Some information on the Ford 6.0 engine-long post

ricatic

Well-known member
After doing battle with the bashers on another forum regarding the Ford 6.0 engine I put together this post. I thought that some of the 6.0 drivers here might be interested. It is not my goal to attempt to change anybodies opinion on the engine. The goal is to provide the most current responses to the nagging questions that plague the engines reputation. There are resolutions now that work very well for decreasing the odds of having the common problems. I hope you find it worthwhile reading.

A synopsis of the Ford 6.0 engines issues and resolutions

1. The ambulance problem: Ford ate this one big time when all they were doing was trying to buy goodwill. The ambulance builders created the entire problem themselves. Ford specified the use of the Motorcraft Gold Premium coolant for this engine. The ambulance builders used the much cheaper green ethylene glycol coolants to add the coolant needed to account for the added capacity of the rear heater system added to the chassis. The two coolants do not mix, they eventually gelled and engines overheated. Head gasket debacle number one. They also idle these beasts forever. Bad idea. The coolant issues have been resolved
2. Early fuel injector issues: The high tech injectors introduced in the 6.0 require clean everything, oil, fuel and the proper filters. The diesel fuel available in the US in 2003 was not even low sulphur. Then we got the low sulphur. These fuels were too dirty and the cetane numbers were too low for the new injectors. These fuels wreaked havoc on the injectors and the egr valve. The USLD fuel we have today has eliminated most of the issues. Another contributor to injector failures was running the truck out of fuel. Almost immediate death to injectors. This issue is largely resolved
3. EGR valves: Dirty fuel, poor maintenance and total lack of understanding at the time caused many EGR valve issues. This issue is also largely resolved
4. EGR cooler failure: It took a while for this to surface. When it happened the technical expertise was not there to properly diagnose the problem. I have seen many threads on the diesel boards that start out with “ I am on my third egr cooler and my second set of head gaskets”. It still happens. The techs were in the parts throwing mode at that time. Some still are. We now know the real culprit. This issue has been resolved.
5. Oil cooler failure: The real culprit for 90% of the issues with the 6.0. The casting sand issues with the IH block are now well understood. The clogging of the oil cooler with sand is what caused the egr cooler failures. Up until very recently, a failed egr cooler did not get you the new oil cooler you needed. It does now. The stock oil cooler, when not clogged does a great job. It would outlast 2 or 3 egr coolers before it ruptured. If we install a coolant filter early enough in the game, the clogging happens in the filter not the oil cooler. It is never too late to install a coolant filter either. Recurrent failures of oil/egr coolers after a proper repair and a coolant filter installation are almost unheard of. This issue has been largely resolved.
6. Engine oil and fuel filters: The aftermarket filter people jumped on board immediately. The problem is the filter assembly and the filter design is patented. The aftermarket had to get around that problem. Some designed their filter with an integral cap. When the oil change houses used them they often threw the original cap away. The aftermarket ended up with “will fit” filters that did not fit. The filters failed and engines blew up. This is well documented if one is inclined to seek out the information. Aftermarket fuel filters are just as bad. Some look almost identical but in testing, they drop too much fuel pressure through the filter. Remember the injectors like good fuel pressure. This issue has been resolved providing the owner listens to the advice given.
7. Extended service intervals: The manual is very clear on the service intervals. This engine is unforgiving of neglect. Change the oil and filter at 5000 miles. Change the fuel filters at no more than 15000 miles. There is nothing you can do that is more important than this yet owners run longer times and wonder why they have problems. Another issue that relies on the owner for resolution.
8. Oil leaks: Some diesels leak, some do not. All brands have the same problem to varying degrees. In my travels through the forums, rear seal failures have become less common. When you have oil rammed through some areas of the engine at 4500 psi or more it happens. The 7.3 had oil leak issues. We will live with some of this. So far, mine does not leak any oil.
9. Head gaskets and head bolts: This is the most often mentioned problem with the 6.0. It is also the most misunderstood. Early ambulance failures due to overheating started the misunderstanding. No engine can withstand overheating for long. This buried the Ford techs. They had no training and little technical support for the rapidly escalating and much unexpected failures. These engines probably did need head gaskets and new bolts. Because the early failures needed the gasket change, the standard procedure became changing them for every egr cooler, coolant discharge out the overflow issue or any other coolant related issue. This is a huge part of the warranty dispute with IH. They were reimbursing Ford for all this work and Dealerships were removing cabs and a lot of other nonsense because IH was paying for it. The head gaskets are not a problem. They have proven to be reliable in modified engines with more than 600 horsepower. The torque to yield (tty) head bolts have been problematic. When pushed beyond the limits of their design they will fail. The truth is being revealed to a greater degree every day. First, there are hundreds of thousands of 6.0 engines out there running around with the stock components. How can that be? Simple, they have not been overheated, over pressured, ill maintained and hopped up with the wrong equipment. Certainly luck has played a hand here. These engines did not have a large amount of retained casting sand so they have avoided the egr cooler/oil cooler debacle. Many engines have been warranted and repaired with stock tty head bolts and not failed again. The quality of the technician doing the repair is critical though. High performance replacement head studs like those from American Racing Products(ARP) has virtually eliminated the problem. Properly installed, you can dyno 700 hp with them. Issue mostly resolved with proper owner participation
10. Tuners: This has been a huge problem until recently. The early tuners were based on 7.3 technologies. The shift on the fly type that works well on the 7.3 is death on the 6.0, both engine and transmission. Many head gaskets were compromised with these devices and Ford paid a lot of the bills. Is this a design shortfall? The use of true programmers like the SCT with tuning that is custom written for your trucks computer strategy have proven reliable performers. Custom tuning of both the engine and the transmission has produced great improvements in towing heavy loads with more properly placed power bands.
11. Technicians: This could be the number one problem. The incompetent ones make huge messes while working on this engine and then freely tell the owner he was a fool for buying a 6.0. Nice, just the insult the guy needed to hear. The “throw parts and pray” techs have done more harm to the reputation of this engine than all the other ten sections combined. If I ever had a tech tell me something like that I would be on a mission to have him terminated.
I know this was long but I felt this information was important enough to put out there. Please do not mistake this as a sales pitch for 6.0 purchases. Use it to make an intelligent decision if you do buy one.
Respectfully
Ricatic
 

