Ford PowerStroke Diesel

NOTICE <I had SEVEN instances before 10 o’clock where it was a local number on the caller ID but a Robo-Call or Spam – SEVEN spam calls and all were spoofed local numbers….some days are much worse….as many as 8 to 10 an hour.>

Please – we beg of you – if you call Mid-City Auto and you get the voicemail, PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE or TEXT US at the number on the outgoing message – these spoofed number spam are wreaking havoc – we simply cannot waste valuable time fielding all these telemarketers and robo-caller and spam phone calls. We often get 8 to 10 of these junk phone calls an hour. Until the powers that be figure out how to reel in these abuses of our phone systems, we often are forced to conduct business via you leaving us a voicemail or sending us a text.>

Now – back to your regularly scheduled program

Let just ANYONE work on your Ford Super Duty and this may be the result….we specialize in diagnostics and repair of 2003.5 thru 2018 6.0L, 6.4L, and 6.7L. We have the factory Ford IDS diagnostic system.


But we can fix it RIGHT!

We have the factory Ford IDS diagnostic system and can do factory Ford programming, re-flashes and factory updates.

Ford IDS Diagnostic System

We are a Dealer/Installer for Bullet Proof Diesel products!

Bullet Proof Oil Cooler


We can do Factory Ford  PCM, FICM, and TCM. Flashing as well as emissions present aftermarket tuning via SCT or BullyDog programmers on 7.3L, 6.0L. 6.4L and PPEI tuning on 6.7L.


6.0L

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6.0L

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6.4L

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6.4L

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6.4L

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6.4L

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6.4L

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Bulletproof 6.0L

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Bulletproof 6.0L

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Bulletproof 6.0L

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Bulletproof 6.0L

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Bulletproof 6.0L

Fuel system replacement 6.7L

Broken flexplate on 2016 F450

Replaced with Suncoast flexplate and torque converter 

Fuel system shrapnel from grenaded CP4 pump on 6.7L. We can install Disaster Prevention Kit.

If you own a 6.7L Powerstroke and you are looking for a little more fuel capacity but don’t want to lose valuable bed space, or just don’t want to hassle with an auxiliary fuel tank, we can fix you up with a TITAN replacement fuel tank……
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One Of Eleventy-Million Head Gasket Replacements

Back in 2004 or so…….


Getting ready to lift cab…                                                Left side done…


Right side done…                                                                Running boards off…

 


Cab bolts from inside on 4DR trucks…


Cab off…                                                                                  Left Side…


Rear shot….                                                 Valve cover off…


Head off…Not hard to see the lack of sealing on that cylinder in the lower right of the picture….


New MLS factory Ford gaskets in place, and studs ’bout to go in…


Studs in…. New HPOP oil inlet filter. New Engine Oil Cooler going in also…..


Going back together….99% of the time when we tell the customer that changing the HPOP and IPR now will save $750 in labor later on, they say go ahead, but this time the customer simply did not have the funds. It’s a big gamble! And it may NOT pay off for him. The Engine Oil Cooler was restricted so the HPOP was pumping overheated oil, AND the HPOP oil inlet screen was completely gone, meaning when the screen finally sucked in, the screen AND all the trash it had filtered was drawn through the pump…..this pump has been starved for oil, pumped overheated oil, AND had to pass a screen and all the trash trapped in the screen…..it IS on borrowed time, and it WILL fail…period, end of topic…..not heeding a reputable service facilities advice on these engines is one of the biggest reasons these 6.0L engines have gotten such a bad reputation for staying in the shop. You can BET this one WILL be back in soon with a dead HPOP.


This screen did not come from this engine…but it is THE BEST ONE we’ve ever removed and it had one segment torn….no screen material went through the HPOP, but all the trash in the oil reservoir DID….this one came from an 06 model, which at the time was not a 4 year old truck yet, and had only 104,000 miles….

What Happens without Proper Fuel Maintenance


This is the header where all the fuel lines connect…you may recognize it…unfortunately MOST FOLKS do not, because they have never crawled under their truck to drain the water separator…that plug with the hex in the center…that is where the water is drained from the water/fuel separator. This is where the primary fuel filter is located also. I am AMAZED by how many people do not change the fuel filters often enough, and even MORE amazed at how many change the secondary fuel filter under the hood but think it’s acceptable to NOT change the primary under the truck…it’s bad enough when you don’t do it often enough, but even worse to neglect the primary filter when you FINALLY DO decide to maintenance the truck…and even WORSE YET if you are late on the filter changes, don’t change the lower filter every time you do the upper, but it is a grave error if you do not take a hex wrench and open this drain….


