a friend of mine bought a 07 6 liter superduty that had a few problems, since he had the egr coolers replaced the truck has been nothing but problems, more computer codes, and very little throttle response. Here in northern maine nobody even wants to work on it because they say it is such a hunk of garbage, nothing but none stop problems, real expensive ones. With the die hard 7.3 under their belt could someone please explain to me why all of a sudden ford comes out with a completly unreliable pos deisel. I have looked around the net and found nothing but bad real bad complaints about this motor, page after page of people saying they will never buy another ford because of this 6 liter diesel is non stop problems.Also they all claim little or no help from ford, what is the deal with this and how did it happen.

 

Ford mainly went to the 6.0l to meet emissions requirements and to meet the power levels of the competition. The 7.3l have been in Fords trucks for well over a decade and they needed to do something to stay competitive.

Welcome to the world of the 6.0l. The 07' were better than the older ones by a long shot but are still not what they should be. A friend of mine bought a nice used 04' King Ranch with the 6.0l. Wish he would have said something to me first. A couple months after he bought it he ended up at the dealer staring at a $5k estimate. Now the other month it let him sit again and hes looking at all new injectors to fix it. A lot of them were a huge money pit but there are some out there who have had no issues. Buying a 6.0l seems like playing Russian roulette with 4 in the chamber to me.

 

Thats why I got a 7.3, I don't care how old it is, I will have it forever because diesels aren't getting any better.

 

Roger that! Love my 7.3

 

1. Ford did NOT build the 6.0. International did. They also built the 6.9 and 7.3 IDI, 7.3 PSD, and the 6.4 PSD. If it wasn't for federal emissions requirements, they would probably still be building the 7.3. These emissions requirements areva large part of the problems with the 6.0

2. The 6.0 is NOT complete junk. With a little bit of work and proper maintenance, it can actually be a very reliable engine. The 6.0 was a much more reliable engine in International's medium duty trucks where it wasn't subject to the same emissions requirements as it was in Ford's pickups.

 

First, most of the issues with the 6.0 IMO are caused by either owner misuse or improper maintenance by the owner, ill advised mods by the owner, or improper maintenance by the servicing mechanic. The 6.0 is a completely different animal from the 7.3. You can't treat or maintain a 6.0 like you do a 7.3 or it's not going to end well. If properly maintained and used, a 6.0 is a good engine and will serve its owner well. Is it perfect? By no means. It has its' weak points. But with a little attention they can be corrected. Unfortunately, the 6.0 didn't have the chance to have a long production run as the 7.3 in order for all the issues to be resolved. The 7.3 wasn't exactly problem free in its early years either.

If your friend can't find a mechanic to service his truck, either they aren't that good and/or they aren't willing to take the time to learn the ins and outs of the 6.0. If either is the case, I wouldn't want them wrenching on mine anyway. By no means is the 6.0 garbage. I'd suggest going down to the regional forums further down the site, go into the one closest to your area, and ask for recommendations on mechanics/servicing departments in your area.

As far as gaining an opinion about something via the internet, especially vehicles, I'd recommend caution. A large percentage of vehicle owners seek out the internet because they are in search of help with a problem or are looking for a forum to vent. The ones that are happy with their ride don't tend to take the time to post their good experiences. So of course a greater percentage of posts are complaints or problem oriented. Further, it's been my observation that there are a lot parrots out there that just repeat what they've heard. Often, they have no experience with the particular product in question but feel the need to jump in and add to the fray often adding to the misinformation that is out there.

By the way, I'm very happy with my 6.0. It hasn't been perfect, but in 110K miles it's never let me down, will tow whatever I need it to, and is more than capable of getting out of its own way.

 

Two points here..........

First, if it's your friend's truck, let him seek out help on here. Sorry but there are just too many of these threads about a buddy and his truck problems. Sounds like it's his issue and he can join up here for free.

Secondly, just as a word of warning to everyone, this one's going to get shut down quickly if it turns into a diesel bash fest.

 

Can you guess who doesn't own a 7.3?

