# 6.0 powerstroke question



## savreds (Jan 15, 2010)

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good powerstroke mechanic in the Savannah  area. 
I have an 04 with 109,000 miles on it and it has started to loose a little bit of coolant. I just bought a new pressure cap for the system and hope that migh take care of it. If not I've heard that it could possibly be the EGR cooler or possibly the headgaskets.   
I've never had any problems with it and hope that this isn't anything major!


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## Gaducker (Jan 15, 2010)

If you have had a programer on it its probably head gaskets or egr,  A guy I know had one with no programer and his was both the head gasket and egr.Theres a guy up here in atl and all he works on is power strokes, he is the man, look on you tube and search powerstokes and he has all kinda posts where he talks about problems they have.     He is buford.    Bill hewitt    powerstrokehelp.com    Thats the only man you should take your to.


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## Rays123 (Jan 17, 2010)

probably the EGR system puked from running it hard or maybe the edr cooler died, give me some more info as to the trucks symptoms and i can try to help you more, trust me if it were the head gaskets you would def. know it bc there would be a giant mess all over the ground and under the hood.


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## LEON MANLEY (Jan 17, 2010)

My brother has a 04 6.0 and has spent about $10,000.00 on it and it still is not right. I used to rag him a lot about Fords, but I've been leaving this one alone. He's got enough problems.


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## Full Pull (Jan 18, 2010)

LEON MANLEY said:


> My brother has a 04 6.0 and has spent about $10,000.00 on it and it still is not right. I used to rag him a lot about Fords, but I've been leaving this one alone. He's got enough problems.



Lol .
I have a friend that is in the same Sinking boat with his 04.
He is trying to get a Cummins but noone will give him any money for his truck


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## Rays123 (Jan 18, 2010)

everyone hates on the 6.0's, actually the 05-07 6.0's were pretty good trucks, thats the thing most people leave out about them.


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## sticky (Jan 18, 2010)

savreds said:


> Does anyone have any recommendations for a good powerstroke mechanic in the Savannah  area.
> I have an 04 with 109,000 miles on it and it has started to loose a little bit of coolant. I just bought a new pressure cap for the system and hope that migh take care of it. If not I've heard that it could possibly be the EGR cooler or possibly the headgaskets.
> I've never had any problems with it and hope that this isn't anything major!



You either have a blown or blown head gaskets or your EGR cooler has gone bad..


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## savreds (Jan 19, 2010)

The only symptom is it was loosing some coolant. It still runs fine, no leaks or fluid anywhere. I just got a new cap for the cooling system so I just need to drive it some and see if it is still loosing coolant. 
My truck has been great so far. I bought it used a couple of yrs ago so I don't know how it was driven before I got it. 
I did get a tuner for it when the diesel was $5.00 a gallon to help with the milage, got about 1 1/2 - 2 more mpg around town. I don't run the truck hard, every now and then I put my foot in it but not very often.
Thanks for the replies y'all


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## Rays123 (Jan 19, 2010)

sticky said:


> You either have a blown or blown head gaskets or your EGR cooler has gone bad..



its neither of these, if it were head gaskets there would be coolant and oil everywhere in the engine bay, if it were the egr cooler, his truck would barely run and it would blow out large amounts of white/gray smoke


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## Gaducker (Jan 19, 2010)

Rays123 said:


> its neither of these, if it were head gaskets there would be coolant and oil everywhere in the engine bay, if it were the egr cooler, his truck would barely run and it would blow out large amounts of white/gray smoke



I think its one of the two, I have seen trucks that only leak when put under a load and they made no mess under the hood and did not blow large amounts of smoke just a hint of smoke when under load. but he caught it before it got to bad. He took it to bill and he fixed him right up by studing the heads and bypassing the egr.

If you let it go till you have a mess under the hood or you are blowing lots of smoke you will have internal engine damage by that time.

If your caps not leaking its going into the oil or into the cyls.


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## sticky (Jan 19, 2010)

Rays123 said:


> its neither of these, if it were head gaskets there would be coolant and oil everywhere in the engine bay, if it were the egr cooler, his truck would barely run and it would blow out large amounts of white/gray smoke



if it's early stages of a blown head gasket..it what be a mess..and the truck would still run with a Bad EGR cooler.and no smoke


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## Rays123 (Jan 20, 2010)

sticky said:


> if it's early stages of a blown head gasket..it what be a mess..and the truck would still run with a Bad EGR cooler.and no smoke



never said it wouldnt run, i said it would barely run but once it warms up you cant tell, ive been through it before. even in the early stages itll smoke pretty good on start ups before it warms up, youll also start to notice small amounts of oil coming out of your tail pipe. that is if your muffler doesnt hold it all. and most of the time with a really gummed up egr the held back exhaust gases will overheat the engine and the computer will shut the truck off


