Hey guys I just bought a 2005 f250 6.0 4x4 with 179k miles. This is my first diesel. I've had a f250 v10 for years but recently lost it as well as our house in the recent flood here. I had to make a quick vehicle buy online and got the 6.0 for a good price so jumped on it.
I didn't have any time to research the engine which I'm now seeing may be a problem. It seems like I'm reading horror story after horror story with this engine and hope I didn't screw myself.
The truck should arrive in a week or so and want to know what are the most important things I should inspect or do to it before driving. All help is very much appreciated and I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of me on here.
Don't worry about your truck until you've given it a full examination. If you got a good deal on it, there may be problems with it, but likely none that aren't addressable. You've came to the right place to find help in determining that. If you listen to the advice you get and do the things that are asked for diagnosis, you'll be money ahead. I've seen too many posts on here where a 6.0 newbie bus a truck with issues and starts throwing parts at it only to find out that the problem could have been solved much cheaper with some research and advice. Most of the horror stories you hear are from these type individuals, only they didn't find the ".Org" soon enough.
Thanks a lot for the reply. I will definitely read up on the link you posted.
There were no problems listed with the truck accept that it ( "starts with boost") which I'm guessing it just needs batteries or an alternator. Hopefully there isn't some $1000 hidden part that is causing this and needs replaced.
Not many people will be honest with what's wrong with a truck when they are trying to sell it. There may be some kind of issue they couldn't figure out so that's why they're selling it. It may be something simple you can figure out and come out ahead, maybe not. Regardless, what @G8orFord said in his post is spot on.
Yea your right about people being dishonest when selling vehicles. I bought it from a well known auction company that list vehicles for construction companies Etc and usually they are pretty good at describing problems and defects.
Read the monitoring link, get some type of monitor, and go from there.
Welcome to the madness, both the forum and the truck!
Recent flood? You in Louisiana? Sorry for your losses, hope you and yours are OK.
Read a lot about the monitoring systems and looks like AE is the only way to go unless you can afford IDS which I definitely can't right now. Hopefully the AE doesn't take me a year to figure out how to use. I have a lot to learn in a little amount of time but thankfully resources like this forum exist.
Yes I'm in Louisiana, right outside of BR. Thanks for your wishes. Very thankful we are all alright as it was the most insane thing we've gone through. You don't ever think you'll wake up one morning, look out your window and see nothing but water. A lot of people are hurting right now and will for sometime but we will rebuild and acquire new material possessions little by little.
I would suggest a monitor in the truck so you can view your vitals as you drive vs AE which is a scan tool & you probably wouldn't use on your drive to work every day. I have the Edge Insight CTS-2 & it works very well for constant use, also reads DTC's, fuel mileage, maintenance reminders & I have my reverse cam hooked into it.
So what are you mainly conserned with monitoring while your driving that the dash gauges aren't showing you?
Do you have an AE and a edge insight? I can only afford to get one and thought the AE would be my best bet for determining if there are any problems with the truck
Also is their a good place to look for used monitoring systems besides Ebay? Didn't really see a AE ford setup on there.
I monitor my EGT's, FICM voltage, battery voltage & of course my delta as I drive. The AE is more diagnostics when working on the truck to find problems after they happen while the Edge Insight is to monitor so you (hopefully) don't have problems, no need for both IMO. Try Craigslist for a used monitor, also a blue tooth dongle with an app is about as cheap as it gets if you have a smart phone.
Once you have that look at your engine and oil temps. Should see:
194 ish on coolant
200 ish on oil cooler
48V on FICM
21% or so on IPR at idle hot
580 ish on ICP at idle hot
170 ish on transmission temp
Big one is if you can get a 30 psi gauge onto the small return hose to the coolant tank. Get truck up to operating temps and see what pressure cooling system is up to. Should be 8-12 psi.
A leaking head gasket or fractured EGR cooler will give you 16-20 psi.
I would not get worked up. These trucks are all across this country and the far majority are not studded and running fine.
By all means take it one step at a time, plenty of very knowledgeable people here that will get you very familiar with your new truck. Including myself..........
The Edge CTS is a pretty good monitor and can pull a good amount of the DTCs. The AE can go in to the system more and pull codes that the CTS can't, plus it can do even more as far as diagnosing things. As mentioned earlier though, an AE isn't something you are going to want to drive around with all the time as a monitor. I have a CTS and typically monitor my ECT, EOT, battery voltage, IPR, and ICP. I don't monitor my FICM voltage, but I have BPD FICM, so I stopped watching that one.