 

powerstroke wanna be just pretty much sumed it up. my 6.0 has had the blown gaskets and what not but has never ever left me on the side of the road. great motor, easy to work on if you ask me, good power, bullet proof tranny unless you are pushing over 550 hp, and a great nice looking truck. If the maintainence isnt taken care of though its gonna fail you a heck of a lot faster than the 7.3. when your injectors are HPO driven and you dont change the oil every 5k they will go out fairly quickly even on new injectors. ive got 174k on mine. granted i bought it with 168 but i had a dually before that same year and all and its also still runnin strong! both are still on the same stock injectors and everything.

 

Hahahahahahahahahahhaaaa

 

I agree that the 6.0 has a lot of SMALL flaws in the design, mainly in the emissions control system. I have a 06 F350 CC DRW this is my first Ford Diesel. I have had plenty of Cummins, Cats, Detroits ect. I truly belive that if one takes the time to educate themselves on the shortcomings with this engige, then corrects them it can prove to be a reliable engine. I bout my 06 in January of 2011 it had 47k on it and between then and April 2011 when i was deployed I put 33k on it most of which was towing various stock and horse trailers. It has performed flawlesly. I have done the EGR delete and put an Edge insight on it for monitoring purposes. I fabbed a DIY Coolant Filter and change the oil at 5k on the nose with good T6 oil. So maybe I got lucky and got a good one maybe not.

Now heres a true test of these engines. I am deployed in Afghanistan right now upon getting here I began to scoure the local junkyard on post to find a hooptie to drive around in. One day some private security guys brought in and 04/05 excursion saying that it would crank but not start. I quickly picked up the vehicle and drug it back to the shop. I am a diesel mechanic by trade and immediatly began working on the Ex. I found the the STC fitting had broken so I mad a replacement out of some things lying around in the shop. Now i more that fully understand that the level of maintenance required on these trucks is paramount, unfortunatlly I do not have the luxuary of having parts available to me so I have to come up with what works. Now on to reliablity, this Ex has roughly 23k on it, it is an 04/05 not really sure as some of the parts seem to be mis matched. It is up armored bullet proof glass and steel plating throughout it weighs upwards of 15k#, is filled with the worlds worst recycled dino 15w40 idles all day in 120 degree heat with the a/c on now that it is winter in 30 degree weather with the heat on . The vehicle drives on the post at 20 mph never gets a chance to stretch its legs and runs on JP8 it also has regular old green coolant in it as I do not have anything else to put in it. This truck is beat on daily hard accels up to 20 mph at least never shuts off, crap coolant, crap fuel, crap oil, and is carying around almost its weight over again in armor. Everything your not supposed to do with a 6.0 it is forced to do as it is what we have. I have had to do very minor maintenance on it and it is still chugging right along. So again maybe I got another good one, in afghanistan, so this is my little testiment of my personal experience with thise engine. Sorry I was so long winded but wanted to state all the facts from personal experience. Thank you for all the help I have recieved on here and for taking the time to read this, God Bless
Steven

 

No, Steven...we're the ones that should be thanking you for what you're doing for all of us

Stay safe and hurry home.

 

Just to clarify, I got a post report on the whole thread before I posted.

Think of my above post as a preemptive strike of sorts.

That said, there always seems to be more to the story when we get a thread about someone's uncle's neighbor's youngest daughter's boyfriend's sister-in-law's broken down truck. Sounds like the OP's friend needs to be seeking answers on here instead of having the OP do his bidding.

 

Thank you sir for your kind words, it truly means a lot. This is my 6th combat deployment and I am always in awe of the support that we recieve over here or over there. I am incredibly happy that I have been able to recieve this kind of support. I cannot wait to come home and continue the addiction that is truck. Thank you again.

 

X2.....well put! My 06' has just over 50K miles on it. The fuel pump (Not 6.0 related) took a dump early this year (prior to gauges) and fried a couple injectors. I decided to address the shortcomings of the 6.0 before I had any issues. Head gaskets, studs, bulletproof EGR cooler, oil cooler, coolant and oil bypass, etc. Spent around $2800 and did all the work myself. Have put over 10K miles since and wouldn't be afraid to take it anywhere! As previously mentioned, not a hard engine to work on and if you follow the maintenance schedule, it will give you many trouble free miles. I had an 01' F350 CC with a 7.3. Never had an issue but I prefer the 6.0. Good luck.