i'm looking at a 2006 powerstroke 6.0, with 170,000km or 105,000 miles. it looks real nice and its really cheap but i'm worried this is going to be a money pit. my big question is do all 6.0 powerstorkes blow head gaskets, even when you keep them stock? i just don't want to buy this truck and have to replace gaskets and studs because i don't think i could do it financially. if i just kept it stock or did a mild tune and an egr delete, would it be fairly reliable?

 

If u do a ficm tune, php or eds, you can stay stock and have a fun truck. See advertisers on this site, they are here because they work. If you do some minor upgrades properly you can have good reliable truck IMO.

 

with an sct tuner on mild would it still be pretty reliable or should you stay away from any tunes without studs?

 

They all have head gasket problems and are very picky on maintenece( wix filters wont cut it) but the 2005+ 6.0 s are better with a much better hpop

 

In long run dont run tune...ever see set of pistons that have had a tune to them for a period of time? Discolored and trashed but up to you

 

so are you saying, even if i keep it stock i will most likely need to do head gaskets sooner or later? also whats the best way to find out if it has a headgasket problem if i go test drive it?

 

Mine has 215,000 all original motor except one one injector. 40 hp php tune in ficm and eds repair. I learned on this site to be religious on maintenance, proper filters and a little luck. Hpop finally just wore to point I need new one so I'm cleaning everything, replacing intake and upgrading turbo oil feed and drain while in there. I'm lucky I can do my own work. Looking forward to dieselsite pump install and enjoying truck many more years!

 

Best way is to use a pressure tester that attackes where rad cap goes you can also starts simple like look for white smoke milky oil and on a cold start there should b no pressure in top rad hose. Yes sooner or later the head gaskets will go but usually not till 250,000 miles or so if taken care of