Taco its funny you say that because I think the same thing. I dont really BELIEVE it, because that would mean a vehicle's reliability is based on your family's "luck" with a certain brand and nothing else, but the evidence is there.

Our family has nothing but luck with Ford's, outside of a small problem with a Jaguar we had, I cant think of any issues we have had with any new or used Ford in the past 18 years.

My friend's family used to drive Chevy's but had so many problems they switched to Ford, my friend has a Countour that just hit 80k with 0 problems, they have a full size Ford van with 0 problems, but a Chevy work truck that they still have problems with.

Now a guy in my fraternity is the opposite. His family used to have Ford's, but had problems and switched to GM, and has had almost no problems.

There are people where I work that have luck with one or another, its really weird. These people have had several vehicles from one brand or another and those vehicles have almost all had problems, but when they switch the problems go away.

That is why I say:
I dont support Ford because I KNOW they are the best overall, they are just the best for me because no other company has been 99% flawless for me and my family.

 

Still waiting ....

To all others about 'Chevy guys' - I think I've been completely unbiased about the pros and cons of the Chevy HD.
I've agreed that a solid front axle is stronger, I've seen the running light issue. It appears as soon as I'm opend minded about some of these issues there are few individuals that break from common sense and run the product into the ground. It also appears that said individuals don't even have a diesel much less a Chevy to make those comparsions.
Most of you guys are pretty polite and I can take a ribbing. Think of me as a Ford guy that just did a little research before I bought me vehicle and got scared off by what I read at the time about the 6.0. That doesn't mean I won't end up with a PowerStoke in the garage someday. The prospect of a twin-turbo or 6 speed automatic really interest me

best regards

 

Great post - I see this type of thing a lot

 

yea, i was a bit harsh, it seemed for a while that this was going to escalate or something, i did a real bad job of trying to do something about it, ill be more careful next time, thanx

 

That's the best thing I have heard in a long time.

 

I've only heard of it with the 496. With that bore size, it would be very difficult to totally eliminate that problem cold. I think Chevy has tightened it up some. Its the same engine as the 502 and it has always had piston slap for about 30 to 45 seconds and then it goes away. Just like a big bore diesel; It has piston slap cold, but the pinging, nocking, and turbo cover the sound up. Getting the 5-30 out and 15-40 in really helps the problem also, its not like it can hurt the fuel mileage on that thing.

 

Heyga302p. It isnt just the 496 its all the vortec motors. Check out the website www.pistonslap.com. Ive had fords my whole life and never had piston slap.

 

My Fords don't have piston slap, either.

 

I've never had pistonslap in any of the 3 chevys and 1 ford I have owned.

 

Yea I had an '01 5.3 liter sounded closer to my Dmax. Never gave me any problems but I suspect if I'd a kept'er it might have..

 

I work on Chevys that are out from under warranty and the only one I have ever heard any piston slap from is the 496. Its possible that the others have it also, but I have never heard one. Piston slap is common in all Big blocks, not baby big blocks. I have seen some 460 Fords that had it at relatively low mileage. If Chevy does indeed have piston slap in their smaller engines, its a problem they will have to address. I am sure their machine work is near perfect, hard to mess it up with todays machine tools. The problem has to be a weird alloy being used in Pistons if they do have that problem in the smaller engines.

 

Read the website dont take my word for it. It explains everything.

 

Like I previously said, the only Ford I have ever known to have piston slap was the 460, and not until higer mileage. According to the web site you just gave me, under the section of "what the others did"; Ford "recalled thousands of engines" due to piston slap.

 

At least ford went to bat for there customers unlike GM and replaced motors. After 2000 the problem was remedied. GM calls it normal and doesnt do the same. People are fed up GM customer service these days.

 

That's a two edged sword, though. Ford is not going to bat for it's 6.0PSD owners like GM has by extending the warranty to 200k on the 01/02 dmax injectors. Ford isn't even replacing all of them when one goes bad unlike GM who is replacing them all at once.

Seems they all do some good service and some poor service. GM's customer service has been just awesome for us over the years. The wife drives an Escalade so we're still in the GM family. Much better than the Ford customer service experience we've had in the same time frame. The local dealer seems to want to do the right thing but they're often handcuffed by ford corp, from what I see. They have to do things to get around the official ford rules and do the right thing for the customer. Which is good and all but it sure doesn't give a good impression of the parent company.