6.0 Ford F-250's?

[ponykilr]

My friend Jeff has a 2003 6.0 with over 200K and never has had a bolt turned except for regular maintenance.
The horror stories are from hopped up trucks and/or guys who towed very heavy with lead feet.
The 6.0 only has 4 bolts around each cyl instead of the 5 in the 7.3.
They were already "hopped up" from the factory and had stretchy "torque to yield" head bolts.
So under heavy heavy load and high temps the head bolts stretch and the gaskets yield.

Get a clean used one and a scanner or gauges to keep the oil and coolant temps monitored.
What you are looking for is when oil and coolant temps get to over 12* or so difference, this will show you that the cooler is stopping up.
As long as they are close and you aren't WOT up Black Mountain pulling a huge load they will last a long time.

If the temps are 15* different, delete the cooler if you catch it early enough.

If you have the $, do studs and delete but keep the rest stock and they will last forever and make lots more power than a 7.3.

The auto trans with the 6.0s is worlds better than the 7.3 trans too.

 

[Jake.]

I'd rather buy a stock vehicle. If its already bullet proofed then you have to wonder if it was some flat billers play toy that's thrashed on it constantly.

What about the stock 6.0's that some flatbillers thrashed that haven't broke yet? If I drive up to meet someone to look at a truck and it's one of them, I am probably turning around. Much rather have the peace of mind.

Shrug or I'll show you a 6.0 with w 250know miles with stock head bolts, turbo, and EGR/oil cooler


Don't beleven everything you read.

Oh I'm not saying there's not. I'm saying there are way more broke dick bone stock 6.0's out there than there are with studs/egr delete/coolant filter

 

[Wes]

I owned an 03 6.0 F250 and loved it. It was bone stock and I never had anything major happen to it. Replaced the water pump once and my turbo hose would sometimes pop off at the clamp if I really got on it. Aside from those two little issues it ran like a champ and towed great. I honestly wish I still had it.

 

[Ron]

My friend Jeff has a 2003 6.0 with over 200K and never has had a bolt turned except for regular maintenance.
The horror stories are from hopped up trucks and/or guys who towed very heavy with lead feet.
The 6.0 only has 4 bolts around each cyl instead of the 5 in the 7.3.
They were already "hopped up" from the factory and had stretchy "torque to yield" head bolts.
So under heavy heavy load and high temps the head bolts stretch and the gaskets yield.

Get a clean used one and a scanner or gauges to keep the oil and coolant temps monitored.
What you are looking for is when oil and coolant temps get to over 12* or so difference, this will show you that the cooler is stopping up.
As long as they are close and you aren't WOT up Black Mountain pulling a huge load they will last a long time.

If the temps are 15* different, delete the cooler if you catch it early enough.

If you have the $, do studs and delete but keep the rest stock and they will last forever and make lots more power than a 7.3.

The auto trans with the 6.0s is worlds better than the 7.3 trans too.

A lot of good info here, but I want to clarify aa few points.

The "5 per cylinder" is a bit of a mis statement.
The 6.0 has 15 bolts per head. So 1 more than 4 per.
The 7.3s have 18 per cylinder.So not quite 5 per.
Lots of forum folks will point to the 5.9 I6 C as having 26 but that is on 6 cylinders.


Now TTY head bolts....sigh. What a crazy, crazy internet rabbit hole BS. Almost any head bolt is a TTY bolt. Cummins uses TTY bolts on the 5.9 heads. Ford International used TTY bolts on the 7.3. In fact damn near every automotive engine in existence uses TTY head bolts.

Anyone who has viewed the court documents in the settlement between Ford and International knows where the 6.0 problem lie. The number of head bolts and bolt strength exacerbated the problem it didnt cause it. The cause was a ridiculous tolerance for straight plane on the block and heads. When the tolerances stacked, you had a damn near unseal-able engine. Gaskets blew, and they were replaced. Because there still wasn't a flat mating surface the blew again. That's why thicker gaskets became the fad for a while. Then it was all about studs. Because with studs you can over torque and actually pull it flat. Or close to flat. Here is the magic sauce. Find a motor with 125k miles and non leaking head gaskets and you will never have an issue. Find one that needed gaskets at 80k miles, if the heads and the blocked weren't decked and trued, its coming back no matter what studs or gaskets you use.

Finally the temp delta test. Another mis applied piece of tech. The temp delta test is a great indicator of a properly functioning cooling system. The problem is it depends on #1 proper coolant service (that includes proper SCA in ANY diesel coolant) and #2 the test be administered in a specific manner. According to the Ford TIB that is on flat ground, at 55-60 mph with no load and a steady speed for a period of 5 minutes. Under these conditions there should be a proper delta as stated above. As soon as you increase speed, increase load, or vary load you bring factors such as heat dissipation rate differences between coolant and oil into the equation. At this point the delta would calculate differently. Also an improper mixture of coolant and water will have different dissipation rates and therefor a different expected delta. Finally, if you have deleted the EGR cooler then the delta test is totally irrelevant as the system design has changed.

 

[shawn]

To expand on Snappy's post.
This is what I told a guy a while back.
8 year old Duramax/Cummins trucks bring $20k.
An 8 year old 6.0 will bring $13ish.

For ~$8k you can have a brand new Ford engine with a 100k mile warranty.
So for the same money...and the Ford is a much better truck than either of the other 2.

And you'll still have a Ford that nobody will pay $13k for....