I assume this answer is ASAP, however in looking for one of these trucks I find lots that have not be done and still are running fine for the seller. Is this a situation of do it as needed? Being new to diesels I am not sure if blowing a head gasket is a big deal or not. I have had experience with Gas motors and know it would be better to do it before than after. I assume this is the same here.

Thanks for the advice.

 

Once the kids are out of college, the 401(k) is maxxed, and you've bought the third house and new furniture...or 500k miles, whichever comes first. Otherwise, just keep clean fluids in it, avoid high-performance tunes, and take the local constabulary on a high-speed chase a couple times a year to keep the rust off.

 

If your going to hot rod it then I would say as soon as possible (for reliability), But the latest fix that actually seems to be a good fix is to oring the heads.

As far as difficulty it looks like a big pain in the back to me so i'm all stock with stock head bolts hoping they'll outlast the 10 or so years I'll likely have the truck.

 

The studs, per ARP, clamp the heads a small percentage higher than the stock bolts. There’s an older thread on Powerstroke.org that I’ve mentioned in one of my videos, which basically shows many people who are tuned, blew gaskets, used new Ford gaskets and ARP studs, then blew in about 25k miles.

The heads deflect, the TTY bolts don’t. Studs did not fix the issue when the heads bowed and have a gap on top of the deflection. Stock trucks have gone 400k, 600k, 1000k without studs.

 

I'm at 140k miles and 11 years on my head studs (240k miles total), and Gearhead tunes for virtually all of the 140k miles tuned. I have driven hard some of that time, but probably not a lot. I'm happy enough with the work that was done, but I wish they had been o-ringed heads. Regardless, I can't say that it has been the studs that contributed to the success so far. Could have been due to the fact that I closely watch the temperatures and the boost. Also, I feel confident that the machining that was done was a very good job. I also have the commonized heads.

My goal had always been 15 years or 250k miles - whichever came first. Lately I've had to adjust that thinking a bit (way to go Brandon).

 

You are careful with what you do Mark, and Gearhead seems to be, too. But is that an early or late '06?

 

Engine Build Date - 4/26/06 (Wed)

 

Mark what drove you to install head studs? Failure or preventative?

 

Preventative. I had plans on running a tune, but waited until the bumper-to-bumper warranty was essentially over. That was back in Oct. of 2011.

Except for the usual stuff, the only failures I have had with this truck is the radiator, the turbo, and fuel pump relay.

I have had a weak battery saver relay for years. Still able to reset it with turning on the headlights. Someday I suppose it will fail completely, then it is off to CBM with the cluster.

 

I guess I need to add that even though I studded the engine, that doesn't mean I disagree with Jack's calculations and assessments in that area. Back in 2011, there were a lot of us adding power and studding the engine. I do think that there is benefit to it when done correctly. I couldn't say how much though. Maybe the bulk of the benefit is getting everything as flat as possible and ensuring a good surface "finish". That is why I said I would like to have had the heads o-ringed, but that wasn't common back then. Oh well!

I just have to "harp" on the subject of temperatures ....... people would be well advised to keep them in the lower range of normal - as much as possible!
Also - don't let a sticking turbo or failed EBP sensor cause you to have an over-boost situation!
In other words - MONITOR the critical parameters (this includes fuel pressure)!

 

I’ll do studs if the heads ever have to come off for repairs. No plans to pull them just for that purpose. (No tunes)

 

When you do stud it, don't just put studs and new head gaskets on unless you want to do it again. Take the heads to a machine shop and have them decked and O ringed.

 

Emotion aside, it'd have to be a cherry truck to invest that much money in it, whatever the repairs. But, studs is even crazier, unless you're one of the guys here with a machine shop in your garage and the expertise to do it right. Otherwise, if you're just walking into Happy Valley Diesel Repair and Oil Change and asking for the Wednesday 6.0 O-ring Special, there's a good chance they'll screw it up, and you'll blow gaskets in 6 months. If you had blown gaskets now, and had to make that decision, I could understand, maybe. (I'd sell it while it still ran and go find another one), but throwing $5000-$7000 into a perfectly fine $15000 truck doesn't seem like a good ROI to me. I think tech/machine shop failures on these are as high as gasket failures.

 

Leaking EGR cooler can wreak havoc as well. Putting coolant thru the combustion chambers increases the pressure as you start making steam, increasing cylinder pressures. Gotta wonder how many headgasket failures followed an EGR cooler failure.

If I had a virgin truck, I would probably change out the stock EGR for a fully welded BPD unit as a preventative maintenance.

 

My list of preventative maintenance (ie reliability) mods is fairly long:

Studs, new gaskets, flat and finished head surfaces
BPD EGR cooler
Upgraded OEM oil cooler
Upgraded FICM
One-piece HPOP discharge fitting (replaced the STC fitting)
Upgraded OEM standpipes
Upgraded OEM dummy plugs
Rotella Ultra ELC coolant
Higher output alternator (I went beyond reliability on this one)
Power steering fluid filter
Separate fuel pump relay
Blue Spring fuel pressure regulator
Silicone CAC boots
CCV filter re-route
Fuel Pressure monitor
Coolant pressure monitor
DynaTrac ball joints
Coolant filter - which I have removed since the system has proven to be very clean at this point.
Replaced the "Y" under the degas bottle (I think it is an upgrade, but some feel differently)
Snow plow fan clutch (I have a large "ranch style" front bumper replacement that can restrict air flow)
High idle mod
BPD radiator (but this happened after a failure, the mods above were done BEFORE a failure)

When the head stud job (was done at apprx 100k miles), I also replaced the following components for preventative maintenance reasons (went back in with OEM parts):
glow plugs
glow plug harnesses
CKP
CMP
heater hoses
BPD water pump - because I was given one to demo
This is when the oil cooler was upgraded and the EGR cooler was upgraded, but those were mentioned earlier

I have never upgraded to the 2008 transmission pan, but would highly recommend it.

All (in the first list) are known weak points to one degree or another.