6.0 Diesel?

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » May 22, 2011, 4:57 pm

I love my 04 F150 Extended cab daily driver, but I wish I had bought an F250 because of the extra towing capability. Thinking of giving my truck to my daughter and buying a bigger truck for myself. I've located a nice 03 F250 Crew Cab with a long bed and it's RED! Only concern is that it's a 6.0 diesel and these have a horrible reputation, as I understand it. In researching the 6.0 on the internet I find lots of conflicting information about the cause and effect of the complaints on the 6.0. Gasoline engines are scarce in the F250's.
Has anyone on here have personal experience with basic operation, relability and towing with the 6.0 engine?

36truck · Post by **36truck** » May 22, 2011, 5:17 pm

A friend of mine has a 06 F350 with the 6.0. It was fine till he hit the 100,000 mark. now he has lots of issues. The 6.0 was not one of Fords better ideas. I would stay away.

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » May 22, 2011, 7:47 pm

Does this bring back memories on 6.0"s

[albumimg]6145[/albumimg]

[albumimg]6147[/albumimg]

not once, not twice, not even 3 times Oh heck its number 4 times on 2 different 6.0's trucks

LM14 · Post by **LM14** » May 22, 2011, 8:04 pm

One of my best friends is in the diesel pump/injector/turbo rebuilding business. When I was shopping for my last pickup to tow with we talked at length, he told me "unless you hook onto a trailer all day every day buy a gas motor". He also said the first incident you have to go to the shop will be several thousand dollars with a diesel. Not recommended.

Look at a V10 gas. I have just over 100,000 on my '99 F250 4x4 and weigh 18,600 pulling the racecar 24' enclosed trailer. No problems. The guy we share race shop space wrecked his '02 F250 4x4 with 146,000 on his V10 with no problems he pulls a 30' enclosed race trailer). He replaced it with another V10 (his dad owns the diesel shop!).

Highly recemmend the V10 or newest V8 gas motor trucks. Have a 2011 F250 4x4 at work that works well.

JMO,
SPark

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » May 22, 2011, 9:30 pm

I was hoping someone would have news. That really sucks that Ford didn't find a solution for this problem.
I find it curious that the asking prices for these trucks don't seem to reflect the problem and the blue book prices include a $3,000 bump up because of the 6.0. If they were priced low enough to compensate for having the engine fixed it would make more sense, at least to me. I really probably don't need a diesel as most of my driving is short trips in the city and an occasional road trip and/or a tow, but as I said, the gasoline engined F250's and F350's are not plentiful.

sixty6 · Post by **sixty6** » May 22, 2011, 9:34 pm

If you are willing to go 03, you might as well go 02 and get the 7.3. Personally I am big fan of the 7.3 and diesel in general, especially if you keep things forever like I do.

Fever · Post by **Fever** » May 22, 2011, 10:46 pm

I currently own an 03 F-250 crew cab with the 6.0, it has around 160000 milesw and the only prob I've had with it is that I had to replace some injectors but otherwise its a real good truck. I've pulled a 40 foot enclosed race car trailer from Alabama to TN with no issues. I have heard of the reputation of the 6.0 but I've had good luck with mine

fire truck · Post by **fire truck** » June 13, 2011, 9:06 am

6.0=junk

Effie · Post by **Effie** » June 13, 2011, 6:48 pm

Try to stay away from the 03/early 04 6.0 if you can.

The biggest problem with them are from guys who are over loading the truck and running the dog shit out of it. Towing more than it can handle, over heating the exhaust and then stretching the head bolts.

The other problem was sand left over in the engine casting clogging up the oil cooler/EGR coolers.

You HAVE to change the oil religiously because of the injectors being dependent on oil pressure. Not changing the oil will screw up the injectors.

We have a customer that brings his in, its been very well maintained and its got over 300,000 trouble free miles.

Here is a good thread on the Bronco site with lots of info on the 6.0/6.4.
http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/sho ... p?t=194847
Another with good 6.0 info:
http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/sho ... p?t=184243

I work in the truck shop at a Ford dealer.

