I am looking at getting a newer PS again. I was looking at getting a 99-03 7.3 again. But I am having a hard time finding one that hasn't had the snot kicked out of it and that they don't want an arm and a leg for. Apon my search I found quite a few 03-05's in my price range with the 6.0. I am looking at higher mileage trucks with 150-200K on them. I have done the research on the 6.0 and I am familar with the problem areas that need to be addressed. I am looking at paying cash for a vehicle.

I told myself that if I could find a 6.0 that has already had the mods done to it and didn't look like someone has ragged it out with a hot tuner that I would get a 6.0.

I found a 05' Supercab SB 4x4 with a 120k on it for $2500 (Not a Typo). The add said that the engine would not start. I haven't called on it yet to find out exactly what was wrong with it or what it was doing before it died on the guy. But I was thinking as long as it has a clear title I could get lucky and get a truck that could cost me a couple hundred dollars to fix. Or on the other hand it could need a complete rebuild on the engine.

So my question is what am I looking at as far as cost wise if I had to replace the motor in a worse case senario? I was looking at long blocks online and the average looks to be $4500+Core and Shipping for a rebuild with studs. I know I would need to replace the oil cooler, egr, egr cooler delete, replace the water pump, and possibly injectors after having them tested. I would get a SCT tuner for the egr delete. What else am I forgeting that I should replace and not reuse? And what am I looking at for total cost? I would be planning on doing all this myself.

I am not looking at hotrodding this truck. Honestly the 6.0 makes enough power stock for all my needs. From the pics I saw the exterior looked pretty good. There where no pics of the interior. Thanks for your help with this.

 

u could pull that pesky engine and put a good tried and true 7.3 in the truck.

 

Could do that but then I would have to find a tranny, swap out wiring harnesses, computers, and probabably a dozen other things that I am not thinking of. Not interested in doing that nor am I interested in doing a Cummins swap. Way to much work for that. And I am guessing 7.3 swap would be more expensive. I know the Cummins would be by far.

 

u could get a whole 7.3 donor pretty resonable

 

Naw if I was going to do that then I might as well just buy a 99-03 7.3 and run with that then try to swap everything over to a 05 body and frame.

 

yeah, put a 7.3 in it RIGHT!

$2,500 let me know where it is and ill go pick it up with my pesky 6.0-only has 260K miles on it......

 

Just wanted to know what I am realistically looking at if I had to put in a new motor is all. I don't want to do a engine swap with a different motor. And I think the 6.0 is a good motor. It just got a bad rap the first year or two that it came out.

 

How much of the work are planning to do yourself? Do you own computer diagnostic equipment already? That makes a big difference in cost and headache. Many shops see these trucks come in and figure it's time to get that new swimming pool lol.
I would look closely at the truck itself and make sure it hasn't been beat and plan on buying a used or rebuilt engine. If the engine turns out to be a inexpensive fix.. JACKPOT!

To help in valuing the truck, shop for the engine, add the $2500 and subtract from loan value to see how much you might "earn" for doing the work or what your shop budget might be if you plan to hire a shop. If you can't come out at least $1500-$2000 to the good (even after paying yourself for the work), I'd skip the headache and buy a running truck. Three are many to choose from and prices are pretty low.

On edit- sorry, I see you mentioned doing the work yourself.

I'm jumping ahead a bit but if it's an early '05 it could have the late '04 engine with the early style pump. If so it could be the no-start issue. An aftermarket pump is more expensive at $900ish but worth the investment. Remans of the factory early pump are failers out of the box or shortly after install in some cases.

 

Awesome thanks for the heads up. I am going to call and ask about it and see if I can get some intel on the issue. Your right though if the truck looks like it has been beat up and not taken care of I might pass and just save myself the headache. I do need to buy and ScangaugeII and was planning on getting that before I got serious and started to look at trucks. I am don't want to buy a used engine just for the fact I don't know how it was treated before. It's just not worth it to me to roll the dice on that. I would rather look at a reman engine and know its good or just walk on it.

 

Buy it, it's worth more than $2,500 in parts. Unless it's missing the engine/trans and is completely destroyed I don't see ho you can lose. A shortbed bed in decent shape sells for almost a grand by itself in some parts of the country.

 

One of the guys on here (Ashville Engines) was going to sell me a rebuilt for around 5000, I should have done it instead of rebuilding mine myself, I spent just as much, and had the truck out of commission for months. But I learned a lot...
If you can pick up a clean 05 SD 4X4 for 2500, I would jump at it. And I bet the hpop is shot, not that big a deal to change. As long as you don't drop a bolt in the hole...

 

Installed aftermarket reman 8k buy the time your done. Looks like a good deal.

 

I was thinking that my self. As long as it has a clear title and it hasn't had the snot kicked out of it I may go that route. I'm gonna get ahold of the guy and see what the deal is.

 

Well finally got ahold of the guy selling it. I had to email him a couple of times before I heard back from him. He says its got a Clean title in hand, XLT and it was using coolant and loosing coolant. But it is not locked up so that is good. I am guessing probably an EGR Cooler right off the top. Hopefully the Headgaskets aren't blown. But even if they are I would still come out ahead on that price.

The only thing that worries me is that it won't start. I am no expert on the 6.0. But I thought it would still start with a bad ERG cooler and even blown head gaskets. It would just be blowing white smoke and run like crap. Any advice there?

I'm gonna try and get up there this weekend and take a look at it if I can get away. As long as the truck its self is not trashed I think I will go for it.

 

I am wondering if the guy hydrolocked the engine. Would the truck still turn over if it was hydrolocked?