6.0 advice?

[stroker2]

Hey guys i just picked up an 06 6.0l with 67k original miles on it. Never been chipped or anything. Just had a new FICM, egr and oil coolers replaced which is the only thing ever done to it. I havent drivven it much but there are no signs of any problems particularly headgasket problems.

My question is, given a stock, never chipped 06 with 67k original, how worried should i be about head gaskets at this point. I have been calling plenty of shops to get studs installed and a couple of them havequoted me around 1200 for stud install without taking heads off. I know this can be done on a 7.3 not sure about 6.0. BTW egr delete, coolant filter, stc mod, etc are in the plans for reliability and power mods include custom sct tunes. What would you guys do in my case:

A) Let the gaskets be and chip it without much worry

B) have the shop install studs one at a time

C) dish out the $$$ and have shop pull cab, heads, replace gaskets, install studs, etc or,

D) other recommendations?????




Thank you! I apologize if this has been adressed numerous times. Trying to forget about the old 7.3 and learn the newer 6.0

 

[Jeremyleggett07]

Have it done right once and be done! Pull the cab... Check the heads... Do studs and delete and replace oil cooler at one time! Coolant filter is something cheap and easy that can be done on your own. Don't chip... SCT tuner. I know you said custom tunes but chipping a truck and tuning one are totally different.

 

[Josh@DirtyDiesels]

do it right. Pull them, check them, studs and o-rings and have it be solid

 

[weazel]

Pull the cab surface the heads and be done


Sent from in a ditch up side down and on fire with the wheels still spinning

 

[smokedout250]

Do it right.... Get the heads checked surfaced and have it studded... Pulling the cab is the easiest and best way


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[rray37375]

Pull the cab, have the heads checked and decked, put in studs. While the delete is something my wrench turner recommended, when I told him about living in a county with annual emissions testing he put the kibosh on that. You might want to check out the rules where you live. TECHNICALLY, you are not supposed to do an EGR delete as it is an emissions control device. But if you will never register your truck where emissions are tested, go for it. Wish I could have done it, but I only wanted the major work done once.

 

[CCRICE]

My advice would be IF you have the means to pull the cab and stud it.. However I'm all stock minus a egr delete, exhaust and Gearhead tunes and I'm at 92k miles on head bolts and original gaskets. It all depends on what you use your truck for I guess..

 

[powerstrokedkid87]

as said numerous times, take the bite now and do studs the right way....people have had success around here doing one at a time and just swapping out studs, but in my opinion if your going to do it, to it right one time....just my thoughts.

 

[Mdub707]

Honestly it's not the end of the world if you tune it now and it starts pushing coolant next year... just stud it at that time. Some guys have no issues running race tunes daily on stock bolts, though, it's not the norm.

You can always just go with moderate tuning as well. A good street tune is still a really fun tune and it seems to be a pretty safe tune.

 

[stroker2]

Honestly it's not the end of the world if you tune it now and it starts pushing coolant next year... just stud it at that time. Some guys have no issues running race tunes daily on stock bolts, though, it's not the norm.

You can always just go with moderate tuning as well. A good street tune is still a really fun tune and it seems to be a pretty safe tune.

Thanks for the replies guys! And this was my next question given the feedback i have gotten. What if i just tune it now and do egr delete (think i can do myself without cab off?), STC, and tunes and the gaskets actually do blow out later instead of doing studs and gaskets now to prevent that? Will it hurt anything when the gaskets blow? Am i out anything by just waiting to let them blow? Am i stuck on the side of the road when they do or just keep adding coolant till i do get home? Does it crack heads or anything?



My apologies for all the questions!

 

[Mdub707]

Some people drive forever on blown gaskets. I know guys who have gone almost an entire year, just depends on the severity. If it only pushes a little bit with a really hot tune, it may not do anything with stock tuning. Tough to say. Some people probably have gaskets that are failed and don't even know it. Most just add a little coolant as necessary. The chances of it blowing and you being stuck out somewhere are pretty slim. Obviously it's not an ideal situation, but many have done it without further issues.

 

[Jeremyleggett07]

I have a buddy who did a EGR delete an tune from TSD years ago and is now debatin on studs or buyin a new truck cause he has been losing coolant.... It takes a lot, from my understanding, to crack the heads. It does happen though. You can just tune an drive and wait till it happens.
For example I did waited on the STC updat till my fitting started leaking and just replaced whole pump. I also waited on my studs and all, which unfortunately worked out for me, till my truck got stolen and recovered. I took it to Diesel Innovations and David Lott told me coolant was barely leaking into a cylinder so insurance paid for most of the work. I was running a Superchips Xcal tuner at the time for a year or so.

 

[Mixedbreed]

135K on stock bolts, 30k of which was running SCT's biggest tune. Drag raced it monthly and it was in great shape when I studded it.


But I like the piece of mind of studs.

 

[smokedout250]

135K on stock bolts, 30k of which was running SCT's biggest tune. Drag raced it monthly and it was in great shape when I studded it.


But I like the piece of mind of studs.

Then there's guys like me who where running srl from Matt and lost a head gasket at 67k....


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[stroker2]

Then there's guys like me who where running srl from Matt and lost a head gasket at 67k....


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im right at 67k

 

[smokedout250]

I wouldn't worry I pushed mine a lot lol


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[6.0 p-stroke]

You guys worry too much lol. My truck made it to 185k before popping a HG, about 10k of those miles were with a superchip too haha. After it popped it went in to get the works; decked heads, studs, delete, SCT, ect. If I were to do it again I would do an egr delete first with an SCT, then stud it and worry about the heads when it starts to show signs of blown HGs. But that's just me.

 

[kingranchstroker]

Run that thing till those gaskets let go. Then do the works... no point in paying labor bills numerous times like I did with my 6.0...

 

[Josh@DirtyDiesels]

get that stc fitting taken care of for sure regardless if you do the studs now or don't (even though its a good idea) my stc fitting resulted in a blown up hpop and cracked rear cover... could have been easily avoided

 

[stroker2]

Thanks for the replies guys and keep them coming. I ordered rivercity's full delete kit today and plan on installing myself. Looks like a fairly straight forward job. Also ordered the STC spring kit but only got the spring and o-rings instead of the whole housing. Also put a message in with Eric at innovative for some tunes. Talked to another guy there and he recommended i go with the new livewire TS. Waiting for Eric's call back to talk about getting some tunes that have a lot of TC lock in them