Hey y'all I'm look at an 04 F250 with 52000 miles on it at my local dealer. My buddy is a mechanic and he told me to stay away from the 6.0. Not that I don't believe him I was just wondering what y'all had to say about it thanks

 

LOL... Yeah we all hate the 6.0 here.

Josh

 

Dam nuff said then

 

I was being facetious. The 6.0 has a good following. Much better than the 6.4, but not nearly as much as the 7.3.

I personally can't stand the 7.3 and have never wrenched on a 6.4 or 6.7, but I love the 6.0

Josh

 

I love mine...I've put 15,000 miles on it (has 88,000 total) and the only "trouble" i've had is an oil leak. Take care of it and it will take care of you.

 

I had a 7.3 before my f150 and it was a power house completely stock ****ty mileage though. I was told if I do buy delete the egr and change the head studs y'all done any of that

 

No studs, no delete, and no tuner on mine.

 

I have to pass air quality check so I still have egr. Not doing studs unless I tune it, won't do that till I'm out of warranty.

 

I just want mine to last I'm not in to hot tuning or anything like that so whatever I have to replace or whatever to avoid issues down the road is what I'm gonna do

 

Many pass emissions testing with a stealth EGR delete.

Josh

 

There are a number of things that need to be looked at and maintained on any 10 year old vehicle. Key is to get some way to read the oil and water temperature data in real time, I use a Scangauge II that connects to the engine computer through the OBDII test port. The difference between the oil temp and the coolant temp is a way to know if the oil cooler is working properly. Probably the biggest issue with the 6.0 is a clogged oil cooler that starves the EGR cooler of coolant, so it then fails. If you stay on top of that, better chance of success. Other issue to take care of day one is fuel pressure. There is an upgraded fuel pressure regulator spring available from the dealer that will increase the fuel pressure, and increase the reliability of the injectors. Final thing to monitor closely is battery condition and voltage, and FICM (fuel injection control module) voltage. The FICM needs to be at 48 volts or the injectors can be damaged and fail. The biggest reason the FICM starts to fail is poor battery voltage, both during starting when the glow plugs drag the voltage down to around 11 volts, and during normal running.

So it's not a turn the key and go truck, it's a truck that you need to understand and keep on top of, and if you do that you stand a better chance of reliability. That and fixing things when they start to show signs of issues, not running till your lottery ticket hits...

Brian

 

So the scangauge II is just a reader right I'm not into programming and stuff. I'm just worried I'm gonna buy this truck and it be a lemon. I got a gasser right now and I want a diesel again but when I go test drive it is there anything in particular I should look for good or bad

 

If it's at a Ford dealer see if they'll give you a drive train warranty to go with it. No AM, must be a Ford warranty.

 

I recommend the DashBoss for Apple products over the SG2 IMHO

Josh

 

If you can get the OBDII monitor before the test drive that would be the best plan. As Brian said above, knowing what the oil and coolant temps are running is very important. If there is a big difference between the two you are looking at a truck on borrowed time with a common problem that needs $1500 minimum worth of work. It doesn't mean it's junk, if you really like the truck you could negotiate the price accordingly and won't have an expensive surprise.
Coolant level, color, and condition is very important also. The proper level is the MIN line. If it's above that it may have been recently topped off in an effort to cover up coolant loss. There should be no foam or crud in the coolant bottle- if you see this the oil cooler may be leaking oil into the coolant. Not impossible to fix but many parts to change and headache to clean the coolant system. Yellow (gold) or red coolant is fine. If you see green coolant pick another truck. Some will point out there is green diesel coolant but the odds are high that's not what you're looking at. The automotive green stuff is high silicate and getting it completely out will be a big job and you'll still likely get to do the cooler replacement in the future. Check the top of the degas (coolant) bottle after your test drive. (Let the truck warm up good and then accelerate up a couple of hills to make some boost) white splatters on the top of the bottle can be anything from a bad cap to bad head gaskets.
Arrange to crank the truck cold. If they warm it up for you you won't know about possible issues with fuel injectors or Fuel Injection Control Module (FICM). The ScanGauge will display voltage output and problems usually occur at cold start. Truck may skip for a few seconds but should settle down quickly with no smoke at the tail pipe. There can be small amount of condensation in the exhaust but if it smells like coolant then coolers or head gaskets are suspect. If it smells like fuel it may have an injector issue. Injectors are $230-270 each plus small parts and labor so fuel smelling smoke fan get expensive real quick. Either have them fix it or negotiate the price if you really like the truck. If it's just running rough and you know FICM voltage is low it can be repaired for about $350 or so.
Oil should be at proper level and not smell like diesel. If it's high could be a leaking injector.
Generally how well the truck was serviced makes a big difference in longevity. If there's records for trans filter changes and oil changes that's a big plus.
I'm sure I missed something but that's the big ones under the hood.
Good luck in your shopping!