i am a ford fan and so i am not surprised at the number of people who have jumped to buy the powerful 6.0. What surprises though is how many people continue to buy the new diesel when there are so many significant and continuing complaints about the engine. quality issues at initial delivery sometime happen as problem free new product introductions are difficult. Altho the initial product flaws are not good news, what really chaps me is how the dealers are treating people who need warranty repairs on their new $40k vehicle. My experience is dealers treat consumers on extraordinary warranty repairs according to factory directives; i place the blame on half hearted repair attempts and ill trained 6.0L diesel mechanics directly on the back of Detroit Management. i am certain Ford Motor Company (FMC) at the very highest level are aware of the 6.0L problems. I am just as certain FMC dont want to bend over and publically admit to a major product snafu. I contend FMC can easily avoid further public embarrassment over the 6.0L. What FMC needs to do is correctly and promptly repair the early production trucks (this assumes later production models are as good as proclaimed), help the loyal people who bought the early production models by going the extra mile on rental vehicles or whatever is reasonably required, and provide customers quality repair service without dilly dancing around or denying obvious problems that the dealer mechanices are told to label "Normal for a Diesel " !!! FMC, as a contrast check out how Lexus treated my wife on our RX300 in regard to an alleged engine oil sludge problem. TBriefly lexus tried to deny the problem but when they saw the issue had merit and when lexus saw the potential impact on toyota's impeccable quality reputation, Toyota took decisive action and extended the engine warranty without further ado. FMC, my advice is to help the people who bought the 6.0, extend their warranty, do what is reasonable in light of the customer's pain and FMC will benefit immensely in the long term. Jack around in the middle of the road and you deserve what you get. i am not an FMC employee; i have never visited Detroit. However, i do understand the loyalties of a customer and the manufacturer are closely linked.----in the short term the consumer needs the manufacturer; in the long term the manufacturer needs the consumer. sorry for the long post. p.s. in case someone up North reads this post, "dilly dancing around" is a South Texas technical term for what Nero did while Rome burned.

 

I think any reasonable person would conclude that there are going to be problems with a new product. Especially a new product with new technology. But did they give the customer a break on the price after having delivered to the customer the wildly successful 7.3L engine program for 10 years? We all made fun of GM's Duramax when they said they were going to manufacture 100,000 the first year (they made 16,000) and our people are still saying that they don't think the head gaskets will go for the long haul. But I see no evidence of that.
We've got numerous people on this forum that are happy with their 6.0L powered trucks but most have somewhere between zero and 10,000 miles. I can't think of any good reason why a customer should have ANY problems at that mileage. And it goes without saying that the people who are unhappy, are going to sing the loudest tune. But it appears to me that Ford is treating this debacle exactly as they did the cackle issue. First they tried to blame it on us (International). Then they just acted like it wasn't an issue at all while secretly engineering a solution to the problem for the next generation truck -- the Horizontal Fuel Conditioning Module (HFCM).
They may get by with mistreating some of their customers (just ask Harley Davidson) but it can't last forever. If they don't have a plan to turn this thing around and quick, they just may find themselves chasing GM (or maybe Nissan or Toyota) from behind.

 

Joe,
I was hoping the 2004 changes were going to turn this thing around. Do you have your doubts?
Emil

 

The 2004 engine is a better engine (I don't yet know what all the improvements will be). It seems to me, however, that a significant portion of Ford's problems is with their software and that, in my opinion, is where they need to concentrate their efforts. As far as I know, we (International) are not having the software problems with our trucks that Ford is having.

 

I just sold my wife's 1995 camry to a lexus mechanic who bought it for his wife. He told me lexus is fixing cars for free that are a little past warrantee just to maintain their reputation... maybe Ford should follow their example (and fix the ones that are less than a year old and having major problems)?

I am holding on to my customer survey until the end of the year just to make sure my truck is still running as good as it has since I got it. The sales guy has called me twice about filling it out "totally satisfied" etc, as they get a bonus pay for a certain number or percentage of these returned...

Funny, I just saw my first 6.0L commercial on TV... maybe they think the bugs are fixed....