Buying some upgrades what to do?

[-Powerstroke-]

Guys I have a 03 6.0 sitting back home( I am currently in Iraq) so I am getting ready to buy upgrades for my return.

When I was home I would start it up and get that clunky crap and white smoke when taking off as well.

So to my point, should I go with a coolant filter? Or just buy the EGR delete and newer oil cooler? I would prefer not to replace the head studs however, if everyone thinks it's necessary for the long life of my truck I will. I plan on putting a SCT tune on it as well. Something moderate no race tune or anything crazy. I don't haul anything either although I will pull stuff on the occasion for friends... rarely though. For you guys that have done this are there any upgrades you wished you'd done while completing the EGR/Coolant tasks?

What are my best options? I don't have emissions either so either way I am free to do whatever.

Thanks,
Drew

[at0075]

Pull your egr valve out and inspect. My guess is your egr valve will be filthy and also inspect down in the hole. If its really wet and gummy you could have problems. Either bad egr cooler or even head gaskets. It should be really dry with soot. Best thing to do for starters is get gauges hooked up for oil temp and coolant temp to check condition of oil cooler. Shouldn't be anymore than 15 degrees apart or its clogged. If you egr delete spend the extra and do oil cooler also. Flush coolant and put in cat elc coolant with coolant filter . A tuner of choice.4 inch exhaust. If you wanna spend the big bucks do gaskets and studs but not nes if you gaskets are ok. Hope this helps

[-Powerstroke-]

Thanks for the reply!
I already have the 4" exhaust so I am a little ahead. I think I will just order all the parts and head the problem off before it's too bad. It would only do the smoke in the morning when cold after that it was fine the rest of the day.

Anyone recommend a certain company for the delete etc.?
I was on alligator performance and seen they had a good selection... Who else can I look into?

[duc796]

Like stated above look into gauges to monitor the vitals like eot, ect, tft, egt. An edge insight is great for this. From monitoring you can tell whether you are going to need to spend the money on an oil cooler and what not. I got mine from Thoroughbred Diesel prices seem pretty reasonable on there. Also as stated above flush the Ford gold crap out and replace with CAT ELC and a coolant filter. Then like you said an SCT with custom tunes from the vendor of your choice.

Dont forget your 3 "F's" when you get back as well might as well go through your fluids and filters too. If you are interested I am an Amsoil dealer I can hook you up with full synthetics in your truck.

[-Powerstroke-]

Duc,
I will be flushing everything when I get back so I will have to get with you about ordering some.
I am going order a tuner/reader and get the readings while I am on R&R in July. I will be going from Alabama to Minnesota in my truck that should give me a good idea.
I will flush the coolant again before we go.

What are your guys take on the Coolant filters? Should I install one of these before the trip to be safe?

Do you guys like the edge? And is the juice worth the extra money?

[at0075]

Coolant filters as great and I would install one the same day you put elc in. And the juice is awesome because its a 5 on the fly setting meaning you don't have to turn your truck off to change settings like sct. I have it and don't have any complaints but as many on here have had tranny problems if your truck is automatic.

[Davey~do]

1. As stated before, flush using the procedure listed on here many times before. Replace with any good ELC coolant. This would be a very good time to install a coolant filter at the same time. You will literally be amazed at some of the stuff that thing will catch.

2. Replace the oil cooler; and either delete, or have someone block off the EGR cooler using stainless steel plates, not freeze plugs.

3. Whether you replace the headgaskets and studs is optional. A good rule of thumb would be that if you are going to run with no tuner the original bolts will be fine as long as you do 2 & 3 above. If you are going to run any sort of tuner you will be pushing your luck without replacing with ARPs. I would imagine the stock bolts will eventually give way. One other way to look at it would be that since you have dug deep enough into the engine to replace the cooler, that would be a good time to go ahead and replace the bolts. If you dont and have to replace them in a few months you will be PO'd and it will cost a lot more to have to do it all over again.

4. My personal opinion of the edge is that it's a fine tuner. Just not for a torqshift tranny. Whenever I change tunes on my truck the tranny shifts like crap, sometimes feeling likes it's gonna fall outta the truck, until it learns the new power curve. X3 will probably be what most folks here recommend. If you are using a standard, jump on the edge if you like.

5. Fuel pressure regulator spring. There are a bunch of posts on here with good info. It's less than a $100.00 fix that can save you big bucks down the road on injectors, plus it's a pretty easy do-it-yourself fix.

6. Stay safe over there man and a warm premature welcome home!