This is the back side of the fuel header….that is the back side of the drain plug you see in the center all the way at the bottom…..   Here is a close up of the drain plug…..see all that gook and corrosion in that lower cavity (on the right)….THAT is fuel injector death right there! The water in fuel sensor (WIF) is in this same cavity…if you do not service the water/fuel separator and filters as often as you should, it will become corroded like this……very bad news for your fuel injectors. If you have a WIF light that very seldom or never comes on, you need to get the truck to us ASAP…..or if your water in fuel light came on and you DID drain the separator, and the light soon came back on, and you repeated this process a few times and you finally said “oh well, I’ll just ignore the light”, you need to get it to us ASAP.

If you are simply guilty of not changing your fuel filter every 6-8 months or not draining the water separator every 45 to 60 days, you NEED to get it to us ASAP.

The biggest mistake people make with the 6.0L and newer trucks is that they assume the truck can be maintenanced the same as the 7.3L trucks…..and it just is NOT so. The water/fuel separator should be drained a MINIMUM of 6-8 times a year whether the light has come on OR NOT, and the filters should be changed 2-3 times a year…..and MILEAGE put on the truck is IRRELEVANT! If you don’t want to risk over $2000 worth of fuel injectors (not incl. labor) and you were not aware of the above (they don’t tell you when you buy the truck) then you reeeaaallyyy need to get it to us ASAP…..odds are this fuel header/WIF sensor assembly needs IMMEDIATE replacement at best and possibly even the entire FCM needs replacement.

I JUST WROTE AN ESTIMATE on replacing ALL EIGHT injectors AND the low pressure fuel pump, AND the injector pump on a 2014 truck with LESS THAN 30,000 MILES ON IT that the dealer DECLINED TO WARRANTY due to NEGLECT, so this applies to YOU TOO if you have ANY 2003.5 through 2015 Powerstroke Diesel, not just applicable to the 6.0L!!!! This is an EVEN BIGGER issue on the 6.4L AND the 6.7L as well.


Here is the last set of 6.0 Injectors we replaced….a few folks cannot understand how all injectors can be bad, but give it some thought…they ALL are the same age…they ALL have the same miles on them…they ALL have had the same crappy fuel go through them….so LOGICALLY, how CAN a couple of them be bad and the rest are FINE???? It cannot happen…even if one of these is not causing a dead miss right NOW, it will tomorrow…or next week…or next month…anyone’s guess when…but an EDUCATED and EXPERIENCED guess would be “NOT LONG”…….especially considering the lack of maintenance that causes this failure that was shown above….check out the following pictures…..


This is the fuel pump/fuel filter/water separator – FCM (fuel conditioning module) assembly that mounts in the frame rail on the driver’s side…..you know….the one that when we get a truck come in running like crap with bad injectors and we examine this setup, we find that some lube shop techs have been throwing away the primary filter that goes in here and changing only the easy engine mounted filter because they don’t want to get diesel in their armpits or because the cover on the filters are usually stuck beyond belief so they just don’t feel like messing with it…….yeah, that assembly….the SAME one that YOU should be opening the drain on every 45 days or more often…or bringing it to us for routine maintenance so it will get done. See that crud in the housing? See that crud laying on the red rag to the left of the photo?  The second picture is a close up shot of the crud in the housing.  Well that crude is fuel injector DEATH.


See that crud in the area of the drain? See the crud in the area above that? This amount of crud is not UNCOMMON…..it is not limited to the trucks that were owned by folks that did NO maintenance….this happens when you THINK you are doing it often enough, and this happens when you ARE bringing it somewhere for maintenance and it is not being done PROPERLY…..


See that screen on the side of the injector in the center of the photo? The one ripped apart…..the one with the crud in there…..See those pieces of blown out screen that was in the fuel passage? The screen blown out by the crud….the screen mixed with crud that is now blowing out screens on ANOTHER injector….that will then become MORE screen and MORE crud that will blow out the screens on 6 MORE injectors…..

