Ford Power Stroke Bulletproofing Tactics

Inside Bulletproof Diesel's Mesa facility: Each week, three to five 6.0L-powered Super Duty pickups cycle through the shop receiving a plethora of upgrades that ensure long engine life and improved power and efficiency. In virtually every case, Bulletproof's technicians must remove the cab from the chassis to gain access to the critical areas of the engine compartment. While this may seem like a lot of work initially, remember that it took Bulletproof less than one hour to complete this procedure on our donor tru

Inside Bulletproof Diesel's Mesa facility: Each week, three to five 6.0L-powered Super Dut

More than one million 6.0L Ford Power Stroke vehicles are on the road today. Despite an exceptional torque curve, an impressive power-to-weight ratio, and a surprisingly compact package size, the 365ci Navistar International-built V-8 suffered from a series of reliability and warranty issues during its short lifespan. In response, Navistar redesigned, tooled up and built the improved 6.4L version of the Power Stroke for '08-'10 Ford HD trucks. As a result, pre-owned 6.0L Ford pickups are in abundant supply, and are often a few thousand dollars less than a similarly equipped diesel pickup of the same vintage from Dodge or GM. For those of us diesel enthusiasts with mechanical aptitude, the 6.0L Power Stroke is possibly the best late-model pre-owned truck value going today.

Here, you can see Bulletproof Diesel's ASE certified technician, Justin Aguirre, removing the turbocharger from the top of the engine. This is the first step in the process of disassembly. If the cab of the truck were still attached to the chassis, this procedure alone might take half a day to complete. Instead, Aguirre had our donor truck's engine completely stripped down to a bare block in the same time frame.

Here, you can see Bulletproof Diesel's ASE certified technician, Justin Aguirre, removing

Upgrades and troubleshooting strategies for this truck are numerous. One company that specializes in all things Power Stroke is Bulletproof Diesel of Mesa, Arizona. The company's owners, brothers Ken and Gene Neal, have invested a ton of time and money into resolving problems associated with the 6.0L. As the name implies, Bulletproof Diesel products circumvent expensive repairs and costly downtime while providing the reliability that Super Duty owners expect from their trucks. We put their upgrades to the test recently on a friend's '04 F-350 dually. Check out what we discovered.

Diagnosing the Patient
In almost every case, 6.0L engine failures can be attributed to shortcomings in the oil cooling system. In this section, we will cover the how and why of these failures and showcase a proven solution.

The 6.0L Power Stroke engine has a unique oil temperature regulation system that relies on engine coolant to raise or lower oil temperature within a given operational range. The system utilizes a compact aluminum heat exchanger that is located in the front of the engine, just under the oil filter assembly. The 6.0L engine block features a void that allows the cooler to mount inside the "V" of the engine. The self-contained stacked-plate heat exchanger is highly effective when the engine is new. However, over time the narrow interior passageways can become restricted by corrosion, debris in the coolant, and casting sand left over from the manufacturing process. This picture shows a cooler that Bulletproof Diesel cut in half with a bandsaw. Despite having roughly 45,000 miles on it, this unit was compromised. Notice the discolored areas in the passageways between the fins; this is the material that creates the restriction. When this happens, coolant flow is significantly impacted. If left unchecked, this lack of coolant flow creates a domino effect that eventually leads to catastrophic engine failure.

The EGR Cooler and the Domino Effect
The illustration details how coolant moves through the 6.0L Power Stroke engine. Notice that after coolant leaves the oil cooler, it flows to the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler. The EGR cooler uses engine coolant to remove heat from a portion of the spent exhaust gases as they're directed back to the vehicle's intake to help reduce the creation of NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions. The EGR system is a vital component of the emissions control system. Some companies sell EGR block-off devices that eliminate the functionality of the EGR system altogether, though these kits are for off-road use only and typically cause the "check engine" light to illuminate. The better solution is a Bulletproof EGR cooler with an improved core structure for better flow characteristics.

This is where most failed EGR coolers eventually end up. Bulletproof Diesel purchases these failed units from repair shops throughout the country. They rebuild them and resell them as Bulletproof EGR coolers.

This is where most failed EGR coolers eventually end up. Bulletproof Diesel purchases thes

Inside The Egr Cooler: Two Common Problems
If you have owned a Ford Super Duty pickup with the 6.0L engine, chances are you have experienced an EGR cooler failure. Ford released several technical service bulletins to its dealer network in an attempt to resolve these problems. However, none of them address the root cause of the problem, and though the dealership may replace faulty EGR coolers under warranty, the issues will continue to persist. Once you've seen the inside of one of these EGR coolers as we have, it's easy to understand their shortcomings.