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » June 13, 2011, 8:49 pm

My past dealings on 6.0 versus 7.3,, Will take a 6.0 and run circles around a 7.3 as far as power and fuel mileage,, being dependable 7.3 will out do the 6.0,, but if your going to run a 7.3 or 6.0 take the cat off and muffler off ,,, Run straight 4" with the 4" downspout out of the turbo and will get the best it can do <<<< BUT DO NOT RUN NO AFTERMARKET AIR CLEANER >>>> It will screw the intercooler etc...inlet hoses,, The Original Intake system will do the job fine.... Downsize not all states will agree with exhaust changes,,, When I traded in my 04 for the 07,, they wanted me to give less on trade in due to exhaust, well took back to muffler and put the stock back on that was brand new and it turned a good running 6.0 into a piece of shit after all those years we can tell what it was like getting 100% cut back with stock exhaust and

now pay attention on this last item,, before taking the cat off the 7.3 always had a film on inside of windshield and always had to clean the windshield inside,, after the cat removed no more film inside the windshield,, Next 07 just one trip to Carlisle, inside windshield already film inside within 1000 miles,, after cat was removed went almost 200,000 miles and never had to clean the inside of windshield went to Ford and mechanic said on I-85 there is a hole that the cat will come off and end all those problems and he was right

when running the 7.3 went to doctors and wanted to know if I smoked since my lungs looked a liitle like that and it all come from exhaust system on these Ford Trucks,, you be surpise on how many I have asked on the film on the inside, this film is very hard to see but take a white paper towel andwill see it

jamesdfo · Post by **jamesdfo** » June 17, 2011, 3:25 pm

I sent a link for this thread to my friend Steve, who has owned a couple of these trucks.......here is his response to what he read in the previous posts......

James
===============================================
Interesting. I agree with most of what was said on the forum.

The 6.0 is a good engine once you address the issues that cause problems.

1, change the coolant on a regular basis. This keeps the failure prone EGR cooler from corroding and leaking. Better yet, install an EGR delete kit.

2, Change the oil religiously. This prolongs the life of the HPOP (high pressure oil pump) and keeps injector failures to a minimum.

3, Stay away from aftermarket programmers. They increase injector pressure on an already overtaxed system and can lead to branch tube failures. A lot of them also do not support the latest FICM (fuel injection control Module) profiles issued by Ford which can lead to hard starting and injector issues.

4, Stay away from aftermarket air filters/ cold air intakes. Ford has spent a lot of time and research on designing a system that works and will actually support up to 600hp. Aftermarket filters usually lead to turbo failures because they just don't have the filtering capacity.

5, Low batteries can be traced to many issues with hard starting and FICM issues.

6, The whole 6.0 head gasket issue is a direct result of EGR failures and water contamination in the fuel. Water evaporates in the head causing steam which stretches the head bolts leading to head gasket failure. The fix is to install head studs with greater clamping force and change the fuel filters regularly.

7, it's a TURBO charged vehicle. Apply uncommon sense here. If you have just come off the freeway and the turbo/engine is hot, allow some idle time for the turbo to cool down. Failure to do so in ANY turbo charged vehicle leads to coking of the oil in the turbo which leads to turbo failures.

The majority of failures with the 6.0 engine are a direct result of poor maintenance and operator ignorance. I have 200,000 miles on my 6.0 and it still runs like a top. The notion that the 06/07 6.0's are far more reliable than the 03-05 6.0's is entirely due to a re-design of the failure prone EGR cooler by Ford.

You have to look at the sheer number of sales of Ford Superduty trucks vs Chevrolet/Chrysler to really understand why there seem to be so many issues with Ford. They have literally outsold almost 3 to 1. With that many more Superduties sold over the GM/Dodge, of course there will be greater number of issues.
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/20 ... hd-in-2010

Diesels require more maintenance and typically higher repair costs over gasoline engines. With climbing gasoline prices, many are first time diesel owners and they just don't have the knowledge but are the first to cry longest and loudest about how they were stuck with a lemon when something goes wrong regardless of brand.