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## savreds (Jan 21, 2010)

UPDATE

 I have installed the new cap and have driven it a couple of days and the coolant level seems to be stable, i'll just have to keep an eye on it.
Like I said before I've never had a minutes trouble out of it since I've had it. 
I bought the truck a couple of yrs ago because things were looking pretty bad at work and there were some rumors that their were going to be some more layoff's. I thought that I might be going to have to get some equipment and start working for myself but things seem to have calmed down somewhat.
Now I'm thinking about selling the diesel and getting something that is more economical to maintain and operate, the wife just found out that they are doing away with all of their bonuses so it might be the "right" thing to do even though I really love the truck.


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## Full Pull (Jan 21, 2010)

Well good luck in what ever you deside to do.


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## deerehauler (Jan 21, 2010)

Rays123 said:


> its neither of these, if it were head gaskets there would be coolant and oil everywhere in the engine bay, if it were the egr cooler, his truck would barely run and it would blow out large amounts of white/gray smoke



I will hafta disagree with you on that one. I had a bad EGR cooler and it ran fine just used coolant. would empty the degas bottle over a couple days. No running issues at all. Also had bad head gaskets. Only leaked when pulling a heavy load due to heads lifting under boost and causing pressure to go into cooling system and it would push it out the degas bottle. No leaks around head area and it would not leak unloaded.  Fords head bolts are prone to stretch if you use your truck for towing. Go back in with arp headstuds if you hafta replace your gaskets also make sure your heads did not warp and are true! I have had all the normal issues fixed under warranty and since head studs have had no issues in 50,000 and I tow heavy on a weekly bases(skid steers and larger) Hope this helped yall


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## depthsoftheC (Jan 21, 2010)

Rays123 said:


> everyone hates on the 6.0's, actually the 05-07 6.0's were pretty good trucks, thats the thing most people leave out about them.[/QU
> 
> my dad and i both have 05 powerstrokes and they are the biggest pieces of garbage we have ever seen. IT IS THE HEAD GASKET. we have both had to have ours replaced. get it fixed now or it will lead to other much more expensive problems. trust me i know from experience because the ford place tried to tell me it was other smaller less expensive to fix things. they kept replacing things and the truck kept doing the same thing. they finally replaced the head gasket right before the warranty ran out and the truck didnt run hot or boil out anti freeze. then 2000 miles over the warranty the truck messed up and they tell me oh it needs new heads and a new small block. i know it is from nothing more than running the truck hot every day for a couple of years and it finally messed other major things up. you just cant do that to a vehicle. im not giving them that amount of money (about 12,000 or a little more was the price they gave me)to fix something that should have been fixed one of the dozens of times my truck was taken to the ford place. im thinking about getting my lawyer involved and see what he can do.


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## merc123 (Jan 27, 2010)

The 6.0L powerstroke sucks.  7.3L is the best PS.

I believe it's the head bolts that are the issue with the 6.0's as well as the EGR.  They bolts stretch.  ARP sells an aftermarket kit that you can purchase.  Try the cap or the EGR...the head bolts are close to $500 but I guess better than a new engine.

https://www.dieselpowerproducts.com...-kit-03-07-60l-ford-powerstroke-250-4202.aspx


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## disabled (Feb 7, 2010)

get some one to put coolant system pressure check on it and see how it does .if you loose pressure try to find source i would say you may have heater core leak


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## rwrousey (Feb 14, 2010)

could be egr cooler or head gaskets. i own a maint. repair company. just got through installing a egr cooler delete kit on an 04 F250. if you have to have the heads or egr cooler done i would suggest the oil cooler at the same time. just a little more money since you are already in there.


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## Rays123 (Feb 15, 2010)

depthsoftheC said:


> Rays123 said:
> 
> 
> > everyone hates on the 6.0's, actually the 05-07 6.0's were pretty good trucks, thats the thing most people leave out about them.[/QU
> ...


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## levi11 (Feb 19, 2010)

go to www.powerhungryperformance.com see bill had a number of issu. even egr. now i got more hp. an i get 22 mpg hwy 15 to 18 town number 678 963 9913 good guy knows ford 6.0


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## Jeremiah Glaze (Feb 20, 2010)

you dont have to run it hard or have a programmer on it for the headstuds to stretch and blow a head gasket it is very common on these trucks they are junk, the 7.3 is the last diesel Ford ever made thats why their selling for more than the 6.0 trucks....the 05 to 07s were descent slow outta the hole but a rocket when u got em spooled up I would still consider the 6.0 a Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----....take the truck to leadfoot diesel in Loganville Ga he is by far one of the best there is in the country on diesel and diesel perfomance...he has some things he does daily to 6.0s to fix all their head problems injector housing problems egr problems etc...


