So, as some of you know. I was in the market for a full size truck. We're moving soon from California back to Indiana after I am medically retired from the Navy. Rather than driving two vehicles, I decided I wanted something that could tow a car across the country without issues. I towed a Honda Accord from California to Minnesota last time I moved, and it wasn't fun with the Ranger.

Anyway, I looked at a few. I was originally looking for a 7.3L, but they are hard to find with low miles, and not overpriced. I started looking at the 6.0L even though I know some of them have had issues. I found one that had all of the preventative bullet proofing done to it, and it looks sweet.

2006 F-250 Super Duty w/ 6.0L w/ 135k miles.

 

Nice truck!

 

Thanks. And... the greatest part is my wife. I was busy working on putting stuff back in the ranger (back seats and trim stuff), and she told me that she didn't want me to sell it. She wants to sell her car, and drive one of the trucks for a while until she finds something new. She said.. "this is your truck.. you can't sell it, I don't want you to"... Awesome wife, awesome life.

 

My wife tells me that too when I bring up selling my Ranger. Really if it wasn't for her it'd be long gone.


Does the new 6.0 have custom tunes or anything?

 

Awesome to know you're keeping the ranger Ryan! You definitely have a keeper for sure.

 

It does. He set it back to stock before turning it over. He mostly used it for towing... so he said he usually just left it on a tow tune. It has 6 different tunes.. and I need to test them and figure out what each one is.

SRL+
SRLXX
8000 LB TOW
UNLIMITED WT TOW
MPD
DAILY STREET

I tried just adding the daily street one, but it gives me an error telling me the battery is too low to add it, but right after that failing, it let me load the 8000 LB TOW tune.. so not sure what that's all about.

 

Sweet. From what I hear the SRL+ is a really good daily tune for a studded truck. I've run the regular SRL on mine for 40k and my only complaint is I feel like the torque converter should lock up a little later, which I could easily have Matt fix if I was really worried about it. It makes the truck so much more fun to drive daily though. I've put mine back to stock a couple times just for the heck of it but that never ends up lasting very long lol.

 

Also BPD is awesome about that FICM. I bought one of the first ones when they came out and had it fail earlier this year. I posted about it on the org BPD actually called me on my cell and overnighted me a new one. I was way outside the warranty period and they didn't have to do that. Awesome guys...

 

That's awesome. He said it wasn't the full blown FICM.. but just the circuit board or something? When I looked on their website it looked like they had the board for $160 and the full unit for $500.

I might give that SRL+ tune a try. I wasn't sure what each one was.. he told me who they were from but I forgot.. do you know who that one is from?

I have a LOT to learn.. like when I first bought my ranger I wanted a hood scoop, lmao.

 

The ficm might be the 4 phase rather than the 6, it's a little cheaper and doesn't have the extra voltage options. If it's that 160 dollar one then it's not a bpd ficm, you should be able to tell by looking though. The bpd unit has that nice machined billet housing.

The srl tunes are from Matt at Gearhead Automotive Performance. He's a very well respected tuner across the powerstroke boards.

 

Nice truck. My wife is opposite, she would let me sell my truck in an instant. Lol

 

It must be the 4 phase because mine stays right at 47.5-48 volts. Which is what it's supposed to be.

I loaded the SRL+ tune. Haven't driven it yet, but sounds like it's a mild performance/daily tune. The SRLXX is apparently an extreme performance tune, which is not something I care too much about.

 

She would let me sell it if I really wanted to. She just knows how much I like it and how much work I put into it. She knows I was struggling with it and she hates her car anyway.

Wish I could have found a King Ranch like yours.. I love that leather in those.

 

SRL is Matt's race tune, SRL+ is a little hotter race tune apparently only safe for studded trucks. Not sure I'd run the SRL extreme tune either even with studs. Matt has an excellent track record when it comes to head gaskets though so it might still be good to go for many miles.


