Keep us posted on what you find out. You might want to flat bed your rig closer to home base. This could be a repair that takes awhile. Up to 30 hours labor for engine removal and headstuds. There's a whole litany of items to address once it all goes down. Some needed, some just preventative maintenance, and some that might have already been included since yours is presumably a late production run. There's a few threads on this forum on the dirty details as well as good write-ups on the diesel forums.
edit to add: I posted in this thread along the same lines.
http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...tml#post197493
Here's what I would consider the full meal deal on a rebuilt (or bulletproofed) 6.0 powerstroke.
-
ARP head studs. That means the motor has to come out.
-Heads. New or resurfaced and were they o-ringed?
-HPOP. 2004.5+ not known for failure but ask anyway
-upgraded one-piece snap to connect HPOP fitting
-Dummy plugs (upgraded parts by Ford for injector health)
-Standpipes (upgraded parts by Ford for injector health)
-
EGR cooler with the round tubes or BPD cooler or an
EGR delete.
-injectors. Original or remans. 100k is when they start to go.
-New oil cooler. OEM and not a Dorman. Or, the outrageously expensive BPD external
oil cooler
-water pump. Go BPD or Dieselsite for the metal impeller
-turbo reconditioned.
-upgraded turbo oil fill and drain pipes
-FICM rebuilt
-upgraded alternator and fresh batteries
-
coolant flush and Ford Gold replaced with a CAT EC-1 rated ELC
coolant
-new charge air cooler (CAC) boots
-coolant filter
These are all items I would research and be prepared to discuss with your mechanic as to whether to replace or not. Lots to learn.