So, I thought I would share a bit what I learned from the head Diesel Mechanic at the dealership today:

As a preface.. I recently had my gaskets blow at 36K miles.. The dealership convered it (in full) and even installed ARP studs with no questions asked. I grilled the guy (service manager) with a bunch of quesitons from you guys and other techs I know. They answered all questions and did a great job.
However.. I am still getting a whistle (or pressure cooker) sound from my engine at 2500 RPM while under load. I grilled the service manager again and talked to the tech.. they checked the heads to make sure they were level, the EGR, Oil cooler, etc.. all good! And the truck is running noticeably better and the coolant level is staying the same.

So, on to what I learned so I can share with the rest of you...

The "whistle" or "pressure cooker" sound.. could be the exhaust air comming out of the Y pipe from the back of the turbo. These can crack sometimes but only spread enough durring high heat or heavy loads. Not a life threatening event but still covered under 100K warranty.. so if you see soot on the back of your fire wall and their is no coolant leaking and EGR is ok.. that is probably the culprit. I am bringing mine back to the dealer with the boat hooked up to make sure.

Other things I learned (this is important for new 6.0 owners)

Plan on getting the heads replaced (he does this A LOT!) he said, "Ford made a great engine.. really powerful, Iron block and simple enginnering, but failed miserably on the bolts!" He said the bolts were a cost cutting measure and usually are only used on engines that are marrying an Iron block with an aluminum head..." spefically he called them "stretch bolts." So, guys that have not had their heads replaced yet.. Plan on it! In fact, make sure your dealer is not a cheap skate...go buy a tuner, heat it up and watch it go.. that way Ford will pay for them. Also.. get ARP studs.. and you "never have to worry about it again." Techs words, not mine.

EGR Valve, plan on cleaning regularly and keeping a close eye on it. If you can do it, get rid of it with a tune and unplug the thing. Just make sure that a good Diesel mechanic (obviously not one from the dealer) checks to make sure its off and not going to hurt performance.

Tunes are good for the 6.0.. Another thing he has had to replace from time to time is the turbo. On a Tune, since it runs a bit hotter, he says the dirt and grime that tends to build up in a tuner is less with a tuner installed and if the EGTs are watched actually can extend turbo life. Now this does not always apply to you lead foot guys out there.

A good dealer will not refuse warranty work if they see a Tuner installed. He said he hardly if ever refuses warranty work on modifed 6.0s unless somthing drastic is done. He says Ford does not demand that they prove their is no aftermarket stuff and its completely up to the dealer. The dealer only eats a small portion of the warranty repair anyway. So he recommends for any warranty work with a modified 6.0 that you call your dealer (anonimously) and talk to the service manager about the problems you are having. If they say they will not cover it.. then take it to a dealer who is worth a damn!

Other than that.. he says the 6.0 has some issues.. but no more than any other HD he has worked on in 20 years. He said he worked at catipillar, cummins and on Mac Truck repair shops for years.. Diesels are hard working engines that need to be maintained properly but they are meant to work. He has not seen a new Diesel engine made that didnt need 20 mods from the manufacturer before it was a solid solid engine.. he said mine with ARP Head studs (and a soon to be modifed EGR) would make it just about a 200K Truck if I took care of it.

Hope this helps anyone who has questions.

 

Are you serious?
I'm not sure I agree with your definition of "good dealer", but I know I disagree with the "how to screw Ford Motor Company" theme of this post.

 

Ford didn't make the engine, International did. I would think that a tech for the diesel engines would be up on that little fact.

Yes ARP studs will solve the problem, providing that the install is done correctly and corners are not cut(particularly with the heads).

 

I sure hope mine dosent blow head gaskets anytime soon or I will have to have ARP put in as well for sure

 

Steve Bricks.. I respect your opinion but to answer your question...

Yep Im serious. He said a Tuner shouldn't be blamed as the culprit as why the heads go.. the engine is built for a whole lot more, the bolts shouldnt have been used, studs should have been.

As far as "skrewing Ford Motor company." Im a die hard Ford fan. That being said, at the end of the day... Im for Joe Consumer, not Henry Ford. Tuner or no tuner this is way to common of a problem. My statement in saying go ahead and put on the tuner and essence "get it over with" is something I still stand behind. Ford should pay for the repair. Its bad enough that standard operation is to replace them with the same crappy bolts they came with anyway. I shouldnt have had to fork over 400 bucks (ARP studs) for something that already cost me north of 40K. Besides, the dealer has it right.. stand behind the vehicles you sell.

