cheers. we all know I cant spell. ive gotten over it. move along nothing to see here.

 

You'd get rid of a vehicle over a $40 part and a day of wrenching on it yourself?

 

To the OP (Mike), I can see your point exactly, there is some reluctance to keep it if it's gonna strand you (break down), In my case I chose the 6.0 specifically for many reasons, some being I like the engine, it does not use the DPF, yes it has a CAT (*thanks California), but has fewer parts (lower tech) that can go wrong and when/if they do, will cost far less to repair than a 6.4 or 6.7. Sure it does not make the power the others do, but it goes and goes and in my case has been trouble free except for dummy plug o rings.

With any vehicle we pay our money and take our chances, the old adage that you want to buy vehicles only manufactured on Tuesday through Thursday due to Mondays and Fridays being can't believe the weekend is over already (what a hangover Mondays) and can't wait to get out of there on Friday so I can party anecdote. Your point is valid and I hope the 6.0 in your truck proves you wrong and lasts for 400K or more with only quality regular maintenance. Personally I don't think it is inevitable, but then I'm not driving our truck! Getting off my soapbox again. Happy motoring!

-Mark

 

Now the Hit on buuying a Diffrent truck would be alot more than the cost of the repair in this case


Bryan I think some folks open the Hood and look at it and get alittle overwhelmed/Intimidated and thats understandable if they dont know what there looking at and the thought goes threw there mind where in the hell do I even start

 

Remember that those who post here are here because they have a problem and those of us who do not post are just looking to see what the problems are.
Bob

 

Not to be argumentative, but if the failures were only caused by those that don't take care of their trucks, Ford probably would not have initiated a lawsuit against the maker of the engine and casting sand would not be high on the list of reasons for failure. Mine has been serviced and maintained at the dealership since it was new, they have all the records and 900 miles is the most it has ever gone "over" on an oil change with fluids changed at all recommended times. At 95k, they had to replace the heads and head gaskets and all that entails under warranty and at 100,960 miles the EGR cooler went out and they offered me 0 warranty assistance (the aftermarket warranty I bought excluded emissions components), costing me 3k out of pocket. At 165k, I have just finished 5k worth of work on HG's again (never had a tuner on it until now for the delete), studs, EGR delete and oil cooler, new radiator, some glow plugs and a couple of injectors that were on their way out. Talked to the mechanic the other day and he has stopped using OEM parts and gone to an aftermarket kit and he said that he has almost put himself out of work on the 6.0's by dumping OEM parts. Truth of the matter is buying a 6.0 is a risky undertaking at best and, at worst, a money pit.

 

Both of these statements are far from being accurate.

The OEM components that are not recommended are the head bolts (studs are recommended), the 05 and up EGR coolers (BPD EGR cooler or delete is recommended), the FICM (which can be cheaply upgraded to a reliable component), and the alternator.

Unless you are upgrading for more power, OEM is best on injectors, head gaskets (and these are good for apprx. 500k hp), EGR valves, glow plugs, transmission, even the turbo IMO.

Although the OEM oil cooler is not better than some of the aftermarket oil coolers, there is nothing wrong with the OEM oil cooler. Nothing wrong with the OEM radiator, charge air cooler, etc.

As far as a money pit goes - apply what this (and other) forum has to offer and there is no need to be worrying - unless the engine has been abused or is a RARE lemon.

 

Probably should not have thrown that out as a blanket statement, you are correct in that he uses the bpd upgrade (he will not do the delete as he is at a dealership) and the studs. The rest of it, I would imagine, he goes OEM.
Got mine out Tuesday morning from 5k worth of work and between my last post earlier today and this one, it was wreckered back to the shop. Just shut off on me at 75 mph on the highway, my SCT flash tuner showed P2623, if I remember correctly "Injector control pressure regulator open". No surging, no warning, just shut off. Leads me to believe that maybe the pigtail has a broken wire or the pigtail itself may be bad since it has 165k on it and it has been plugged and unplugged several times lately. A relatively minor issue, I'm hoping. As for the money pit statement, I will stand by it as pertaining to mine, because I have done everything that has been recommended and I am over 10k in repairs into it (not counting the replacing of heads and all at 95k under warranty). Some have had good luck with them, I haven't. I am in an agricultural community and have a lot of friends that run the 6.0 and their stories are pretty similar to mine. So when someone asks, I give them my experience and let them decide, I was told before I bought mine and chose to chance it and have been bitten pretty good on it but I can't see going into debt 40-50k on something else.

 

Sorry to hear about anyone spending that kind of money, let alone a group of guys like yourselves.

The thing is, that these things can be resolved PROACTIVELY for less than half the cost of fixing them after they break .......

$350 to repair a FICM vs $1000 at ford

EGR cooler AND a new oil cooler kit - MAYBE $1500 by an upgrade shop - WHO KNOWS how much if the oil cooler fails or the EGR cooler fails (a lot more for sure)

STC fitting and Standpipes and Dummy plugs (05 and up) - get them done all at once and save by not having multiple repair events. Same type of cost advantage.

My main point was to shop around and upgrade before failure - will save a lot of money!!

