Hello All FTE users!

I'm new to this section after doing most of my reading in the Excursion section. I had a 00 Limited V10 (just sold). Here is the thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...d-sad-day.html

Anyway, I undoubtedly want to stay in the ford family and am looking for an F250 or F350 as replacement. Most of the trucks (99-06) out there for sale seem to be 03+ with 6.0L.

Everything I mention it to someone they say stay away from the 6.0. I know there are countless threads about this already.....but is it really THAT bad?????? Any honest answers here? After having such a good experience with the V10 i don't want to be let down but a truck with countless engine problems.

All of these "i got rid of my 04 6.0 to get a ___________________" scare me!

 

Well first off, people come on here and post threads either trying to find out solutions to problems and/or trying to learn something(may not be a problem, just want knowledge). I won't lie, there are known issues with this engine, however, I think alot of the bad feelings towards the 6.0 were made worse by techs that didn't know what to do and by owners that didn't know how to handle the new "high performance" diesel engines.



Now to be honest there are flaws in the engine, kinda like the early spark plug spewing v10s. If you get one that has been properly taken care of, then there are people on these boards that should be able to help you keep that status quo.


Here is the problem with that. "You" really don't know if they had a legitimate truck issue that was caused by the truck or it was an issue that they caused and just happen to blame on the 6.0, because it has a bad rep. There are a lot of people that have had trucks that weren't a problem at all, now you don't tend to hear from them as much, because those people don't tend to be loud and "in your face" about their issues, because everything is going good.

Do your homework specifically on the vehicle that you are thinking about getting and on how to take care of that vehicle to ensure that it still stays in good shape. I think that's good advice no matter if you get an engine family with an impeccable record of reliability or not as you can always be inheriting someone else's problem when you buy used.

 

I am one of them.

Stay away. Stay far away. This has been a nightmare for me. I am so sick of talking to
people who have no power to do anything it is beyond ridiculous.

I have a thread about my blown head gaskets that I am getting ready to update. The short
of it? Looks like I am about to be out anywhere between $3,500 and $5,600 OUT OF POCKET.

Yeah, that sucks on a truck that is mostly used for commuting. My grandfather has a 7.3
that he uses to haul cattle, horses, hay... it has 350,000 strong miles. The 6.0 is garbage
unless the EGR fix has been done. I am not positive, but that seems to be the cure?

 

Key word right there and yes that could lead to a problem truck, but in order for it to lead to a problem truck it depends on how the person drives and handles the vehicle. A 6.0 really doesn't like to be a commuter vehicle and if that's what you use one for, then you have to change how you drive in order to make sure the 6.0 is happy. It does take effort to do this, but on the newer engines, you're going to have to do this. You have to remember that these vehicles weren't made for just commuter vehicles and that certainly makes it harder for the newer vehicles for those that use them as such.

It will help, but it doesn't mean that it's cured. EGR is really a pain for people that drive a certain way or modding the engine(even with just tuners, but certainly if "you" did injectors as well). "You" can have the EGR still intact and have a reliable truck, with the EGR it really is about driving style more then anything.

 

Ah, okay. I read the manual cover to cover and I didn't see anything about having a
particular driving "style" to make sure my truck didn't self destruct. I should have
done more research.

 

You won't see that in the manual and also even if it was in the manual and you did read the manual from cover to cover, doesn't mean that you did everything outlined in the manual. I don't know if you did the correct fluid/filter changes as outlined in the manual according to the type of service that the truck performs(normal or severe service and their respective fluid/filter change intervals). I know quite a few people, even at times myself, that have read certain sections of their owner manual that says do this and either we didn't want to do it like that or for some reason we couldn't do it like that. So just because you read the manual doesn't really mean it of itself you followed it. How many 6.4 guys do you think read their manual and viewed the CD and still put LSD in their tanks? Too many that it's scary. I'm not talking about people that didn't know that they were putting LSD, it's the fact that they were out of town and didn't know the area and they needed fuel and the station had LSD and they took it because it was diesel fuel.

Think about it, you really can't idle the truck for any length of time without installing a high idle circuit on the truck.

Every so often you have to romp on it(after it gets up to operating temperature) in order for it to burn off the carbon deposits due to the EGR recycling the old exhaust air back into the intake.

Both of those wouldn't have to be worried about with the older vehicles due to the fact that there wasn't an EGR valve in the diesel trucks until the 6.0, and what compounds the issue of the carbon deposits is that the turbo of the 6.0 is of a VGT design, I'm not an engineer, but I think if it was fixed the issue wouldn't be there as well.

Also you have to worry about a cool down period(unless you go with synthetic oil as that appears to mitigate that) with regard to turbo longevity, combine that with the inability of being able to idle long periods of time(unless install a high idle circuit) doesn't help with this.


As you probably notice half of the that could have been solved with the removal or bypassing the EGR valve, the other could be handled with different fluids as you would still have to worry about turbo cooldown. Reason why that still isn't a cure all of the 6.0 ills is due to the headbolts. Just ***** nilly adding horsepower to it doesn't help(which alot of people did because they were used to the 7.3 and the great success there) and also really working the truck before it gets up to operating temp needs to have negative feedback as well due to the intregrity of the bolts.

It isn't easy owning a 6.0, keeping it going is a job in of itself that takes experience on your end or experience coming from some other poor sap's misfortune and learning from their mistake.

All it takes is a differnt mindset and a willingness to get into that mindset, couple that with a truck that wasn't abused to the point of being damaged, a 6.0 can be reliable.

