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Hey guys….so my newly acquired 6.0. Starting to check things out. PO did the head gaskets and studs. The EGR, oil pump and oil cooler look like factory pieces. Guy passed away and the wife didn’t know if they were done.
The truck is a 2003 and I went to get a “just in case”EGR cooler and they all seem to say 2004. Some say will not fit round 2003 style EGR.
I’m eventually gonna do the actual Bulletproof diesel upgrades to the engine. If I do that do I switch all the upper components to a 2004 6.0?
as far as the existig EGR cooler….do I get a 2003 or do I upgrade to a 2004 and up? And how do I do the upgrade buy everything on the top end for a 2004?
would like to delete but right now we still live in So Cal and needs to be smog tested. We plan on moving to Idaho or Wyoming or at least buy a house there as I’m getting ready to retire and move.
I didn't think the early EGR coolers were a problem - the '04.5+ ones are problematic, but the fix for them is to have a square cross-section EGR cooler (looks just like a stock '04.5+ one), but with internals like the '03/'04 had (tube type heat exchanger)...
Your stock '03 EGR cooler should be round cross-section...
I didn't think the early EGR coolers were a problem - the '04.5+ ones are problematic, but the fix for them is to have a square cross-section EGR cooler (looks just like a stock '04.5+ one), but with internals like the '03/'04 had (tube type heat exchanger)...
Your stock '03 EGR cooler should be round cross-section...
yup it’s a round tube. I’m trying to figure out if the oil cooler was swapped out. PO owned it since new so I assume it went through the multiple recalls. It’s a Lariat trim but it has a ZF6 and manual T-case. He said he ordered it like that. I’m gonna try to hit up my local ford dealer and see if they have any records and if they can print them
out. His wife unfortunately doesn’t remember or know much. This is my first 6.0. I have 7.3 diesels and prior to that it was big block 454s and 460s with a sprinkling of 305/350 and 302s
Yeah, many of us came from the 7.3 side, very few have gone back... How many miles on this puppy? A weak point, usually with miles in the 200K range, is the original HPOP, in this case you don't want to get a "new" Ford one, you want to go with an improved after market unit, Adrenaline is one I see often spoken highly of...
We have similar history in trucks, lots of them with ever increasing displacement, and then we discover these turbo'd diesels... It was tough to go test drive a 6.0 and jump back into my mildly tuned '99 7.3, which then felt like a slug...
Things like the transmission are just a Huge improvement over your 7.3 - the Torqshift was the absolute Best auto trans in a light truck at the time (and yes I've owned an allison 1000 and currently own its Huge big brother, a 3000 in our old motorhome)...
On edit: I'm jonesing over the manual everything - would be really cool (and rare) in a 6.0 - last F250HD I had with a 460 and 4:10s was all manual - wish I never sold it! I might just see if I can find a shortbox version one day...
I'm expecting Jack (toomanytoys.) to be along any moment now, he owns an '03....
Yeah, many of us came from the 7.3 side, very few have gone back... How many miles on this puppy? A weak point, usually with miles in the 200K range, is the original HPOP, in this case you don't want to get a "new" Ford one, you want to go with an improved after market unit, Adrenaline is one I see often spoken highly of...
We have similar history in trucks, lots of them with ever increasing displacement, and then we discover these turbo'd diesels... It was tough to go test drive a 6.0 and jump back into my mildly tuned '99 7.3, which then felt like a slug...
Things like the transmission are just a Huge improvement over your 7.3 - the Torqshift was the absolute Best auto trans in a light truck at the time (and yes I've owned an allison 1000 and currently own its Huge big brother, a 3000 in our old motorhome)...
On edit: I'm jonesing over the manual everything - would be really cool (and rare) in a 6.0 - last F250HD I had with a 460 and 4:10s was all manual - wish I never sold it! I might just see if I can find a shortbox version one day...
I'm expecting Jack (toomanytoys.) to be along any moment now, he owns an '03....
the 2003 6.0 is a ZF6 standard . My 2001 F350 7.3 is also a ZF6. Both are also manual transfer cases also. The 6.0 is a Lariat and the 7.3 is a XLT. My 99 F250 is a 4r100 with a electronic transfer case. It’s by far the slowest of the group. But it’s reliable. The 99 has 183,000 miles the 01 7.3 has 164,000 and the 6.0 I think it’s either 225 or 235,000 miles. And it’s by far the faster of the three. It’s still a manula so it’s no speed demon but I can tell it’s a little quicker than the 01 7.3. It gets on the turbo faster and pulls hard.
