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I am too. Your point being?



Garage experience is what really counts. A lot of managers don't know how to turn a wrench period.



Being too "nice" with the engine is just as bad as being too rough with the engine.




The point of the comparison was about cost. I can promise you that people that shell out that amount of dough want more reliability out of their vehicle.


Problem with that is that your sampling pool is skewed for those results. You are going to hear more complaints then good things just due to human nature, but the primary purpose of a forum such as this is to help with issues. So you already have a sampling pooled skewed to that result.

How are you going to weed out the legitimate claims from those that either don't know that they did something wrong or don't want to admit that they did something wrong and hide it?

I know of a lot of people that got claims through that had tuners on their trucks and right off the bat those claims shouldn't have been honored, but they were. How many are out there like that? How many switched a/m intakes back to stock when it was time to go back to the dealership for work done?

Until you can weed out those, it's hard to say if it was legitimately earned.

Absolutely true, not every instances is due to neglect or modification or abuse, but like I've said, how do you really go to show that?

The 6.0 came out when a lot of people were in the diesel truck market that didn't need to be other then to stroke their own ego.

They were coming into this market with knowledge of previous diesels and what worked with them. Does that really work? I can promise you what worked for the 7.3 didn't always work for the 6.0 and that was the generation before the 6.0, imagine if their knowledge base was that of the 6.9 IDI?

You have had a lot of repeat fixes that shouldn't have happened if it wasn't due to the lack of knowledge with the techs at the time (and some of them still lack knowledge with regard to the 6.0).

You had people throwing a/m tuners, intakes etc on the truck and it has been shown that the 6.0 doesn't tend to favor some tuners on average over others. Ironically those are the same type of tuners that did well with the 7.3, go figure.

You had people using these vehicles as grocery getters. That is extremely hard on these trucks, but people that it could be done like that and idling? "I thought diesels could idle forever"? I know that's one of the reasons why my grandparents had a diesel, was so they could idling it while they were doing something else.

So how do you go about shuffling all that to see if the claims are legitimately as high as people think that they are? They may be still high, they may not be still high, but until one knows for sure, no one can really say that it "earned" it's infamous history.

 

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I'm proud to own a 6.0! I have had some issues but I have learned a lot and turning my own wrenchs on it. If you just want to bad mouth the 6.0 go somewhere else or if you want to help someone out with your experience please do! We are here to help, have fun, and look for answers to issues.

Saying stuff like this does not help anyone:

"These engines basically, are junk."

I have nothing against you and there can be a lot of emotion when people are having problems.

I wish I had more experience to help out. I seen guys willing to take their stuff out of their own truck drive 300 miles to help a stranger. That means a lot to me and if anyone else breaks down near me I hope I can help them.

Rant off

 

A buddy at work has a 2006 Duramax. He has recently spent thousands on turbo and injector issues - very unhappy. Based on this, I might be tempted to call them junk, but I know better.

Well, anyway, I agree with Douglas - lets make (keep) FTE a forum that is "all about helping". the "junk talk" just doesn't add value IMO.

Tex has a great case study in the 6.0L. His vehicle is still stock on some of the components that many say are garbage (Gold coolant, no coolant filter, intact EGR system, etc). What is significant about his truck is that (IMO) there is no such thing as "fluke reliability". With his experience, you have to conclude the design is good, and the issues people have MUST be related to lack of maintenance, poor choices with mods or abuse, or poor quality control in manufacturing. This forum can help most people address the key issues/components that suffer from the variability in quality (my theory anyway) so that reliability can be obtained for most folks - at a reasonable cost.

 

This shows your ignorance and lack of knowledge of these engine. The 6.9 and 7.3 IDI engines are vastly different than the 7.3 powerstroke! If anything, the 7.3 powerstroke has more in common with the 6.0 powerstroke than the 7.3 IDI!

 

I actually missed what you quote the first go around.

bcpape, that quote that Kert referenced just set you back in my eyes as having extensive knowledge.

Oh by the way, 6.0 lasted longer then you original state. They were still in the E series van after they were discontinued in the F series trucks.

Also, the reason the 6.0 was cut short is pretty much the same reason why the 7.3 was discontinued, emission requirements.

 

I am looking at buying a 2006 e350 diesel. It has 100,000 miles on it. I am not particuarly mechanical. Is this something a get in and drive kind of guy should stay away from? Is it worth getting a diesel now with the cost of fuel?
Thanks

 

You can't justify the diesel option on saving fuel cost. If you don't need it for the towing power and torque, then you either should not get one, or get one just because you want it. The e-series is pretty hard to work on, if you do get one, research it carefully (google "buying a used 6.0L).

 

Yes. You really need to get involved in the maintenance of this engine.

The operation should be monitored by an aftermarket electronic gauge system.
Fluids, filters etc should be changed on schedule and correct products used.
Electronic components and batteries need to be performing correctly and monitored using the gauge mentioned above.

