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Total failure 2004 6.0L

1K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  john galt 
#1 ·
total failure, oil cooler went, took out egr cooler and egr valve and heated oil to high temp and took out injectors with out throwing a code. no warning at all. Made a stop for fuel and when started engine, clouds of steam rolled out tail pipe, checked gauges all where normal. out of town of coarse. Up graded to Billet, oil cooler and egr cooler and new injectors new oil and fuel filters and fluids at ford dealer in Madras Org. $5900. ? should I keep it or sell it now. They tell me with these up grades I should not have any more problems. Help me decide
 
#2 ·
It depends... If you re going to buy a monitor and keep an eye on oil temp and things like that and if you are not pushing it beyond its head bolt limits, then I say keep it. It's got a solid upgrade and a warranty. Otherwise, sell it. Driving a 6.0 around blind is dangerous to the wallet.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
I didn't see anything in the OP that would lead me to believe it's been Bulletproofed. In fact, I seriously doubt a dealer would even do studs properly for $5900, let alone new coolers, injectors, fluids and filters. I read that as it did not get new headsgaskets or studs and if the EGR cooler went, it's probably not long before it will need them. Am I wrong OP?
 
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#4 ·
The dash gauges are worthless either get a monitor and learn what everything is supposed to be or sell it.
 
#7 ·
Not sure what a billet cooler is.
 
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#10 ·
What's a Bullet oil cooler?
 
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#11 ·
I had figured the billet/bullet thing was a typo and that he was trying to say that he got a BPD oil cooler and EGR cooler. I also figured no studs. Seemed right for the money.

I may have read too much into it. So OP, what DID you get?
 
#13 ·
I highly doubt a Ford dealership had BPD products on the shelf and installed them on the truck. Maybe they just through the verbage around to make the OP think hid truck was bullet proofed now.:dunno:
 
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#14 · (Edited)
I wasn't thinking that they'd be on the shelf and - to the farther comment above - I never thought studs. He'd be hitting $10K+ at the dealer.

I have read instances on here where dealerships have installed BPD systems on request when provided. That was my supposition.

It just seemed like $6K for a standard oil and EGR cooler was highway robbery. Like highway-effin'-robbery.

So... this is all just conjecture until the OP gets back on here and clears it up. ...if he even knows, that is.


Edited to add...
Sorry guys. I reread and I missed injectors. So... OEM injectors, OEM oil cooler, OEM EGR cooler, fluids and labor. $6K? Possible, I suppose.
 
#15 ·
op.
you took our truck to the stealership...
go read through the stickies in the 6.0 section
especially monitoring a 6.0 and bulletproofing.

then get a good monitor
certain parts of the stock system are guaranteed to fail. the 6.0 is not a truck you just put fuel in and drive.
maintenance and monitoring are an absolute must.
the stock gauges are for decoration only exception oil pressure tels yhou the lpo system is working and the fuel gauge
i have an 04 and LOVE my truck
if you are in redding find a good local shop that knows how to treat the 6.0
dealerships were so bad with this vehicle it almost bankrupted ford...
they havent learned much since for the most part :doh:

first things you must do is flush the cooling system get rid of the g05 the stealership used and replace it with distilled water and elc i use ZRX-ZXED1 (part number) can be rdered at napa or amazon had it for a good price last i checked :thumb:

get a good monitor and watch your deltas elc eoc temp difference.
watch your pids and you can recognize a problem BEFORE it becomes catatrophic :thumb:

find out if your egr cooler is round or square...the square one WILL fail...that is just how they improved it. elc will help as it wont turn to gorilla snot like the g05 does.

the hpop in the early 04 has a high fail rate but it seems you either get a god one or a bad one. I had to put a terminator t500 in mine but it seems to be great :thumb:

the bad news is ford NEVER backed up 6.0 owners by doing the right thing so it fell to us
the good news is everything that goes boom on the 6.0 has a fix

the WCS section (west coast strokers) has a few good members in the redding area who can help yhou find a good shop.
my closest recommendation would be in sac the head guy at folsom lake ford is very good.
I know irronic he is at a stealership but he does his own stuff on the side with out the stealership mark up. his name is mark.
 
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#16 · (Edited)
It is possible that the OP got a BPD cooler and EGR and had it installed for 5900. That's 1595. for the cooler, and another 350 for a square cooler for an 04. So about 2k in BPD parts, plus injectors, and labor. Possible I guess
I've read you can place a round early model cooler in an 04. Gotta change a few parts, but it does take that problem out of the picture for a long, long time.
That being said, until the OP returns with a list of what they did, its all speculation.
I just had studs, HG, factory cooler, BPD EGR and water pump, 6.4 pushrods and banjo's, coolant flush, refill, heads flat, and FICMrepair.com FICM and Atlas flash done for less than the OP paid.
I vote he keeps the truck, he is at least part way to a reliable engine, and get a monitor.
 
#17 ·
These trucks are expensive and can bankrupt people if you're not careful.

IMHO, the diesel fuel for these trucks is cheap, but what jacks the price up is the maintenance. The failure you described is pretty uncommon, but if there's on OEM cooler and EGR in there as replacements, there's a good chance it will go again sometime in the future, although it may be another 150k miles. Just do a search for recurring oil cooler problems. Your heads have not been swapped yet, and they most likely will require it sometime in the future for a tune of $4k+.

My truck cost me around $.20 per mile for diesel to drive, but once I take in repairs this jumps to a bit more than $2 per mile to drive. If you look at a lot of our signature blocks, I really don't think I'm alone.

If the cost is keeping you up at night, or you're moving your family into a small apartment instead of a regular sized house, tme to get rid of it.
 
#18 ·
Everyone seems to be overlooking the "new injectors" part of the OP. Pretty sure that's a cool 2 grand at least from a dealer.
 
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#19 ·
early or late 04 has a bearing on this.
but these can eat you alive if you dont research what you have to do to treat them like they require.
i HOPE to never have to get rid of my truck. but it is either maint or repairs with these.
not something you just fuel and go.
that said they are still way more fun than anythnig else i have owned in a long time

just somethings you need to be aware of if you are going to own one.
with the prices dropping i fear too many will buy them without knowing how to own one...
which will result in the unnecessary death of many an otherwise good 6.0 :sad:
 
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