New to me 06 powerstroke, need help choosing mods
 

Hey guys I recently purchased a 2006 F250 Lariat powerstroke. It has 113,XXX miles on it and I love it. The truck seems to be mostly stock. Sometimes I hear a blow off valve but it is inconsistent. Everyone that I talk to says that getting an EGR delete is a must. I was also thinking about getting a turbo back exhaust and new air intake to let the engine breath. I am not looking to increase a ton of horsepower, I want to keep this a solid daily driver. What I want to do is increase the longevity and MPG of the truck. Let me know what you guys recommend.

Thanks, Austin

EGR delete, whatever exhaust you want, leave stock air filter until you start pushing a lot of power. SCT tuner and custom tunes. Gauges wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Put a Cummins in it..........:w2:

If I run the tune with factory head gaskets and studs wont that create more problems? When do the head gaskets start to go on these?

Factory head gaskets with studs seems to be most reliable. I would recommend coolant filter and gauges too.

Really? Factory studs and gaskets? I have heard nothing but bad things about the factory gaskets on the 6.0's..

Factory gaskets are the only gaskets you should use. OEM studs on the other hand are hit or miss once you start running custom tunes like crazy.

OEM isn't studs, it's stretch to yield bolts which fail when more than stock cylinder pressures are encountered. Aftermarket studs such as ARP are a stud with a nut and washer to provide better clamping force on the heads. STUDS with stock gaskets are the most reliable for most situations.

I called a local shop with a good reputation near me. They said they could do motorcraft head gaskets for $2000-$2500 and would not charge to install ARP head studs. I was wondering what you guys thought about this. I would like to run an economy tune and am also looking to get an egr delete/oil cooler kit. You guys know of any specifics good kits? Is the head gaskets/head studs job a necessity? Thanks

Just had my 05 with 136,000 in the shop for a bad egr valve, mechanic pulled the valve and found it wet. Opted to delete the egr with a performance machine mfg. kit which included the solid replacement up pipe. While it was being worked on I decided to go ahead and drop the extra cash on a stud job and get everything done at once.
Arp studs, OEM head gaskets, updated dummy plugs, stc, and stand pipes, new oil cooler, egr delete, new glow plugs, and all of the gaskets, fluids, etc. also had a crack in one of the bellows on the y pipe going into the turbo. Out the door was $4400 plus tax and cost of the arp studs and the egr delete kit. Without studs and head gaskets it was going to be around $2900 plus tax plus the cost of the delete kit.

I would delete egr if your state doesn't check and definitely get studs if you want to tune. If you do not have any problems with head gaskets leaking you may be able to just delete egr and mild tune. Then remember push it real hard you going to hurt it but play easy probably fine. Bulldog193 probably loving truck now! That's good bulletproof update!

Still have a few more upgrades to do; coolant filter, blue spring, and a set of gauges (either scangauge or edge insight). Truck is running great but I have noticed a longer cold start with a puff of black smoke, don't want to hijack this thread with that issue though.

I was thinking that I am going to get an EGR delete/oil cooler kit ASAP, but was wondering if I should also have gaskets and studs done. I would not run a tune until I got the studs and gaskets done, just wondering if anything else was recommended at this time. I would have to buy a tuner to tell the truck that the EGR is deleted right?

How long are you planning on keeping this truck and how are you going to use it, heavy towing or daily driver? Do you want to run a tune or are you happy with the stock power?

I plan on keeping my truck for several years and the $5000 that i spent on everything was ony going to cover around 4 or 5 months of payments on a new 6.7.
My truck is really just a daily driver right now going back and forth to classes, but in the summer it gets worked a little harder and I occasionally have to tow a piece of equipment or something. While the mecchanic and service manager didnt push me into doing studs they did say that if it was theirs they would stud it.
As far as the CEL from and EGR delete, it has been around 250 miles since I got mine back and I dont have a check engine light. I dont have a way to check codes on my own yet but the only way to clear the EGR CEL is with an SCT tunner, by using the SCT to turn off the CEL you are not loading a tune onto the truck. The SCT is around $350 from what I've seen so if it does throw a code I will hold off and just deal with the light being on for a while.

I am either going to keep the truck for a couple months, or like 10 years.... no where in between... depends on how it runs.... how could i check to see if the head gaskets are good or not right now? if the head gaskets are not good I would plan on doing studs while I got the head gaskets done... I think EGR delete is #1 on the list right now

There is a way to tap into the coolant return line that runs from the radiator to the degass bottle. There are several videos on youtube showing how to do this and what the gauge readout should be. By watching the gauge as you drive you can determine from the pressure if the head gaskets are failing or if the egr is cracked.