Ford 6.0 not driven frquently

[White_whale]

Hey new here and his is my first post. I have a 2004 e350 4x4 EB van. I dont drive this van daily. I'm just wondering what engine mods people have done to improve reliability on there engines are not daily drivers.

[arctictraveller]

Welcome. You will find the search function to be very useful, there are a huge number of 6.0 threads. In general, diesels are just fine when not used every day. When I lay-up my boat engines, I simply block off the intake and exhaust, loosen the belts and walk away, but that's only when the engine won't run for six or more months.

[JoeH]

my 2 cents would be to replace the coolant every 30,000 miles and install a coolant filter. Otherwise, your rig is 13 years old so main thing would be preventative maintenance stuff and watching your engine vitals when you drive it.

If you have a monitor watch the spread on your ECT and EOT. More than 14 or 15F at 65mph on the flats and you're oil cooler is getting clogged. The mod that most people do is to either replace the EGR cooler with one from Bulletproofdiesel or delete the thing. If you have an early 2004 you might have the more robust EGR cooler design. Drive it like you stole it once in awhile to burn off the carbon in the turbo.

Otherwise, there are so many potential mods you can do to increase reliability it will make your head spin. Google heat management and EGR cooler on vans with a 6.0 powerstroke but here's a good overview: 6.0L Power Stroke Upgrades - Addressing the Engine's Fatal Flaws

[White_whale]

Thanks for the info. I follow several 6.0 forums and am aware there are a lot of mods for these motors. I was looking for advice on which mods are most aplicable to out vans. My van has the egr delete, extra tranny cooler, aftermarket tranny pan that holds an extra 5-6 quarts, and an edge juice controller.

Sometimes the vanes in my turbo stick if I haven't drive It for a long time.

Most recently I had all my glow plugs replaced. My icp valve done. My alternator done twice and both front calipers siezed 1 week apart. My edge controller had not been working but edge finally got it fixed.

I want to do the coolant filter and maybe some other mods that would suit a van that is only driven on the weekends and not every weekend.

Thanks

[JoeH]

Well, not sure how the sitting thing makes that big a difference. Especially if you work the turbo when you do drive it. Checking those starting batteries or having them on a charger is a good idea during the down periods.

Hood louvers are a nice mod.

Upgrading the FICM is good preventative maintenance. Get a bulletproof power side or send it in to FicmRepair.com. http://ficmrepair.com/

[hogasm]

Worst thing you can do with a 6.0 is drive it like Ms Daisy.....this motor likes to be driven hard. It keeps the carbon build up down on the turbo veins and the EGR valve cleaner. Both soot up easily from easy driving.

[carringb]

Make sure you stick with OEM filters. If you need to go aftermarket, buy a matching cap with the filter. When you put an aftermarket filter under the stock filter cap, the fit doesn't quite match and you get bypass, and this bypassing oil eventually allows the sump screen over the HPOP to plug up and blow out, sending debris into the HPOP and injectors.

x2 on what JoeH says.... Keep the batts maintained and never run with low battery voltage. If you can't keep a maintainer on the batts, then battery disconnects should be considered, but that's a tricky install on the vans.

Fuel stabilizers are must if you aren't going through a tank each trip.


BTW - How did you install the extra tranny cooler? Installing 2 in series can cause excess pressure drop. Replacing the stock one with larger is fine, but installing 2 is generally not. Where you having problems with trans temps before you did those upgrades?

[White_whale]

Yeah I have been using OEM filters so far and it looks like the previous owner did too.

I got this van a little over a year ago and have a 1 one year old boy so I haven't had a lot of time to play with it.

I did get deka sealed batteries and keep them topped off. I had some alt issues over the winter. Combined with 4 bad glow plugs this thing was a pita to get started. As a result I kept the batteries in good shape.

The previous owner did the mods to the tranny. I have not checked to see if the added cooler replaces the stock cooler. The previous owner used to haul a trailer in the mountains with this van.

The van is a quigly 4x4 and I'm the 4th owner. It has 145,000 mi. I have read a lot about the 6.0 and am good with vehicles. I want to add a coolant filter but also want idea on any good mods that make the van more dependable after sitting not nessesarily power like most of the truck guys want. Since this van isn't driven daily or even weekly and when it does get driven I have two small kids and a wife I'd like to keep the van in a ready to leave on a moments notice condition.

Thanks for the advice.