Just curious, but why do you have over 600 posts on this site then if message forum experience means jack? Why would you spend two years on such a meaningless forum?

 

Message Board "experience" means nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Nowhere in my 600 posts will you find me claiming otherwise.

I simply find it ridiculous when anyone claims "5+ years on message boards" is in any way comparable to the experience of a technician who works on the engines in question for a living every day.

I'm glad a few owners have some decent 6.0Ls. Really, I am. But some people need a reality check. Spending a few hours a week on a internet forum with a sample size of maybe 200 active posters (who may or may not share all relevant information) means exactly jack **** to someone who spends 40+ hours every week with their hands in these engines, seeing real world trends and real world problems.

Message boards are good for some things, but they do not in any way correlate with real world experience. When a technician with relevant experience makes a contribution, perhaps it's better to take it at face value? Perhaps some posters should strive to keep their "e-egos" in check as opposed to flaunting their "e-experience" as a viable alternative to real world experience?

Quite often, some of the most technically ignorant message board contributors are the ones with 20,000 posts.

 

Some techs are good at what they do. Some arnt.... Some techs couldn't find their a++ with a wiring diagram. Yes the 6.0 has issues. But so does everything else in life. If you get paid to work on these trucks I would think you would love them. If they all were problem free there would be a lot more intelligent people to work on them and a lot less of the riff raff that tries to throw parts at them. Most of us here don't claim to be e-techs. We talk about problems and look for solutions. If ford or international would find solutions instead of band aids we all would benifit.

 

Data is data - it is all useful to a degree. Anyone who says information on the message boards is useless has some credibility issues of their own. I expressed my opinion as simply one data point - certainly not gospel. I find that people who make blanket statements as you did do not take the time to use the search feature to determine who has credibility and who doesn't.

As LubbockGuy stated - message boards serve a purpose - one of communication. A person learns more on the boards (if you ask the right questions) than you ever would by just talking to people in your home town or at work. Who cares if my input is valued or not - I surely don't. But when you see years and years worth of complaints, read tons of posts from techs (whom you yourself have admitted that their opinion counts), invest significant time in categorizing the issues / solutions OFFERED BY TECHS, and then you come across a perspective that emphasizes problems that have rarely (if at all) surfaced in the past on these forums - challenging it is appropriate. It is more than a useless post (like yours was). The key point is - taking one person's post as gospel (like you did), when a ton of posts from other techs never mentioned these issues, is "just cause" to challenge. Who cares about e-egos - I just want to see more than one data point! One person talking about 22 engines is still 1 data point.

powerstroke8994 said that engines "blow up". I am not used to technicians speaking in this manner. This statement generates emotion rather than reason. This is why I responded and I still say that if engines blew up, we would all have read more about it (with that in mind message board experience counts for something). His response to my post was well thought-out and helpful. I appreciate it and I am glad he was professional in his response. Discussing differences in opnions is what it is all about. This is how forums work. Your contribution to this thread speaks for itself.

ps - IMO the biggest issues w/ the 7.3 were the camshaft position sensors and the tranny's (I own one of these also).

 

Well said ! I didn't see the problem with your other posts and I don't think the tech saw a problem with them either. I used to own a 6.0 and I found your information very helpfull , you even emailed me some spreadsheets you had made up that had alot of valuable info for 6.0 owners. Just keep on keepin on Bismic!

 

I know numerous guys in the construction industry with 6.0's over 200,000 miles and one is a 04 F450 with 225,000 and all he had done was EGR vavle at 130,000 and 3 injectors at 210,000. All the trucks are stock and all use the 5000 mile OCI and 10,000 mile fuel change interval. Ford did have alot of problems on the 03-04 models but the 06 and up models actually had the least warranty claims across the board for Ford .Ford Power Stroke engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Well I have learned a awfull lot off these boards. I think there are some great techs out there but there is also some techs that don't know what they think they know. I have had my 6.4 back to the dealer for a reflash before the dealer even knew it was available because of info off this site.

 

Data is data, however:
Accurate data > inaccurate data
Primary data > secondary data

While data is in fact data, the quality and relevance of data varies wildly.

Expectedly, you misconstrue my statements. I did not say message board information is useless, I said message board experience means nothing. If you don't have some relevant base of experience from which to draw, that relevant information can stare you in the face all day long and some will never be able to make use of it.

Your "5+ years of message board experience" lacks any semblance of credibility when contrasted with a capable technician with likely hundreds or even thousands of hours of hands on experience with the engines in question.

Allow me reiterate:

 

Congratulations, any service manager would love to get their hands on a guy with such vast message board experience. You should easily be able go on line and diagnose complex diesel engine performance concerns with today's diesel engines. Who needs factory training experience when you can just get on a message board?

 

Big Bad - It seems that you were not clear as to your original point, thanks for clearing that up (and increasing your post count). Let me ask - where is your evidence of credibility? Please list the qualifications you have since you seem to have omitted any reason we should place value on your hijacking ........ Again, it seems that you should use the tools of the forum before you post emotionally - talk about e-ego.

In your previous posts, you use the word "I" a lot, and your dad owns a '02 7.3L; but so far after reading 100 of your posts (I did not need to read anymore) I see no 6.0L experience.

I will be the first to defer to a person who is a 6.0L ASE certified tech. I do not want to cause any of them to leave this valuable forum. However, I still want to read a lot of their posts before I blindly take what even they say as gospel - especially if the posts lack technical detail.

Sorry to the OP for the unfortunate diversion. There is a lot of information from 6.0L techs available here. If you do not have time to get to know the credibility of the folks that post here regularly, I will be the first to say - "do your homework and learn who has useful information and who doesn't". At a minimum, search the Tech Folder for who the 6.0L Techs are, and then use the advanced search for topics your are interestred in that they participated in. This is what "many" forum members do to weed out the emotional posts from the informational posts.

Time for me to end my participation in this thread, it has deteriorated to an unfortunate point (but there are thousands more on the same subject if you use the search feature).

 

04 with 140k now..had some problems but nothing major..take care of the 6.o with the right fluids, filters and it will do fine....dont be afraid of the engine..there are issues with all of them..

 

By the way Big Bad. What do you drive?

 

I traded off a 2004 6.0 for my current 2002 7.3. I loved my 6.0 and loved how it ran, The torque-shift is leaps and bounds better than this crappy auto behind my 7.3. I put 50,000 miles on the 6.0 with minimal problems. I just couldnt trust it for the long haul, and after a lost warranty I dont think I could have afforded head gaskets or a turbo. If I was a wealthier person and could have afforded all the necessary up-grades to the 6.0, I would have kept it. There also alot harder to work on and I like being able to work on my vehicles. I can tear into my 7.3 without a worry. I love both motors, the 7.3 just fits me better.

 

You sure got a way of being a dick head, people are trying to help others. What help have you put in to this post of someone who asked a question? Should we all bow down now to your highness?

 

I have found the information on this site to be priceless. With gauges, studs, egr delete, etc I feel my truck is a much better truck than it would have been if I had not found this site. And remember techs see the worst that their is. They don't meet the guy who has never had any problems in 100,000 miles. They get all the problem trucks. The 7.3 was a more reliable truck but all newer vehicles are much harder to work on. All the newer diesels are poorly rated by consumer reports but thats going to be the price you pay for an engine that puts out so much power and runs clean too.