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new, old 6.0 with "BHG" advice.

5K views 43 replies 8 participants last post by  562uned 
#1 · (Edited)
So i recently purchased a 2006 6.0 from a family friend for next to nothing, he told me he had parked it because of the BHG and it has been sitting for 3 years. truck was extremely dirty inside and out (he lived on a farm.) i have been going through and pressure washing the truck and engine bay and have noticed some strange things like cut wires and what not. my main question is should i tear in to it as is not doing my own diagnosis, or attempt to start the truck? i am worried since it has been sitting for 3+ years and since there could be water in the cylinder's and i would hate to lock up the motor. also should i run some sea foam or something through the bottom end?

Also, coming in to this, what should i be looking to replace, I've watched bunch of videos and read a ton of DIY's on this subject it sounds like i will need...

Head gasket kit with head gaskets, misc gaskets, ARP studs and take the heads down to have them checked and surfaced.. Ive heard possibly the EGR cooler can cause BHG type symptoms so im thinking i need this as well, how about an updated oil cooler?, Are there any problem hoses i should buy, new radiator? radiator hoses, do the water pump? i just want to get this thing apart and back together, and not have to touch it again...

Also ive heard doing the cab on approach i need to buy a special tool to get the back studs near that cab, is this correct?

Thanks for the help!
 
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#2 · (Edited)
If it's been sitting for three years I'd do the following.
Drain the fuel tank and refill with at least 10 gallons of fresh diesel and new fuel filters.
Drain the oil and replace with a decent dino oil (Rotella T5 or similar) no need for a real high dollar oil at this point.
If there is any significant amount of water in the oil when drained, I'd probably stop there and go ahead and pull the engine.
Drain the HFCM and clean it out, if necessary. (Likely is)
Pull the glow plugs, squirt in a little marvel mystery oil in each cylinder and turn the engine over at least two full turns by hand.
Replace glow plugs.
Get two known good batteries.
Turn the key on and make sure the upper fuel bowl is filling up with fuel.
Try to crank it.

If it cranks, start diagnosis of HG problem. If it doesn't, start diagnosis of no start problem.
Check back in here with results.

Edit: Curious about the cut wires too. Maybe some pics?
 
#4 ·
if the cut wires are at the drivers side rear of engine bay, they're probably just accesory wiring from the factory.
keep in mind it will take a lot of cranking before you build compression after sitting that long. so don't freak when it spins over like it's freewheeling. just keep the batteries charged up good. that is key. matter of fact, after sitting that long, get some fresh ones in there. and keep the charger handy.
oh and make sure there's no nests in the air cleaner lol.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the response! Yes there are cut wires on the driver side and the passenger side.. here are a few pics. I hooked the charger up today just to see if they hold any juice. Also my Amazon order of oil came in today so I should be making some progress come this weekend.
 

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#6 · (Edited)
The blue, black, white, and red wires are accessory wires that ford runs from the factory. They come out under the driver's side dash and can be used to wire things up without having to drill a hole through the firewall. Those are a non-issue for you as they are.

With that said, it looks like the insulation on them was chewed up or eaten by something. Mice, rats and other rodents love that stuff, so you'll need to really look over the other wiring on that truck. I see a black wire below that bundle that looks like it suffered the same fate.
 
#7 ·
Yes I noticed that one as well. Luckily looking over the truck this is all over seen so far. The one on the passenger side concern me as I'm not sure where they lead. The ones on the driver side looked like they were cut on purpose, or now I know ran for accessories. Any idea where the passenger side ones go?
 
#11 ·
So just an update. I drained the oil, which looked pretty good, and put the new oil in. I didn't really see any water, so that is promising. I also pumped about 22 gallons of diesel out.. which was a pain. I bought some kleen diesel and put 5 gallons of fresh diesel with about a 3rd of the bottle of this in the tank. i also ordered a fuel filter set. i plan on running the pump to drain whats left in the lines and bring some new fuel in and then replacing the filter. I still have to pull the air filter and make sure there are no critters living in there... and try to turn the crank by hand, which based on not seeing any water in the oil i think will be ok. I also went and repaired the map sensor wires and looked for any other broken wires which i didnt see. Im still pulling sticks and random junk out of the engine bay, i guess the rodents drug this all up there.. annoying. Will post an update when i go to start this thing..
 
#12 ·
Ok so i ended up getting the truck started last night and it ran pretty bad. I will be replacing the air filter and fuel filters over the next day but have been reading about the fcim and injector issues, but also know there could be a bad wire somewhere from the critters. I didnt see any smoke which is a plus. trying now to decide what i should do for my next steps. im torn between verifying glow plug / injector functionality or just tearing in to the truck to do the head gaskets and while im in there send the injectors out to be rebuilt and checking the wiring harness. seems kind of pointless to get the truck halfway apart to verify something just to tear it back apart to do the head gaskets. what do you guys think?
 