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## W4DSB (Feb 20, 2010)

"the 7.3 is the last diesel Ford ever made"

Ford didn't make that one.....Navistar did. the 6.0 is a Ford made product right?

I second Leadfoot !


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## Rays123 (Feb 21, 2010)

Jeremiah Glaze said:


> you dont have to run it hard or have a programmer on it for the headstuds to stretch and blow a head gasket it is very common on these trucks they are junk, the 7.3 is the last diesel Ford ever made thats why their selling for more than the 6.0 trucks....the 05 to 07s were descent slow outta the hole but a rocket when u got em spooled up I would still consider the 6.0 a Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----....take the truck to leadfoot diesel in Loganville Ga he is by far one of the best there is in the country on diesel and diesel perfomance...he has some things he does daily to 6.0s to fix all their head problems injector housing problems egr problems etc...



they dont come from the factory with head studs, you have to buy them aftermarket


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## Firescooby (Feb 21, 2010)

Rays123 said:


> they dont come from the factory with head studs, you have to buy them aftermarket



He was probably referring to the stock head bolts.


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## 93f1fiddy (Feb 26, 2010)

W4DSB said:


> "the 7.3 is the last diesel Ford ever made"
> 
> Ford didn't make that one.....Navistar did. the 6.0 is a Ford made product right?
> 
> I second Leadfoot !



no the 6.0 is also international as well as the 6.4..
6.7 will be all ford

If 1/2 the people knew how to take care of their diesel it would be a different world...
thats all i have to say about that


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## Rays123 (Feb 26, 2010)

93f1fiddy said:


> no the 6.0 is also international as well as the 6.4..
> 6.7 will be all ford
> 
> If 1/2 the people knew how to take care of their diesel it would be a different world...
> thats all i have to say about that



agree with you on that one


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## vickers021007 (Feb 28, 2010)

go to you tube and put in powerstoke 6.0 there guy i think his name bill walk you to fix it or find out what wrong


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## Bird Hunter 21 (Mar 2, 2010)

*All new motors are horrible*



Jeremiah Glaze said:


> you dont have to run it hard or have a programmer on it for the headstuds to stretch and blow a head gasket it is very common on these trucks they are junk, the 7.3 is the last diesel Ford ever made thats why their selling for more than the 6.0 trucks
> 
> Ford did not make the 7.3....International did.  The reason the 6.0 was so bad was that International (The company that builds the Power Stroke)  did not prepare for the emissions standards.  If anyone remembers the 7.3 was called the worst motor ever the first year it was made.  I know because my dad had one with the million mile warranty.  It was on the the fifth motor that last time i heard.


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## Wood Smoke (Mar 5, 2010)

The man on the powerstroke.com videos says its a really good, dependable engine .... once its been fixed! 

I will make an observation, however ...... search around on the net for weeks on end at used '06's & '07's with the 6.0 for sale by private sellers, and then search the '08's with the 6.4 also by private sellers.  What will you find? ...... quite a few more '08 6.4's  compared to model years '06 & '07 individually!  Why..... ??? ...... less than acceptable fuel economy in the '08s and probably the overall economy making folks ditch those whopper monthly payments on a truck less than 2-3 years old! 

Anybody know what the est. total cost is to have the 6.0 "preventative fixed" with new head studs, gaskets, parts, etc. assuming that there is no other damage to the engine because of the known issues?  Just curious.


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## bonecollector123 (Mar 7, 2010)

Stud the heads block off the egr cooler and ride they are pretty good motors but like the cummins and duramax they have there issues injectors ,egr coolers and head gaskets other than that there as dependable as the rest of them we have an 08 duramax that has bad injectors right now and a couple of dodges that pull more codes than the fbi so pick your poison


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## ronpasley (Mar 10, 2010)

I have a 03 powerjoke and 03 dodomax and they both let me down. I have spent 5 grand on the powerjoke this year and it is still not right. The duramax I just put in a rebuilt motor in it, 9 grand. I guess I will try the cummins next.


