'06 6.0 Newbie

[kchap]

Hay guys, just traded my '01 F-250 7.3 Crew Cab 4x4 w/277k for an '06 F-250 6.0 Crew Cab 4x4 w/137k. Heard many bad things about the 6.0 but the truck drove out well and is very tight and seems to be very well taken care of. It is completely stock besides the gooseneck hidden under the bed. Any words of wisdom would be much apprieciated. Thanks in advance.

[Fishermedic]

The best thing you can do is read! Read all the stickies in here, read the tech files in here and then start reading whatever you can find about the problems others are having. It'll give you an idea of what to look for so that you catch a problem before it becomes big and expensive.

While you are doing all this reading find either a scangauge II or an edge insight to monitor the engines vitals. Don't get a tuner just a monitor and do it now! It's the absolute most important thing you can do for your truck and your wallet and it will pay for itself sooner than you know. You'll be able to find comparison threads on the two of them if you look.

Oh and I find that searching with google is easier than the forum search, just include powerstroke.org in your search.

Happy reading and ask questions if you can't find an answer the guys on here are very knowledgeable and helpful.

[kchap]

I've taken the advise on read up on 6.0 forums reguarding monitoring and tuning. Seems like the SCT livewire is the way to go if you want to spend the money. It seems to have all the monitoring capabilities you need with the ability the have custom tunes on a safe level. I've looked on ebay and they all seem to advertise coming with "3 custom tunes" which sounds good. My question is will it hold more that just 3 tunes if so desired? I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but my plan after alot of reading is: Monitoring via SCT coming with some tunes, EGR delete kit (not too worried about the legalities), and the coolant flush/change ELC conversion. How does this sound?

[JasonY]

Dont do a coolant flush unless you plan on replacing the oil cooler afterwords. Add a coolant filter instead.

Get a Insight CTS and avoid any tunes until you absolutely know the health of the truck.

Jason

[stroker007]

Originally Posted by kchap

I've taken the advise on read up on 6.0 forums reguarding monitoring and tuning. Seems like the SCT livewire is the way to go if you want to spend the money. It seems to have all the monitoring capabilities you need with the ability the have custom tunes on a safe level. I've looked on ebay and they all seem to advertise coming with "3 custom tunes" which sounds good. My question is will it hold more that just 3 tunes if so desired? I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but my plan after alot of reading is: Monitoring via SCT coming with some tunes, EGR delete kit (not too worried about the legalities), and the coolant flush/change ELC conversion. How does this sound?

it will only hold three at a time. the edge ct or cts is the way to go for monitoring. yea you can get custom tunes that are safe for stock head bolts. i would highly recommend the egr delete as soon as possible

[kchap]

So are your saying the SCT livewire is not capable of the monitoring I need? I would not go crazy with the tunes, just thought I could kill two birds with one stone. I read that SCT is the best for tuning. I just assumed it would cover the monituring as well. Is this true or should I go with the Scanguage II and later get the SCT ounce I'm comfortable with my truck to do some tunes?

[Fishermedic]

Originally Posted by kchap

So are your saying the SCT livewire is not capable of the monitoring I need? I would not go crazy with the tunes, just thought I could kill two birds with one stone. I read that SCT is the best for tuning. I just assumed it would cover the monitoring as well. Is this true or should I go with the Scanguage II and later get the SCT ounce I'm comfortable with my truck to do some tunes?

YES that's exactly what I'd recommend.

I haven't looked into the SCT because I don't have any desire to tune the truck, at least not yet, so I'm not sure exactly what it can monitor. From what I've read on here you'll want to find something else (edge or scangauge) to monitor and SCT to tune (and when you do make sure you use custom tunes).

I'm a fan of the Insight CTS because that's what I have and I don't know a lot about the Scangauge. With the CTS I have a nice big screen and with 8 parameters displayed on it I can read all of them easily while on the road. The Insight CT has a smaller screen to display your info so it will be a little harder to read, same for the Scangauge. With either Insight you can hook up more sensors, EGT, fuel pressure, diff temps, outside air temp, turbo timer. Basically if you can put a sensor on it the Insight can measure it. Having said all that, do some research and make your own informed decision. With either one you'll get the basic stuff you need to see and you'll know how your truck is doing.

Like Jason said, don't do anything until you see what's going on with the truck you could end up causing problems that aren't there yet.

If you aren't sure what your looking at once you have a monitor just ask, someone will be able to help you out.

[alha]

Originally Posted by Fishermedic

[/B]
YES that's exactly what I'd recommend.

I haven't looked into the SCT because I don't have any desire to tune the truck, at least not yet, so I'm not sure exactly what it can monitor. From what I've read on here you'll want to find something else (edge or scangauge) to monitor and SCT to tune (and when you do make sure you use custom tunes).

I'm a fan of the Insight CTS because that's what I have and I don't know a lot about the Scangauge. With the CTS I have a nice big screen and with 8 parameters displayed on it I can read all of them easily while on the road. The Insight CT has a smaller screen to display your info so it will be a little harder to read, same for the Scangauge. With either Insight you can hook up more sensors, EGT, fuel pressure, diff temps, outside air temp, turbo timer. Basically if you can put a sensor on it the Insight can measure it. Having said all that, do some research and make your own informed decision. With either one you'll get the basic stuff you need to see and you'll know how your truck is doing.

Like Jason said, don't do anything until you see what's going on with the truck you could end up causing problems that aren't there yet.

If you aren't sure what your looking at once you have a monitor just ask, someone will be able to help you out.

What he said. I'm not getting any younger, and my eyes aren't getting any better, so for me, bigger is def better, and you can monitor more at once and still be able to read it all. Def happy I bought mine, I will get a separate tuner next year sometime (an SCT X3) and use that for what it's designed for. I like to say using the right tool for the job at hand is always best. You can use a linesman's pliers for a hammer, but would you want to?

The biggest choice you have to make is who's tunes you'd want to go with. There are 3 tuners you will read about a lot around here, Vivian is the tune writer at Quick Tricks Auto, Matt is at Gearhead Auto, and Eric is at Innovative Diesel. Each has many fans around here, it's hard to go wrong with any of the 3. But, that's not the 1st thing you want to do, there are a lot of things you should do to your truck before you start with the perf upgrades, and it sounds like you're on the right track, just keep reading and asking questions, you'll find that people here like to help, and can point you in the right direction.

[kchap]

Is the zoodad mod worth doing?