Man, your story sucks, I do hope this works out for you.

The only advice I have, or comment I'd make, is would you really want this dealership to do ANY work for you?

I know its super easy for me to say this sitting miles away and it's not my check book, but I figured I'd mention it for your consideration. You don't want to have to do this again, and you don't want an engine that's a constant problem, especially as you won't be using this for just cruising to work ... you'll be working it with a full load of passengers while also towing a trailer and traveling away from home.

As bpounds said "you must not let them cut corners". From what you've described I just don't get the feeling that your best interests will be a concern of theirs during this process.

At the very least, ask to speak to the diesel tech who'll be working on your truck and see if you can get any feel from them that they know what they are doing and care about their work.

Otherwise, consider doing the calculations on what you'd be out by having the work done right elsewhere. You can search the forum here, or join your local chapter to get recommendations on good shops in your area.

If you attempt it yourself you'll have unlimited access to the best and brightest of this website.

Either way, like I said, I hope it works out well for you.

 

The guys here have you covered with the technical side of things. Best of luck with the fight. Once it's over you'll have a great tow vehicle. I've dragged my heavy TH over 90K miles with my X. I drive like an idiot and still enjoy pulling with it.

 

The oil cooler can really only be checked by using a scangauge 2 and monitoring the oil temp vs coolant temps after driving 20 miles unloaded and they should not be more than 15 degrees difference. If it is the oil cooler is bad. This is how i caught mine at 37 degress delta
As far as the Egr delete goes it is preferable IMHO to go with a delete, but it is illegal to use a delete for an on road vehicle, and it may set the check engine light without a tuner , the PCM needs to see the egr for proper cooling fan operation. so I left mine connected to the harness to keep it happy.

 

A warranty will normally cover everything except parts and labor!

 

That photo looks fun! Thanks for reminding me that putting up with this is worth it. I can't wait for April.

 

Great info, Ill track those temps in the future

 

We'll get you right, don't hesitate to ask. With as much as I learned from this site I am more than grateful, to help and pay it forward

 

If you have a Ford ESP and no mods they are excellant. Have never had a problem at the dealer or manf. level.

 

I hope you got everything taken care of or in process of getting taken care of. I looked at your original post and checked some spec's and unless I have missed something, and this is water under the bridge, the Toyota you spoke of couldn't do the job you were asking of it. It had a max tow capacity of 6700 lbs.

The camper you have has a 5600 lb UVWR. If your adding 5 people to the equation, at lets say 150lbs each your already towing 6350 lbs with nothing in the camper at all. Add propane, food, etc. not to mention anything else you'd be at the tow capacity instantaneously. With a Curb Weight of 4610, camper at 5600 your over the GCVWR of 10,000 by 210lbs with out even adding passengers. So even completely unloaded you were over your weights in several catagories.

If you had the 5.7L you'd be a bit better off with a 10100lb towing capacity and 16000lb GCVWR. But again that is neither here nor there. Your choice to go to the Excursion or other good hauler was a good one.

Now if you can get this squared away on your X you'll be golden.

I do a lot of postings in camping forums. One common thread is that the dealer will assure you that what ever tow vehicle you have will tow the unit your looking at "no sweat".

There have been many people that have made the purchase only to find out they don't have near the tow vehicle to do the job, they are stuck with a camper they can't use because they can't safely tow it.

I probably would not have even responded but I know the season is coming where the RV shows are happening and there will be those people looking to buy. Perhaps someone seing your thread will catch this and save them selves some misery!

Good luck! See you out there!

Eric

 

Here are some additional figures, just in case you want to rerun the numbers.....as im always up for learning from my mistakes. This is a bit of a sore spot with me as I thought I had done my homework.
Gross family weight is 516lbs 11,10,2,1 (are the kids ages)
The truck was equipped with a towing package (4.10 gears, trans temp guage, engine and trans cooler, trailer brake wiring) which upped the towing capacity from 6700 to 8100lbs.
Max payload capacity Of 1605, i think that is what the sticker said.
I am not sure what the gcvwr of my 2008 toyota tundra double cab v8 with the towing package was. My cousin and I were looking for this number online and never found it. If you know that lmk, as Im curious still. My only point is that I believe I was well within the manufacturers specs and the truck couldnt do the job.

I cant wait to get the X back and fixed!

 

The X has been sitting at a Ford dealer for 29 days now. Ugh! Thankfully they are paying for this rental Ram 1500.

The warranty company insisted the heads be inspected rather than replaced with new like the dealer wanted. I am now waiting for a machine shop to check them out tommorrow.

I picked up a few goodies for the truck based on recommendations in this thread, that are waiting to be installed.
Upgraded snap to connect fitting, arp studs, new oil cooler, egr delete kit, and sinister coolant filter kit....all new gaskets, fluids, and likely heads are all coming from the dealer.

Ive seen a few different approches on here for doing head studs. Some just do it with the engine in the truck, some take the body off the frame, with my truck they removed the front end (everything except he fenders) and pulled the motor out.

 

They pulled the whole engine out to do this work??

 

It only takes a few hours to get it out and it's much easier to work on when it's on the bench or floor.

 

That's what a well known 6.0 shop does around here too for 6.0 head work. They claim to be able to pull a 6.0 motor out of a truck in around 45min...

 

It doesn't take them very long to get the engine out the front!

Here's mine when the headgaskets were being done: