Greetings. I'm new to this forum. I've spent most of my time on the Excursion forum, but alas, it's time to let the Excursion go. I'll miss it. Excursions are great vehicles, but not very good at towing a 5th wheel. So, I've been looking at trucks and a large percentage of them have the 6.0. I'm trying to stay 2005 and up to get the coil front suspension along with the higher tow rating. I've read horror stories about repair costs and the emission system for the 6.4, so that kind of leaves me with the 6.0 as the 6.7 is mostly out of my price range (under $20K). I'm going to be looking at a 2 owner 2005 Lariat CC 4WD DRW with around 135000 miles. I don't think it's been bulletproofed and I'm not sure the dealer knows. It has a Bullydog Watchdog which appears to be just a monitor, not a tuner, so I assume the previous owner(s) were keeping an eye on the engine. I've read a lot of the threads and know one thing to check is the EOT vs ECT at temperature. Is the 2005 more reliable than the 03 and 04 models? Were some/many of the problems already worked out? Am I over the hump mileage-wise for major problems or am I still likely to be looking at a full bulletproofing in the future? I might still consider it if that's the case, but I'd factor that into what I'd be willing to pay for the vehicle. I'm not concerned about "regular" repairs, but I'm new to diesels and I'll have a learning curve. Thanks for your expertise/input.

 

If you want to really learn a lot you can watch all of Diesel Tech Ron’s YouTube videos, he has a lot of great infirmation on there. Several guys on this section are very good at troubleshooting and I still learn from them quite a bit.

When you are troubleshooting of the first things anyone here will ask is what readings you have. I’d start with a good monitoring system (Bullydog may be fine, no experience here) and some way to check codes. Coolant Temp, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure (ICP), IPR%, Battery Voltage, FICM Sync, Boost and there are several other parameters to monitor. Not knowing the history, I’d find someone to run an injector contribution test and make sure all injectors are in good shape. Make sure batteries are in good shape and fully charged. Get a permanent fuel pressure gauge set up. Always use Motorcraft fuel and oil filters.

There’s no such thing as bulletproofing, that term has been beaten to death by forums and shops trying to sell parts. I had all so called “bulletproof” parts and recently had to have a full rebuild done because at some point before I bought it someone did dirty work and let the engine get some grit in it. You can tell if you have a bad cylinder by using the under hood starter wire and touching it to the positive battery terminal to listen for an even crank.

 

When contemplating buying ANY 6.0 it’s best to do a running pressure check on the degas bottle under full load (pulling a hill with full boost) to determine head gasket integrity. Powerstrokehelp.com has a good video on how to check. Some 6.0s go 300k with no issues and some barely make 50k. Alot has to do with how it’s treated. 05’s still have the crappy tty headbolts but improved hpop over the earlier versions. They are prone to stc fitting and dummy plug/standpipe leaks causing a warm no start or engine shut off while driving down the road. Pre-05s didnt have the stc/dummyplug/standpipe issue. Also the egr cooler was redesigned on the 05s and it was susceptible to leaking coolant into the intake (which some have said is a contributor to causing a hg leak.


That being said there are 10s of thousands that are running with no issues (mine included). When buying, consider it may happen to you or not. If the engine is not tuned (very important!), maintenance was performed on time, and passes the mechanical inspection you are more likely than not to have a trouble free experience.

 

Actually the late 04's had the weak EGR cooler AND the failure prone dummy plugs and standpipes (along with the 05 and up) ..... but (as you said) not the STC issues!

 

I wouldn’t recommend a guy new to 6.0’s to even watch one second of Powerstrokehelp.com/Bill Hewitt’s ignorant ranting videos.

 

yeah, I’m aware of the mid-04 updates. Since he was contemplating buying an 05 or later I didn’t want to over complicate my answer. But, in hindsight is good info to be aware of

 

Thanks. Would I be better off moving up to an 06 or 07 or do they have their own quirks? Again, I'm new to diesels and have a lot to learn

 

I talked to the dealer about the car truck (there, all fixed now ). According to him it has not been "bulletproofed", but it has an EGR delete on it, which I guess, helps. Also, according to him, that Bullydog is a tuner. That I'm not so sure about, but it's not a big deal to me.

 

I hate to correct you but a 9800# diesel is not a car. I have to constantly tell my lady the same thing.
The tuner shouldn’t be an issue as long as the coolant pressure, fuel pressure and other items check out.

 

I really have to agree with SmackDaddy on this. Bill H is not the guy to learn from.
I would do some reading in the Tech Folder about what to do when going to look at a 6.0L.
For one thing you don't want to take it warm. Start cold as the first driver of the day.


Mid way through the 2006 they switched to 20 mm dowels for the head to block. Not really an issue just something to know about if you ever do a head gasket.


BulleyDog tuners tended to eat transmissions for lunch. They may of fixed it by now.

Go kick the tires and take a good look. If you have questions pleas feel free to ask.

 

Yahiko: Mid way through the 2006 they switched to 20 mm dowels for the head to block. Not really an issue just something to know about if you ever do a head gasket.

To me, an important point, as the heads were redesigned with that change, reinforced at the injector hold down and probably with other details we know nothing about.

 

Just to tow a 5er? Knowing what I know and owning both,,,,,buy a 7.3. Your welcome

 

I'd love to, but the dually is only rated at 12,400 lbs max for 5th wheel. In fact, I think everything before 05 was the same, then it jumped to 15,500 for the dually 4wd.

 

Why do you make this general statement? What proof do you have that Bill Hewitt is ignorant?

 

Well, it was sort of ignorant to say that our transmissions took Mercron V and that we should only use the Ford Gold propylene glycol coolant. Fortunately those videos have finally been removed. Still he has one video still advocating the Gold coolant and IIRC one pushing transmission case grounds. That said, there are some good things in some of his videos, but clearly his mechanics are the brains behind the Powerstroke knowledge in his shop.

Talk about an "age old" topic - that hasn't changed ....