Man! My '95 F-250 is in the shop with a bad cam on the 460. I'm getting tired of this truck having so many problems, they've all happened in the last 3 months. Before that the 95 was stone reliable.

So the dealer put me in a Taurus for a while (I'm in college during the week), and this weekend I needed a truck for my weekend mowing business. I go and talk to the dealer, and he's like, I've sold all my used trucks. He said, let me look anyway. He looks around, comes back with a key. He said, oh here's one, and tosses me the keys, said have fun and be careful. I go outside to look for it. It turned out to be a '04 F-250 XL 6.0L Power Stroke/Torqshift 4x2 with 2000 miles. I got in, turned the key, and heard that wonderful diesel sound I've wanted to hear for so long. I drove it over to the building where the Taurus was, and put my stuff in it, and put the dealer tags on and went home. The truck drove great. It's the best 2 wheel drive pickup I've ever driven. So then I got it home, unloaded my school stuff, then hooked up my trailer, and put my mower on it, and went to the jobsite. It pulled it flawlessly. Then my church was doing a yard sale so I took it up there for them to load with all the leftovers which I was gonna take to the dump. I took all the junk to the dump about 2000lbs. worth, again another flawless performance. Then I had to come back and take my help home. Did that, and came home, cleaned up, and went to my grandparents house and took them to a fundraiser dinner in it. Then I came back home for the night. Ended up putting about 200 miles on it before I took it back tonight. I did all this on a little under a 1/2 tank of diesel. I calculated it out, came to be 22mpg. I checked the build date, it is a 10/03 truck. They're asking $24,500, I think I can get them to $22k because of all the stuff I've done for them over the summer (fix both their generators, etc.)
I am planning on selling my truck, paying it off, and taking what's left and putting it into this truck or one like it. The only thing that slightly worries me is if this happens to be one of the "few" with the problem 6.0L or if it's a good one that I'll never have to worry about.

 

I'd say that by 2004-2005 the engines are farily "bugged out". I am one of the unfourtnate ones to have a early 2003 build date engine, and so far, I'm regretting it. It is however one of the best diesel engines in a truck that I've driven in thus far IMO.
Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

 

Take off your rose-colored glasses. If it had 2K miles on it, it was probably another "buy-back". Run away....or at least run an Oasis on it.

 

I would personally opt for a 4wd model. That way you can take off road condtions with stride! I too test drove the new 6.0L for awhile. It is a very smoooooooooth engine, I felt no engine vibration at all whatsover. It is also quite torqey over 2200 RPM's. I wouldnt mind having it, I will not give up my 7.3L though I get more low-end with the old 7.3L. But, I think Ford did a wondrful job on the new engine and they seem to be getting the bugs out. I was just amazed at how smooth the engine was. I honestly didnt really see to much more power on the 6.0L though, I mean when you wind it up it does have more punch the the 7.3L but I didnt think there was a huge difference.

 

The report can tell you a number of things: 1. This is a great truck that hasn't had any problems and the previous owner just couldn't afford it. 2. Run. 3. Have the dealer find you a similar truck for about the same price elsewhere.

Even though they offer you a great price and even an extended warranty, it's not worth it if the truck was a buyback.

But I'm glad to hear you loved the 6.0 , but seriously, have the dealer run an OASIS report on it before you think about buying it. You can have the dealer run the report, or you can have Tim Lamkin do it. He's the moderator over in the 6.0L Powerstroke Diesel forum. So write down the VIN, look Tim up, and send him a private message. If it were me, I'd have Timbo do it just to avoid some complications if you decide to buy. Best-o-luck to ya'

 

Yeah, I am planning to have the Oasis done if I get that far along. It all depends on how much I get for my 95. The closest truck for the same price would be a '05 F-250 XL 5.4L/TS at another dealer nearby, they're asking like $300 more than this '04 6-Liter. But I want to go through this dealer because they have done so much for me with the 95, and my family buys all their vehicles from there, so I could get a better price as well.

What is confusing me, is that local Chevy guys are advertising a '04 2500 Crew Cab 4x4 6.0 gas for $23,400, how can they mark them down so low?

 

It's the gas engine, it costs a lot less to produce.