 

From my experience the 6.0l is a good motor, its just "prissy" kinda. It needs good maintenance but as long as it's treated well, and been treated well in the past, it's good. There are things that can be done to make it much better though as it does have some little weak spots. My dad's 6.0l went 140k miles with no problems until he started towing a 33' trailer with bully dog tunes. Taking that over the Siskiyous pass is what caused his truck to have its current problem.

If I were you I would also consider a 6.0l because 7.3l's with low mileage are getting quite hard to find and personally when looking for a new vehicle I like to keep the mileage as low as possible. The automatic transmission hooked to the 6.0l is also much better imo.

 

I'm extremely happy with my 6.0, however you have to be honest with yourself as to what kind of driving you are going to do. Are you going to tow heavy, light or use it for groceries? Are you using it for work, school, long or short trips? If you are not going to get it thoroughly warmed up before shutdown or not work it hard then you need to rethink what you need and may be better off with a V-10 superduty. The 6.0 also requires you to be almost **** when it come to maintenance which is also more expensive than a gasser. However if you are going to use it for what it was designed to do then the cost and effort are more than worth it. I love it when I haul my 11k 5er to the Sierras and don't even have to think about that 8 mile 7% grade up ahead.

 

Sounds like this engine is not for me.

I'm honestly using it to pull only 10% of the time, and nothing that heavy - a 24 foot enclosed trailer with car in it. It wont get worked hard at all. It will be used for commuting (less than 25km a day), or highway trips of 300+ km.

The V10 i just put gas, regular oil changes in it and that was it. All I did an alternator in 70,000km of painless ownership!

 

I think you just answered your own questions. Good luck to you.

 

Finding what i want though up here in Canada is going to be hard. Most of the f250 f350 4 door lariat or king ranches are all 6.0. So few have the V10.

 

I can tell you I am not happy with my 6.0. I have had about 20 service visits since new in 2004. Replaced turbo, egr valve, transmission housing, various oil leaks fixed and some not, FICM, Fuel pump, blocked oil cooler, and blown head gasket. FICM, fuel pump, oil cooler, and gaskets are all out of warranty. I vary my driving habbits based on the music I am listening to. My daily commute goes from 24-48 miles a day. I tow between 8k and 11k with my camper, the lighter was my old and the heavier is my new. I tow about 15 to 20 times a year so I am not working the truck everyday but definately put enough time in to get it warmed up. Now I am looking at $4000-$5000 to repair not including what I already paid for the FICM and fuel pump. I am not tuned and don't do anything crazy with my truck because I need this truck to last a long time. I won't be able to afford anything comparable for a long time. Will I every buy another Ford product again, probably not. Would I ever buy a 6.0 ever again, No. I am just providing my service history and my opinion on what I would do. I agree that there are many diesel techs that do not know what to do with this motor and end up throwing parts at it. I think some of that happened to me but I am no expert and rely on them to diagnose my problems. I due my service very religously to try and keep everything running smooth for a long time. I know there are lots of happy 6.0 owners out there but unfortunately I am not one of them at this point. I love the truck but hate the motor. Good luck with your decision.

 

15 k fuel filter changes, 5k oil changes and reasonable driving. 115k and the only dealer issue was a plugged egr cooler. i love my truck it runs well pulls great and does anything i ask it to. dont let people scare you completely away from the 6.0. but educate yourself on what ever you purchase. for the 6.0 the criticals are oil and fuel. both need to be clean. the egr system is a problem as well as the stock head bolts. if you fix those two areas and keep up the rest you will be happy. keep in mind the level of performace the 6.0 offers is alot more than the 7.3

 

Even though the question was answered already, I wanted to add to Tex's write up on this.
I do believe, that many 6.0 problems starts with this. Not letting it warm up to op. temp. before you start pushing it. I didn't know either, that I have to until I studied the injectors - thanks to FTE- ; just jumped in, and let's go. Since I know why it's important -and after countless of parts, and labor hours of mine, and effort- I do let it warm up.
And I'm pretty sure, that if we would ask the 6.0 owners here on FTE - about how many of us let the truck warm up before the RPM goes over 2k, I'm sure we'd be surprised about the numbers....
I'm not saying, that this is the REAL problem of this engine, but I believe, that this is the REAL problem - when we talk about ownership/ maintenance/ driving style.

 

did you have the heads checked for flatness? did you act proactively and use a better clamping product like the arp headstuds or the x11? rather than stock torque to yeild bolts? how often have you changed your coolant? alot of times the heads are out of spec and they throw them back in. the stock tty bolts then dont stand a chance. the oil coolers are known to be plugged by sand used to cast the egr cooler. a coolant filter is the best protection. also flushing the coolant per the manual at 50k intervals. the ficm while a expensive part has been a issue stemming from a inductive heat flash by ford that was later corrected and i would blame that entirely on them. the oil leaks i would say are hit and miss and often hard to diagnose. the egr valve is often the first thing they replace when you start to have any problem. i think if the door dinger dosent work they change the egr valve first. jk dependant on milage the fuel pump is generally due to lack of maintence. pulling close to the maximum weight rated for the truck do you monitor the egt temps? the computer is unable to read the egt temps and they can get over 1300 degrees stock when pulling heavy. this can cause problems with the head gaskets as well especially with stock head bolts. again these trucks arnt perfect but educate your self before you make the purchase and if you have issues make sure the dealer gives you the truth.