I have a 2004 6.0 and it has had tons of problems. I will say, it has NEVER left me stranded! I have had the EGR twice, turbo, trans, re-flashes, 5 oil leaks and more but it never left me stranded! All of those items occurred under 25k miles. Just las month another EGR valve failed and the gas pedal assembly took a crap, but still never left me stranded! The biggest irritation for me is the down time in the shop! I have so many other better things to do than go to the dealer! I have lost confidence in my 6.0 only in that I hate taking it in and not having it available to drive! I would keep your 6.0 and run it till it dies! I decided to keep mine and I don't hesitate hooking up my 11k toy box and heading for the hills! I am at 53k miles now and hopefully I can go another 50k with fewer issues!
Man the symptoms and problems and fixes (and guesses at fixes) run more than just rampant on this board.
I bought a late 2004, and am doing a whole lot better than most it seems.
Based on this forum in mid 2004 all of the issues with the 6.0 were minor and already addressed by Ford and the platform looked solid. (So I plunged in on a late 2004 6.0.)
But everybody now has me really scared about hanging onto my truck.
I only have about 40,000 miles on it and most is just puttering around, but about 10,000 towing 6,000 to 12,000 pounds.
All of my issues including new turbo, egr replacement, and some various TSB's came early in life, but I've not towed heavy in more than ten months. And based on these threads, I have little confidence in the truck to hook it back to the fifth wheel (12,000 lbs) and go down the road a considerable way.
I'd appreciate opinions on my alternatives and my outlook.
I'm getting negative on Ford diesels as a whole and I am considering a gasser 4x4 with a granny gear to get my big boat up the ramp and thinking of selling the 5er.
I can't deal with $4 diesel because at 11 MPG with the fiver I can almost make another house payment after a 500 mile round trip for a vacation...just for fuel!!!
What I think I need is a gasser that can occasisionally pull a 10,000 pound boat on the hitch for short distances or very occaisionally 300 highway miles.
I've see nothing less than 3/4 ton 4x4 that can do this?
I think we're getting away from the 5er and the '04 diesel beginning today.
Did I talk myself into that?
You're lucky!!!
You get 11mpg with a big ol trailer like that! My travel trailer only weighs about 4K when loaded up and I only get 9mph with my 05 6.0.
Cat and all. I have a January 04 build and have had no problems. No turbos, no egr, no leaks, no injectors.. I'm a service freak. 3K on the Dino oil and now have Syn starting at 25K. Before the Syn I added a 1/2 bottle of HS secret even tho I never had a problem. I always use a fuel supliment. Stanadyne or Gray bottle. No hopups. I have a Bully-Dog monitor, 2 egts with boost and volt meter displayed. 35K miles now.
I tow a 7000# trailer 5 or 6 times a year. My son just used the truck to deliver a toy hauler to Seattle from So Cal and returned with a free 20' travel trailer. It had 3K on the oil when he left and now 5K on the Syn and I'm changing it this weekend. 15 mpg in town, 19 empty on the road, and 12 towing.
One self imposed? problem. I could not get the transfilter apart and had to replace the whole unit on my dime. I too wonder sometimes as I'm towing but don't overdrive it and watch my speed/boost/temps when climbing. My son just drove it and never thought about it.
Good Luck........................................
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B'ville 2 Club Member, Red XLT 04 CC, Buckets, KR Badges, Centerline Auto Drag rims., Gibson Extreme duals
I have an 03 that had the usual issues: turbo, injectors, egr valve. Had I not discovered this site I would have probably been very frustrated with the issues. I have not had a single issue with my truck since I learned how to avoid them on this site. I've towed a heavy trailer from southern california up to Canada and back and many places in between through the middle of BFE and have not had a single issue since the early problems were corrected. If it's an early 6.0 with the 06e17 flash performed, and you use a fuel additive and change your oil regularly and your fuel filters and open the turbo all the way up on a regular basis this has proven to be a reliable motor.
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03 F250 4x4 CC LB 6.0 XLT Sport
Prodigy brake controller
High Idle Mod
Isspro boost gauge
4" Magnaflow Cat-Back
Ride-Rite Air Springs
Bilstein shocks
I have a 2004 6.0 4-28-04 build date, with zero problems. I had two reflashes done when first new. Tranny Planetary Gear replaced recall work done. Was told that mine was in great shape when replaced. The truck has 51k, chipped and running sweet. I thought about trading for an F-450, but scared away at all this negative feedback. Now that I am ready for the trade and have stopped paying attention to the negative folks that can run a FoMoCo better than everyone else and those trollers. Deisel jumps to $4.40. So I'm in the sit back and wait modr for now.
Had a CEL at about 5,000 miles, but it still started and ran fine, so there was no rush to get it in. CEL cleared before I got it into the dealer; when I got it in, it was given the latest flash.
It is now getting close to 45,000 miles, and has not had a hiccup since. Gets 19 on the highway unloaded (20 on a good day), and gets 13 towing a 30' travel trailer.
Regular oil changes, regular fuel filter changes, PS white in the winter, grey in the summer, and, for the last year or so, XPD Opti-Lube all year 'round. It doesn't really mean anything until you're well past 100,000, though.
Here's my take on it.
My E250 van with a new factory 5.4 Jet chip, moderately loaded got 11.5mpg around town, best highway mileage was 13mpg.
My '06 F250 4x4 towing a 4000lb enclosed work trailer gets 14 around town. Highway only is 16.5mpg.
The difference in towing ability is indescribable.
No flashes, no dealer service, 50,000miles.
I get 11mpg towing my 10k boat down the highway at 70mph with the A/C on in O/D. My van got 8 mpg downwind and 6 against the wind, same boat, same trip, couldn't even use O/D.
I get mixed reviews being in the business. I've had customers tell me that they'd never own another truck and had others say they traded it in after the 50'th time back to the dealer for service.
I do, however, know more people hanging on to their 6.0 thangetting rid of it. I also have several friends in the industry that have fleets of 6.0 repo/wrecker trucks. These trucks have to work for a living and per mile operated, they by far have paid for theirself. One friend swears by the6.0 for his repo business. He can get in and out in the middle of the night with a repo and never miss a lick.
As was stated before, every make has its issues. If it's made by man, it will break.
