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I am new to diesels. I just bought a 2006 F250 PSD King Ranch with only 32600 miles. the truck is in mint condition. My questions are about maintenance. Should I use additives in fuel and radiator. Aftermarket filters? What type of oil is best? I plan on having this P/U for awhile and I want to do it right. Any advice for a newbie?
There are many good oil filters out there, including the Motorcraft. Personally, I prefer use Baldwin, but Fleetguard (there's one in my truck right now), Wix, Donaldson, Hastings, and Luberfiner are all very good brands. I probably left some out. :-((
Current wisdom says avoid Fram.
Consider adding some aftermarket additional filtration to enhance the life of parts they protect. Your tranny already has an external filter, but how about coolant and hydraulic system (power steering and hydroboost) filters?
When you bought a diesel, you already got very heavy-duty equipment installed. All you need to do is take good care of it and it will last a LOOOOOOOONG time!
Ford recommends a fuel additive like stanadyne but no coolant additives. As long as the truck has the Yellow coolant no additives just change it at 100k. FYI no oil additives either it will ruin the injectors.
Congrats on your new truck. go to the 6.0 forum as there is a ton of great info there. Only use motorcraft or racor filters. Wix, fleetguard and such make great filters but not for the 6.0. "Will-fit" filters such as these are a disaster in the making. Alot of folks run 5-40 synthetic as the truck seems to run quieter. These trucks use oil to fire the injectors and the synthetic seems to do a fantastic job just remember to stick t=with the 5000 mile change as the 6.0 is known to shear oil. For the antofreeze use the Motorcraft gold only and in the transmission use only Mercon Sp. Check out the 6.0 forum and take notes. Well worth your time and it will save you alof of money and headache in the future.....
Change your fuel filters religiously at 15,000 intervals like the owner manual says and use only Motorcraft or Racor filters. I used Rotella 15-40 in my 05 and changed every 3000 miles. 6.0L engines shear oil rather severely in the first 1500 or so miles. I used 10-30 Rotella in the cold nothern Indiana winters.