Powerstroke 6.0

The Powerstroke 6.0 engineering program certainly began innocently enough. Ford Motor Company and their Powerstroke partner International could theoretically have had a choice to stick with the time honored 7.3 Liter Powerstroke engine after the United States government set much more stringent emissions standards for diesel engines which were constructed from the first day of January 2003 forward. However it was a choice which led to the development of the Powerstroke 6.0 and the debacle that followed.

Powerstroke 6.0 L: The Engine That Shouldn't Have Been

On their way to designing the Powerstroke 6.0 L, the two manufacturers understood that a massive investment in their diesel engine technologies had to be implemented in order to maintain the compliance with the tougher air pollution standards of 2003, and although the details may be lost to history, there had to be some measure of consideration to keeping the venerable 7.3 Liter Powerstroke and making it more emissions friendly and legal by adding a significantly higher pressure system of fuel injection; an EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculator); a turbocharger featuring variable geometry; or any number of different solutions. These designs would have acted to keep the old engine around for another couple of years at least, instead of designing the Powerstroke 6.0 L from a clean sheet of drafting paper.

Powerstroke 6.0 Diesel Was Designed With Good Intentions

However, to engineer an emissions compliant solution this extensive a much cleaner combustion 7.3 Liter Powerstroke would have been at a considerable disadvantage to the competition and it very likely was this factor that swung Ford and International towards the design of the Powerstroke 6.0 Diesel. Both General Motors' Duramax and Dodge's Cummins diesel turbocharged engines generated over 300 brake horsepower with four valve per cylinder powerplants and the Powerstroke 6.0 was meant to compete. To avoid developing the Powerstroke 6.0 and attempt to fight the smog wars at the same time as the power wars with a competition which was utilizing significantly more modern and advanced basic engine designs would have been a strategy which would have failed spectacularly. It seems that Ford and International had been pushed into a corner and there was no choice but to manufacture the Powerstroke 6.0 Diesel.

How Bad Was The Powerstroke Diesel 6.0?

It can not be known if such an implementation would have been any more or less a failure than the Powerstroke Diesel 6.0 Liter engine which Ford Motor Company and International did end up engineering and introducing into Powerstroke 6.0 Ford Super Duty pickup trucks. Which one would have been the lesser of two evils, the Powerstroke 6.0 or the old 7.3? Perhaps no one will ever know whether reconfiguring the old 7.3 Liter engine would have been a better strategy than premiering the brand new Powerstroke Diesel 6.0.

Ford Had To Regret The 6 Powerstroke

The Powerstroke 6.0 direction that the Ford Motor Company and International chose in order to develop an all new 6 Powerstroke engine was to go with a drastically smaller displacement Powerstroke 6.0 Liter engine, lopping off a full 1.3 Liters off the bore and stroke volume of the old 7.3 Liter engine to arrive at an even 6 Liters, and to attempt to engineer into the brand new 6 Powerstroke engine as many emission saving and power maximizing features they could possibly manufacture into a single Powerstroke 6.0.

Critical Powerstroke 6.0 Problems

The troubles that the unfortunate buyers of the new Powerstroke 6.0 engine were in store for were almost unprecedented in American automotive history, as the Powerstroke 6.0 Problems dwarfed any that came before. Some of the Powerstroke 6.0 Problems included faulty FICM or fuel injection control module; HEUI or hydraulically actuated fuel injection; EGR or Exhaust Gas Recirculating System; and Powerstroke 6.0 engine failure causing inadequacies in the head bolts and oil cooler system. The tombstone of the Powerstroke 6.0 remains a lasting and costly embarrassment for the Blue Oval company.