The diesel is a logical choice if you need the extra torque for towing. If you just want to jump in and drive off and ignore proper vehicle maintenance, buy a gasoline engine but be prepared for anemic towing and bank breaking fuel costs.
.

http://www.bankspower.com/magazines/sho ... ls-and-why

Steve
===============================================

Gritsngumbo · Post by **Gritsngumbo** » June 17, 2011, 5:18 pm

Thanks for the info James. I had pretty much decided to "call uncle" and head in another direction. The information from your friend and from the Banks articles was very interesting and reaffirmed what I had been thinking.
Your posting was timely as I stopped by the local Tractor Supply today (before receiving notification of your post) and noticed that there were 7 or 8 Ford 6.0 diesels in the parking lot, one Chevy and one Dodge. Think that says something.
Can't really afford to buy a new truck and also can't afford to buy someone else''s problem (or soon to be problem).
The ideal situation would be to find a used one that someone had had the problems taken care of.
Chances of that are somewhere between slim and none :-)

jamesdfo · Post by **jamesdfo** » June 17, 2011, 5:30 pm

G'n'G: Up here, most of them have had the mods, head studs, etc.....and usually when advertised, it will mention updates done, or something of the like:)
The first one Steve had, the guy had turned up the wick BIG TIME, chipped, etc....Steve tells me it's the fastest vehicle of the MANY he has owned (and that's saying alot when a 7K+ lb truck is faster than Mustang bracket car:)......but he let that one go and found another that had updates, but not been leaned on......we hauled that '64 Merc 1T cab/chassis home, he didn't even notice it back there:):)

Cheers!
James

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » June 17, 2011, 8:42 pm

James here one other thing on the 6.0's,, on a 7.3 you had to add additive to the coolant ever so often that Ford sold,, but on the 6.0's not needed,, then on my last 6.0 the Ford mechanic has a bulletin that Ford found the additive is needed to help it cool and lubricate the cooling system better and DO NOT MIX/MATCH ANTI-FREEZE,, can hurt the motor

fire truck · Post by **fire truck** » June 17, 2011, 10:33 pm

I've owed 3 6.0 F350s. Two were 2003s I bought brand new at Fall River Ford, Ford bought BOTH of them back under the lemon law. I took over payments on a 2005, barely drove it, put 3k in it just to sell it. 422k on the GMC I bought after the two buybacks. one set of injectors and a water pump. BTW all I ever owned was Ford trucks prior t the 6.0 experience.... I've owned a few 7.3 trucks, 5or 6, lowest miles on one I purchased was 182k, never had any expensive problems, just small stuff.
BTW- For those that don't know, Ford did't build the 6.0, or 6.4, 6.9, 7.3 for tat matter, IH/Navstar did....

ezernut9mm · Post by **ezernut9mm** » June 17, 2011, 11:29 pm

all i know is that if you want to own a diesel you'd better have some cash.
the original out lay, maintenance and fuel cost offset mean you'd better do a lot pulling to justify the cost.

Alan Mclennan · Post by **Alan Mclennan** » June 18, 2011, 1:06 am

No ones posted the price of diesel!, it`s $148.8 here at the moment!.

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » June 18, 2011, 9:38 am

Alan is that 148.8 a litre or gallon or every 100 gallons :?:

opr per barrell :?:

Alan Mclennan · Post by **Alan Mclennan** » June 18, 2011, 7:17 pm

6166 Junkyard Dog wrote:Alan is that 148.8 a litre or gallon or every 100 gallons opr per barrell

decimal point in wrong place!, Thanks Tom!, read $1.488 per litre

Toyz · Post by **Toyz** » June 20, 2011, 7:27 pm

Gritsngumbo wrote:I was hoping someone would have news. That really sucks that Ford didn't find a solution for this problem.
I find it curious that the asking prices for these trucks don't seem to reflect the problem and the blue book prices include a $3,000 bump up because of the 6.0. If they were priced low enough to compensate for having the engine fixed it would make more sense, at least to me. I really probably don't need a diesel as most of my driving is short trips in the city and an occasional road trip and/or a tow, but as I said, the gasoline engined F250's and F350's are not plentiful.

The V-8 and V-10 trucks are a real bargain compared to the pricing of the used diesels, IMO.
Similar caveats seem to apply to the "mod motors", but as you stated, they can usually be made dependable without breaking the bank.
In my case, after 60 years in a Ford family, I did like Fire Truck and bought a GM. 10,900 lb. towing capacity on a "half ton", none of the mentioned diesel characteristics, and a super bargain price make up for the 12.7 cumulative mpg since new, albeit about half of that was with a trailer behind it.
It's certainly an ice-breaker when I arrive with one of my FOMO "orphans" behind a Silverado, but until the current new engines, I too felt F150's just didn't cut it for my loads and heavy foot!
Paul