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How much before heads blow?

2K views 27 replies 12 participants last post by  rageingbull 
#1 · (Edited)
My brother sold me his 99 F-350 4x4 PSD and got a 05 F-250 4x4 6.0L CC SRW automatic. He is wondering how much he can mod it without blowing the head gaskets. This truck is stock with 50K on it. He is looking at either a 4" or 5" exhaust with cat and muffler delete and a AFE Stage 2 intake. He likes the SCT Livewire for the tuner and gauges but isn't sure if it will be too much for the stock engine with preloaded tunes and how much custom tunes he could add without fear of damage. Any advice from some of you 6.0 folks would sure be appreciated and I'm sure he will looking here first chance he gets.
 
#2 ·
I honestly don't believe that any tuning on stock injectors and turbo is enough to cause head gasket problems on a 7.3. A 6.0 would be a different story altogether.
 
#3 ·
His 05 is a 6.0. I love the 7.3 I got from him and can't believe he got rid of it. He is worried about the 6.0 and I don't know anything about them so I am no help.
 
#4 ·
Sorry, should have paid closer attention! I personally wouldn't recommend any more than a street tune for a stock 6.0 as far as daily driving goes. It's a real crapshoot with them. Some never blow and some do it fairly quickly.
 
#5 ·
From what I understand you can get custom tunes and as long as you keep your EGT's down you shouldnt have a problem...
 
#6 ·
He has a 3yr/36K warranty with this truck but I am not sure if it would be covered with the use of tunes. He can always get it to me and I can fix it but then the costs are on him but we would use head studs if I did it.
 
#8 ·
If the dealer sees a tuner on the truck when it goes in for service... they might throw your warrenty out the window, or if the postons have heat scorch marks on them. Doing a headgasket/ headstud job is quite the undertaking. You need to pull the cab off the truck and then start the motor work. Plenty of guys on here have done it and there are some good pictures and write-ups to look at, but it's no afternoon job like bolting on a turbo or installing an exhaust.
 
#7 ·
Tunes will void your warranty, depending on the dealer the exhaust and intake shouldn't...
 
#9 ·
I kinda figured the warranty would be voided with tunes. He might be better off just bringing me the truck and letting me stud it right from the start and head off any issues before they start. Hopefully with stock street tunes he won't have any troubles tho. I don't think he wants anything too wild, just a little more power is all.
 
#10 ·
If he is really concerned with his warranty issues he may want to wait before he starts modding. There are some dealers who are more "mod-friendly" than others. Of course if you took the truck in for servicing you would return the truck to stock and remove the SCT from inside the truck, if at all possible. Good luck in your quest for power and information.
 
#11 ·
I have 20+ years experience as a heavy equipment and big truck mechanic so his truck will not be a problem, just different is all. I would most likely just pull the engine out and stand it but I would look into the r/r options before I did anything.
 
#12 ·
Will removing the tuner leave codes or any other clues that a tuner was there? Is there anyway for them to tell a SCT Livewire was there if he takes it out? other than the EGT probe?
 
#13 ·
That's the problem with something like the LiveWire or Bullydog outlook or Edge Attitude. When you remove the programmer you have an EGT probe with no gauge. It's a little bit of a "tell". If you program the truck back to stock with the SCT and unhook the battery cables long enough to clear the keep alive memory you shouldn't have problem with the majority of dealers. There are a few inconclusive codes that will come up but they go away after you run the truck through a few driving cycles. The problem with this is it isn't always possible if you have a failure that prevents the truck from being driven.
 
#14 ·
The only other option would be to plumb in a egt gauge after the livewire was removed but that is not a real cheap option. I think I'll tell him to hold off if he can until the Southern Smoke Show. I live in Ohio but all of my family is in Tn and only about an hour or less from that area. It would be a good chance to meet and talk to people face to face about these trucks and what works and what not to do. I am sure most everyone on here is aware, a oops can get very expensive in a hurry. Even with free labor the parts are not cheap. That might be a good place for him to meet some of the top tuners if they are there and get some top notch info and advise. He already killed a cummins and had the guy tell him he didn't want anymore of it.
 
