i'm wondering if anyone here has a 6.0L i noticed a few do. I'm wondering how did you make out with the motor? I'm thinking about getting one, but i'm just worried about the motor. I'm looking at a 07 lariat or king ranch. I'm thinking of taking advantage of this recession and buying one with low KMs. I'd go with a 6.4 but i don't like how quiet they are and a few people have had trouble with them also.

 

Hopefully Laredo replies to this hes in the same boat as you just a couple miles up the stream.
Ive drivin 6.0s across Western Canada, 80% of the time having a loaded trailior behind me.
As for pulling there are great much better then late model 7.3s. Cold weather starting isnt the best though, they sound rough take a long time to warm up and give off a stench like a old 300 Cummings. but they usually start pulled in till -30 colder then that is hit miss. Milleage isnt that great 15-18mpg where as a comparable 7.3 I found to get a lil closer to 20mpg.
Even though the 07s are better then the 03s every 6.0 I drove eventually had a 7-10 thousand dollar head job. none of them ever started to run rough but you start to notice collant drop and in one case for me a lil white smoke.
I to like you will never buy a 6.4 solely because the diesel sound is gone...might as well get a V10.

 

I dont own one, but ive had plenty of direct, and indirect experience with them.

With mods they can be built up fairly well, and can be a decent engine. Without mods while towing, or racing around, then its a crapshoot. If your looking at one, get the serial number checked out to see what work it has done on it. Most of them have something done. Also make sure you ask guys that own them, and use them more then occasionally, so you get some opinions from the guys that use them day in, and day out, and not just once a week type thing!

When I was looking for one I actually went to ford dealerships and talked to the techs that worked on them, and asked their opinions too(they were all super helpful, but didnt give answers that most guys that are looking to buy one want to hear)

They come with the torqueshift behind them, and they do tow pretty nice, but i have had good friends that have blown their trannies while towing, one truck had a tuner, the other two were stock. ( I have driven a stock 03 6 liter truck towing, and it doesnt differ much from my own stock 7.3, we had lots of problems with that 6 liter truck though, so that might not be a fair comparison)

If I had to buy a truck today, I would skip out on the 6 liter truck, and either wait for the 6.7 to come out, try out a later model 6.4 and mod it up a little, or I would get an older truck and do a 5.9 cummins swap (alot of work I know but the end result would be top of the line engine in a top of the line truck).

Whatever you do, if you do get one, get as much warranty as you can, chances are you will use it!

 

ok, well i havent decided what to do yet, i don't want more cummins, had a pile of them, they were allright but i wasn't happy with them. I'm happy with my 7.3L but i dont think i want another, i want something newer. For the 6.7L i think it will be garbage, and from what i hear you will have trouble tuning them. I know lots of people have 6.0, if i could find a blown up one needing to be fixed i might buy it and re-do it all with aftermarket. I'm not sure what to do, if it comes to it i'll either get another 7.3L or another duramax, as i'm happy with both of them.

 

I wouldnt totally rule out a 6 liter I guess. If one came along for the right price I would probably go for it, and fix the known problems. But heres the thing. An 07 would probably be pretty costly still, so why not get better proven(although not perfect) 6.4 liter, do a few mods (like exhaust!) and have a better all around package?

Just stuff to ponder The 7.3 is a great engine, and will go down as one of the best diesel engines in a ford truck, but it is getting to be dated. I know I am going to have to update mine too in a year or so, but the question is, what to get? (once you start eating steak all the time, its hard to go back to eating mcdonalds!)

 

I wouldn't back away from another 7.3L, i'd just get a 03 if i get another one, but that would be for another truck for work, what i'm looking for now is a good truck, my duramax is getting dated, and now i use it for my farm and ranch, so i'm needing a newer truck. As for the 6.4 there allright, but people who have them have told me there incredibly expensive to fix and just maintain (they take massive amounts of oil to change). I don't want to mod this new truck, just chip it for economy like my duramax and leave everything else stock ( no gauges, no exhaust) Because you don't get a cent back on what you put into the truck when you sell it, sometimes it makes it harder to get rid of to. Back to the 6.0 how much is it to put aftermarket studds in?
As for price on a 07 6.0 i found one last week in regina, a king ranch with 3900 KM's for $32,000 I figure that is a good deal, you can get a 08 6.4 for around 42 grand with that mileage, but not a king ranch.

