We have an '08 SuperDuty King Ranch. We tow a 40 ft horse trailer/living quarters. First the good. Great towing capability, good ride, love the steering especially the radius, interior is sweet and brakes are terrific. Now the ugly. This truck has been a disaster since day one. First we find out the "Integrated Towing module" wont work with our trailer because it has electric over hydraulic brakes. Newsflash to Ford, most big heavy trailers do and you say nothing about that in your ads and brochures. Talked to four dealers and two said it would work and tow said it would not. Most of the chatter on the web says no.
First big trip from Edmonton to Fort Worth ended in Guthrie Oklahoma. Truck simply died and would not start. Towed to the dealer. Two and a half weeks later we got it back. First problem was some electical harness at back of the engine. Ford said (I talked directly to the Ford rep) take off the cab(40 minutes) and fix it. Dealer didnt know how to do that so took off pretty much everything on the top of the engine and crawled in behind. Once he has replaced the wires he discovered he didnt have the parts needed (must put on new fuel lines) to reassemble the engine. Anyway by then we had been to Fort Worth using a rented GMC and were headed back and in Tulsa. Delivering the truck to Tulsa it broke again and a few more days passed while they got some more parts and read the repair manuals. Finally heading out of Tulsa it broke again. Dealer in Tulsa fixed the next day(some problem with exhaust). Good to go...no chance. Pulling out of Denver the truck lost power. From Denver to Edmonton was a slow drive. Back to the dealer we bought the heap from. He discovers the computer is fouled up and needs to be "reloaded". This fixes the power problem. Another short trip 100 miles each way and we notice water under the front of the truck when parked. News from the dealer today that the radiator is cracked, parts on order and we may have the truck back in 3 days. He also discovered a malfunctioning fuel guage and is replacing that.
Looking for some sucker to trade me for just about anything.

 

i would be looking into the lemon laws. maybe you can get ford to buy it back and get a new truck with out all the problems

 

I guess it's time to buy a good old reliable 7.3L in a F-550 package. Sorry to here about your bad luck, I would have thought ford would have pulled their head out of their @$$ after the 6.0L problems, but maybe not.

 

I guess it's time to buy a good old reliable 7.3L in a F-550 package. Sorry to here about your bad luck, I would have thought ford would have pulled their head out of their @$$ after the 6.0L problems, but maybe not. But I'd definatly look into lemon laws.

 

You should not be having problems, but they do happen. From what I read, the bigger problem was the folks working on your truck. Seems like you found the bad ones. Hopefully you will find a dealership with well trained mechanics that are knowledgeable in the repair of these diesel engines.

 

Man. That sucks.. I hope this doesn't sour you away from these trucks. I would try and lemon it out..

Though unfortunetly things like this happen with any manufacture.

 

Sounds like bad luck. The one thing I've learned is don't break down in OK. It will take them 2 weeks to even look at it. I had to limp my 7.3 back to Texas to get my electrical short fixed.

 

5 months 7000 miles and towing 8000 lbs 5 days a week. No problems yet.

 

this stinks, definatly look into lemon law....

 

I think you are right about OK. After talking to the Ford factory guys I called the dealer in Guthrie and was going to have the truck hauled south but they had already taken it apart. Seems it was more to do with the competence of the mechanics than the truck itself. The dealer in Tulsa seemed to know a lot more. According to the Ford guys the truck is designed so the whole cab lifts off very easily exposing the entire engine for repairs. They had a cutaway model at the show we were at in Ft Worth and the guy showed me the bolts and described the procedure. Actually a pretty neat way to get at things.

 

I think the cab removal idea to work on the engine sounds neat as long as it's under warranty. If you search the 6.4 diesel section below this one you can find some posts with pictures of the cab removed. The idea sounds good but I wonder what it will add to the bill after the warranty period.

By the way welcome to the site Charlie.

 

The only real problem with the cab removal is the need for the lift. Any operation that "requires" cab removal would be signifigantly more difficult with the cab on. There are a lot of repairs on the older trucks that didn't "require" the cab to be removed, but I didn't it anyway because it was simply easier.

I'll say it again, removing the cab was simply easier. We also didn't charge extra in those operations because:

IT was simply easier.

So, while I'm not in the new Ford truck repair business, I will say from past experience that I doubt it will be that big a deal. And from what I hear, Ford has made it even easier to do on the newer trucks. Especially since the bolts go in from underneath now. Don't need to pull apart the interior!

The bigger problem will be a truck with a turbocharger assembly as complicated as the 6.4. (and engine that complicated) What happens when that sucker goes bad!!! Don't worry abou the cab removal then.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I agree with the other guys here an say it is bad luck. Not old enough to know yet, but the 08's seem to be doing better than the 03.25's did with the 6.0!

About your brakes. First off, don't blame it on Ford for not disclosing it. Yes, bigger trailers do use elec/hyd often. Some work with in cab controllers some don't. Seems that you got the mixed info as well. What system do you have? What did you have controlling it before? Maybe we can help get it working right the way you need (especially once you get your truck straight and/or get a new truck)

 

What about the repair to the electrical harness he described above? How many hour and at what rate does that add to the bill? I understand in some instances the "quick" cab removal is a benifet, but personally I wish they would either give us more room under the hood, or simply offer the tilt forward design of the bigger trucks.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, I'll trade my 1994 F-150 . But I read the 6.4L forum all the time, and it seems to me that there are a lot more not having problems than ones that are. Also a lot of problems seem to be coming from aftermarket stuff.