Thursday, September 15, 2016

Frank Hahn's 2007 F250 IPR Build - Remote Oil Cooler, EGR Cooler and Coolant Filter

About a year ago, my 2007 F250 6.0 diesel was blowing coolant out of the coolant reservoir when I pushed the motor towing my travel trailer. All indications suggested a blown head gasket, or worse cracked head. Up until this time (110,000 miles) I had had relatively few issues, even though I had kept a close eye on the truck, hearing of the numerous concerns of this particular motor. Despite the bad rep this motor has received, I had also heard that if you took care of a few things, the motor was solid and worth investing in. So I had a choice of investing in the current truck or buying a new one.

With the costs of the new comparable trucks, the amount of money I would need to put down on one, and the monthly payment I was looking at, my wallet cringed at the thought of nearly $1,000 a month payments. So I looked into what all I would need to make my 6.0 a solid truck that could take a 10,000 load often.


My motorcycle mechanic referred me to a diesel mechanic, who in turned me on to Innovative Performance Research (IPR) and suggested that I consider some of their options, in lieu of others I was looking to install and had found out about through Diesel Power Magazine and Xtreme Diesel. What I found was very interesting and after further research, I decided to install a number of IPR’s products.

First, I knew that if I was going to have to replace the head gasket, and possibly replace or rebuild the heads, the top end of the motor would need to come apart, exposing some of the known problem components of the 6.0. My primary concern was the EGR and the oil cooler. The factory had already replaced the EGR valve and cooler while it was still under warranty & I knew, given the miles I had on the truck, I was pushing my luck with the oil cooler. I also knew the head studs were an issue and ARP head studs were a must, especiallyif you pushed this motor (which I do).

If I was going to take it that far, I really should replace the oil cooler as it was only a matter of time and I would have to pay to have someone take the whole top end off again to do so. I looked into other aftermarket oil coolers, with different configurations but IPR’s sold me as it remained a water cooled solution but took the cooler out of the middle of the block (hottest place on earth) and moved it to a frontal location where it had an opportunity to get away from the heat while making it more accessible for future service. Other designs located the cooler in locations susceptible to damage if you took the truck off road, were air cooled (not great for cold weather), or had hoses running in (what i consider to be) non ideal locations. I had also previously installed an after-market coolant filter system but, once I saw IPR’s (in line) coolant system and compared to my bypass coolant system, I knew the chances of particles building up in the oil cooler would be at less of a risk if all of the coolant was filtered.


When it was all said and done, the investment was pretty significant; however, the truck would only have needed to last another 6-7 months to offset a new truck payment and get my money's worth. 

After this purchase, IPR recommended a monitor to replace my OEM gauges and more accurately monitor some of the critical operating parameters on the truck (i.e. exhaust gas temperature, oil temp, coolant temp, etc.). I bought a monitor programmer with those capabilities and installed the EGT probe. A year later, I tow my 10k travel trailer quite often up and down a 7% incline. My alarm limits on the monitor are relatively conservative so I can either choose to push the truck or not all while monitoring the critical gauges closely.





Quite honestly, I don’t know how I didn’t blow this truck up sooner, being as blind as I was to how important these settings were. The truck continues to perform extremely well and I am extremely happy with the purchase. For those of you that have had similar problems, are looking to get a 6.0 diesel, or are wanting to prevent the inevitable from happening, I would highly recommend considering some, if not all of the IPR options I installed in my truck.

Finally, I want to thank Vince for being there when I had questions and providing the fantastic support. His feedback was instrumental in my success.

Frank Hahn, Newbury Park, CA.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Mike Smelley's Excursion Limited


Mike Smelley's 2003 Ford Excursion

Initially, I bought the IPR coolant filter back in late 2014; I later bought the EGR delete kit, remote oil cooler, kit, and the SCT Tuner Monitor in late 2015. During the process, Vince was very helpful in recommendation and selection of these items as well as post-sale assistance provided to my installer, Arceneaux Ford (New Iberia, LA). The dealership's chief diesel mechanic had lines from oil filter to cooler crossed which was promptly corrected thanks to the guys at IPR.


I also ended up buying a new 6.0 Ford Diesel engine, radiator, coolant tank, FICM, fuel pump, all new injectors, glow plugs, engine wiring harness, etc. Unfortunately, I had to replace the original motor (only 92k miles due to internal rust corrosion sludge in all coolant passageways throughout the engine and leading into the oil cooler which we concluded would never flush out and was the cause of the overheating problem. Apparently, the prior owner of my '03 Excursion allowed non-distilled water in the radiator or overheating caused headstuds expansion & coolant contamination leading to the demise of the original motor. I also ordered ARP headstuds to replace the factory studs to eliminate this as a future, potential issue.


At this point, I've pretty much done everything possible with aftermarket products to increase the reliability of my new 6.0 after reading up on all the issues specific to this motor. The SCT monitor is nice to see the oil, coolant, trans temps, FICM voltage, battery voltage, injector pressure, engine load %, and turbo boost levels while in operation. 


