So have I made a terrible mistake?

rjglenn

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Long time IDI driver, I'm tired of working on my truck, I've had enough...

So I bought this 2005 Powerstroke, low miles (85000). How screwed am I? Surely the 6.0 engine is not as bad as what I am being led to believe by these posts.
 

79jasper

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I'd take one in a heartbeat.

I forget what it's called, but you need to watch the oil and coolant temps closely.
I think deltas?

Basically let's you know if disaster is coming.

Rid of the egr if you can.
 

FordGuy100

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Delta is a math term which means basically means "Difference between." A healthy oil cooler will have an coolant/oil delta of around 3-4* when fully warmed up while driving along at 65mph. Anything above 15* means your oil cooler is clogged up enough that it can cause EGR failure (if its not deleted) as the coolant goes from the oil cooler (to cool the oil) to the EGR cooler (to cool the exhaust before it enters the engine to be reburnt). Eventually the oil cooler clogs up on the coolant side, and then the EGR cooler only gets a trickle of coolant, which flash boils due to the exhaust, think pressure cooker, pop goes EGR cooler. You now have coolant entering your intake manifold, and into the cylindres. Bye Bye head gaskets.

Get yourself a monitor (scangauge, edge CS/CTS, etc), monitor those things. Also look at your FICM voltage. A stock FICM will put out 48 volts at all times, if it falls below 45v it is bad and can ruin the injectors (FICM = Fuel Injector control module).

I would do an EGR delete right off the bat, it will give you insight on how to tear the engine down if you have to (for head gaskets, oil cooler), and eliminates the coolant in intake problem as even if the oil cooler is clogged, the EGR cooler cant repture because its not there.
 

icanfixall

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Really sad to see you give up on the idi but its a decision only you could have made. I'm guesing you will be selling the idi now. Hope you get a fair price for it.
 

rjglenn

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Tremendous oil consumption, terrible blow by, I'm quite sure it could use some ring work at the very least. It's not making me any money like it is because it is in my yard and won't start. So I could overhaul/rebuild it, but I have nothing to drive in the meantime. When I was done I would still have a truck that was 21 years old, 280,000 miles, with all the fun that goes along with that.

It's not all sunshine and lollypops here. The new truck could use some tires, the old truck has a nice set with about 20k on them. Different rim size (17 vs. 16), different bolt pattern (SAE vs. Metric). My insurance company will not transfer my insurance over from the old F350 to the new F350. Apparently because it has a flat bed it has to have commercial insurance. Not that big of a deal cost wise, but no drivers under 21 years old. So my two sons can't drive it (16 & 18). In some ways it's better insurance, and someways it's not.

So there you have it...
 

rjglenn

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That's a thought. The oldest? Not a chance, doesn't know a 13mm from a 1/2" even after being told and shown over & over. But that other one... this could be a good thing for him. Anyhow, I really like the new truck. Lots of power, no leaks, or smoke, or other issues. I will have to take care to take care of it.
 

rjglenn

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I'm going to answer my own question. Yes, I have made a terrible mistake. I've had the truck a week but I haven't worked it until today. I was supposed to haul 250 bales of coastal hay from our farm to a feed store in Reddick, about 50 miles away. I made it about 15 miles and it just shut off. After about 20 minutes I got it to crank back up. So now it's at the Ford place. God only knows what that's going to cost...
 

rjglenn

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$729.34. Replaced the injector pressure regulator and some hose that goes to the degas bottle. I guess I got off cheap this time...
 

Ruger_556

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Sell it! They're not a bad engine but they require a huge amount of work to make them reliable. Superduty with 7.3 will give you a lot less problems.
 

lotzagoodstuff

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The 6.0 liter PowerStrokes can be made to be sound and reliable, but be prepared to spend around $3K to bullet proof the engine, and that's if you catch the oil cooler/EGR problems early enough. For the record, I am not of the opinion that these engines need head studs for anything but true high performance builds/elevated boost. See if you can get somebody to put their monitor on your truck (I'm sure the dealer can do this) and measure the oil temp vs coolant temp (this is the "delta" that Justin is referring to) and that will tell you everything you need to know.

Don't give up on your new rig yet, but be prepared to have the "delta doctor" give you the prognosis.

Good luck
 

lotzagoodstuff

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Just talking out loud here: did you consider re-powering the 1992? IMHO, this would have been a rig deserving of one of the Uhaul engines.

Just to confirm that I'm a hypocrite: I just sold my 250K miles truck for most of the same reasons you stated in your reply for not redoing your high mileage rig, which means I am cookoo

As of this writing: I regret selling my IDI, so remember: people in glass houses can throw stones :dunno
 
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