Third major breakdown in 3 years... now need new engine?

[artrock23]

Hello, you all. I'm new here, and it saddens me that this is my first thread.

In 2009, I ended-up stranded in San Francisco when 2 (of 4) standpipes in my '06 F250 6.0 Diesel failed.

In 2010, the EGR valve clogged, the other 2 standpipes failed, and the FICM died (all at about the same time).

Now, after running poorly for the past year, i'm not getting any low oil pressure, and it's being recommended that I get a new engine, as the clogged oil passage(s) that seem to be the culprit could be anywhere. It only has 140K miles on it.

A Ford dealership mistakenly diagnosed the problem as bad fuel injectors. The problem is obviously far more complicated than that.

Since the new engine (with the new head studs, BPD EGR and oil coolers) seems to make sense, does anyone here have experience with Jasper engines?

Although it may be sacrilege to say so on this forum, I now wish that i'd followed a few friends' advice and went with a Chevy Duramax, but it's too late for that. Also, i'd really like to see my F250 run dependably and get some good mileage out of it. Any comments or recommendations?

[dannyboy950]

I am curious about how they determined about the contamination. Did they find metal shaveings or some other solids in the oil or filter? Did they take anctual oil pressure reading with a mechanical gauge?

The low pressure pump not only lubes the engine it also feeds the oil to the HP oil system, a low pressuer pump failure can starve the hpop and cause it to not provide sufficent pressure to work the injectors.

[letitsno]

What he is saying is have someone else check it out.
Maybe not a Ford dealer, can't hurt.

[artrock23]

Originally Posted by dannyboy950

I am curious about how they determined about the contamination. Did they find metal shaveings or some other solids in the oil or filter? Did they take anctual oil pressure reading with a mechanical gauge?

The low pressure pump not only lubes the engine it also feeds the oil to the HP oil system, a low pressuer pump failure can starve the hpop and cause it to not provide sufficent pressure to work the injectors.

To answer your questions: yes and yes. Metal shavings and a part of a yellow gasket were found in the oil. The crank shaft was dry of oil. The housing cover for the low pressure pump has scarring marks from foreign debris. With the engine out of my truck, the oil pan and all outer parts from the engine (aside from the heads) removed, my mechanic still cannot find the cause for it failing to have oil pressure.

A Ford dealership originally diagnosed the problem as three bad injectors. The mechanic I have my truck at now says that he can't understand how they'd call it an injector problem without even testing for oil pressure first (which apparently could indicate a different problem altogether). This guy comes highly recommended (was a head Ford mechanic for 20+ years before starting his own business, etc.). Since i'm by no means very knowledgable regarding engines, i'm paraphrasing from memory... some of the terminology i'm using may be incorrect.

[dannyboy950]

ok Since at a minimum a complete overhaul is indicated by your symptoms a small independant shop would recomend another motor. when you buy a rebuild from a rebuild company you get a better warrenty. I recomend the same thing myself to my customers.

These days I can not build one most of the time for much less than I can get a rebuilt one.

So you are getting good advice. Jasper Engines is who I useually use I have had good luck with their engines.

[artrock23]

Thanks for the advice, dannyboy.

My mechanic is afraid that if he spends a lot of time trying to find the problem, puts everything back together again, and still doesn't get oil pressure, we'll be back at 'square 1' again. This has turned into a headache of major proportions, but the best solution does seem to be a new engine with a few aftermarket re-engineered parts (EGR cooler, oil cooler, etc).

[2006PSDSD]

Were you using Motorcraft oil filters? I would be really interested to hear what actually failed, more for the new engines sake . If it was a bad filter, or maybe something the previous tech left in the engine during the standpipe replacement

[willholl79]

I too wonder what the root cause is for your issues. It is well known that 6.0s have some issues that need to be addressed, but with all the 6.0s on the road, and many with high mileage, you don't hear of many complete engine failures.

[2006PSDSD]

I think this is the first I've heard of a catastrophic engine failure that wasn't driver induced, i.e. racing. I'm sure it happens though, but there are many 250k plus mileage 6.0's on the ORG alone, and a few that I've heard of over the 500k mark

[artrock23]

Originally Posted by 2006PSDSD

...but there are many 250k plus mileage 6.0's on the ORG alone, and a few that I've heard of over the 500k mark

That may well be true, but a reliable statistic i've heard is that of Ford's recent warranty spending, 80% has gone to Powerstroke 6.0 issues. Granted more figures are needed to put this figure into proper context, that's still an alarming fact. Also, this engine has perhaps the worst reputation of any modern diesel engine, although to be fair, this assessment is usually followed by "much of that reputation is undeserved". I know it can be a good motor, it's just that Ford obviously engineered some of the components very poorly, never did any recalls, and kept producing the engines even when it was more than evident that there were serious problems.

The bottom line is that I like my truck, and really want to get everything fixed so that it can have a long(er) life.