6.0 Stock vs Modified

[Turbo Wax]

I have a 2003 Excursion with the 6.0 engine and 130 k, besides the aftermarket exhaust and air cleaner the engine is bone stock, talking to my Ford dealer parts manager. He feels that most of the problems that we see are related to the engine up grades,bigger tires and abusive driving, on the list of things that we talk about were the following items;

EGR deleted, Head Studs.

Reading about these failures it appears that in almost all of the cases whom this has happened the engine had some source of up to grade, so my question is;

Is this true? Or these bad things are going to happen regardless of the engine been stock or modified? if so, please explain to me your technical point of view.

The reason for my question is that I'm not very far from having our truck paid off, and I expect to get over 500K of trouble free miles is that an even realistic goal?


Thanks

[alwil]

Thats funny I blew my heads off towing a 2K trailer on the stock tune before my egr delete.
If aftermarket parts were the issue Ford would have had no case against international.

[Tyler]

After market has nothing to do with it, it only brings up the problem you were going to have sooner.

[scotty2280]

you will find plenty of 6.0 that fail stock. not to say they are bad trucks but your chances of hitting 500k stock whith no problems are slim at best. there are preventive things you can do which will help you get there thou.

[PGreenSVT]

Your dealer doesn't know what he is talking about. Take a look at the links in my sig for a quick run down.

[99 Stroker]

As stated, it is not aftermarket parts that are hurting these engines, but rather bringing out problems faster (obviously).

It seems to be very hit or miss with the 6.0L, some like myself have been tuned for 30k miles with no problems. Others go through motors 6 months after getting the truck.

Honestly, if you want longevity and reliability out of your truck, simpler is better. If you have no towing needs and the truck has worked fine for you thus far, I dont see a need for change.

As for your 500K mile trouble free miles, with the right maintenance and a steady foot it would be a long shot. A rebuild will most likely be in order at some time, thinking somewhere between 300-400k would be a better guess

[Galaxie]

These things are not like gasers. There is a good chance that CORRECT after market parts and tunes will help these things last longer.

Sure, you go puting 40lbs a boost with a bunch of nitrous oxide to your motor, its not going to last all that long.

[Turbo Wax]

Thanks for the replays, we do a very tight maintenance, so I feel good about that part, we don't abuse her, and we tow maybe 8 times a year short distances at a moderate speed;


99 StrokerIf you have no towing needs, and the truck has worked fine for you thus far, I don't see a need for change.

That's exactly what I'm thinking but then again, with what appears to be so many failures I want to see if I can avoid them

[DevineRacingF350]

Just thought I'd mention I have a '04 and I have put 45,000 miles on its this year since Jan. pulled trailers about every week big and small. Stock motor other than I run the edge programmer (SCT in the works after top-end rebuild) and I just turned 178,000 miles last night pulling a 12,000lbs boat up out of phoenix AZ and all I have ever done is replace 2 injectors back at 140,000 miles, and today the alternator cause it went out last night at the bottom of the hill, still made it home though on just the batteries. So its just luck of draw I think with how good a motor you get and how well it's maintained.

[Turbo Wax]

DevineRacingF350

Excellent feeback! Thanks for sharing that information


PGreenSVT

Thanks for the link!! Great technical explanation!

A few questions; I assume that my truck must have that type of coolant, since I purchase her with 23K, where can I find the proper procedure to flush the coolant system? It is possible that the damage maybe is already done? I don't have any issues at this point, but flushing the coolant system and changing the brand of fluid seems much more inexpensive than doing the EGR delete and it may prevent the failure?