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## savreds (Mar 11, 2010)

Wood Smoke said:


> The man on the powerstroke.com videos says its a really good, dependable engine .... once its been fixed!
> 
> I will make an observation, however ...... search around on the net for weeks on end at used '06's & '07's with the 6.0 for sale by private sellers, and then search the '08's with the 6.4 also by private sellers.  What will you find? ...... quite a few more '08 6.4's  compared to model years '06 & '07 individually!  Why..... ??? ...... less than acceptable fuel economy in the '08s and probably the overall economy making folks ditch those whopper monthly payments on a truck less than 2-3 years old!
> 
> Anybody know what the est. total cost is to have the 6.0 "preventative fixed" with new head studs, gaskets, parts, etc. assuming that there is no other damage to the engine because of the known issues?  Just curious.




I talked to Bill at PowerStrokehelp.com about the bulletproofing... studs, good headgaskets, egr delete, tuning and the cost is about $4000... the majority of that is labor. I believe he told me that the job is like 34 hours labor. If I decide to keep the truck long term, I think I'm gonna have him do it.


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## Gaducker (Mar 11, 2010)

savreds said:


> I talked to Bill at PowerStrokehelp.com about the bulletproofing... studs, good headgaskets, egr delete, tuning and the cost is about $4000... the majority of that is labor. I believe he told me that the job is like 34 hours labor. If I decide to keep the truck long term, I think I'm gonna have him do it.



Thats about what he charged my buddy and he is pleased with his work, and he tows heavy everyday.


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## jsrobuck (Mar 12, 2010)

Check to see if the coolant is comming out of the degas bottle which is the bottle that you put anitfreeze in. Drive it down the road and make the turbo boost alot then check to see if the coolant is comming out of the degas bottle if it is then it is the head gaskets. If it isnt and it steems when started up and cold then more than likely it will be the egr cooler.  When replacing the egr cooler always replace the oil cooler ford makes a kit so that you dont have to replace the whole oil cooler.  Most of the time when the head gaskets are blown it is from the owner having a programmer and boosting the turbo up or pulling alot of heavy load which make the turbo stay boosted alot of the time. As for the people bashing ford for making this engine.  Ford did not design or build this engine Navistar which is International built the 6.0, 6.4, and 7.3.  There has been multiple problems with the 6.0 and that is why ford and navistar had a lawsuit about them, and now ford has built the new 6.7 which is ford built, engineered, and designed. But as someone stated earlier in this post the early built 6.0 did have problems and the later built 6.0 didnt have as many problems. Also the head bolt that ford uses are made to stretch when you torque down the heads but if it were my truck i would stud the head and put the egr delete kit on the truck. But ford cant produce a truck that doesnt meet federal emmissions


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## matt boyt (Mar 14, 2010)

u better sell that big pile of junk an get u a 7.3 i would buy a 7.3 with 300000 miles on it before i bought a 6.0 with 3 miles on it. i have had three 7.3 an u cant kill em


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## Wood Smoke (Mar 14, 2010)

savreds said:


> I talked to Bill at PowerStrokehelp.com about the bulletproofing... studs, good headgaskets, egr delete, tuning and the cost is about $4000... the majority of that is labor. I believe he told me that the job is like 34 hours labor. If I decide to keep the truck long term, I think I'm gonna have him do it.



$4,000 ?  Ouch! 

I wonder what the experience of 2007 6.0 owners has been.  I've not read any comments anywhere or heard. You would think that Ford would have fixed or at least significantly improved the 6.0 by then before they had to make more EPA changes and build the gas guzzling 6.4.  

Basically, it seems that anyone in the market for a used F-250 that's 3- 4 years old is in a big dilemma ..... especially if they really want a Ford.   Do you work a good deal on a later year model F250 like an '06-'07 and enjoy the better fuel mileage with the risk of doing a "bullet-proof" $4K head gasket job, or do you look at an '08 that is a fuel mileage killer?


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## Deez660 (Mar 15, 2010)

*Ford 6.0*

Hey buddy if you get a chance check your coolant reservoir for any kind of cracks. Had mine do the same thing and its was a small crack in the coolant reservoir and it would only swell and push the coolant out when it was hot. **If you notice a good bit of smoke out your exhaust when you get into the throttle and you don't have a custom tune or tuner of some sort then most likely your EGR is failing. Good luck with it let us know your outcome!! By the way the with a few tweaks and fixes to the 6.0 you can eat up those wanna be dump trucks & duraslacks!!


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## woody21 (Mar 17, 2010)

savreds said:


> Does anyone have any recommendations for a good powerstroke mechanic in the Savannah  area.
> I have an 04 with 109,000 miles on it and it has started to loose a little bit of coolant. I just bought a new pressure cap for the system and hope that migh take care of it. If not I've heard that it could possibly be the EGR cooler or possibly the headgaskets.
> I've never had any problems with it and hope that this isn't anything major!


Check the water pump for leaks. If the oil is milky its the head gasket.


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