Sorry, the delta is the difference in temps of your coolant and oil. Your oil should be less than 15* warmer than coolant when running empty on the highway at about 1900 rpm for about 15 minutes.When your temp spread or "delta" gets above 15* then you have a problem with the oil cooler getting clogged
I bought my truck several months ago with a strong indication that it had problems. These guys have been great with providing information and I'd be wrong if I didn't try to continue that.
I am a mechanically inclined individual (not a pro mechanic) with a modest collection of tools. Biggest stuff I have is a 30gal air compressor and some air tools. If you're the type (like me) that does as much on his own as he can, these guys will give you all the info you need to do as much work as you can and steer you away from those things that you shouldn't do yourself.
Here is the link to when I was in your shoes, asking the same questions several months ago. I'm forwarding this in the hope it'll help you find the general information about the trucks that I've picked up since I started picking these guys brains.
The truck finally got delivered a few days ago and it's definitely a keeper.
It did have 2 dead batteries. I bought 2 new ones and it cranked right up. Started it today and noticed a check engine light so I took it to the auto parts store and these popped up: P0673 glow plug 3
P0672 glowplug 2
P1000
B2900
Disconnected the passenger side harness and tested the connector pins with a multimeter and all 4 checked out fine.
Any ideas on what I should do next? My AE won't be here till next week.
Thanks Jimmy! I'm a contractor/carpenter so am pretty handy also. I really appreciate all the help from everyone and will try to relay it also once I become more informed with the 6.0 platform.
I went ahead and ordered a GPCM since after reading a little more , it appears this is probably one of the problems.
The trouble code I got that says " VIN number doesn't match is really weird! Never heard of that before. I wonder if the batteries being dead cause that to show up for some reason.
I see you ordered the AE, which is a bummer IMHO. You could have spent $30 and been all set for most anything. I can monitor just about anything but a few things that can be added later with different gauges.
I suggest slowing down and reading a lot more and asking even more questions before pulling out your wallet. Good luck!
Blue heart is right, the AE is awesome for intense troubleshooting but what you need is a monitor to plug into you OBDII port so you can monitor engine while you drive. It should be all you need but you can look at your injectors in depth along with lots of other stuff if needed.
Get a app for your smart phone or a CTS2 or a ScangaugeII for everyday driving. There are no gauges worth a sh_t in the cluster. If you see your temp gauges in hot it's already toast. They are garbage so you need something.
Like I stated above the oil cooler temps are most important.
You also want to flush cooling system with Cascade dishwashing machine liquid soap. Then do 4-5 distilled water fills with 15 minutes at idle then drain and refill. Then when done pour in a ELC-1 coolant.
That will take care of your cooling system. It is a good idea to put a coolant filter on these trucks to keep oil cooler from getting garbage in it.
Change entire bank of glow plugs along with new harness.
Well I should be able to return the AE and get a cts. Thanks a lot everyone for the help.
I ordered a coolant filter and all new oem filters from Amazon since the dealer wanted almost double. I guess I'm going to wait to really drive the truck until I get everything installed.
I have the CTS2 and also use the $5 Torque Pro App with my Android based phone and a $23 Elm 327 bluetooth OBDII adapter. I prefer the cheaper app and Bluetooth adapter as it's much more configurable to my personal choices, starts up quicker, doesn't lock up and need a complete reboot as often. Both can do data logging. IMHO, the advantage the CTS2 has is the ability to monitor EGT, boost, fuel pressure and other things that normally require a separate gauge. OR you can just add the gauge you want to monitor separately. Still an advantage to Torque Pro being that when I leave my truck, I simply shut off the app and walk away with my phone. The CTS2 I have to unplug and hide or bring with me while leaving an unplugged wire sitting obviously on my dash.
There also seems to be more user based support for the app. Same with the archaic, but extremely functional Scangauge II.
I just wanted to say I have a 6.0 with 207,000 miles. The only think I have done is the EGR upgrade not the delete at 197,000 miles. I also did the oil cooler at that time. I talked to someone and they say these oil coolers don't last past 75,000 miles. I put the original ford one back in as I couldn't afford the upgrade from BPD. These are good trucks if you take care of the 2 or 3 known issues. I really can't complain. When my egr went out in the beginning at 105,000 miles it was very expensive. I now have the head gasket starting to leak but I noticed it only sucks coolant under a load. I hate to use the bars leak and was wondering if anyone has used it before. There seems to be a lot of good information on this site and like the previous members said people can get you in a tail spin on these trucks because the information can be so contradicting. I plan on upgrading my truck as things need repaired. I am also a firm believer in ford oem parts I have not done any injectors but I know the one side is due. Any comments from you guys on the head gasket repair its like 4,000 dollars which is hard to come by. I also plan on keeping this truck for another 10 years at least. Its an 05 and I will post pictures later. Sorry for so much writing but I never get on this thread.