jimtoo

Moderator
"11. Technicians: This could be the number one problem. The incompetent ones make huge messes while working on this engine and then freely tell the owner he was a fool for buying a 6.0. Nice, just the insult the guy needed to hear. The “throw parts and pray” techs have done more harm to the reputation of this engine than all the other ten sections combined. If I ever had a tech tell me something like that I would be on a mission to have him terminated. "

I was parts and service manager for a GM dealer. The #11 causes more problems than just about anything else, not only on the Ford, but any manufacture. If the techs do not receive the proper training, they do more harm than good most of the time. Especially to the reputation of an engine or product.

Jim M
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Is it great to have knowledgeable members on this forum, or what??? Thanks for the informative and what I believe to be a well written post.
 

boatdoc

Well-known member
That's a great and very informative post!! Although trying to find that 1 in 1000 tech that knows those engines is the hard part. After two of them, an '04 and '06 with 5 turbo charger problems I gave up and now have a Cummins under our hood and after two years couldn't be happier going down that long desolate road not worrying about that long list. I try not to bash them but it is MY experience that to use them as a PULL ONLY vehicle, non daily driver which sits a good portion of the time, they don't cut the mustard.
 

superduty08

Tennessee Chapter Leaders
Great info. I was one of the lucky ones that never had a problem with my '03 but of course I maintained mine well.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Well Jim2, in all the GM dealers I worked at, the parts managers called them "shotgun techs". Open the hood and shoot at it and what ever it hits replace.
 