 

Regarding the cost of aftermarket studs, thats where Warren will hopefully chime in at. As you have probably heard, the cab has to be lifted off to do this job.

For the price, 32K isnt bad for an 07 at all! I think Warren also said that you can get 08's with low mileage for around the mid 30's, but not sure how used, how much mileage, or what trim level they are.

 

general rule of thumb with the 6.0-- buy one with warranty, drive the snot out of it until the HG's fail, then have it repaired under warranty but have the tech replace the stock headbolts(which are the problem, they stretch) replaced with ARP head studs. this solves 90% of the problems with the 6.0L. after that guys will do egr deletes and such for better running.

 

I've had my 6.0 for 3 years now. I do tow heavy loads with it. Mines pretty much stock except for coolant bypass filter and a fomoto valve for easier oil changes. What I can tell you about the 6.0 is it's a great puller stock. The 03s and early 04s had problems with the head gaskets. Alot of it due to an inferior head bolt instead of a stud. This shows up quickly on chipped engines with the increased pressures. It also happens on some stock engines which were usually taken care of under warranty. With a 6.0 in a northern climate you have to go to a lighter oil in the winter. I run 15w40 in the summer and 10w30 in the winter. The oil has to be rated CJ4 or better or your looking for trouble. Stay with the stock air filter system. It's good up to 500 RWHP and nothing filters as well as the Donaldson filter. Most of them get the usual headhaches, like EGR failures and EGR cooler failures. Again fixture under warranty. The coolant bypass filter helps with this and also don't idle a 6.0 for long periods. The starting in cold weather. Mine starts like any other diesel below -15C it's a good idea to plug it in. A cold front is a good addition as well, but I have no problems even at -40C and colder.
Most of the bugs have been ironed in the 05s and newer. But if your planning to run with a tuner then get the heads re-studded with the ARPs and new gaskets. Mine' been a great truck. A few problems that were worked out, but I haven't been to the dealer in over a year for a repair now. So I'm basically happen with it. Mileage is about 15-16 around the city, about 18-19 on the highway and about 13-14 towing 4 1/2 tons.
If you've got one in mind that you like, get an oasis report on it. Most selling dealers with do it no charge.

 

ok, but why do you say don't let it idle for long periods? that would be a problem for me because i let my diesels run most of the time, i rarely shut them down when its colder then 20 below, only time is when i sleep, then i plug them in, but other then that they run all day. On my 7.3L i haven't had to use a winter front, but on my duramax and 6.5 i do, but i think i'll be buying a winter front this fall for it.

 

prolonged idle causes problems with carbon build up in the EGR system due mostly to lower engine temps.

 

Prolonged idle also causes injector problems in the 6.0, better to shut it off and plug it in. However when I can't plug in, I've got a timer on my remote starter and I set it for 3 hours - run 15 minutes and down to -40C I haven't had problems starting. But like I said before, you've got to go to the lighter oil in winter. That's one thing about a Canadian winter, if you got any problems, that's when they will show up.

 

Ive also heard that if you let a 6 liter truck sit for awhile, without starting it, then your asking for problems there. I forget now offhand what happens though. Ive read about it alot when I was truck shopping a few years ago.

When you say you let your truck run all day, is alot of that idling, or is that moving all day?

 

a lot of idling, with some moving. If i go in somewhere for a half hour i leave it run,when i'm feeding cattle it runs, if i go out for supper i let it run, if i go into the shop to work on machinery i will shut it off if i know i'll be there for a few hours, but whenever i'm not gone for over a half hour i dont shut it off, because the dam things take forever to warm up, and its real hard on them to start not plugged in. But i do this when its cold, not when it's 15 below, but at -25 i do this, unless i know i cant plug in, then i leave it run.

 

If you like the idlling you should probably stick with the 7.3. If you idle a 6.0 the way you have been, you will be in for problems. When I shut mine off for half an hour to go for a meal, it starts fine and doesn't take very long to warm up, even at -25. I use to work on jobsites with no place to plug in and all I did was use the timer on my remote starter. Set for 2 or 3 hours at -25 or even -30 and it starts automatically runs 15min and shut off. I've had this truck for 3 years now and it's been ok. As far as I know the 6.4 is the same way. They aren't supposed to idle for long periods. I guess it's the green technology. Save the ozone layer and the like...