The truck was posted as a “Mechanics’s Special”.  The guy had spent the previous winter bulletproofing (head gaskets, head studs, egr delete, injectors, turbo – Wicked Wheel) the 6.0l Powerstroke diesel only to endure poor running issues a few weeks after getting it all put back together.  He had spent countless hours on this engine with the intent to prevent this exact situation.  In his own words “I’m just done with it, I’m done”. He wanted $6k, no less. 

Before I went to look at it I called up a friend of mine who knows the 6.0’s pretty well and picked his brain.  He ran me through the likely culprits for the poor running condition but also reiterated that for $6k it was a no brainer.

I had a tow truck haul the F-250 back to my house and when they dropped it off the driver referred me to the mechanic that they use to service all their tow trucks, DSD Technologies.  I’d never worked on a diesel before, and while I was interested in learning, I ultimately needed/wanted the truck to be up and running sooner than later. Jason over at DSD had the truck diagnosed and corrected in short order.  Turned out to be that oil was left in the threads of the injectors when they were torqued; which dydrlocked them.  Once the engine was started and run for a while this oil then slowly drained out and loosened the injectors.  So exhaust gas was then being allowed up into the fuel rail, dropping the rail pressure and causing the rough running condition.  A few new injectors later and the truck was running great.  I also had some better tunes uploaded while he was at it.

I found a decent deal on a used set of tires and wheels so I swapped those out and improved the stance of the truck.  There was remnants of some prior body damage on the passenger side cab of the truck, behind the rear door, so I cleaned that up, added a bit of body filler and then repainted it. 

My kids loved this truck.  Anytime we needed to go anywhere, “Dad! Can we take the truck!?”  I was fun to see their excitement. 

 A couple weeks before Christmas a guy and his brother in law came down from Wisconsin to check it out.  They crawled all over it checking everything out.  We went out for a test drive (preemptively I uploaded the Race tune before they arrived) and as we were pulling up to a traffic light I suggested they slide over tot he right lane so when the light went green he could give her the beans and see what it could do.  They gladly obliged. When the light went green he stabbed the skinny pedal and off we went; chirped the tires shifting through 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  All three of us were giggling like little school girls.

When we got back to the house they decided to drive up to a local restaurant to talk things over before negotiating.  They came back not even 15 minutes later to make a deal.  After we agreed on a price the buyer told me “I needed to get away for a bit, I was too excited about the truck and didn’t want it to show”.  A good test drive will do that.  I was told by the tuner that the Race tune for a bulletproofed 6.0 should be putting out about 800 lb ft of torque to the rear wheels.  Based on hearing those big tires chirp all the way up to 3rd gear I believe it.

Deal done, onto the next one.