santafedave

Santafedave
Great and informative post. I have a F250 04 and I havent' had any problems with the engine or tranny so far. I have changed the fuel filters (3 times) and I bought the lifetime oil change option from my dealer and used it about 20 times so far (every 3,000 miles). Transmission oil changed twice, and coolent flush twice. I now have about 68000 miles on my truck and she runs great. Downtown Ford in Sacramento, CA has really excellent diesel mechanics and they are hard to find in this ecconomy with the downsizing of dealers across the nation. Thanks again for the post.
 

nscaler2

Well-known member
Thanks for the informative and very detailed post. However, I must have gotten one of the 6.0s that were built on Friday. By the way this Ford is TOTALLY stock, no tuners or 3rd party engine or tranny ad dons. At 15000 miles power steering fluid leaks. At 28000 miles my torque converter shelled out and took the tranny with it. Thankfully fixed under warranty with a new converter and a rebuild on the transmission. That one still makes me wonder what caused it and when will it happen again. At 40000 miles we lost the EGR valve and EGR cooler. All this with ALL THE CORRECT AND REQUIRED MAINTENANCE at a Ford service shop that does nothing but trucks and motor homes. Oil changed every 5000, fuel filters every 10000. All done with genuine FORD parts on aftermarket stuff. So, not everybody gets good service from one of these even with all the expensive maintenance.
 

ricatic

Well-known member
nscaler,

I have a few questions for you. When the egr valve and cooler were replaced, did they also replace the oil cooler? If your repair is more than a year or so old the new policy of automatically changing out the oil cooler was not in place. This is so important. The latest data is showing that a very high percentage, like nearly all, of the egr coolers failed due to a slowly failing oil cooler. I left out of the posting, because it was long already, the new factory position on this. If the engine oil temperature(eot) and engine coolant temperature(ect) differential, at operating temperatures, exceeds 15 degrees and you still have warranty, you get a complete coolant flush, a new oil cooler and a new egr cooler. They also have introduced a new computer flash that will turn on a check engine light if you have this issue. It only works on 05's and up. Your egr repairs are a classic example of why you need a coolant filter. I would install one tomorrow, it is that important. If you took out an egr cooler in 40000 miles you more than likely have an engine with a casting sand issue. Without the coolant filter, your oil cooler is still acting like a coolant filter. If I owned your truck, and I would not be afraid to own it, I would be asking my dealer to run a eot/ect comparison test asap. You said your truck is stock but have you installed any gauges or monitors? This is also important. The factory gauges in the truck are basically idiot lights. I use an Edge Insight Engine Monitor in my truck. This is not a tuner. I use it to monitor 14 parameters on my engine. It works great. I also monitor fuel pressure with an ISSPRO EV2 gauge. This is also very important. Fuel pressures below 45psi are very hard on injectors. You need to know the fuel pressure. Your maintenance schedule is the best thing you can do for the engine. However, it has nothing to do with the egr system failure you experienced. In regards to your 5r100 transmission issues, take solace in the fact that you were in the smallest of minorities and it is highly unlikely you will have further transmission issues. Although the GM crowd will argue this, the 5r100 5 speed automatic installed in these trucks has proven to be a match for their Allissons. Many guys are running 500 hp on stock transmissions with great success. I know this was long but I hope you find it helpful.

Regards

Ricatic
 

tmcran

Well-known member
Humm IMO the 5r100 trans is not even close to the Allison..Anyone want to trade a 5r100 for the Allison? I think not. Buddy and I tow very similar weight RV. On climbs he is shifting in and out all over the place. The Allison at most grades will down shift to 5th and stay there. On some very steep grades will go to 4th,
 

ricatic

Well-known member
I knew the Allison comment would be controversial with the Allison guys. I have owned three motorhomes with Allison transmissions and they were great. The comparisons with your buddy while probably an accurate appraisal of your situation, does not universally apply. Different vehicles with different specs and options can vary greatly between brands and individual examples in the same brand and model. The fact is the 5r100 has been nearly bullet proof in applications up to 500 horsepower. Both transmissions have held up well. I do not believe he will have additional problems. I wish your Allison the same.