Fail to do the above and you may get away with it for a while. However, you may not. Bad alternator, bad batteries, incorrect coolant or incorrect oil filter can easily cost you $1,000 in a heart beat but most likely more than that. I haven't even gotten in to explaining the need to monitor temps of oil and coolant, or monitoring fuel pressure. These are not displayed on the dash.

 

Hi,
New here and looking forward to informed information. Thanks in advance!!

If I was to buy a 2005 or 2006 6.0 liter F350 and wanted to invest a some dollars in prevention, what would the recommended fixes be?
I am asking for a list of items that could or should be fixed that could potentially go wrong. I.E. EGR system, head studs etc.

I am seriously thinking of getting a 6.0 and just preemptivily fixing the problem areas so I can hop it up a little for a very heavy 5th wheel and prevent any unexpected failures.

Thanks again for any input on this inquest.

 

Thanks for this informative Thread!
I made a "small error" yesterday and when I went to change the oil in my 06 F250 6L (100,000 mile and no issues - yet!) I accidentally (ok I am not that handy) opened the transmission fluid nut and let quite a lot out.

So when looking up what to do about that (still don't know best next steps - ideas appreciated!!!) I saw a gazillion posts about how my perfectly awesome truck is about to explode. Worried all night, then read this sensible Thread.

TMI paragraph. Questions at the bottom. Now please know, I love my truck, I have said many times I want to be buried in it. It has, however, what may be difficult circumstances - almost always a "grocery getter" or else I use it for fairly long (150 to 300 mile each way round trips) trips. It does sit still a week at a time these days, as I live in town, bike to work and my other car is a prius... When I need it, though, maybe 5-6 times a year to haul stuff, it makes me very happy.

Thanks!

So- follow up questions:
1. What to do about transmission fluid I dumped. I figured add the recommended bit by bit thru the filler, checking often, then take it straight to get flushed anyway - as it has been a while.
2. I have had a tuner (Van Aaken) for almost entire life of truck, and K&N oiled air filter. Both recommended for MY truck by some Diesel publications at the time. Is it smart to change or ditch those?
3. If I have 100k no problem miles given all the above, what are the smart steps I should take to protect myself - or alternatively have the chip and the filter, combined with driving habits - made this truck (now running fine) an inevitable wipe out? Can it be saved?
Sounds like I should consider:
- ScanguageII
- Change EGR whatever that is
-Change oil cooler
other?
Ford replaced my FICM early on.

Sorry so windy, but I have been up all night!!!
John

 

Yes, I don't know when the last time you changed the trans fluid and filter, bit now maybe a good time to just service it, otherwise just fill through the dipstick tube, then check it when it is up to temp, and running of course. Remember it can take 20 miles of driving to get these transmissions up to operating temp. Any other check of the fluid level will be inaccurate. Your manual should get into this to some degree,sometimes I forget that thing is in the glove box and I run straight to FTE, lol

Yes I would dump any K&N air filter and replace it with the stock unit. It is cheap insurance on a 1200 turbo. Remember those diesel publications are in the business to market companies products for the most part, think of them as trying to sell something with 2 pages of useful knowledge.

And yes get the scanguage 2. I persoanally like to set it to read coolant temp, ficm main volts, oil temp, battery voltage. Then you are able to monitor your deltas of coolant vs oil to see if the oil cooler is clogging, then you will have an informed decision when to dig into her to repair. Hope this helps

 

Welcome to the forum JESSC. It would be best to start your own thread so everyone will see it. Ask all the questions you can think of.

First and best thing you can do is get a ScanGauge2. This will let you see what is going on with the truck.

Sorry I have never heard of Van Aaken tuner.

The trans will be fine if you add some fresh fluid. Don't over fill it. Add about a quart less then you think you dropped, run it around some then top it off. I think the correct fluid is Mercron LV or Mercron SP. I think O'Reillys has it, double check with them on correct fluid.

Use only OEM oil, air and fuel filters. You can get them online if you prefer. Air filter I know I just purchased from Tousley For about $50.

Don't worry about the oil cooler or EGR cooler until you get the ScanGauge2 and you have more knowledge.

As far as being a "grocery getter" it is not always all bad. I have a rule with mine, the half hour rule. If it gets started it runs for at least a half hour.

Lastly, if you don't mind me asking, where do you live?

Hope this info helps.

 

I agree with the guys here also. Everyone has horror stories and they tell those first. These guys are right - maintenance is key and for filters use factory Ford Motorcraft parts. Pay the price - Ford built it and they know what it takes to keep it going - plus they learned from some early problems! 6.0 is a good one. If you're an easy driver, once in a while you need to hop in the throttle! Take off like you're racing - you may see some smoke that's no problem. Let it warm up and let it cool down after a hard run for a couple mins. If you tow a lot, get a pyrometer (EGT gauge) and use it. Don't run up over 1200 degrees for long at a time. Too much heat will kill the 6.0. Good luck!