Finding a Ford Tech that will do some work on the side can be an INCREDIBLE advantage to saving money on ANY engine.

 

The most recent 5k was done by a non-dealership shop at $60/hour compared to dealer rates. I got the stud/gasket kit online ($578) as well as the delete/oil cooler kit online ($870). Still had to get some other parts from the dealership (o-rings, coolant, etc., about $800 worth) and that's when I talked to the mechanic there that had completed the earlier work (warranty and first EGR failure) for me. Got the 2 injectors, the radiator and the glow plugs locally for almost $1000 Would have been close to 7k had he done it. 28 hours labor plus all the parts and brake cleaner, freon and misc things and I did most of the parts running to keep him working. Oh, and sending the heads out to be checked before the re-install. I'm assuming the stand pipes you are talking about are the two pipes used in the HPO system and you can't buy just the o-rings, you have to replace the whole things at $70 each. Everyone I talk to says that it should be right now that I have this completed, so I hope today's episode is just a glitch and not too serious.

 

Ok- here I have to disagree with your advice. Instead of hiring a legitimate shop which has proper tools, workspace, labor rates and service support, you recommend finding someone to do this on the side? Dude, if I lived next door to someone with your experience I'd hire you tonight. But the odds of knowing someone who will do this "on the side" are not that great. I know plenty of solid mechanics- but I get the feeling that it would be best to have someone who has been in and out of a 6.0 a couple of times. And has a cab hoist.

You make it sound like all of this is nothing- just minor maintenance. "Maybe $1500" .... yeah... right... I'll just go out and look for a "Ford tech that will do some work on the side" perhaps he is hanging out at the pub down the street right now wearing his "6.0 tech" patch and perhaps he'll do this behind his house and then if something goes wrong I'll have no recourse at all.

It seems to me that this is actually a $3,000 to $5,000 proposition - in other words, more than a year of depreciation on a new truck.

Do not get me wrong. I like my truck and I may do this work because I do not wish to be stranded with a loaded trailer 300 miles from home- but only because you can not sell a used 6.0 in my area and because spending $3-$5 is better than wholesaling the truck away for $8-$12 and staring over with something else.

And yes, to answer texastech, I would dump the truck for a $40 part and a day of shop labor because once you are in there, you might as well deal with everything else that is wrong. And that is not $40. My time is not free. And paying Ford $3-$5k to fix that which they probably should have recalled is frustrating.

And what makes you think that it will die at home? Do STC fittings only fail when parked at home? Kinda doubt it.

I like my truck. But I doubt it is going to be as reliable, long term, as the Cummins trucks. Of course, my friend was just stranded by his '98 Cummins and he is now awaiting an injection pump and a lift pump for an estimated $3k. So maybe they are all the same.

-Mike

 

Bingo.

Putting a 6.0 in a truck for the company I used to work for right now. Died at 190k. After I get done with it, they have an 07 5.9 needing the same thing. 5.9 has 170k miles on it. In some ways, they are all the same when they are not taken care of.

 

If I would have kept my 6.0, I truely believe I could have put a few 100k miles on it with the stock hardware. I was the original owner and when I yanked the heads off at 92k miles to do studs proactively, the gaskets were in mint condition.

 

Your pesrpective is off track. Legitimate shop?? Come on, what are you saying?? Only a dealership is a legitimate shop? Are you saying also that owners can't properly fix their engines or upgrade them? There are NUMEROUS shops that are far more experienced with the aftermarket (studs and EGR deletes) than most dealerships. How do you even know who works on your truck when you walk out the door of the shop - at ANY shop. Answer - do your homework.

If you have to drive a few hundred miles to a reputable shop, it may be worth it (and I guarantee you that most people live within that distance to a shop with enough business to determine their reputation).

I said the oil cooler / EGR cooler is $1500. In a shop with experience ...... believe it or not, no skin off my back.

Oh and that "pub statement" sarcasm in a post like this - pointless and inappropriate IMO.

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BTW (throwing it out there for more "discussion") - Properly maintained, I do not think that head gasket failures are inevitable. 6.0L owners do not need to live in fear OR blindly believe that they need to "do it all at once" and then blast Ford for causing them to spend $5000 (or more) because they didn't shop around for the best place to have the work done. Same with oil coolers - they can be very reliable with the proper coolant maintenance. If you read the forums carefully you will see people tuned without studs, ignoring coolant/transmission/etc fluid maintenance, wrong oil filters, ignoring the fuel pressure issue or being surprised with bad fuel, not wanting to spend $160 in a gauge set-up ..... (and on and on) ...... only to later have problems.

 

Some things to consider when it comes to the 6.0L and cost of repair verse other trucks....

1. The 6.0L and the 6.4L etc... were created to keep up with Federally mandated emissions requirements. All other brands (Dodge, Chevy, etc...) also had to update their engines to satisfy requirements.

2. The price of EVERYTHING has gone up since 2003 when this truck was released. Including but not limited to the cost of shipping (the parts have to get to dealership some how) and the cost of labor. This means a job that cost 3K then probably costs us 5k now..... if not more. So when you talk about the 7.3 never costing this much or how expensive the 6.7 is....