Regards

Ricatic
 

nscaler2

Well-known member
Ricatic,
Again thanks for the reply post. It was very enlightening. The repair done on my engine was done on 06/25/2009.The following is a direct quote from the service ticket written at that time:
Cause Failed EGR cooler
Correction Performed engine coolant loss procedures for blowing smoke while driving, pressure tested the degas bottle and cap, pressure tested the EGR cooler on the vehicle, found EGR cooler has failed, obtained approval to install a new EGR cooler and oile cooler assembly, topped off fluids and road tested operation.
The following is the parts list
1 100F/4C3Z0P456AF Cooler - EGR
1 100F/3C3Z6A642AA Kit
1 100F/3C3Z6C683AA Filter Asy
1 100F/XO15W40QSG Oil - Engine
1 100F/FL2016 Kit- Element & Gasket
3 100M/028701 Brake Cln
3 100F/VC7B Anti-freeze
1 100F/YB632 Clutch Asy - fan
15 100F/XO15W40QSDB 15W40 Bulk Oil

It appears they replaced the EGR cooler and oil cooler but did not flush engine coolant. Where in the scheme of things dose the coolant filter that you refer to, fit. Is it something that the dealer does or is it an aftermarket thing. Again thanks for the info. I will definately have them do the eot/ect comparison at my next oil change (Approx 1500 miles from now). Will the Edge Insight monitor these parameters. Again thank you so much for your attention to this matter. It is greatly appreciated.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
Well done Ricatic.

There has been lots of talk about bad engines for years, and GM was possibly the worst with their 5.7L and later their 6.2L, which is a great engine other then the tech attitude toward creating extra work. The 6.5L was also the worst of all the GM's. I had trucks of both models and they were great trucks with no maintenance hickups at all.
I now own a F250 with the famous 6.0L and truly believe that it will serve me well. But I only bought a newer diesel after the new fuel came into effect because European designed injectors were not made for dirty fuel.

The days of throwing any oil or fuel to a diesel are over, and we will benefit from all the modern equipment for years to come.
 

boatdoc

Well-known member
If the coolant filter and gauges are so important to the Ford 6.0 why are they not there from the factory?? They certainly couldn't cost that much as to not have them be OEM.
 

ricatic

Well-known member
Boatdoc,

You will have to ask Ford that question. You are right, it would have been cheap at the time. They certainly know that IH/Navistar recalled every truck they delivered and installed a coolant filter. They also made them standard equipment on all new trucks. They also know the casting sand clogging the oil cooler issue. Their latest computer flash has provisions for monitoring the water/oil temp difference and turning on a CEL if it exceeds 15 degrees. Just because Ford dropped the ball originally, remember a Ford family member owns the Detroit Lions, owners should not ignore the peril. If you do not have a coolant filter, you are running a huge risk of oil cooler failure. If you do not monitor wt/ot so you know if a problem is developing, you can not fix the problem before it gets to disaster stage. I can not say this enough, IF YOU OWN A 6.0 FORD DIESEL ENGINE YOU NEED TO INSTALL A COOLANT FILTER. THERE IS NO BETTER MOD YOU CAN DO.

Nscaler,

You did get the right repairs but I would have thought the would have changed the coolant. You are in great shape to move forward. The Edge Insight is rapidly becoming the favorite add on for engine monitoring on the Ford 6.0. It monitors ect/eot and many other parameters. It has a real cool ability to disply parameters on a two line bar graph. Here is what I monitor on my engine.

Page 1 EGT, ECT, TURBO BOOST AND TRANSMISSION TEMP

Page 2 TWO LINE BAR GRAPH SHOWING ECT AND EOT

Page 3 TRANS TURBINE SPEED, CONVERTER SLIP PERCENTAGE , MAP, IAT

Page 4 MODULE VOLTAGE, RPM, SPEED , RUN TIME

It monitors a lot more so you can pick what you like. It is so simple to set up you will be amazed. You will still need a fuel pressure gauge though because the 6.0 computers do not provide that data to the OBD port. Too bad because the low fuel pressure problems that kill injectors would have shown up a lot sooner.

