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I've been away for awhile, after selling my 96 f250 w/ 7.3, I've kicked myself in the butt for about 3 years. Now I'm thinking about an 05-07 f250 but I've heard many things about the 6.0 diesels. I'm wondering if ya'll will give me some honest opinions on the trucks, pertaining to the drivetrain and fuel mileage. Thanks!
The 6.0l is a prissy motor. It takes a lot of love to keep it going. That being said, it's strong and with proper maintenance can last very well. I get consistanly 16.5 mpg, mixed city/hwy, hand calculated. If you do your research on the motor and apply what you learn it should be all good.
The cost of ownership on any diesel is high. If you could find a low miles 7.3, that's probably the cheapest to own. But since you are unlikely to find a low miles 7.3, all the other stuff that fails on an old truck will be expensive to own. A 6.0 will be expensive to own, and no warranty. A 6.4 will be expensive to own, and probably still have some warranty left. Those are the options if you are on a used Ford truck budget. It is pretty hard to pick one over the other categorically. You have to look at individual trucks and go with the best deal.
Lastly, as a former owner you know, the cost is worth it!!!!
06-07 6.0 has most all the quirks worked out we have one 2006 at 130k miles needs a new egr, glow plug relay (even the 7.3 goes through these), and exhaust pressure sensor all no big deal stuff, the other 06 is about the same miles and could use a glow plug relay otherwise its still solid. These are work trucks lots of miles driving every day city and highway. And you can buy the extended 200k mile warranty for the 6.0 on a used truck a guy i work with just bought a 6.0 truck about 5 months ago and bought that warranty
When you start tuning the 6.0 is when you start to get yourself into trouble it needs some upgrades (like going to ARP headstuds and some other things) to handle modifications.
If the 6.0 doesnt do it for you there are some pretty good prices on 08s with the 6.4 and with a tune and deleting some emissions stuff it makes it a whole new motor, both in the mpg and power departments
All very good info. I'm gonna keep talking about the 6.0l since that's what you mentioned and it's what I know, so if you are going to look for one, try and find one with a good service history, using ford filters, and have an oasis report ran on it. I believe the only place you can have this done anymore is the dealer, but don't quote me on it.
My 6.0l is about 400 miles short of the 190k mark. The previous owner was rather hard on her, and in my opinion he caused all of the issues I've had. Since I've owned it there's been no real problems.
As bpounds mentioned, the 7.3l is stout and probably the cheapest ford diesel to own, but when you look into them you start getting aged axles and such. Also, since the 7.3l has such a stout reputation they are hugely overpriced. I frequent craigslist and I've been seeing them with 100k miles with an asking price of $20k+... Too much in my book.