48 volts is the minimum acceptable voltage for the ficm no matter what. The 6 phase gives you the option to run it at 48v, 53v, or 58v. You could tell if the ficm is a bpd unit by seeing if it has the nice housing, but you probably won't know for sure if it's 4 or 6 phase unless you pulled it out and opened it up.

 

Yea, when I punched the gas, it surprised the **** out of me, lol. It gets up and goes. We'll see what the MPG's are over a few tanks of gas.. The SRL+ is fast enough... seriously doubt I would bother playing with the SRLXX.

The FICM is definitely from BPD because I asked about it. My SCT Livewire says it's running at 47.5-48V.. it flickers back and forth. He said he spoke with BPD because he was worried about that, but they told him as long as it doesn't go lower than 47, then it's nothing to worry about.

 

So.. just figured I'd update with more stuff.

Things I know that have been done to it:
ARP Head Studs
EGR Cooler Delete (Still has EGR Valve)
Oil Cooler Replaced
ELC Coolant used
Coolant Filter system installed
Blue Spring Mod for Fuel Pressure Regulator
FICM is a BPD 4 phase
S&B Cold Air Intake
Dual straight pipes w/ no catalytic converter

Other stuff:
Wicked Wheel II in stock turbo
Stock Injectors
HID Headlights
Clifford Alarm/Remote Start

Played around with that SRL+ tune. It's nuts. I punch the gas and you can just feel the rear tires grab and that things just takes the F off. It's a little overkill for what I want, so I might just try the Tow Tune or leave it stock until I can get a Economy tune. I have no desire to race my truck.

Dropped the truck off at a diesel shop today to have them go over it. I needed a new serpentine belt anyway for it as the one on there looks a little dry-rot and cracking. Alternator was just changed in February, not sure why they wouldn't do it then.

Anyways.. also noticed some white smoke. Not freight-train amounts, but some. Not running rough or running poorly, doesn't smell like burnt coolant. Doesn't happen at start-up, and doesn't do it after it's at operating temps. Just in between and at stop-lights when it's idling. Either way.. rather than risk anything going wrong.. I decided to take it in and have them run some diagnostics so I can fix whatever the problem is before it causes major damage. Based on the reading I've done it sounds like a turbo seal or bad injector are the two most likely culprits.

I'm a little disappointed obviously. Guess I shouldn't have jumped the gun because I was excited about the truck, but I thought I had done my research and found one that had all the known issues fixed already. Should have gone with a 7.3 that I had my eye on. Either way.. it's my problem now, so I'm gonna get it fixed up and hopefully won't have any more issues with it. Previous owner gave me a bunch of receipts and a maintenance log of most of the stuff that's been done to it in the last 3-4 years. So I at least have a baseline of what's been done, and what might need to be done soon.

 

Keep an eye on your coolant level to make sure it's not disappearing. Do you know what kind of egr delete and head gaskets were used when it was studded? Were the heads checked for flatness?

If it's determined to be the turbo seal the turbo is easy to replace and a good used one can be had on the powerstroke boards for about $200. If you want an 03 turbo they are a little more and a little harder to find but sound awesome.

Go rub your finger in the exhaust pipe after a short drive and see if there's any liquid there. If so it should be easy to tell what kind it is.

 

Owner couldn't tell me what kind of EGR delete it was. But I know it wasn't a BPD or anything. No idea what head gasket he used, but he was on the org a lot so I think he would know better than to use an aftermarket head gasket vs OEM.. at least I hope.

I wasn't losing coolant, and the exhaust didn't smell sweet. I'm gonna get new o-rings for the EGR valve so I can pull that out and check for any gooey **** in there.

The shop called and said it was the turbo seals though. The guess is the previous owner put in the wicked wheel II without having it balanced properly and that's what blew the turbo seals. I am leaning towards getting this one and installing it myself: Garrett 772441-5001S PowerMax GT3788VA Turbocharger

I'd rather do that I think than get a re-manufactured stock one or have mine rebuilt and put that wicked wheel back in. I will look at the classifieds though, that's a good idea.

 

Your truck is a beauty!