Thought about this for awhile and I have had enough... I have owned many fords over the years mostly 2nd hand, been able to work on them and enjoyed keeping them alive. Small block 289,302,FE390-428CJ'S,429-460.......

Bought my fisrt new truck in 1994 5.8L F-150 today it has clocked 100,070KMs (62540 miles) one new battery and one set of front brake pads,Today a 2003 f-350 4x4 6.0 that has been flashed now three times since july 2004 once prior to my purchase and it is the most gutless vehilcle I have owned (outside of my 74 360 F-100)and when I first got it I was very well impressed......not now. The last computer upgrades have taken away in my mind at least 35% of the power this truck had when I bought it in july(59,500Kms)(85,900Kms,53,700miles today).

On top of that the front suspension is too weak to handle the weight of the 6.0 AND IS going to cost me money to upgrade,Your suspension bushings are garbage, with the mileage I have there should be no need to change these parts YET. Ford you should have seen this,as your engine history goes, Ford engines are the heaveist for their class(s).

AS for your $ 100.00 deductiable when I bring my truck in for work I EXPECT ALL PROBLEMS TO BE DEALT WITH NOW... not over the next two or three $100.00 deductable visits, If I had gone through Ford to buy this truck, right now it would be safe to say they would get it back. YOU BUILD SOMETHING TO BE THE BEST OF CLASS CONTINUE TO BACK IT UP DON'T SCREW THE BUYER OVER WITH WARRANTY BS. You want my business you best shape up....very soon..Dissapointed to say the least ...ripped off ......most likely.

 

Wow! That was putting politely.

 

Sounds like more of an issue with the dealership you took it to rather than Ford directly.

Have you discussed this with the service manager? Have you contacted other dealerships in your area? Contacted Ford directly?

 

You need to find a Diesel Tech! The 03's in stock form are hands down the strogest running of all the 6.0's. If your truck is gutless it's nowhere close to right.

 

I could ramble on ...like freezing your hands off at minus 45 in the bush trying to figure out how to change your fanbelt out only to find out YOU needed (not Ford ) to cut your fan shroud in half before you, I guess head to the bush. I am not a chevy or dodge guy but at times I sure feel ........................

 

Did the service manager thing twice in one week just recently and have been very civil in what I feel the problem is/are. I have heard that ford will detune these 03's because of there torque / performance and I feel this is what may have happened in my case.This truck would just smoke the tires from 1st through 3rd and leave two strips in 4th. Just to keep things straight here I did not buy the truck to race,it is a work truck that pulls trailers and other equipment into areas( in excess of 12+% grades) where normal(abnormal?)people usally do not go,so it was the best choice for me the others barely could pull there own.

 

I am not in the "bush" as you call it, but did you invest in the Ford service manual? It tells you in the manual that you need to make the cuts.

I have an early 03 with 5speed auto and it runs like a scalded dog (that is a good thing). I notice you said you were impressed at first but not now. What happened to dampen your enthusiasm?

 

I did get a warm day (-35 )to go out and cut the spots that my Ford dealer showed me so it is now accessable to get to the rest of the components. But it still makes me wonder why they would build something with out the thought of easy access when needed. When I took this truck out for a test drive it too went real good had no idea it was that strong a runner,we hauled our travel trailer over the rockies with it and also took it into some really nasty back country in the same trip. Things started to go down hill when they had to replace the fuel pump and reprogram the computer, second problem came in early January 05,a sensor in the air intake went out again the computer was done took it back for lack of power and increased fuel consumption and I believe it was the egr that got replaced and again the computer was done and it has not been the same since. Just pretty disappointed with the overall situation, so we will see what happens our fuel suppliers should be starting to gear up for the summer consumption run and if I can keep the mileage below 100000k I will take back in again after I have run a couple of tanks through it.

 

Sounds like it might be worth a trip to another service department.

 

My next closest dealer has a worse reputation than the one I am dealing with now, my next option is a trip to the city which if they need to keep the truck for the day/night presents another problem and more unnessasary expense's to me not to forget about lost revenue the truck generates if it and I are tied up.But it is looking a though this may have to happen just to try and get it right once and for all. Still not to sure I want to spend the money to upgrade the front suspension but here again it is something that will have to be done sooner rather than later,for all the extra expenses, I should have probly picked up a new 2005 with all the mods done to it already,something I am also now considering. Reading some of the other posts I may not be gaining anything in that approach either.Anyway I guess we will have to press on and see what happens.Thanks to all for your response.

 

[QUOTE=SBV45]I am not in the "bush" as you call it, but did you invest in the Ford service manual? It tells you in the manual that you need to make the cuts.

QUOTE]

So , Ford has a real deal ...make something that needs to be altered , just to do a "simple" repair and then they'll sell you a book for more money to tell you that what they sold you as original must be altered ??? A real racket !!

A agee that Ford has the most "refined" truck .... my 04 F350 is no where near as "rugged as dads 94 F250 or our old 78 F250 ....

Ford engineers really screwed up , in my opinion ....

as I've always said about farm machiney ... the engineers should have to do routine maintenance tasks on whatever they are designing ... from my years of experience , many mechanical enginees / design engineers are over-educated idjuts ....