just got a 04 f250 diesel crew cab 4x4
 

i will be picking up a 2004 ford f250 crew cab diesel 4x4 fx4 with 60k miles on it.
i will pick it up in NC and will be driving it to Massachusetts(about 900 mi)(what to ck before the trip)
its my first diesel truck. i will not be pulling anything. i will be installing a plow for next winter.

i want to know what service i should do and some preventive maintenance and so on.
please any input will be apreciated
PS: is a salvage title

Welcom
Well the 6.0 you haft to keep on maintenance verry verry important
You need to change the oil ever 5k and fuel filter every 15K and only use ford motorcraft filters.

The 6.0 uses high pressure oil to run your injectors so if you do not keep clean oil in it you are asking to replace injectors an at $275.00 each oil change is cheep.

There are a few flaws i guess you could say with the 6.0

1. Is the Oil Cooler which clogs up and blows due to sillicat (caused to the crappy gold coolant ford uses) and casting sand out of you block cloging it up. You can avoid this by putting on a coolant filter and eaven better flushing the ford gold coolant crap out and installing a good ELC Cat-1 rated coolant in.

2. The EGR cooler have caused several problems thanks to the EPA it takes exhaust out and recurlates it back into the motor to help out on emissions but first it goes through a cooler which used coolant to help cool down the gases. The only fix you could do to it is get a bullet proof diesel kit or do a EGR delete kit.

3. Weak head bolts. If you plain on doing any kind of extream towing or tunes the factoy head bolts just dont work do to higher cyl pressure. The only fix is to install a good set of ARB studs

4. Fuel pressure ford used a weeker fuel pressure spring when they built the truck and most truck i have seen with the factory spring will only have around 40psi of fuel pressure at mid range throttle and 45psi at ital the 6.0 needs at least 45psi to keep the injectors working. Ford came out wiht a new updated fuel pressure spring kit and it takes your fuel pressure to about 65psi at idal and 58psi at WOT. And it is arount $75.00

So if you plain on keeping the truck stock and not doing anything to extream i would most defentley install a good coolant filter and the updated fuel press reg kit forom ford only and change your oil ever 5k and fuel filter every 15k and only use motorcraft filters.

Well just the basics before the trip, check oil level, trans lavel, the factory tires should be bfgoodrich rugged trails, I got 120k on my first set, put 80lbs in rear and 70lbs in the front for mileage, take a bottle of cetane boost - injector cleaner with you, a long trip is perfect way to help clean everthing out. watch your speed in Virginia, cops down there don't play and you never know what the hell they are driving, anything from a VW beetle to a F350, you will see them, Be safe and welcome to the diesel world. Bob

Holy crap 120k on a set of tires really i got like 45K before i needed new ones on mine

yup, I have 230k on the truck now and I am going to have buy my second set here soon, I rotate them once when I get about 75000 on them

Wow I think that just may be a world record. We have run them on our work trucks and can only get about 50-60k out of them and that is all highway miles

I'm on my 5th set of tires and I'm at about 77k miles. You drive like my father. :tttt:

edge juice with attitude, banks intercooler,cfm intake, injen air cleaner, 5" magnaflow exhaust, amsoil bypass setup, and I can smoke the tires while cruising 35, normally drive 80 plus up 95 every day, if your dad drives like that he is cool////my oldest is 25 but I have always been the gearhead of the family/ I think the key is it is an 04 with the 16" wheels, I got 120k on the BF Goodrich rugged trails so I went to Ford and bought the same tire. mostly highway miles and about 5% of the time towing a trailer.

made it in in one piece.
i left NC at noon time and got to MA at 3;30 am cus of the snow storm.

thanks guys for all the good info. on my way to buy oil and filter, coolant and filter to start and find out about the other stuff (egr and spring kit)to see if is easy enough that i can do it myself

Congrats on the truck, glad everything went smooth, nice ridin trucks aren't they

good deal let us know if you have any more questions we love to talk about our 6.0 PSD

thanks guys
yep, they are nice trucks and fast. I never knew they could be so fast.:rocking:

i just replace the coolant (4 gallons),now im doing the oil change, after that im looking into the EGR situation and then the fuel preassure spring kit and fuel filter, after that transmission service????

Sounds like you are off to a good start:tu:

were can i get ELC Cat-1 rated coolant in.
dealer coolant $16 a gallon. didnt get
i screwd up and use preston coolant yesterday, so i need to fix this right away

i went to the dealer to get motorcraft parts
i got the oil filter $29

THINGS I DIDNT GET YET
fuel filter $100:scare2:. is there any other brand filter that is good and less expensive?
transmition filters, iner line $50:scare2: and in the pan filter $100:scare2:. again is there another filter brand that is good and less money
air filter, i didn even ask
mercron sp or lv $4.70 a quart (transmission fluid)
ARE THIS GOOD PRICES OR DO I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BUY ALL THIS?????

