I'm going to do a 6.0 PSD engine swap!!!

[vacuumbed]

It's been about a year and a half since I sold my 2005 E450 that I bought new. I miss my van.

Since then, I bought a 1997 Ford E350 Airstream B190. I like it because it reminds me of the 2005 that I used to own. It is however, a gasser. I hinted about swapping a 6.0 PSD in to this van. I wasn't kidding. Member carringB helped me locate the companies that sell retired E450 ambulances. These cutaway vans make a great donor as they have the 6.0, and they are loaded with power options. I will be moving the front clip, dash, front doors ans well as the drivetrain over to my 1997 van.


Well, I just pulled the trigger on a 2008 E450, got it for $1,000! It's super clean. I will post pics soon. It will make a great donor vehicle, it has the newer front clip.

There's just a slight problem. The 6.0 PSD is seized up. :E

It's probably hydro locked from a failed EGR cooler, and the engine is going to come out anyway. I'm excited to get started on this!

[dodge_guy]

Sounding a little more promising!
good luck!

[vacuumbed]

**Update**

I pulled the oil filter housing and everything in there looks good. I drained it and cranked the engine and it refilled itself, so the LPOP is working.

I don't have a code scanner yet. A friend of mine at work is going to lend me a OBD II dongle so I can use it with an app called Torque on my iPhone. It looks promising.

I tried spraying starter fluid in the intake hose and it ran for 1-2 seconds.

[vacuumbed]

rowekmr, great info. Thank you for the link to the Ford dealer parts site, it's very useful!

[rowekmr]

The labor rate was nominal because the headgasket/stud required the removal of the engine and many of its components anyway, I just paid for the other parts needed which were mostly Ford OEM. Tousley Ford

http://parts.autonationfordwhitebearlake.com/

has an internet parts dept with good prices if you need any. I checked about 5 forums for info and tech threads but the guru at the shop I used had a lot of experience that avoided the common practice of throwing parts at the truck which can get even more expensive. I know I love diesels because after spending all that $$$ on the repairs I still picked a few extra upgrades to put it in the 400+ rwhp range while maintaining the same economy.

vacuumbed wrote:

rowekmr wrote:
I had a 6.0L specialty shop do the work.

vacuumbed wrote:

rowekmr wrote:
It's good to hear that you are getting started with the process. I wrongly assumed you were going to get a good running 6.0L for the swap though. If you scour the 6.0L forums not firing/stranded is one of the most popular threads in all the 6.0L forums. This engines efficiency is partly dues to its complexity which drives the higher cost of maintenance.

My personal one had issues also but my biggest worry was my head gaskets and oil cooler which are known to be weak spots in this engine but surprisingly with 200K+ miles mines were okay (upgraded anyway). But I had a lot of sensors and other small components that needed replacement that cost combined cost way more than HG/studs and drove my project much over the value of the vehicle. Once mines was taken apart and I had a partial list of what was wrong I had an idea to just sell it and move on. I decided to keep with it and although I really like how it drives now I realize if I ever sell it I will take a real washing with resale value. I'm not talking against what you are doing but just speaking of experience how long and costly the road may be.

Did you do this work yourself or pay to have it done?

I'm going to do all the work myself, so I hope to save money. I know 6.0 parts are expensive though. I guess I love diesel.

[carringb]

The regular scangauge II will allow you to read the data stream on your 6.0. You do not want the Diesel version because that has an medium-duty truck connector and not OBDII.

The problem is its digital nature. It's hard to see trends without an analog gauge (or a visualization of one). Also, at some point you will need to test cylinder balance, which you cannot do with a scangauge. Also, you can't monitor enough channels at once to accurately diagnose no-start or even rough-running conditions. That's why I recommended auto-ingenuity. Ford IDS is even better because then you can do your own firmware updates and flashes but it is more $ overall.

I also highly recommend a good shop manual. I found AllData to be extremely useful for doing major 6.0 repairs. They have a non-commercial version which isn't too bad cost-wise:
http://alldatadiy.com/ It comes with all the diagnostic flow-charts you would get in a Ford service manual, along with wiring and other system diagrams.

[vacuumbed]

rowekmr wrote:
I had a 6.0L specialty shop do the work.

vacuumbed wrote:

rowekmr wrote:
It's good to hear that you are getting started with the process. I wrongly assumed you were going to get a good running 6.0L for the swap though. If you scour the 6.0L forums not firing/stranded is one of the most popular threads in all the 6.0L forums. This engines efficiency is partly dues to its complexity which drives the higher cost of maintenance.

