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
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
