Hi guys been awhile since I've been around here. I'm looking at buying an 03 or an 05 f250 are these 6.0s really that bad? or do people just don't understand you have to maintain these engines, or is it people putting tuners and junk on a these trucks and driving them like a hot rod? Both trucks im looking at are under 200000 kms 1 is an 03 and 1 is an 05 what is the better year of the 6.0? Ive been reading mixed opinions that the 03 are better and the 05 are better? Thanks in advance

 

Early models have pros over the later and vise versa. Me having an 05 I will lean to the later builds as I don't know much about early models. What I can say is the 05+ has a better water pump, high pressure oil pump and better suspension and interior. On the downside, even though we've got the better oil pump, we have a pretty much 100% failure rate on a fitting that's mounted to it. Also the later models have weaker and poorly designed egr coolers. All models share some common issues across the board but your better off reading through the tech folder in some of these. Like I said since I'm not familiar with the early models I'll let some of those owners offer those pros. As far as whether or not the 6.0 is a good platform, I think it is along with the majority on here. I will say its not your turn key and go type engine. You do have to "know" it and it is maintenance heavy. There is alot of misinformed owners and even more I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy whose brother has one and its junk type people. Most naysayers dog the 6.0 on hearsay and I'd bet most current 6.0 owners don't even know the horror stories about it.

 

first my story - I have an 04 with an 03 engine, I was told STAY AWAY FROM THE 6.0L by many folks only one I gave credibility to that was an ambulance driver. I bought it anyway it was good deal and the rest of the truck was everyhing I wanted in truck. I later found out that biggest initial issue with the 6.0L was the cooling system- It one initially had a lot of casting sand left behind clogging oil coolers and secondly most non FORD mechanics did not know that you cant mix coolant types in these engines and just used what they had in the shop, again causing problems. In short the more I read and wathced videos about the 6.0 the more I became comfortable with my decision to get the 6.0L

after my 1st injector change with the help from this site I became more comfortable with working on the engine. Not that it needed much but I like to go through to clean and check everything when I buy a new-to-me vehicle.

Pros for me on the 03 engine - dont have to worrry about stand pipes and dummy plugs (I see this "a lot" on here as a goto for "thats probably the issue", EGR cooler is the one BPD modeled theirs after. When / IF needed the newer HPOP will work in the 03. Back turbo bolt "easy" to get to and handle.

added bonus (not recommenced)- I did not take care of my truck like I should have for about 6mos due to some unexpected financial issues. It ran poorly but enough to get me through the rough patch, lost MPG's big time too. Neg to that is I was sooo worried about something happening to take it out of commission I was over stressed as a whole. Once things picked up I replaced my remaining and much needed injectors, and some other maint items and she runs like a champ now and Im worry free!

Biggest downside ICP/IPR location. other down side expensive repairs bills even doing it your self, but thats with any diesel.

In the end I am extremely happy with my 03 engine, 60k miles in 18 months and completely content, so much so I am looking for another as a back up Just in case someone wipes mine out in a bad accident or something similar.

 

Thanks im an ex diesel mechanic when i left the trade these engines were new so i dont have much experience with them other than lube and filter changes. As for the cooling issue i wasnt sure if ford gold is the problem or just lack of cooling system maintenance.

 

From some of the stuff I have been reading I think it's a little of both.
New engine with new rules and some people turned on the ignore
light and just did not do things.

That is my take on some of the problems.

Sean

 

My opinion is Ford/International got a bad reputation for this motor for trying to be ahead of the EPA regulations and installing an Exhaust Gas Recirculation system on a diesel engine. Seems like they pioneered the system, encountered some problems along the way and the other companies were able to reap the benefits of not starting from scratch.

 

I have a friend that doesn't maintain his trucks very well at all. He went through 2 early 6.0s then bought an 05 6.0. He put 150k on it then liquidated all of his assets to start a business. He bought an 05 Cummins because it was a lot cheaper and said it couldn't even compare to his 6.0s. Three months later he ditched the Cummins and bought another 6.0.
He uses these trucks for work and says that even though they have problems(from lack of maintenance) at least the truck doesn't fall apart around the motor.

 

The best one is the one that has been maintained meticulously from the previous owner. The best one is the one who has an original owner and whose OASIS report comes back with very few repairs. That's my opinion. I wouldn't buy it until I purchased a Scan Gauge II and ran through the readings for EOT vs ECT, scan for codes, etc etc. You get a lot of people who are getting rid of trucks after they find an issue and dont' want to be out the money for repairs. Be careful and good luck with whatever you choose.

 

What he said. A maintained truck is the best. Add to that knowing what the engine is doing=a great truck.

 

What these guys said, and I would add the instrument panel in the list of issues. The factory gauges "seem" to be enough info to know when there's a problem but they are dummied down to such a degree you can find yourself on the side of the road with blown head gaskets and cracked heads with little to no warning, or drive for thousands of miles in "near destruction" mode. I think a OBDII monitor like a Edge, ScanGaugeII, or a smartphone app is a requirement for a 6.0 powered truck.

 

This is the same issue. No casting sand was left in the engines. The Ford coolant was/is high silicate content which after going through the EGR cooler would drop out and crystalize into sand like substance.

 

You are going to need to offer some documentation on those statements.

First off, a lot of people had solids in the coolant from DAY 1 of ownership. Not enough time for something to precipitate.

Do you know how much silicate is in the Ford Gold coolant?? The ASTM 3306 standard for the Gold coolant states 250 ppm silicon by weight (max) for its LOW SILICATE formula. That is at most 0.01 pounds of silicon (or 0.032 lbs of silicates SiO4) in 4 gallons of concentrated Gold Coolant. That is 1/2 of an ounce of silicates.

Blaming everything on the Ford Gold is very misleading ...............