When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Looking at buying a Texas excursion this weekend. Hoping to drive this vehicle for the next 10+ years, hopefully more so is this undercarriage good enough? Also, I have a obd Bluetooth plug. What app do you guys use and what should I look for on the test drive? Thanks for your help again
Looking at buying a Texas excursion this weekend. Hoping to drive this vehicle for the next 10+ years, hopefully more so is this undercarriage good enough? Also, I have a obd Bluetooth plug. What app do you guys use and what should I look for on the test drive? Thanks for your help again
I don't see too much rust, just its been on the beach a bit. I also have a 6.0 and love it for towing with the family. I would ensure the oil temp and coolant temp run no hotter than about 205 and are within 10 degrees of each other. If not there may be some problems. Also, make sure there isnt a bunch of smoke coming out of the exhaust.
Being in the rust belt, I call that truck virtually spotless underneath. Look how good the back side of those rocker panels look ! I'm not in love with the mini spring packs on the front axle nor the stacked lift blocks in the rear, and it looks like it needs bump stops in the front.... but otherwise pretty nice under there.
Thanks guys. Looks like I got a trip this weekend. Anything else to look for on the 6.0? How long does it take to get to see if it's normal operating temperature?
That is the $10,000 question. The first thing I would look for is a 7.3
but in all seriousness please spend many hours getting yourself familiar with the 6.0 and do not easily dismiss the dire warnings of those who have gone before you.
The 6.0 was the first of the high tech new breed of Diesel engines and has many fine qualities but sadly it has a fatal engineering flaw, specifically it does not use enough bolts to properly hold the heads on. A lame and expensive work around is to use high grade ARP head studs. This sometimes work sometimes doesn’t.
the second problem was not so much a engineering flaw but crappy parts built cheaply. This is the Oil cooler and erg cooler. A company called “bullet proof diesel” built and popularized a new heavy duty replacements to fix this.
the term “bullet proofing” is a marketing term and should not be mistaken for actually making the 6.0 anywhere near realable and certainly not “bullet proof”
As somebody that bought a new 6.0 back in 2006 and then spent years fighting ford only to ultimately win and have it bought back at full price I suggest you think long and hard about how much you can afford to lose. a 6.0wpuld make a fun toy or 3rd or 4th car but do not buy one as a primary mode of transportation or spend more money then you can afford to lose..
Looks to me for a Texas truck to have seen a bit much water. Just saying. Expect to go through the process of tear down for studs, egr and cooler to prevent the heads from lifting and while you're in there likely check the HPOP and other known failure points. Saw one HPOP that let go and cracked the rear case, requiring lots of hours of work by my local diesel mech. Not sure why you want to go to a 6 o_oh, but if you think that's super clean and super well priced, make sure you expect the standard items to address (full front end parts, springs, shocks, steering box, plus normal wear and tear items and full lube and fluids replacement right away. ...unless the owner has full records which you verify with the shop, which they normally don't. Heed the warnings. If you proceed, price the known solutions ahead of time and know you WILL need to address them, usually at an inopportune time if not done up front. I'd rather get a 7.3 myself if staying with a Ford diesel, but knowing the power levels, decided up front before purchasing my rust free Ex, that I would buy a clean rust free Ex with a 410, and convert it fully to Cummins. Sorry Ford lovers, Ford got this truck almost right. They just should have got the final part of the drivetrain right too, to make the perfect truck. All know costs associated with a conversion and a very cheaply priced v10 truck give you another option, you can drive the v10 for as long as it suits, then once your conversion parts are acquired and ready, convert it. Not going to get into a flame war, but the v10 is not a Cummins. It will never make the power levels and reliability levels combined with fuel mileage levels of the Cummins though they are cheap and plentiful if you're willing to eat the gas costs forever. v10 is cheap to replace over all other drivetrain options also and would serve you well for a long time if you got stuck not being able to move forward with a conversion. Ok, that's my two cents. I love my v10, hate it's mileage. Not trying to start a flame war either. If you're looking in Texas, do yourself a favor, and look in dryer areas like Arizona or similar and get a truly rust free Ex. You'll never regret it. I checked my VIN to see the prior States this one resided in and it was only 2 exceptionally warm dry states, not one known for more salvage/branded title vehicles than most. Rear tires on that one look fried (expect to install a set of matching 5 anyway), surely it wasn't pushed hard, and what's with the lame /dangerous lift blocks. If you're still dead set on this one, have him get you highly visible pics of the rockers, the lower door lip where the seam is folded behind the lower door seal. If there's rust there I'd walk away. Swelling seams are not cool. Fighting rust, just because you can, is not enjoyable. Rust dropping in your eyes is a p.i.t.a. Wrenching on bolts on a rust free vehicle is much less annoying that the opposite. I know what it takes to fix it, and yes you can, but before buying I would make sure I knew exactly what I was starting with. I had mine driven to me in the end. My willing seller did that because he knew I'd walk away if every photo I had was not true to the vehicle. He had confidence in what he was selling and it arrived rust free. Last note, see the bad geometry on the drag link arm...result of a low budget mini-leaf pack insert. Good luck getting it to steer especially over bumps. As for and ODBII app, I'm using Torque Pro (5 bucks if I recall) and added the sensors that were Ford specific from it and I think almost any ELM27 ODBII sensor should work for you.
