Hello All,

Well, gone and done it. Bought my first Diesel Truck. A 6.0L Power Stroke Diesel F250 Super Duty 4x4 crew cab Truck with the long bed.
It's a 2004 with 137, 000 miles.

Bought through the local Parker Ford dealer here in Arizona (been in existence since 1916 and the oldest in the state). The original owner brought it in as a trade in on a newer truck. It just came on the lot a couple of days ago after being gone through by the mechanics and it had what we were looking for, whether diesel or gas.

I remember reading the troubles this engine had when it first came out. But from what I've read, there are plenty of 2004 6.0s that never had any. With the mileage this one has, it is considered "just broke in" and should last several years more with decent upkeep. I was told by a friend (who owned a 6.0 before and currently has a 7.3L) there is nothing wrong with the 6.0 as long as you keep up on changing the oil on a regular basis, any filters and be proactive....period. But that goes for any vehicle.

This is to replace my husband's 1983 E 150 w/302 engine that dearly needs a good overhaul. We want to go back into attending Living History re-enacting events (like we used to) but the van is too worn out.

 

Welcome to the FTE 6.0 engine forum VikingBabe. Take some time to read the tech folder at he beginning of the forum. Lots of great information there on common problems and service solutions. If you have a question don't be afraid to ask. Lots of great folks here who have been through virtually everything that a 6.0 can throw out.

 

Welcome to the Darkside

As mentioned, our Tech Folder has tons of information on how to keep your 6.0L running smooth. Fresh oil, most of us recommend Synthetic, clean fuel filters and a reliable source in your area for good fuel will make your truck more enjoyable. Not sure in your area of the availability of BIO fuel, keep it on the low side.

 

Welcome--I'm new as well to 6.0--and diesel in general. I can say if it wasn't for this forum I would not have purchased the truck I did or diesel for that matter--these guys/gals-have seen it all and know their stuff.

 

Update.

Since this original posting, I found out who the previous owner was (a local well driller we knew) and asked him some questions about any past maintenance done. Mostly for my own information. He had it for a few years and kept it well maintained. Outside of the "usual", he took it to Parker Motor Company (the local Ford dealership) to have it serviced. (This was confirmed by the service manager at the Dealership and other people who knew that owner....it loved that truck.) The previous owner knew about the early 6.0 Powerstroke "stories" but he never had any problems with his truck. As far as he was concerned, the "04" was a good year.

He brought it to have an injector replaced but the part had to be ordered. Since he needed a truck immediately to drive to Phoenix the next day, he used the 6.0 as collateral trade in for a newer one. Like I said, the mechanics had gone through it and anything needing replaced (like the injector) was done before putting it on the lot. The truck does have a "sticker" when this was done. So now I can keep a general "maintenance schedule".

The previous owner told us the truck gave him 17 to 20 mpg consistently. The average being 17 when driving around Parker or under a load. So far, that's been our mileage experience. After being so used to the van's 8 mpg lately, a nice change.

Diesel prices average $3.79 here. I found it is more economical to keep the truck's 40 gal. tank filled. We have been so used to spending $20 - $30 to put gas in the van with a lot less return. Considering how far we have to drive anywhere in my very rural part of AZ, diesel gives better fuel mileage in the long run. The van has been a good vehicle but it has its limits.

But until recently, we did not have the funds. Nor could we just stop driving the van until my husband could work on its engine as we really don't have a "second" vehicle to fall back on. My son lends me his 04 Intrepid, whenever I need it but it is strictly a passenger vehicle. The 6.0 SuperDuty offers everything we need now and for the future.

My husband is a "truck man" at heart. After getting used to a diesel, he loves driving it. He will not drive the Intrepid...It's our son's after all and hard for him to get in and out of as a passenger when I drive it.

When I can, I'll take a photo of the truck to put up. It's Maroon and Silver, by the way.

 

Sike you got a good maintained truck! I am getting mine up to speed I dont have any service history but I am slowly getting the big whit whale as I call her up to speed. If you havent already a good monitering system like scangauge II, or one of the others would be helpful. My truck was babied too much she only has 85,000 miles but she is working now towing our horses around! Good luck! This sit is a wealth of information!!

 

^^^^^^ What Kevin said. High on your list should be some good monitoring system. There are a ton of issues you can head off before they become big $s just by watching some critical data that swirls around on the truck's data highway and can be accessed through the ODBII port just under the right side of the driver side dash.

Do you have a smart phone? If so and it's a droid unit you want to go with Torque Pro app, if Apple you'll want Dash Boss. You also might want to consider buying a cheap tablet 7-9" running the Android OS and still go the Torque route. Either of these are cheaper and a ton more robust than the next option which is a Scan Gauge II.

There are experts here on all 3 as well as even more comprehensive and expensive devices.

I also think any new 6.0 owner should start a list of things to do proactively, like one of the easy and inexpensive ones would be installing the Ford updated fuel pressure spring, aka: the "blue spring". But there are others too...

Enjoy the (new) ride!

 

x3

See the current scangauge2 thread, or any of the many many others.. The newer app/smart phone alternatives are also an option, but the SG2 works without having to do anything and I would recommend it.

 

Actually it's Torque and DashBoss that require little work as all the inputs are already set up, you just have to decide how you want to display them and you can shortcut that even by getting a friend with a display you like, to just give it to you to import (It's easy to do).

I think SGII was one of the early and reasonably priced units out there, is more the reason for its popularity (just my opinion). Just the data logging alone in Torque or DB makes SGII "old school".

Here's just one of many Torque users screens, to give you an idea of what can be done (and you can set alarms for all these, etc., etc.):

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post13286439

There have been many threads discussing these options, so just throwing out some of the others available besides SGII... (ok, just one more vote for Torque: 7" Droid tablet $59 @ Fry's + $4.95 for the app + $15 for a wifi ODBII adapter = $70 or so???).

Just sayin'...