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I understand you are venting, but emotion comes out either very weak or very strong in text; PLEASE watch your manner of speech, in order so it doesn't do so.
Customers come to the dealer with thier problems because FMC as a corporation will not hear them, unless via DSB. Many of them feel there is nowhere else to go, therefore they come to the dealer. When we are unable to solve thier problems, THEY usually end up venting on US because they have nowhere else to vent (just as you were venting earlier). I will be perfectly honest- if I was a customer that had some of the problems these trucks sometimes display, I would be desperate and annoyed to. We simply have to keep this in mind when dealing with them.
Keep this in mind too; just picture in your mind how horrible the training provided to the technicians and SA's/SM's are for this complexity of a machine- now just imagine yourself as a customer...I don't think confusion could be any worse.
From a technical standpoint, diagnosis is the largest issue. I honestly believe there ARE serious problems with the electronics, poorly constructed sensors, ect. And alot of it is thanks to emissions with the EGR. Some of the problems may be customer/maintenance related, like you stated earlier, but that in itself comes back to poor training and poor customer information.
Hotline is just as confused, if not more so, than the poorly trained technicians, making the problem that much worse. You couple this with tecnicians (no offense, just like you) that are put out with the problems they see daily with this powertrain, and you get a compounded effect that usually ends up with a yet still malfunctioning vehicle, an aggrevated technician, an angry customer, a repair bill for nothing, and wasted time. It is like the merry-go-round from Hell.
I honestly do believe, however, that these engines will have the problems washed out of them. Granted, it may take a period of time to do so, due to the shear complexity of the system, but in the long run, technology will allow this engine to be just as durable and productive (if not more so) as the late model 7.3's. We simply have to tolerate the problems until R + D works it out.
I agree with you completly. You were just talking to my buddy(note the difference in writing styles). I truly hope that Ford can make the 6.0 a good motor. We see so many 6.0's that are junk. I can't believe how Ford is handling the problems with the 6.0. Like you said about hotline, I don't think most of them know anything about the 6.0. My buddy has a bad attitude because Ford's labor times are unfair. He has a 04 with the heads off due to blown head gaskets. The truck has less than 16,000 miles. When he took the heads off, he found MLS gaskets. Upon insp he could not tell if they were blown. The reason for the heads coming off is because hotline told him they have seen this problem before. So now he has 10 plus hours in just tear down and doesn't even know if all this work will pay off. Sorry for the bad attitude, but if most of the guys on here had to work on these things they would not have a great attitude either.
The best part about the truck is it has a chip and the only time it boils coolant out of the bottle is when he runs it at 85mph for over a half hour! Why we are fixing it under waranty I don't know.
Some of these trucks are blowing coolant with and without chips and modules; much of it depends on the EGT's with this EGR system. The added cylinder pressure from the advanced timing doesn't help, but I don't think the inherent problem lies in the fact there is a chip; it lies in the EGR cooler. These coolers are helping to generate really excessive coolant system pressures. My truck boils out of the Degas bottle constantly, and stays wet around the head gaskets, but I have never had any real issues with it.
Where was the coolant leak coming from?
All the more reason I want mine studded and ringed, with coppers.
BTW, we most certainly need to let this thread cool off and get back on subject.
I am a recent buyer of an 05 SD PSD F350. I am super happy with my purchase and yes, it has been in the shop for warranty issues (nothing super serious I think??). My turbo hasn't acted up in the 3000+ miles that I have owned it, yet??. I am very happy with my first ever new vehicle purchase so far but I must say, some of you guys really scare me. I aint too awfully rich, and to make a $40,000+ lemon purchase would be devistating for my household.
Should I be concerned about Turbo probs, head gaskets, etc on this BRAND NEW TRUCK, or are these "exceptions to the rule" of Ford Reliability? I have learned alot from reading these posts on how to avoid certain problems like coking and such but some of these posts seem to illustrate problems regardless of how we take care of our rigs.
Thank God for 100000 mile warrenties. Should I make sure to trade in for a new one just prior to 5 year/100000?
I'm surprized there aren't more people on here posting that their turbo seized up.
I have an early 03 and mine seized up at 600 miles. Mines an F250. Service guy said some kind of casting flaw locked the blades up.
Then a friend bought an F450 with the 6.0. His turbo seized up at 500 or 700 miles also, I remember it was right around my miles.
Then my neighbor bought an F550 with the 6.0. He had no problem with the turbo. But it started shifting rough. While the dealer test drove it, it rev'd real high in first and slammed second gear destroying the internalls. That transmission was rebuilt, they didn't put a new one in.
So, 2 out of the 3 trucks with 6.0s that I personally knew, had turbos that went bad. That's 67% failure. But it doesn't look like that kind of percent on this post.
Never had any problems with the new turbo, neither has he.
I did start blowing off the tube to the intercooler though. All that crappy oil and water they run back through the system I guess doesn't help it stay on any better. I ended up fixing that myself. Used a dremel tool to cut extra grooves in the aluminum tube and used a gasket maker "glue".
My trucks been in for lots of stuff.
Great truck when it running right. And that transmission is awesome, for towing or regular driving. Love how it downshifts with a heavy load.
Oh, there's something that really irritates me about new trucks. I'll start another fresh post on this.
Last edited by thexman; Dec 6, 2004 at 01:55 PM.
Reason: spelling
Turbos on the 03s and 04s are both Garretts but 04s have different variable vanes. 05 has mods to it as well. Siezed turbos don't seem to be a common occurrence. I think the tech might have be mistaken.
I'll bring this topic back up as I had a turbo go on Friday. Same scenario as our original poster--towing about 7K lbs, and hardly any warning after a metallic sound started. 100% stock '03 (12/02 production) with 40K miles. Keeping my fingers crossed nothing on the inlet side blew up, though it would seem the intercooler would stop anything large from ending up in the engine........