I got my ELC cat-1 from my local international dealer you can also get it from any truck stop or 18 wheeler store you really need to get the 100% ELC not the 50/50 becuse when you flush it out you will not get out all the water so if you use the 50/50 you will not have the freze protection you need also make sure you use diesteled water not tap when you flush it. You can get good deals on fuel filters off e-bay i posted a link the ford factory fuel filter is made by racor you can also get the oil filter and trans filter off e-bay for good prices you can also get them at the motorcraft filters from orilleys auto parts store for cheeper than what a dealer will sell it for wal mart sell the oil filter you need for around $19.00 and if you want you can get a fram oil filter for you truck becuse that is who makes the filter from ford they are the same filter just different box. As far as the trans fluid i have only been able to find it at the dealer. And yes you only want to use ford motorcraft filters or fram for the oil filter and racor for the fuel filter never look into who makes the trans filters. I have put a a few links at the bottom this shold be what you need but check the part # to be sure you may be able to do a quick search on e-bay and find some cheeper.

Ford Powerstroke 6.0L Diesel Fuel Filter Kit OEM Racor - eBay (item 380313009992 end time Mar-02-11 12:42:35 PST)


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...item483ef66c7d


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...item483eef7d70

Fuel filters are $55 from advnaced auto for motorcraft, or $35ish from International dealership.

You need to fix that coolant issue ASAP. I'd still use the Ford stuff too, I wouldn't shy away from it, it's good coolant. The Cat is good stuff too. The $16 a gallon from Ford is not diluted either, so you need a gallon of distilled water to mix with that, so just keep that in mind when shopping prices on coolant, most of it comes 50/50 blended already.

Walmart sells Motorcraft oil filters for like $18, and Fram version is $1 cheaper, and it's the EXACT same filter, same PN's and everything.

Tranny filters I'd probably still get through Ford. Use Motorcraft filters for this stuff, but you don't have to get them from Ford. Try and find an international dealer for your fuel filters though!

thanks ranger518 and mdub707 for all the info,:tu:

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just got back from the dealer
each quart of transmission fluid was almost $12.:scare2: ($12x10 quarts=$120.00)
and the coolant was $19 a gallon ($19x3gallons= $57.00
$170.00 + tax

just found ot im getting 7 mpg city
the truck runs great, the only thing is that my tires are 35x12.50R 16.5 LT
but i think i should be getting more than 7 mpg city
im getting 16.5 mpg highway
what do you guys think

Something doesn't sound right there... My buddys running 37's on stock 3.73 rear ends driving like idiots avg 13.5. 16.5 highway is about right, but 7 city is NOT right...

Also how are you calculating this? If you have the readout above the rearview mirror, it's wrong no matter what it says. it's called the Lie-o-meter for a reason.

i filled the tank and drove 63 city miles then filled the tank again (9.165 gallons)
63 divided into 9.165= 6.873
the only thing i saw was that the air filter was extremelly dirty. i would say it was never replaced(60,000 miles). i went to walmart and got a fram air filter for $72.00:scare2: and replaced it now im praying that the milage will go up
what do you think?

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im going to start a new thread for the gas milage so i can get everybody to read it to

You need to ask before you keep buying buy parts ,, The OEM filter is a Donaldson and is good well past 60k in some cases ,, you also should have a filter minder to look at and verify condition ,, take the FRAM back and get an oem $100 or look at dieselfiltersonline.com

ill definitely look into that

Yeah I'd stick with stock motorcraft filters too. They don't need to be replaced very often, they will hold a LOT of dirt.

When checking your mileage, as you're filling your tank you need to keep filling until you see fuel in the filler neck and it stays there. Usually when the pump clicks off on these trucks, you can fit another 2-5 gallons of fuel in there. Fill it til it clicks, then slowly keep adding more and more until you have fuel right up to the neck. It takes probably an extra 10-15 minutes after the pump clicks off to do this right. If not, you have no idea how many gallons you actually used, they click off at different settings all the time. The reason being the way the fuel foams and how the fill lines go down into the tank. There is a mod to fix this, but requires dropping the tank. Search Harpoon mod.

i replaced the air filter and filled the tank to the rim and is looking good.
i have driven almost 90 miles and the needle still in full.
before 90 miles and it was down to half tank. im happy as pig in sh-t.
im going to drive till is half a tank and then ck for mpg
thanks everybody. ill keep you guys posted.

Yes, mine usually goes about 75-80 before needle moves off of FULL after a "REAL FILL-UP". It's just such a PITA to fill it that way all the time.

mine goes like 200 miles before the needle moves :choochoo:

i have driven a little over 100 and the niddle has not move:jump:
last time 100 was half a tank