This thread has been very educational for me. Thanks to all.

 

Sorry guys, I don't want to offend anyone who owns a 6.7. I have owned 2 diesels, a 2006 Cummins 5.9 that was awesome, and a 2009 Ford 6.4 that I hated (11.9 MPG/Clouds of toxic regen fumes every 200 miles).


I agree that the diesels have come forward over the last 7 years, but in my opinion they haven't come quite far enough. I simply can't gamble on a potential 10K repair bill, no matter how small the odds. And I can find a catastrophic failure story on any of the forums I read without any effort at all. Not all ford, but all related to modern diesels.


Look at all the thread topics.....PD046@#! code, No Restart after Shutdown, Check Engine Light, Codes! Codes!, Sensor Failure!, Limp Mode (Again!)...on and on......It didn't happen to my dad's truck for 9 years and 45K miles, but it happened.


It will happen to you. And small problems on these motors tend to snowball quickly downstream and cost big $$$$


I recently sold a Ford Expedition after 11 years and 153K miles and it ran perfect.


Gman

 

I don't think you should let your Auto Insurance company in on the fact that you were using Lucas additive. Sometimes acting un-educated on a topic is good.

bruce..

 

This is well put and what I have been trying to convey. None of the big three are crap, but ever since the EPA got involved and they thought diesels were the evil of the pollution world, they have had issues and very significant ones on a consistent basis. That's all. It's not rocket science to do a search and find the issues just like you stated. Anyway, no sense in repeating myself. Thanks for the input!

 

The look back at "bulletproof" 7.3L engines is nostalgic, but if you owned one of those you know they had their own set of problems. No fuel return from the rail, no balance between the rails, sucking air from the tank, #8 cylinders going dead, etc. Plenty of aftermarket stuff was being pushed to fix it.

The problem with fuel contamination of the kind we occasionally see is that the foolproof solution does not currently exist. If it did, someone would be selling them for $1000 and making a killing.

 

Here’s a Diesel Fuel System Contamination Diagnosis document that I got a while back. There may be a newer one but if you look at the pictures in there, you’ll see why the dealer probably said it was full of rust.
It also has a contamination reference table for cause and effects of certain liquids on these fuel systems.

 

My truck had none of those issues in stock form. When I started "upgrading" it, different story but, at least some of the issues you spoke of weren't $10k issues unless you had a 2001 PMR grenade on you. That was definitely a problem.

I have owned and driven all of the big 3 trucks. I'll prolly get crucified for saying this here, by the best truck by far was my 2004 Cummins. It was a 6-speed and all stock except for exhaust and intake. Never had an issue in 100k miles. Those days are gone unfortunately.

 

First a heartfelt sorry for your problems. However at the same time as many have pointed out it's hard to hold Ford Motor Company completely responsible if there were an alternative I'm sure it would be in our trucks. Short of a clotting filter which would cause its own issues of trucks just stopping on the highway traffic safety would love that I could see the lawsuits now there's really no way to guarantee perfect fuel arriving to the high pressure pump. Now there's one other point of view which I'm sure will get an argument going if we actually look at the number of fuel contamination versus trucks on the road it's a small percentage I think we can all agree on that this is why I'm a firm believer in locking your fuel door how do you know someone hasn't paid you visit with a few gallons of water over a time? No one like to believe people would do that but unfortunately the world today sucks amazes me that such a highly critical system has no way to be secured from tampering without doing it yourself take care

 

Another way a person CAN look at this; let's say one drives a truck for 80,000 miles, or a hundred thousand, or more, without any issues and the HPFP goes south because of contaminated fuel. The truck is in otherwise great condition, all maintenance has been done, etc. etc. etc....tadayadayada!! Could said person trade trucks for the cost of the HPFP????? If trading for used, we all know where we are there, maybe so, maybe no! If trading for new....$$$$$$$$$$$
What does that cost?????? Yes, I drive a new truck, but I am 70 yrs old and am NOT buying another truck. Yes, I am playing the odds that I will not have major repairs while my health is good enough for me to enjoy life, rather than worry about these things!!!
The old adage.....if ithas t**ts or wheels, sooner or later it's gonna give you trouble!!!!!! I just believe that these trucks do have pretty much 10 trouble free years in them!
I DO a sniff test of the fuel nozzle, but that will mostly tell me if the pump is gasoline or DF, I take a fuel sample from my DFCM monthly by draining about 3/4 of a pint in a glass jar and leave it set in the sun for a while.....a little heat should cause any water to drop out, when I am fueling or adding DEF, I don't talk to anyone, don't talk on the phone, etc. and try to keep my wits about myself. Life is just easier that way!

 

Fuel system full of rust? From where? Micro rust on injectors or large particles. Sounds fishy, and an easy warranty denial diagnosis.

 

This thread reminds me of the common threads when 6.0s were new.

A failure and a warranty denial generated a hateful post, and usually by the third or fourth post the aftermarket mods done to the engine would come to light. But the failure of the engine was always the "junk" 6.0, never the tuner du jour that had been turned up to 11.

(FWIW, my 6.0 has over 280K on it. Still on original injectors, turbo, and TTY bolts. Heads have never been touched. Cab has never been off. Ever. My philosophy that the trucks should be used as designed. I never use additives nor aftermarket parts.)

In the OP's case, the use of Lucas fuel treatment raises suspicion. A curious thing about truck owners - years ago they'd practically fight over what aftermarket tuner was best, but agree the engine was "junk" because it couldn't hold up to their shenanigans. Likewise, the OP here appears unable or unwilling to consider that his problems may lie with Lucas.

If it were me, I'd be upset that faithfulness to Lucas ruined my expensive truck. Maybe I just look at things differently.

 

Wonder how much diesel contains emulsifiers from distributors.

 

My neighbor has a 2016 Duramax with 21K miles on it that just lost a fuel system in it two weeks ago.GM replaced the pump,all 8 injectors,all the fuel lines and flushed the tank no questions asked.

The disturbing thing was the GM tech told my neighbor that the Duramax injectors are big enough to let metal shavings through and go into the cylinder walls and score the walls.GM told him to just drive it and see if any damage rears it's head miles down the road.Neighbor said he's most likey going to trade it in on another Duramax cause he can't stand wondering if something will show up later down the road.

OP sorry to hear your troubles.Good luck to ya...

 

And this ROYALLY sucks for the poor ******* who buys it used.

 

Here's a bit of completely unscientific research:

Google "GM Duramax water in fuel" and I get 568,000 results.
Google "Ford Powerstroke water in fuel" and I get 632,000 results.
Google "Ram Cummins water in fuel" and I get 609,000 results.

This is an industry problem, not just a Ford problem.