#13 ·
absolutely get all the information before diving in and having the engine inoperable. last thing you wanna do is get it all apart and not find a smoking gun.
trust me. diagnose the fault first. it's the logical thing to do
 
#14 ·
good news

So in doing more cleaning of rats nests and searching for chewed wires, i stumbled across the alternator wire being chewed in half and the oil temp sensor being chewed in half. after fixing these and inspecting the rest of the truck, and changing the fuel filters that look like they have never been changed, and the air filter that was super clogged. I fired up the truck and it.. ran, and sounded really good. no smoke, nothing. So at this point im planning on flushing the cooling system, replacing the oil cooler and egr cooler (looking for any other chewed up wires) and then driving this thing around a bit and see if it actually has any BHG issues. on a side note, there is a pretty heavy oil leak coming from the front-ish of the engine. im going to dig in to this a little more tonight.

so my next question is.. while im doing the oil cooler and egr cooler, should i put in head studs? is this possible to do with out pulling the AC components?
 
#15 ·
Doing head studs is a LOT more work than just doing an oil and egr cooler. Yes you can do it without disconnecting any ac lines. There's a lot more to doing head gaskets and studs than just pulling the heads slapping new gaskets on and throwing studs in. You can do an oil and egr cooler in about 8-10 hours whereas head gaskets could take 24+ hours of actually work time. I'd say if it's in your budget, you can afford the down time, and you do your research on how to do it properly then go for it. Otherwise hold off until you can condemn them actually being bad. Yes it will suck tearing it back apart after doing an egr and oil cooler if that's what happens but the tear down to that point will be pretty quick
 
#16 ·
So. I haven't had as much time to work on this as I would have liked buy I have the intake off now. I have been cleaning and checking the wiring harness as I go. It's amazing how much crap the rats brought in to this engine bay. Either way. I ended up flushing the cooling system with CLR before I got the truck apart. Cleared out a ton of junk. Ran the truck for about 20 mins. During this I noticed the radiator was cracked. So I ordered a new one. Also noticed some of the couplers for the IC piping were starting to tear. So I ordered the piping kit on eBay. Took the egr valve out and soaked that. Should have the old oil cooler out tonight. Interested to see what it looks like.
 

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#17 ·
more stuff

So in doing more research i ended up ordering the kit for the hpop STC upgrade nd new screen for the IPR, which will be here thursday. Other than the head gaskets and studs.. (which hopefully i dont end up having to do) i think im done ordering parts and should hopefully make some progress this weekend putting it back together.
 
#18 ·
that engine bay actually looks really good for a truck thats been sitting for 3 years. I know you've clean it good, but my imagination was "god, what was this guy thinking" lol. But just by the looks alone i would've jumped all over that. Not sure exactly what you paid for it, but it sounds like it wasnt much.Have you considered just deleting the egr? Why are you changing the oil cooler, do you know its bad? Maybe i've missed that. Also, have you put a tuner or monitor on it to see some readings? Personally, before doing anything major i would see just how well i could get this thing to perform. And run it for a while, first.
 
#19 ·
cleaning

I've spend majority of the time cleaning this engine bay.. haha. I found rats nests, and rat bodies and all kinds of nasty crap in there.. The truck radiator was full of rust and i know the oil cooler had never been replaced. i figured the inside of the oil cooler was probably rusted. or full of junk. which it was.. Also the screen under the oil cooler was torn, who knows how long, but im sure that cant be good. the guy who owned the truck pretty much just changed the oil and drove it for 158k miles. It probably had the stock fuel filters on it. who knows. He said it had a BHG which i don't know what made him think that.. i ran the compression test using the Chinese VCM 2 i bought and it came back almost all 100% so i think the head gaskets are ok. So i figured get these known bad 6.0 items done and fix the body issues ( blown out tire screwed the front fender and a there's a crease in the bed) and replace the interior, and i have a nice truck for around 4k. (paid 1500 for it as it sat, will have around 2500 in after i get the replacement leather ordered) not a bad deal!
 
#23 ·
Oil leak from front cover, in front of power steering pump is common. Often if the cover is leaking oil, it's coming from there.
Usually I remove the fan and stator, clean thoroughly with brake clean, run the engine and watch that spot
 
#24 ·
So another update, I went ahead and pulled the front cover, replaced the gaskets, changed the water pump, working on getting it back together. It does look like the gasket was bad so I'm hoping this resolves my issue. Should know tomorrow if it's fixed. I spent way too much time getting the clutch fan and the crank pulley bolts off. Other than that it was pretty simple.
 
#25 ·
After getting it back together. it looks like this fixed my leak! I have a spot that dripped over night but I'm guessing its probably something to do with the gallon or so of degreaser i sprayed on this thing while working on it haha. I guess now its time to re flush the cooling system and get my coolant filter on.. change the oil again and then drive it.. see if the head gaskets actually are bad. thanks guys for the help!
 
#26 · (Edited)
Congrats on your work! In case I missed it, what was your build date? I have some OEM HG's and new 20mm dowels, other gaskets you may need. Even have the OEM new head bolts but doubt you would want them.

If I would have seen earlier, I also had an OEM front cover gasket, new TTY damper bolts etc.
 
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