We purchased a 2005 Excursion Limited last winter, choosing this truck over an Escalade and a suburban, mostly for the longevity of the diesel engine.


For the first 8 months everything was fine - but in the last month we have started having some issues. It is not shifting as smoothly, and suddenly began leaking coolant from 2 cracks in the top of the radiator after we took it in to get the oil and fuel filters changed a few weeks ago. I am a little overwhelmed and spoke to two people I thought I could trust - the sales manager at the Ford dealership, and then an independent mechanic. Both told me the car was basically a time bomb. The sales manager warned me of a head gasket and some other part that were about to blow, and told me the total repair would be more than $10,000 an that these trucks were nothing but trouble. Then the mechanic basically told me to get rid of the truck ASAP. My plan had been to drive it for another 200k miles, so I am pretty freaked out.


Right now I need some reassurance that I did not make the dumbest purchase of my life. Also, anyone who has any insight into what my plan of attack should be, I would welcome any and all information. Do I just buy a whole new engine at this point, or replace parts bit by bit or what?

 

You need to find a mechanic that understands a 6.0, most don't and will empty your bank account trying to learn.

 

The leaking radiator sounds like it was possibly damaged during the oil change. Maybe, maybe not. But if the radiator is leaking then replace the radiator.

As for the head gasket warning and the ticking time bomb coments I would not worry about that right now. If the headgaskets need to be replaced there would be signs, such as coolant purging from the degas bottle or coolant smell and white smoke from the exhaust.

What you should do is get yourself some way to monitor the engine to see signs of issues as they arise and before they become big problems.

You could get a Scangauge II or a bluetooth obdii adapter, and android phone or tablet and the Torque Pro app. Then you can monitor pretty much every sensor the engine has.

These trucks do have some weak points like dummy plugs, standpipes and stc fittings. If those have been updated already then you may not have any "time bomb" issues. Some trucks blow head gaskets and some don't. I do not have any hard data but from what I have read it seems to mostly be trucks that do some real heavy work and/or have performance tunes for more horsepower and such.

Give us some more details about your truck and what is any repairs and updates may have been done in the past.

The transmission not shifting smoothly is an entirely different issue.

Most here will tell you they love their 6.0, I know I do.

 

^^^ Good advice.

Do you do any wrenching yourself? My guess is if gone 8 months and only had a leaking radiator you probably have a good one. Find out as much as possible about what has been done so far, you can get an Oasis report from the dealership. Start slowly addressing the weak points as you can. These trucks look very intimidating, but they really aren't all that bad.

 

It's possible he has an early build engine, even though it's an 05 I am pretty sure some 05 Ex's had the early builds, in which case the HPOP is more of a concern but no dummy plugs or standpipe issues really.
At any rate, to the OP don't get too wigged out! As the other folks will tell you, a lot of shops and even some dealers don't know the 6.0 like they should and will scare you into breaking out the cash or even trying to talk folks into a trade.

Knowledge is power, and if you don't do your own wrenching, just being able to talk "6.0 speak" to a dealer or mechanic will show you are in fact an informed owner and not willing to bend over and just say yes.

 

I bought it privately with 130,000 plus miles on it - I am the third owner and it has been maintained away from the dealership for most of it's life. The info I got from the previous owner was... well, limited is putting it mildly. He worked for a tour company and he told me he had the tour bus mechanics do the maintenance. The sales manager at the dealership was a sales man at heart and was basically letting me know he didn't want to take it in trade. Noted.


We have very limited mechanical experience here, both personally and on the island. Parts are hard to come by. I will take the truck to a commercial truck mechanic and see what he says. I appreciate any and all replies, and have been reading the thread of happy PSD owners. Feeling better already.

 

I'm guessing then you actually live on Maui? I can see where that makes it a bit harder for some things.
I would still bet there is someone around there that knows a 6.0. Have you seen any other trucks around that you can recall with the 03-07 style 6.0 door badges? That would be a good indication if there are other 6.0's around, but I would be surprised if there were not. Finding a good mechanic who knows the 6.0 is gold, but you might also have some success if you can find an International truck repair place, the 6.0 was built by International/Navistar, and used in many other applications like school buses, UPS trucks, smaller dump trucks and box trucks. These guys would know a thing or two about the 6.0's