Tex25025... Yes, Im sure the Tech knows that International built the engine.. regardless his point and mine... its a Ford product. Says so right on the front.

Powerstroked250.. I hope it doesnt happen to you.. but be prepared when it does.

 

Actually International has it rated as less then what Ford has it rated at(International's stock rating v. Ford's stock rating), so if you think about it Ford already tweaked it beyond what the original designer's rating for it is/was. Considering that International had problems with headbolts at that weaker rating, I'm not surprised that Ford had problems with it at their tweaked rating and then you add a tuner. Now if you have read any of my past posts, most people will tell you that I don't quite buy the just because a tuner is on there that it's automatically the tuner's fault, so don't think I'm subscribing to that.

He is right in that Ford after they tweaked the International programming should have used studs especially for the reasons that I mentioned above, but it is what it is, crying about it now does no good.

Technically speaking the engine is still International's not Ford's despite the shell(truck chasis) around it, the engine is still International's. Just like in my JD tractors the engine is still Yanmar's even though the tractor around it says JD on it.

 

My head gaskets blew and I don't have a tuner. They were blown right after the egr cooler was replaced. Related... I think so. I took the truck in the shop a couple of weeks after the egr cooler was replaced because something wasn't right. The truck would overheat and puke while towing. The dealer cleaned the turbo which they said had some stuck vanes. The truck still overheated and puked. I took it to a different dealer and they replaced the head gaskets, oil cooler and degauss bottle. Truck has been 100% since. Now lets say someones head gaskets blow: their egr cooler is fine, turbo is fine and the oil cooler is fine, but they use a tuner. Do you think the tuner caused the gaskets to fail? I would lean towards it. Maybe we should have another one of those "Surveys"?? Did your gaskets blow right after the egr cooler blew? Oil Cooler, turbo with stuck vanes. Or did it blow just out of nowhere with nothing else wrong? What do you guy's think? Tex?? Are you still awake with your glasses on?!?! ...lol

 

How did they drive it? Did they allow it to get to operating temperature before they started ragging on it(remember stock gauge is crap in determining this with any accuracy unless they allow for a a good bit of time(especially in the winter) for it to warm up)? Were the bolts torqued down to specs before you took delivery? Where the heads flat to begin with? Alot of variables in there that could make those heads go without causing other things to fail and may not have been caused by a tuner.

The tuner could be responsible, but in your scenerio if you didn't test to see if the heads were warped before you put the tuner on then timing alone isn't sufficient to say that a tuner caused the damage. Could you lean towars that way(as you said that you would) sure, but that would be all that the level of "proof" that you have would allow you to do.


Damn, I hate getting old.

 

a tuner will not cause headgaskets to start leaking, but it will give ford a reason to **** people off. people with a heavy right foot is what blows gaskets, and then you have your trucks where the bolts were never torqued correctly. i have had many "loose bolts" on a head job and those account for needing heads. the bolts do there job when done according to ford, and will hold given everything checks out ok.

 

"he said mine with ARP Head studs (and a soon to be modifed EGR) would make it just about a 200K Truck if I took care of it."

This statement makes me uncomfortable. Why do we drive diesels? Because of the power and longevity of the motor. Gas engines are built with pretty tight tolerences now a days. A gasser maintained correctly will easily go 200k. I would expect a lot more out of a diesel.

 

Your right that does sound a little off especially since I'm more then halfway there myself. But then again maybe I shouldn't worry about it since I do have a bypassed egr and headstuds, but for all those that don't have either and are at the same mileage as I am, better watch out.

 

I was telling Tex yesterday I heard that some bolts were not torqued correctly from the factory but I could'nt remember where I heard it. Thank you for the info BTH!! It won't let me give you anymore rep points.

 

Me too; I thought I read in the manual that the 6.0 is supposed to do 300k before needing any kind of overhaul.

 

When Ford fixed my headgaskets they said the heads where not warped. This made me kind of nervous for a while after reading posts from you and others that say their gaskets failed awhile after they were already fixed due to warped heads. It's been 15,000 miles since they fixed mine and the truck runs perfect! I figured if my heads were warped I would have seen signs of it by now. I'm glad BTH posted, that cleared up a few questions about headgaskets and tuners.

 

If they checked it out, you might be alright. I just know that for me, after I had ARPs installed(now I didn't have head problems that I had noticed, I just put them on their because I was doing bigger injectors and I know that would cause it to blow if they were just bolts and then on the dyno she went spittin) and then the incident on the dyno and had to have it done all over again and the machine shop had to shave off a significant amount, closer then I would have liked to needing new heads. Now no problems whatsoever.