I just wanted to say I have a 6.0 with 207,000 miles. The only think I have done is the EGR upgrade not the delete at 197,000 miles. I also did the oil cooler at that time. I talked to someone and they say these oil coolers don't last past 75,000 miles. I put the original ford one back in as I couldn't afford the upgrade from BPD. These are good trucks if you take care of the 2 or 3 known issues. I really can't complain. When my egr went out in the beginning at 105,000 miles it was very expensive. I now have the head gasket starting to leak but I noticed it only sucks coolant under a load. I hate to use the bars leak and was wondering if anyone has used it before. There seems to be a lot of good information on this site and like the previous members said people can get you in a tail spin on these trucks because the information can be so contradicting. I plan on upgrading my truck as things need repaired. I am also a firm believer in ford oem parts I have not done any injectors but I know the one side is due. Any comments from you guys on the head gasket repair its like 4,000 dollars which is hard to come by. I also plan on keeping this truck for another 10 years at least. Its an 05 and I will post pictures later. Sorry for so much writing but I never get on this thread.
I'm not sure if you realize it or not, but you're responding to Fnpurist's thread, not a general discussion or chat thread. While he may not be offended, others who can help you with your problem might not give you a response as to not clutter up the OP's thread. You should start a new thread with your questions and description as there are plenty of people who want to help.
:backtotopic:
Thanks fordblueheart for the app tip! I'll definitely download it. I do want something pretty good for reading codes though as I'm sure a truck with my mileage will have them often. Would also like something that'll work with a 07 expedition aswell.
Isn't monitoring the egr and fuel pressure really important? I doubt I'll install gauges for a long time since I have so much other work to do on it first. Really need to sand the heck out of the bed and spray it with raptor bed liner so I can put my toolbox in.
Thanks fordblueheart for the app tip! I'll definitely download it. I do want something pretty good for reading codes though as I'm sure a truck with my mileage will have them often. Would also like something that'll work with a 07 expedition aswell.
Isn't monitoring the egr and fuel pressure really important? I doubt I'll install gauges for a long time since I have so much other work to do on it first.
EGT and fuel pressure are more important for those who are pushing more power or towing heavy with tunes. From what I've learned, most people will modify their exhaust which frees up restrictions and naturally lowers EGTs. Most will also do the "blue fuel spring" mod which ups fuel pressure so it typically isn't a concern unless there's issues already or modded for more power. Either way, you can add a simple mechanical fuel gauge or digital EGT gauge inexpensively and easily.
Does anyone know what this black plastic bell shaped housing is that is attached with a ring clamp behind the headlight? There is a small red wire running to the battery and then a ground wire that is unattached and just dangling. I'm guessing maybe a siren of some sort but have no clue really.
Also here's a pic of a box mounted under the rear seat that looks like an amp. Haven't had time to research the numbers on it to see what it's for but figured the two things in question might go together.
So are u able to use both the STC and the smartphone at the same time via obd2? I would love to do that if possible. If that is the case could you please tell me what part I need to be able to use my smartphone with the app plus my edge.
No you can't. The vehicle can only communicate successfully with one device at a time due to the protocol used. I'd like to devise an OBDII splitter with a power switch for pin 16 (which powers the device plugged into the OBDII port) so I can switch from one to the other without having to unplug and plug in the other one.
Can you read codes that don't trigger a CEL with that app or any others.
I'm going to look for a in dash CD player with a screen to where I could put the app on it instead of having to look down at my phone a lot and having it roll all over the cab. You have to drive like a bat out of hell here if you want to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time and the flood has only made traffic 10 times worse that it was.
I have my phone set up in a device holder right on the dash so it's not going anywhere. I don't use my phone while driving so I'm content with using it for monitoring. My radio on the other hand is getting changed frequently so using the screen for monitoring would be annoying.
Yes it will pull codes that don't set off the CEL. It's actually a very good code reader.it will clear them too. Best $30 I've spent on my truck!
Does anyone know what this black plastic bell shaped housing is that is attached with a ring clamp behind the headlight? There is a small red wire running to the battery and then a ground wire that is unattached and just dangling. I'm guessing maybe a siren of some sort but have no clue really.
Also here's a pic of a box mounted under the rear seat that looks like an amp. Haven't had time to research the numbers on it to see what it's for but figured the two things in question might go together.
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