My personal one had issues also but my biggest worry was my head gaskets and oil cooler which are known to be weak spots in this engine but surprisingly with 200K+ miles mines were okay (upgraded anyway). But I had a lot of sensors and other small components that needed replacement that cost combined cost way more than HG/studs and drove my project much over the value of the vehicle. Once mines was taken apart and I had a partial list of what was wrong I had an idea to just sell it and move on. I decided to keep with it and although I really like how it drives now I realize if I ever sell it I will take a real washing with resale value. I'm not talking against what you are doing but just speaking of experience how long and costly the road may be.

Did you do this work yourself or pay to have it done?

I'm going to do all the work myself, so I hope to save money. I know 6.0 parts are expensive though. I guess I love diesel.

[vacuumbed]

cinrock wrote:
You need 500psi oil pressure out of the high pressure oil pump before it will start. A Scan Gage will help determine that for you. You may have a hi pressure oil leak some where....

Do you by chance know which is the right Scan Gauge model that can give me this info from my 6.0? I've noticed quite a few choices for Scan Gauges in different price ranges.

My cheap OBD II no name China scanner works fine on my gas powered cars, but when I plug it in to my 6.0 van it just reads "Link Error"

[rowekmr]

I had a 6.0L specialty shop do the work.

vacuumbed wrote:

rowekmr wrote:
It's good to hear that you are getting started with the process. I wrongly assumed you were going to get a good running 6.0L for the swap though. If you scour the 6.0L forums not firing/stranded is one of the most popular threads in all the 6.0L forums. This engines efficiency is partly dues to its complexity which drives the higher cost of maintenance.

My personal one had issues also but my biggest worry was my head gaskets and oil cooler which are known to be weak spots in this engine but surprisingly with 200K+ miles mines were okay (upgraded anyway). But I had a lot of sensors and other small components that needed replacement that cost combined cost way more than HG/studs and drove my project much over the value of the vehicle. Once mines was taken apart and I had a partial list of what was wrong I had an idea to just sell it and move on. I decided to keep with it and although I really like how it drives now I realize if I ever sell it I will take a real washing with resale value. I'm not talking against what you are doing but just speaking of experience how long and costly the road may be.

Did you do this work yourself or pay to have it done?

[cinrock]

You need 500psi oil pressure out of the high pressure oil pump before it will start. A Scan Gage will help determine that for you. You may have a hi pressure oil leak some where....

[vacuumbed]

rowekmr wrote:
It's good to hear that you are getting started with the process. I wrongly assumed you were going to get a good running 6.0L for the swap though. If you scour the 6.0L forums not firing/stranded is one of the most popular threads in all the 6.0L forums. This engines efficiency is partly dues to its complexity which drives the higher cost of maintenance.

My personal one had issues also but my biggest worry was my head gaskets and oil cooler which are known to be weak spots in this engine but surprisingly with 200K+ miles mines were okay (upgraded anyway). But I had a lot of sensors and other small components that needed replacement that cost combined cost way more than HG/studs and drove my project much over the value of the vehicle. Once mines was taken apart and I had a partial list of what was wrong I had an idea to just sell it and move on. I decided to keep with it and although I really like how it drives now I realize if I ever sell it I will take a real washing with resale value. I'm not talking against what you are doing but just speaking of experience how long and costly the road may be.

Did you do this work yourself or pay to have it done?

[rowekmr]

It's good to hear that you are getting started with the process. I wrongly assumed you were going to get a good running 6.0L for the swap though. If you scour the 6.0L forums not firing/stranded is one of the most popular threads in all the 6.0L forums. This engines efficiency is partly dues to its complexity which drives the higher cost of maintenance.

My personal one had issues also but my biggest worry was my head gaskets and oil cooler which are known to be weak spots in this engine but surprisingly with 200K+ miles mines were okay (upgraded anyway). But I had a lot of sensors and other small components that needed replacement that cost combined cost way more than HG/studs and drove my project much over the value of the vehicle. Once mines was taken apart and I had a partial list of what was wrong I had an idea to just sell it and move on. I decided to keep with it and although I really like how it drives now I realize if I ever sell it I will take a real washing with resale value. I'm not talking against what you are doing but just speaking of experience how long and costly the road may be.

[colliehauler]

My guess would be low FICM voltage as well.

[Stefonius]

If it was run out of fuel, you may have to bleed the air out of the fuel system before you can get it to start.

[dodge_guy]

Stick with the V-10! you will be much happier in the end! sorry, but that is way to much work just to put in a problematic diesel even if it is bullet proofed!

[carringb]

You really need a high-end scan tool to see everything going on. If anything isn't right, including injection oil-pressure, it won't fire. But there are many other crank/no-start causes.

Just having low battery voltage during cranking can cause a no-start condition because the FICM may be dropping out, or its not getting a reliable cam signal.

I highly recommend investing in Auto-Ingenuity for this project.

In the mean time.... you could always try starter fluid. If the injection control pressure is too low to fire the injectors, starting fluid can get 'er spinning fast enough to get the high-pressure oil up enough to fire.