Should I buy this F350 6.0L?

[bnorman]

Hi All,

I'm in the market for a SuperDuty. My budget puts me pretty firmly in 6.0L era trucks. I've learned a lot just reading here, but I was wondering if anyone could provide feedback on a truck I looked at today ($14k firm). It's a 2006 Lariat short-bed SuperCab with 132k miles. I attempted to monitor the ECT and EOT during a freeway test drive, but my scanner was only showing the ECT (which maxed out around 200*). It was very responsive, moving quickly to ~20psi boost under load. There are a couple of things that concerned me. If either of these look like time bombs (or grenades), I'd appreciate the heads up!

Wet spots around the exhaust manifold on the right hand side (not above it like something dripped down onto it, although I guess this is below the coolant overflow tank):



Minor (?) oil leak. There doesn't seem to be anything above the oil pan gasket line, so I assume it's just a bad gasket?



Top of the engine bay. I assume everything here is stock?




Thanks!
Ben

[southend]

Crew cab, coolant color, eot and ect, residue around the degas cap, studs, egr delete, blue spring update, stc fitting ??? I would look into all of these issues because they WILL come up eventually.

Sent from my SCH-I500

[bnorman]

Originally Posted by southend

Crew cab, coolant color, eot and ect, residue around the degas cap, studs, egr delete, blue spring update, stc fitting ??? I would look into all of these issues because they WILL come up eventually.

Sent from my SCH-I500

Thanks for the feedback. It does have signs of having spewed coolant from the degas cap. It also has a constant stream of small bubbles in the degas bottle and a fair amount of water in the exhaust (as evidenced by lots of condensation on a mirror). I expressed concern about a head gasket leak to the dealer, and they're going to run a compression test Monday. If the head gasket is bad, I may try to work a deal where they do the work of pulling the heads and I supply ARP studs.

[southend]

it has problems for sure then, dealers will not usually delete the egr, the oil cooler could be clogged also. Plan on it if it has ford gold coolant.

Sent from my SCH-I500

[colo_dually]

I'd pass on this truck. Reason, you're looking at a head job. Low boost, high ECT, and the degas bottle is pucking. The oil leak is of concern, but that isn't a deal killer on this truck.

The truck needs an EGR/Oil cooler rebuild at the very least. But I'll step out and say the HG's are most likely toasted. If they are willing to work out a stud job for you, ensure the heads are taken to a machine shop and checked, or replaced as well. Even if the cost of the truck goes up a bit (under $4,000 - bringing your out the door to around 18K) it wouldn't be bad if you can afford that. I'm willing to bet though they want the truck sold, and may cut corners in order to do so.