After making the large investment I made in a new short block and entire fuel system, I trusted IPR for the aftermarket expertise & products to assure a problem-free quality performance experience from my new Ford 6.0 turbo diesel powerstroke. Sure, I could've gone out and bought a new F250 with a 6.7 diesel, but I wanted my Excursion Limited and they don't make them anymore. IPR's products helped me build what I wanted so I wouldn't need to worry about the impending self-destruction of my new 6.0. So far, I'm thrilled!

Thanks, IPR!
-Mike Smelley


Monday, May 23, 2016

Jason Claiborne's 6.4 IPR Build


I now have 18,000 miles on my 2008 F350 6.4l Diesel equipped with everything IPR makes (namely the Remote Oil Cooler Kit & Coolant Filter). Every part installed without a hitch. To say I am hard on my truck would be a gross understatement. Unlike most with trucks this size, my truck is my daily driver, tow rig and desert pounder. Regardless of what I throw at this rig, I've yet to see an oil temp above 220° even when towing 2 Jeeps on an 8,000lb. trailer up hill to Moab. Even more surprising was it's ability to cool once I lifted off the throttle.



My only concerns were potential difficulty in oil changes and the exposed coolant filter under my truck. I am happy to report these have both proven to be non issues. Additionally, since the installation, I have pulled an inordinate amount of of crap out of my cooling system that otherwise would've made a home in the baffles of my oil cooler. This is perhaps my favorite part of the kit as it could save the motor from self-destruction. After searching the aftermarket, I'm glad to have found a company building kits to improve the reliability of the 6.4 platform. Most of us don't know the potential issues inherent to the motors until the truck is purchased and searching for solutions nets nothing but hot tunes and EGR deletes which arguably expedite the destruction of the motor if you're not careful with the former.



In closing, even my gauntlet has proved to be insufficient to kill IPR's products as they shown no signs of wear or issue even after repeated, throttle pinned passes through 40 miles of desert (Ultra 4 racecourse), multiple airborne shenanigans, and plenty of sand drag passes.

Thanks to Vince and the IPR Team!

- Jason Claiborne
Phoenix, Arizona

P.S. Vince has been AMAZING to work with and super responsive to any questions or requests I have made.





Sunday, April 24, 2016

Brad Eller's 6.0 Build

Brad Eller

I bought my 2006 King Ranch F250 around March of 2015 and about 2 weeks later, I purchased a ScanGauge II.. After monitoring my gauges, I quickly realized that I needed a new oil cooler with only 120K miles on the clock. So I turned to Powerstroke.org to figure out what all it would take to replace the oil cooler. After realizing how big of a job it would be, I started looking into remote oil cooler systems because I HATE doing the same thing twice and I wanted to fix it right the first time. After reading reviews on both the BPD and IPR systems, I was on the fence... BPD has a ton of reviews on the net and they are all good reviews. IPR, however did not have many reviews but the ones that I read were also good. The deciding factor that swayed my vote was the fact that I wanted an EGR delete and a coolant filter also. After reading reviews, it was pretty evident that IPR has one of, if not the best coolant filtration system on the market. IPR's gen 3 EGR delete, coolant filtration system and remote oil cooler all compliment each other and the final price for everything ended up being cheaper than other combinations that I priced out so I pulled the trigger on the purchase.

From the very beginning I dealt with Vince, who is the owner, and he promptly returned my all of my emails and answered any questions that I had which is definitely a plus in my book. I ordered a gen 3 EGR delete w/ SS up-pipe, high flow coolant filtration system, along with a remote oil cooler system with stainless braided hoses & the extreme duty HPOP screen. Vince emailed me the installation instructions and my order was shipped out within a couple of days, I received my shipment by the end of the week (North Texas). Just to give full-disclosure here, I did notice that I was missing a couple of items in the box but when I emailed Vince, he immediately replied and got the missing parts shipped out to me the same day. All of the parts looked & felt heavy-duty and the machine work appeared to be top-notch. The fit & finish was perfect when I installed everything. I got my truck put back together after a couple of weekends of work and finally got her back on the road.

EGR Delete & Coolant Manifold
Finished Product
I've had the system installed for almost a year now and I have had ZERO issues. My deltas stay around 6-7 degrees and I have piece of mind knowing that all of my coolant is 100% filtered BEFORE it gets to the oil cooler. I clean my coolant filter out every oil change and I am confident that my oil cooler is still squeaky clean to this day.

In conclusion, I do not have any experience with BPD products other than purchasing my SGII from them (which was a positive experience I might add). As a consumer I did my research, made a decision based off my needs & budget, and in the end I am a happy customer. IPR's parts are excellent quality, everything works as advertised, pricing was reasonable and the customer service was top notch. I would highly recommend Vince and the IPR products that I purchased. If i had to do it over again, I would not hesitate to go the same route.

-Brad Eller