#15 ·
Thank you to everyone for the tips and advice. If my brother hasn't looked at here yet I'll be sure to tell him to make sure he does before he does anything he might regret.
 
#16 ·
Thank you all for the information and thanks for posting this for me Bro! My plans for now are just to add the 4 in turbo back MRBP exhaust with the muffler and cat delete and add a cold air intake. Once again thanks all!
 
#17 ·
If he does the intake and the exhaust he realistically shouldnt have any problems with warranty on a 6.0. my roomates dad has a new 6.4 and he wont even play with his exhaust that warranty is so tight. - HOWEVER - if he wants to play with his truck...and give it that "yup that ones mine." kinda touch tell him to blow a paycheck on aesthetics. new bumpers, CB radio, PA system, lift, rims, audio, what have you. Makes for a personalized ride and doesn't get you into any real warranty trouble. We have a very VERY popular offroad suspension company in my home town and the ford GM and Dodge dealerships all accept their suspension work as under warranty - so the lift might get you there but it doesnt mess with us down here.
 
#18 ·
if you're worried about warranty I wouldn't do an aftermarket intake. dealerships are very anal about them...seems that most are than not. Every dealership I've talked to told me to put my stocker back on before bringing it in. Now, if you're out on the road and don't carry the stocker with you and have an issue 1k miles away from your local mod friendly dealer then now you may have an issue with the dealer you gotta go to which you're unfamiliar with. stock is notorious for filtering great also.
 
#19 ·
Anytime John (ccrfs1256). Thats my brother and 1256 is his badge number. He might get away with a little more at the dealer than most. Him and my dad know the owner and are friends and seems like everyone wants to be nice to the paramedic. Should have kept this truck John but its too late now.
 
#20 ·
I have on 04 with a 6.0. I have a banks 6 gun and aem brute force intake and my head gaskets and egr cooler went at 51,000 miles. From my understanding, the sct is a lot more aggressive than the 6 gun. I had a real good friend of mine (which happens to be an ase diesel tech at a dealership I use to work at) repair it under warranty. I had him install the arp head studs and egr block off plate. It cost me $100.00 deductible and I had to buy the studs, but the total cost for what had to be done to myh truck was over $7800.00.
 
#22 ·
Thanks for the info. I have a friend who also has an 04 6.0 and he is the one who really put the whole thought of blowing the heads. He done so on his. Most of my friends who have the 6.0 seem to be blowing them after adding the tuners and turning them up without making and of the modifications to the head bolts. That is why I turned to you guys here to get my info, with this being by far the best place I have found for info on powerstrokes.
 
#23 ·
No problem. Hope it doesn't happen to him. I ran mine really hard for about 10-15,000 miles before they went. I had been trying to blow them since I bought the truck in Jan. 07, but I didn't install the chip until July of this year. Mine needed a lot more work than most that have been blowing. I blew 6 out of 8 cylinders when mine went. They had to put new heads, 3 injectors and a new turbo on mine. I was racing an 06 Duramax with an Edge Juice w/Attitude, cold air intake and straight pipe. I was beating him til it popped, but it was fun.
 
#24 ·
That is the fun part of my truck. A few of my friends have the older 5.9 cummins and even stock they are no match for the 6.0 especially on take off. And it never gets old playing with them either.
 
#25 ·
I have an 05 f350 6.0 85,000 miles with a 4" banks exhaust edge attitude chip, ive blown nearly everthing that can be blown including head gasket, im getting my truck back tomorrow had to get new EGR cooler and head gasket dealer recommened replacing the factory head studs with an RBP stud kit. Its all down to boost and the fact that the factory studs expand. What do you guys think?
 
#27 ·
The dealer i go to now is flexible when it comes to the after market stuff. Took a while to find one that did'nt ***** about the exhaust when i left it in for service, he put the studs in did everything else under warranty. Im going to buy the new warranty that just came out once you hit the 100,000 you can get another 100,000 mile waranty for about $2100 i think its worth it if your going to hold on to your truck.
 
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