F250 7.3L Diesel?

[dustman_stx]

You very well could be right about the 25%. Maybe my friends and family are just unlucky!!!! A gentleman that delivered a camper for me last October had one with 600,000 miles on it. Heads had been replaced and he had gone through something to the tune of 37 injector replacements.

[fireguywtc]

I would always encourage those who bad mouth the 6.0 to educate themselves as much as possible as to why they have the problems they are known for.

The biggest and most prominent problem is the egr system and the cooler. It is pretty much responsible for causing other problems with the trucks such as head gasket problems, oil cooler problems, and the turbo problems with coking. Delete the egr and the truck becomes extremely reliable. Related to the egr system and the failures is the ford gold coolant that is used. It contains silicates that get cooked out of the coolant suspension when it is superheated by the egr cooler. The silicants will eventually plug up the egr and oil coolers. Again remove the egr system and replace the coolant with a CAT-1 ELC coolant and it gets rid of the problem. A coolant filter is also highly advised and mine has one.

FInally with the fuel system and the injectors there has been a known problem with fuel pressuer regulation at the fuel bowl. There is a spring upgrade known as the "blue spring" upgrade that increases the fuel pressure. With the stock spring the fuel pressure can drop too low to the injectors and starve them at high load use or wide open throttle. Also the banjo bolts that feed the heads the fuel can be restrictive. Some remove the inner check ball valve to allow them to flow well. The fuel flows into the heads and deadends at the back of the heads. When the injectors use more fuel then they get in the heads (the supply) they starve and the first injectors that starve are the ones toward the back of the heads. They usually fail first and most often. Fixing the fueling system will prevent almost all of the fuel injector problems besides taking care of oil changes and such.

When those two major issues are fixed (egr and fuel) I think the 6.0 can be as dependable if not more so then a 7.3. My truck is currently under the knife to get those things done along with head studs because it is now out of warranty. People also need to monitor battery life along with the FICM to ensure they are never starved for electricity. Bad batteries and alternators will kill the FICM and cause problems. I have never heard of any problems with HPOP or anything else that was more prominent in the 6.0 then other similar trucks.

FWIW my 07 has not given me any major problems other then the altenator going out and the turbo coked causing the vanes to stick. They were fixed under warranty.

[averagef250]

Looked at several of them with catastrophic bottom end failures in heavier trucks, bone stock ECM with egr removed and head studs.

The 6.0's track record makes the 7.3 appear to walk on water.

I ran into an old friend a few months ago who told me about her husband buying a late production 6.0 PSD crewcab 4x4 with really low miles from a dealer because the price was so good. He even paid a bunch more for the super extended warranty. The truck has spent 80% of the time they've owned it at the dealership getting "fixed". They're fed up with the truck and the dealership and likely can't get even close to the "awesome deal" they paid for it a couple years ago back out of it. They're looking into legal action, but don't feel they have much of a leg to stand on. They put less than an oil change worth of miles on the truck.

A customer of mine picked up an '04 6.0 crew 6 speed 4x4 recently with around 20K original miles from the dealer in southern CA who had it in their service bay for most of the last 8 years. The original owner actually got the dealer to give their money back and the dealer dumped the truck as-is for dirt cheap. He drove the truck up here and it ate a turbo. He hopes it will drive as-is the 45 minutes to my shop to install a six.

[Swegner99]

I would always encourage those who bad mouth the 6.0 to educate themselves as much as possible as to why they have the problems they are known for.

Being a service advisor with a Ford Dealership and having been certified on the 6.0 im pretty well educated on them, but thank you.

It all comes down to maintenance, the 6.0 hates to idle, idling will coke up that EGR system in a heartbeat. Lack of oil 5,000 mile oil changes can cause the IPR and high pressure pump to go. But how do you explain the FICM? The turbo blowing up and leaking oil? CAC tubes popping? It was just an all around poorly designed engine. Seems to be around that 50k mark...

On a side note Anyone ever seen a diesel engine run away? When the turbo fails and starts leaking oil into the intake, the engine will start running on its own oil and there is no way to shut it down, scary stuff.

[Swegner99]

One other quick thing, where I live everyone buys a diesel cause they are "cool" then commutes 2 miles round trip with it, it'll probably never see the highway. Then they wonder why they have issues

[averagef250]

When the turbo fails and starts leaking oil into the intake, the engine will start running on its own oil and there is no way to shut it down, scary stuff.

Board over the turbo, squish the air inlet piping or dump co2/halon/argon into the air filter/turbo. I've had several engines run away on me and they are controllable if you act fast.

[Swegner99]

I've heard the same things. I have only ever seen one do it in our shop and it was tached out so fast there wasnt any stopping it. I have heard stories about the intakes sucking in whole phone books and shredding them. I guess on the big semis and stuff the make a block off plate just for this reason

[fireguywtc]

I agree that the 6.0 was a poorly engineered and designed motor that was rushed to production to meet emission requirements and keep up in the horsepower race. My opinion is that there is nothing inherently wrong with the 6.0 bottom end, I think they stand up pretty well to normal diesel use. The top end has a lot to be desired but it is fixable. I just hear a lot of bad mouthing with very little knowledge to back it up. A lot of times it is a band wagon.

