Hey people,
My parents own a 2003 Ford F350 crew cab long bed dually with a 6.0l Powerstroke. Its got 63K miles on it with regular scheduled maitenance over its entire life. They have done the required recalls through its life and have had no problems with the engine or the truck as a whole. The truck sees regular light driving with frequent towing trips with their 14k lb 5th wheel. NO MODS to the truck, 100% stock.
Here's the story:
They took it to a service shop to get its scheduled lube oil filter service and when the shop pulled the engines oil drain plug no oil came out. There was a piece of sheet metal inside the oil pan blocking the hole!!!. The shop pushed it out of the way and the oil drained out. The metal is about 2" wide 6" long and 16ga thick. Anyone come across this in their 6.0l or maybe seen this bolted or welded in the pan or lower rotating assemlby? It is small but too large to pull it out. The truck runs great and was re-filled with oil and ran down the road. Just a bit of concern for me because all the flack the engine has seen over the years, just want to make sure its not the start of something bad.
Thanks for your information.

 

Strictly my thought: Drop the oil pan and investigate. If it is sheet metal then likely it is something on the oil pan or oil sump screen that has come off. If it fell off or broke off, is their more pieces loose somewhere.

 

There is a Bed Plate between the oil pan and the block and there is two sections on this part that are about 1 3/4" x 5 1/2" in size. I would pull the pan before creating a bigger problem.

 

X 2 on both comments above

 

Update on that 6.0l Powerstroke.

My parents towed their 5th wheel a couple of days later and made it just outside of town to discover a massive loss in power output. On a level grade they could only reach around 40MPH. They drove it like this for about 20 miles till they found a spot to pull over; they shut the truck down and my father checked all the fluids and such. After about 15 minutes they started the truck and it went back to normal. They continued on their trip to Phoenix AZ and made it with no problems. My father was concerned about the metal piece in the pan, so he took the truck to the Ford dealership and had them look at it. At first Ford said the metal inside the pan was a razor blade possibly from the factory and also found 3 injectors were bad along with the low pressure oil pump (leaking). They wanted $3200.00 to make repairs. My father gave them the go ahead to make repairs. During dissasembly to make approved repairs they changed the story and said the metal piece was part of the lower rotating assemlby and the motor is starting to fall apart and they were suprised that my parents even made it to phx towing a trailer. Now the Ford dealer is wanting $13,000.00 for a new motor replacement. Are my parents getting hosed here? They friggin babied that truck and and its only got 63k miles and now the motors bad WTF!
Any input would be helpfull. Ford also said the new 6.0l engine will have a lifetime warranty. If their getting the same motor why isnt the one they have got a warranty!!
HELP!!!!

 

Sounds like they are between a rock and a hard place. IIRC the new motor would have a 100K warranty. What dealer? Did they call some of the local diesel shops and get estimates? Bullet Proof Diesel is in Mesa.

 

Bell Ford in North PHX. They bought the truck from there back in 03'. Just found out an hour ago about the motor. My dad was talking about maybe just cannin the old 03' and getting into a new 2011 model with the 6.7l feel sorry for them cause they just paid this one off like 9 months ago

 

The 6.7 is still to "new" for me to even think of getting one. Kind of like buying a 03 6.0...

 

I agree. I told my parents to wait on stepping into a 6.7 until its been proven. Back when the 6.0 first came out it was the new hottness. Kinda wish Ford stuck with the 7.3l, Ive got one in my '02 work van and its already got 100k with NO failures of any kind as of yet. If anything they might step over to duramax or a cummins thats been working with minor issues instead of major since the time crunch may require a new truck. IDK!

 

Sounds like its time to get a DURAMAX
Seriously i never had much problem with ford products till about 2003. It didnt get better, but maybe with this new 6.7 it will finally change but why risk it?