ALL because the little clown at the lube shop did not want to do his job, or because you did not KNOW that you should have been draining that separator frequently…..These injectors go south in a few different ways. They can cause missing and power loss when the engine is cold and then as it warms up, it runs better and better….in this situation, as more and more of them get worse, eventually the engine will run worse and worse for longer and longer after start up. Or they can go bad in such a way that the engine will start and run great, but as it gets warmer 1 cylinder will drop…then 2…then 3 and by the time the engine is fully warmed up a 4th drops out….then finally the engine quits and leaves you on the side of the road….let it sit for a few minutes and you can start it back up and go a little ways and it happens again…this is due to combustion gases entering the fuel system through a faulty injector and filling the fuel with air bubbles. Or they can go bad in such a way that you have a dead miss and raw diesel coming from the tail pipe. Or they can split the tip and damage the engine internally, as is much more common on the 6.4L and the 6.7L.

Yes….faulty injectors CAN and DO cause engine damage in a LOT of cases on the 6.4L and the 6.7L, and on the 6.4L and 6.7L engines the fuel system neglect generally takes out the HPFP (injector pump) first and the HPFP then scatters pump innards downstream and ALSO kills all 8 injectors and one of those injectors CAN and sometimes DOES kill your ENGINE!

Seriously folks….you REALLY need to let someone that KNOWS these engines do the routine maintenance on them, not just the repairs….EVEN IF it is more inconvenient for you leaving your vehicle with us for a half day…..EVEN IF it costs a little bit more…..and EVEN IF we ell you it needs to be done WAY more often. On these trucks that WE have done the service and the customer did EVERYTHING when WE said to do it, they are still ticking along fine…..but on the OTHER HAND, on some 6.4L and 6.7L trucks we have had to replace the low pressure fuel pump, the hig pressure fuel pump AND all eight injectors on trucks as new as THREE YEARS OLD in cases where the customer either did not know what needed to be done and how often, OR was taking it to a quickie shop and what they were paying for was NOT getting done….or being done with the wrong parts….or not OFTEN enough….or a combination of everything. The 6.0L, the 6.4L and the 6.7L are ALL good engines….GREAT engines in fact…..but they CANNOT be treated the same as the old 7.3L….they are “higher tech”, but most folks do NOT realize the “high tech” also means it will have MUCH LESS TOLERANCE for NEGLECT and much less tolerance for a technician’s lack of KNOWLEDGE and experience……………..

You Ran What For Fuel?!


Yup. We still work on plenty of these! The old school 7.3 Strokes. This one came in really sick…running on about 3 cylinders, then stalling with a no start. Owner just bought the truck. Fuel pressure test revealed about 10psi….not happening. Then a fuel sample was taken….scary to say the least. It’s amazing what some folks will do. Nosing around (literally) told us some jack wagon tried running cooking oil….unfiltered, unheated, rancid and poured directly in the tank……

Another Horror Story!

This truck is a no-start that was towed in from another shop….no high pressure oil…sure enough the HPOP supply screen was disintegrated and the screen and debris had gone through the pump…the oil reservoir was pretty sludgy, indicating either the wrong oil was being used, or not being changed frequently enough….or BOTH….

I don’t know how much THIS contributed to the HPOP failure, but it didn’t HELP for sure! Someone at some point broke the top of the oil filter housing standpipe….and left it that way. On the 6.0L engine something as simple as an oil change can have devastating results….whether it be the wrong oil, or the wrong filter, or not being changed often enough….or a combination of all, if you do not know these engines INSIDE AND OUT, you can unknowingly cost yourself a lot of money….either by doing something like this, OR by choosing the wrong service facility……there’s a lot of Johnny-come-latelys to the Powerstroke repair scene that just began working on these trying to cash in….and we’ve been hearing HORROR STORIES.

The Engine Oil Cooler On The 6.0L Is The Root Of All Evil

Here is the factory Ford Engine Oil Cooler still mounted in the Oil Cooler housing. Which resides in this High Pressure Oil Pump reservoir in the center of the block….Notice the torn elements on the HPOP oil inlet filter….all that screen and the trash in the screen HAS gone through your HPOP and IPR. You can replace this engine oil cooler and screen…..but in three to four years or fifty thousand to sixty thousand miles, you WILL be right back here AGAIN. Period. Coolant filtration kits do NOT help….the crud that restricts this cooler is NOT coming from elsewhere in the cooling system, IT FORMS right here WITHIN the cooler itself.