I’ve been reading and found out a ZF6 manual behind a 6.0 is even more rare than a ZF6 manual behind a 7.3
the 2003 6.0 is a ZF6 standard . My 2001 F350 7.3 is also a ZF6. Both are also manual transfer cases also. The 6.0 is a Lariat and the 7.3 is a XLT. My 99 F250 is a 4r100 with a electronic transfer case. It’s by far the slowest of the group. But it’s reliable. The 99 has 183,000 miles the 01 7.3 has 164,000 and the 6.0 I think it’s either 225 or 235,000 miles. And it’s by far the faster of the three. It’s still a manula so it’s no speed demon but I can tell it’s a little quicker than the 01 7.3. It gets on the turbo faster and pulls hard.
I’ve been reading and found out a ZF6 manual behind a 6.0 is even more rare than a ZF6 manual behind a 7.3
Yup.... You.ve got a keeper there...
HPOP would be a number one on the list of: do it before it dies, things to do - tho they usually give you some warning signs with hard starts. A ton of other things, like getting into monitoring stuff that's on the truck's data bus, and I'll get my butt kicked here if I don't tell you to get a fuel pressure gauge installed - The factory fuel pressure was at the lower limit, stock, and it can eat injectors when it goes too low, so even if you don't put a gauge in, put in the BlueSpring FP update (Ford's)...
I gotta' go, getting the stink eye from the wife.... :-/
HPOP would be a number one on the list of: do it before it dies, things to do - tho they usually give you some warning signs with hard starts. A ton of other things, like getting into monitoring stuff that's on the truck's data bus, and I'll get my butt kicked here if I don't tell you to get a fuel pressure gauge installed - The factory fuel pressure was at the lower limit, stock, and it can eat injectors when it goes too low, so even if you don't put a gauge in, put in the BlueSpring FP update (Ford's)...
I gotta' go, getting the stink eye from the wife.... :-/
I appreciate the insight Diesel Dan. The HPOP is on the list as I dont know of it was replaced and at that point might as well do the cooler too. It’s right there.
my buddy also said to get gauges to monitor the oil and coolant temps. Unfortunately he’s also a 7.3 guy so he’s not to up on the 6.0s.. He said if they get too far apart it’s time to look at the cooler.
im making a list of stuff to replace and I wanna tear into it as few times as possible so when I get that deep I rather do it all at once. hey I rebuilt my whole front axle and steering because one of my hubs started grinding. But it was all at that fine line of it’s still ok but it’s gonna need to be replaced soon…so I just bit the bullet and did the whole front end. On three trucks. And now a 4th one. The 6.0 is not driven right now other than around town as I’m getting ready to do some tires and go over the braking and steering. But it’s a long term truck so it doesn’t have to be ready to go right now.
I went shopping for mine back in 2008. Searched a 200 mile radius and found 2 trucks that were crew cab short beds with a manual trans diesel. One was white, the other was the green 05 I still own today. I had no idea about anything with the 6.0, but knew from my search the manual 6 spd was fairly rare. I’ve done a lot over the years to help preserve this truck including rust free box. It’s been a good one.
If you do the searches, there were enough 03's that blew the EGR cooler that I'm not sure about how rare it really was or wasn't ..... it certainly wasn't indestructible. That said, you usually had to have a plugged oil cooler for that to happen. Not like the 04.5+ that could fail even without the oil cooler blocking off the coolant flow.
Personally, the risk would be far too great for me. I know of no failure of an EGR cooler whose consequences were favorable. Often the owner does not notice the problems immediately.
Not to mention the soot mass that pollutes the whole intake manifold.
Yes, Mark, if you have a situation where the '03 EGR cooler has a fair amount of the it's coolant reduced it will fail, like anything else. But it's way more tolerant that the later coolers that fail with a minimum amount of coolant compromised, and sometimes, even when it's not.
Ive replaced my fair share of blown of blown 03 round style EGR coolers. A plugged oil cooler causing a decrease in flow of coolant is the number one cause of a EGR cooler to fail. Every 6.0 I buy I install a new OEM Oil cooler and Bullet Proof Diesel EGR cooler from Riffraff Diesel. They have the best prices and I can get everything in one stop. Here is the whole parts list you need to do the job right. All you need to source is Ford Gold Coolant and about 3 gallons of distilled water
- The factory fuel pressure was at the lower limit, stock, and it can eat injectors when it goes too low, so even if you don't put a gauge in, put in the BlueSpring FP update (Ford's)...