The FICM is a weak point that is sensetive to bad betteries or bad charging. Keep up on top of those things and I think the FICM is dependable and there are companies out there that will fix them better then stock. I have not heard of a lot of CAC tubes popping or failing to make me think that it is a design flaw. I don't like the plastic cold side but it is fixable. I also have not heard of a lot of the turbos blowing up or leaking oil to make me think that they are flawed as well. I had an 04 that was in the shop for the turbo five time btween 12 and 15k miles. It was always the VGT part and Ford finally replaed the whole turbo setup with a new one and never had another problem. I guess I had a dud.

A stock 6.0 does have problems, so do heavily tuned ones. My point is that most all of these things are fixable and to say that all 6.0's are junk because of the rhetoric to me seems silly.

[averagef250]

If you take a 6.0 apart and look at them they look really well built. Pretty good size, thick castings, big headbolts, decent size crank and rods. They don't look like they should have problems.

Too bad this is the more often the norm than the exception....

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/2981647261.html

There are several of this same truck in my area with this being the oldest and highest priced at $5900 for a 6.0 6 speed 4x4 crewcab.

[fireguywtc]

I would probably snap that truck up in a heartbeat depending on what I found when I looked at it. It just says it won't start so it could be anything. I am sure there are plenty of examples out there of broken 6.0's and lots of people complaining about them. But I am sure there are thousands of other trucks out there that are working just fine also. Many may have needed extensive repair, many have not. It appears that something or someone has convinced some of you that all 6.0's are crap and doomed to fail, I disagree. I am not saying that they are great motors stock, but can be fixed.

dolinick, if you are looking at any super dutys I would highly recommend researching what you can when you find one you like. You should be able to obtain an Oiasis report from a Ford dealership for free and it will tell you all the work that has been done on it from Ford. If they have had a lot of problems then you may want to stray away. Keep in mind that if you are considering buying a 6.0 that you will have to invest some more money into it to make it reliable. There is plenty of information on fourms such as thedieselstop.com or powerstroke.org if do some searches over on those sites.

[colnago]

I had a 6.0 Excursion. Thought that it would be a major improvement to the 7.3. After six months, I wished I held out for the 7.3. The 6.0 wasn't "bad", but it did have some odd issues with the injectors.

Just my two cents,

Joseph

[averagef250]

I would probably snap that truck up in a heartbeat depending on what I found when I looked at it. It just says it won't start so it could be anything. I am sure there are plenty of examples out there of broken 6.0's and lots of people complaining about them. But I am sure there are thousands of other trucks out there that are working just fine also. Many may have needed extensive repair, many have not. It appears that something or someone has convinced some of you that all 6.0's are crap and doomed to fail, I disagree. I am not saying that they are great motors stock, but can be fixed.

dolinick, if you are looking at any super dutys I would highly recommend researching what you can when you find one you like. You should be able to obtain an Oiasis report from a Ford dealership for free and it will tell you all the work that has been done on it from Ford. If they have had a lot of problems then you may want to stray away. Keep in mind that if you are considering buying a 6.0 that you will have to invest some more money into it to make it reliable. There is plenty of information on fourms such as thedieselstop.com or powerstroke.org if do some searches over on those sites.

Even if that truck just needs a simple fix that's a higher price for that truck from what I have seen them go for over the past couple years. The 6.0 value is in the toilet, regardless of how good or bad they really are, peoples perception of them is what it is and that dictates the price. If that truck was a 8/10 or better body and interior, and I wanted to spend $15K and 200 hours of my life on a pickup I would go look at that truck with $4K cash in my pocket and have no problem walking away if the buyer said no. If he took the offer the other $10K and change and 200 hours would go into installing a 5.9 in the truck.

[dolinick]

Well I called the guy from Dallas and the 2007 6.0 was already sold. I have been doing lots of research on that engine though. There are specific reasons which cause it to fail and they seem to be fixable.

There was another truck here locally with the 7.3 and the manual transmission. I am going to take another look at it if it is still available.

There is actually a very nice 2003 with 7.3 but automatic a few blocks from my house. I would just have to get rid of the big tires and wheels and put some stock wheels and tires on it. 2003 is the year they switched from 7.3 to 6.0 also.

[dolinick]

I found something interesting but it's not what i want. It is a 7.3L Diesel but it's automatic, 4x4, and has an automatic transmission. 221,000 miles is a little higher than I wanted but it is within my budget. And it looks nice.

Asking $9995. Should I make them an offer?

http://www.adamsmotorgroup.com/web/used ... s/2327155/

[1972hiboy]

Thats a really nice truck. I wouldnt be to worried about the mileage really. Ive got buses with over 366k on them and they are driving out on route daily. The 4r100 isnt a bad deal either. it usually seems like the people who rant about them are the guys who beat the living out of them and never maintain them. They like to have thier filters and fluid changed every so often too!