areas are well documented now, over the years a lot of people contributed to identifying them and the "fixes".

 

Never. I have 250K miles on original factory HGs. I believe studs are a false god, the issue appears to be the heads 'doming' over time which may be a casting strength issue with the head. My biggest suggestion is not to put a tune on the truck and don't hot rod it, simply use it as a truck and keep the cooling system clean and the truck maintained. Only serious issues I had were a ruptured oil cooler at 180k and a failed transmission at 245k. No "bulletproofing" either. Still using the truck almost daily.

 

I am glad I tuned mine. Been very enjoyable. Transmission still strong and injectors still original - knock on wood. 240k miles.

That said, most of the times over the years (when asked anyway) I would give the same advice - avoid tunes unless you have the money and time for the repairs. The phrase from the old days - "You have to pay to play" or something similar.

 

From when I was collecting all the data if studs alone did anything, a leaking EGR cooler by itself would compromise the heads, just as a poorly written tune.

I’m not who started the bandwagon on studs were the solution. But they didn’t have any mechanical engineering training. When you have failures, you have to look as all possibilities. In drag racing, head bolt or stud stretching, lifting the heads, is not all that uncommon. I never bothered to look at this intently until I tore my engine down. But from the day the 6.0 was introduced, people were questioning the 4 bolts per cylinder. More bolts should have more clamping fire, or preload. Well that depends on the size of the fasteners. You have have more fasteners of a smaller diameter, and therefore less total preload.

But, if you have taken any mechanical engineering course, you also know there is a cone under the fastener where the preload is located. The rest of the clamping force is distributed based on the stiffness of the part, in this case the heads. And also in engineering, the common spacing between bolts in a pressure vessel situation is four diameters. The 6.0 exceeds that, way more than the 7.3 or any of the competitors engines.

it’s like someone yelled bolt failure in a crowed room and no one took the time to forensically look at other factors.

What put it together for me was the 20mm head design, which hinted casting changes. Then when you look at the 6.4 head design, there are significant modifications to keep the center of the head from flexing upward. While the 6.4 does have a power and torque increase, there had to be more going on to add stiffening ribs and modify the frame around the combustion area for less deflection.

O-Rings have proven to be a good bandaid solution to the head gaskets failing. If you look at some SAE papers and formal discussions about MLS gasket failures, it’s discussed they fail from moving sideways between the cylinders and abrading the sealant. This is also within the middle of a four bolt per cylinder head design, where the preload is the lowest, between the bolts. So if the heads flex upward during combustion, and will do so more with a higher combustion pressure, there is less preload or clamping force to keep the gaskets from moving sideways.

Another good tell that the issue is heads flexing upwards in the center is when they are initially compromised, you can remove the tune and ‘nurse’ the engine for a long time and not puke. If the head bolts had achieved plastic deformation, or permanently stretched more, the preload would be low all over and you would keep puking.

Have to go back to playing with Christmas trees in the dark, with my headlamp. Nothing like using a chainsaw in the dark.

 

I have not bought a truck yet but have heard for this gen of trucks it is a good thing to do. There is one truck I am interested in that has it done. Ad says the bill was near $4500 and included some enviro deletes. Not sure what that means as there are many "enviro" things on trucks now.

I thank you all for the input, the read has been eye opening.

 

I have an Excursion with 293k on the odometer, with a Atlas 40 FICM and a 50 HP tow tune from 5 Star, without studding it and its been 100% fine! Dont lay gobs of power to it, and it will be ok

 

I would say that there is just as many if not more stock 6.0s that have blown a head gasket than tuned ones. I have seen more stock 6.0s with blown head gaskets than tuned ones.

 

You guys are such amatures..........

Fixed my 2003, shaved 8 off the heads, installed the second run of ARP bolts when they came out, OEM head gaskets, smile and drive. If you remember Vince (Vloney) a Master tech, IH had major problems with not torqueing the head bolts, quality control, and techs found head bolts would remove by hand. Poor head castings combined with laxed quality control caused a fire storm.

If you are new here, enjoy reading our Tech Folder located at the top of the forum about what you should look for in buying a used truck. Good Luck gentlemen on your quest. When you hear Bullet Proofing, they are trying to sell you their product. Pretty simple, clean oil and good maintenance go a long way.

 

Sum things up, buyer beware, never known a salesman to tell the truth have you? They can say all they want, ultimately up to you making the decision, truck could be a Gem or a Turkey. Driveline, brakes, steering components can add up fast, you have a job ahead of you when buying used. Enviro things would be exhaust and EGR cooler delete since the 6.0L is pretty simple compared to new engines. If you have to pass an emission check, this would be a Red Flag. Be prepared to walk away.

 

If you do go to look at that truck, be sure to ask to see the receipts for the work, and do some research on the shop that did it. If the truck isn't close by, have them email the receipts before wasting your time and gas. I drove all the way to Austin last summer to look at "the truck" and the guy had no proof of warranty or who did the work. Took a hard pass on that one.

To the original question, I never really worried about HG's until I installed a coolant pressure gauge. Watching my coolant pressure steadily rise to 15 psi as I take the ten minute drive across town at a moderate rate is unsettling. Sometimes it hits 16 psi (the point at which the degas bottle cap is supposed to release pressure) if I hammer it up a hill to pass a bunch of slow pokes, but I no longer have any antifreeze residue around the cap since I started maintaining a lower than recommended coolant level in the tank. And it never has puked and the coolant level never drops, so yeah, the time to do anything about HG's is after everything else has been addressed, unless of course, it does start puking, or fails a compression test. I expect I'll be rebuilding the transmission before then.

 

There really are only a couple of emission systems on a 6.0L
EGR system
Catalytic Converter

The reason for ALL the words of caution -
One - there are known weaknesses. There are fixes for MOST of them. Some are absolutely critical to nail down correctly (money, or reliability, or both).
Two - how the upgrades were done is just as important as doing the upgrades.

You can usually verify "what" was done. It is extremely hard to verify "how" it was done.

I would rather find a stock 6.0L and resolve the typical issues myself vs buying one from an unknown source that had the work done by another unknown source. I'm not sure if you can still find many of these, but as you can see in this thread, there are several "essentially stock" 6.0's still out there.

I also have to add that there are MANY cheap parts available for the 6.0L. They will only add to your troubles. There are MANY versions of the "upgraded oil cooler" for example that have cause nothing but MISERY (leaks and/or poor cooling). There are poor quality EGR coolers available also (fail early). Many aftermarket sensors are no good and can cause significant problems. Injectors are $3000 plus to replace and there are MANY companies selling re-manned injectors that will only fail early. Worst case on injectors is that they can even completely ruin your engine if one or more excessively dump fuel upon failure. Poor maintenance and/or excessive heat in these engines can also lead to lifter failure, which can ruin an engine also. Wiring harnesses are getting VERY hard to find. A wiring harness probably isn't going to cause any major damage if it is in poor condition (or if it has some failures), but you may not be able to even find a replacement anymore. The one you buy needs to be one with a solid looking wiring harness.

Many of us have achieved good reliability, but it rarely "just happens" with the 6.0L.

You might want to read this:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...used-6-0l.html

 

Wiring harnesses - it's painful to see all the good harnesses, etc. ruined by the pick-u-part dismantlers. They tear anything off as fast /easy as possible - harnesses are the first to be shredded. Makes me think that it might be worth figuring out whether there is some section of the wiring harness that could be removed real fast on those PuP trucks worth scavenging.