Regards
 

ky-newbie

Member
Ricatic,

This is a lot of good information, but a little confusing for a newbie. I'm shopping for an F-250 right now, and am specifically looking for a 6.0. In your posts, you mention lots of items that have been "resolved". Does "resolved" mean all of those have been recalls? Is there any way to tell if those have been fixed on a truck for a possible purchase, outside of having a dealer check everything before the purchase? If I purchase a 6.0 now (e.g. late 2004-2005), should I immediately take it to the dealer, and say "There are 47 recalls on this engine. Please fix them. Oh, and coffee, please, while I wait." :O)

Thanks,

Lannie
 

shriver63

Active Member
Humm IMO the 5r100 trans is not even close to the Allison..Anyone want to trade a 5r100 for the Allison? I think not. Buddy and I tow very similar weight RV. On climbs he is shifting in and out all over the place. The Allison at most grades will down shift to 5th and stay there. On some very steep grades will go to 4th,

Then why is it a well known fact on the Duramax forums and with all my buddies adding horsepower to their trucks that 90 hp is the limit before you put your Allison into limp mode? Never had that problem with Ford
 

don46

Member
I would guess with any make or model you can have some bad ones, however to say that there were no issues with the 6.0 would be irresponsible, and to say that oil leaks are to expected, not sure about that either. If we're expressing opinions I'll say the 6.0 was junk and this conclusion was reached after 5 oil leaks, 3 turbos and thirst for coolant, with less than 30k mileage and I might add that I know alot of guys with similar stories. I traded for a 6.4 and I must admit that I have a displeasure of that vehicle as well, oh the truck is great no problems whatsoever in 20k, just I have to assume that one of the fuel lines has a hole in it, because you surely couldn't put that much fuel through the motor. This thing is terrible, like I'm talking maybe if I'm lucky 8 mpg it has logged as low as 5 the high has been 9, these are hand calculated and its never hit the double digits. So now I'm contemplating getting rid of it for the 6.7, maybe I'll be as happy as I was with the 7.3, don't even suggest a chev or dodge not interested.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
I would guess with any make or model you can have some bad ones, however to say that there were no issues with the 6.0 would be irresponsible, and to say that oil leaks are to expected, not sure about that either. If we're expressing opinions I'll say the 6.0 was junk and this conclusion was reached after 5 oil leaks, 3 turbos and thirst for coolant, with less than 30k mileage and I might add that I know alot of guys with similar stories. I traded for a 6.4 and I must admit that I have a displeasure of that vehicle as well, oh the truck is great no problems whatsoever in 20k, just I have to assume that one of the fuel lines has a hole in it, because you surely couldn't put that much fuel through the motor. This thing is terrible, like I'm talking maybe if I'm lucky 8 mpg it has logged as low as 5 the high has been 9, these are hand calculated and its never hit the double digits. So now I'm contemplating getting rid of it for the 6.7, maybe I'll be as happy as I was with the 7.3, don't even suggest a chev or dodge not interested.

I have been getting 9 towing and 12-14 not towing with my 6.4. I hope to get better in the future as I only have 10000 miles on it.
 

tmcran

Well-known member
I would guess with any make or model you can have some bad ones, however to say that there were no issues with the 6.0 would be irresponsible, and to say that oil leaks are to expected, not sure about that either. If we're expressing opinions I'll say the 6.0 was junk and this conclusion was reached after 5 oil leaks, 3 turbos and thirst for coolant, with less than 30k mileage and I might add that I know alot of guys with similar stories. I traded for a 6.4 and I must admit that I have a displeasure of that vehicle as well, oh the truck is great no problems whatsoever in 20k, just I have to assume that one of the fuel lines has a hole in it, because you surely couldn't put that much fuel through the motor. This thing is terrible, like I'm talking maybe if I'm lucky 8 mpg it has logged as low as 5 the high has been 9, these are hand calculated and its never hit the double digits. So now I'm contemplating getting rid of it for the 6.7, maybe I'll be as happy as I was with the 7.3, don't even suggest a chev or dodge not interested.

If I had as good of luck as you have had with the FORD I would not want to consider another make either. :confused:
 
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