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The above two pictures and video is the result of the chemical reaction that occurs WITHIN the oil cooler. It is NOT casting sand. It is NOT trash that forms elsewhere in the cooling system. It CANNOT be filtered out. ELC coolant of a different brand like Caterpillar may slow it, but is will NOT prevent it. It cannot be FLUSHED out. The ONLY solution is to replace the factory style cooler ever time it’s performance degrades, OR to replace it once and for all with a Bulletproof cooler kit.

The decision to “Bulletproof” your truck or not all centers around whether you use the truck as it was intended; towing travel trailers, equipment trailers, livestock trailers, larger boats, etc. If you use the truck as a truck, then you should go for the Bulletproofing versus just using the factory design replacement parts. Another factor is how long do you plan on keeping the truck. If you are going to repair the truck and get rid of it within 12 to 24 months, then go factory style parts. If you plan on keeping the truck for the next 3 years or more, then go with the Bulletproof style parts. These trucks will EASILY last 15 years and 400,000 miles if maintained properly….if you have to do the factory cooler again in 3 years, you will have spent what it takes to do the Bulletproof setup now, so if long term is your objective, go the Bulletproof route. Even if your truck is in POOR shape needing 8 injectors, a HPOP, IPR, FCM, head gaskets, etc, you are STILL only looking at spending roughly $11-14,000 on it……a NEW truck is over SIXTY THOUSAND. We have lots of these trucks that came in the shop at a year or two old in 2005 on up in POOR condition due to accidental neglect…just not knowing all the things discussed on this page…the customer took the plunge and had us pull the cab and do head gaskets/studs and all the required repairs and Bulletproofing that have now been driving these trucks for years…many now having over 300,000 miles on them. In today’s new truck market, it CAN BE a prudent decision to dump $10,000 or more in a truck so you can drive it another 10 years with new trucks costing what they do and no guarantee you will get 10 years out of the new one without having a large repair bill.

Unless you plan to start buying a new truck EVERY time it runs out of warranty, you ARE better off financially spending a few thousand fixing your current truck….provided it is sound cosmetically. If it is totally ragged out inside and out, then no….it is not worth dumping $10,000 into….if it is still a good looking truck and you otherwise like it and planned on keeping it a while before it broke, then it’s just crazy to spend $65,000 when you can spend a less than a quarter of that. If you spend $10,000 on your truck and keep it just a year, you are STILL ahead of the game, because you will spend more than $10,000 in a year on a new truck anyway.

This project below is one of MANY that got new cylinder heads, new high pressure oil pump, new IPR, new injectors, new fuel pump, revised fuel pressure regulator, revised high pressure oil rail fittings, ARP studs, Bulletproof oil cooler kit, EGR delete or bulletproof EGR cooler, etc for less than $15,000 and the customer is STILL satisfied with the truck a few years later……..and he still has all the money they saved by not buying a new truck.

Choosing to fix your paid off or soon to be paid off truck versus buying a new one is a NO BRAINER unless you just make that much money and you need a huge deduction and can actually write off the cost of a new truck….

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Although not AS prevalent, the above engine oil cooler issues apply to the 6.4L Powerstroke ALSO! We have seen NUMEROUS 6.4L trucks come in with a customer complaint of random reduced power mode/wrench light and found Oil Temp/Coolant Temp delta codes, and under stress testing we find the engine oil temperature running up to 40 degrees hotter than engine coolant temperature due to the engine oil cooler being restricted. Bulletproof Diesel ALSO makes a kit for the 6.4L Powerstroke.

We are a dealer/installer for Bulletproof products. The prices you see on their site is the price you will pay here. We typically keep a kit in stock.

 

Another 6.0L Head Gasket Job!

Another head gasket/stud deal…                                 James says, “yes please, may I have another”!

Heads at machine shop, waiting on parts…tomorrow should bring both…this job was started this morning (Monday)…  Tuesday noon, the parts ordered overnight arrived…EGR delete, head gaskets, engine oil cooler, ARP studs, HPOP supply screen, and misc. gaskets and seals….


By 1:30 Tuesday, the freshened heads are back….By closing time Tuesday afternoon, a good bit of progress is made…This will be running by tomorrow after lunch….

We Are 6.4L Powerstroke Experts Also

 

Customer from Kaplan getting a few more miles per gallon on an 08 truck back in 09.

 

 

Below was a job we did back in 08 or 09 for an offroad use only customer.

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