New to the Ford family.

[southtexasff]

I recently bought a 2005 Ford F-250 6.0 diesel with 147,000 miles. I was excited when I bought the truck, took it for a test drive, noticed it probably needed an alignment and maybe a brake job in the near future but other than that it seemed like a sound truck. I liked the way that it looked and figured it isnt that expensive to get those things taken care of. I have always liked the way the 3/4 and 1 ton Ford trucks look. I am not familiar with diesel engines and am fairly lost on all the lingo dealing with the engine. What has really discouraged me about this truck is all the problems I seem to read about with this engine. I have read several posts on things that should be or are recommended to change in order to have the engine last longer. I am also suprised at how much it seems it costs to have one worked on. The trucks that are having problems are they from possibly overworking the truck? I plan on using the truck for hunting, and just getting the family around. Should I start a separate savings to get ready for it breaking down on me? Can someone point me in the direction on some reading material to familiarize myself with some of the terms and what I should do to have this truck last me 4 years till its paid off.

The problems I am having so far is I crank it over and it wont start, do it again and it will crank, after running it for a while, shut it off, it will start up fine. Also where are the common areas for oil leaks, I noticed a small leak coming from the front by the driver side. It leaked for several days then stopped, after a few days it started up again. I called previous owner and he said he thinks it might be the turbo seal he just had replaced. Did I get taken or is this a common problem?

[WarChild]

A lot of things cam cause crank no start. First you need to check for codes and report that.

Welcome to the org

[bismic]

It is good to have some tools when owning a 6.0L. I like the ScangaugeII. It can be programmed to see most of the parameters the ECM sees/ They are about $140.

I would look at FICM voltage (KOEO, Cranking, and at 2000 rpms). All readings should be w/ a cold engine and (if possible) cooler ambient temps.

["Stroker 8"]

[Lilfarmrboy]

I will be the first to say that the 6.0 problems are not as bad as some claim. In general if you maintain good maintenance on the truck and get a set of good gauges you can prevent most problems before they get out of hand and start eating into your wallet. These trucks LOVE to work and work hard, so its not from overworking that causes the problems, usually people who are not all that familiar with the engine and keep running it even when something sounds amiss are the biggest problems IMHO. Get the Scangauge and check for codes like Warchild said, thats the first place to start. After you get the codes most of these guys can help you from there.

[southtexasff]

What would be the first mods I should begin with to get the most out of this engine? I figure the Scanguage first off to read any codes. Seems like the EGR delete should be first in line.

[2 stroker]

1. ScanGaugeII
2. Coolant filter to remove casting sand run time 5k
3. Coolant flush, switch to ELC coolant
4. Maybe a delete Maybe an oil cooler gauges will tell you
5. Fuel pressure gauge, do the fuel reg spring.
6. Switch to a 5w40 Syn oil Ford or Racor filters only