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Truck question

N

Northern Rancher

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Feb 10, 2005
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Location
saskatchewan
Does anybody have an '03 Ford with a 6 litre diesel-I test drove one on weekend-about a 700 mile one and liked it pretty good. Heard some horror stories so not sure yet.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Does anybody have an '03 Ford with a 6 litre diesel-I test drove one on weekend-about a 700 mile one and liked it pretty good. Heard some horror stories so not sure yet.
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A friend has one for sale. It is an '03 F350 extended cab, long box, 4x4 and it has 115,000 miles. It has an automatic transmission. He bought it this spring because he thought he had a job hauling hiline poles. The bid on the job that he thought he had fell through. Now this very nice pickup is for sale, and it is priced at $14,000. Delivery could possibly be arranged. :wink:
 
Don't know if you ever listen to Sam's Garage on the radio or not, but he really doesn't think much of the 6 litre, but really liked the older 7.3. Isn't it a hassle just to change the air filter?

http://www.shadetreemechanic.com/memmolo%20radio.htm

Come to think of it my neighbor has a 6L. Has had alot of trouble with it, not sure what all it was.
 
I bought one and got 1200 miles from the engine before it went out, this was the 1st year of the 6lt and mine was #4 off the line, after $$6000 in labor from the dealer and no truck for 4 months, they did give me one to drive. I just gave it back to them, they could not fix it, through the lemon law I got a new 2004 and drive it every day with never any problems at all, there were some motor changes for the 04's. It really does pull good with a big trailer full of cows on it. About 18-20 mpg with out trailer 12-14 with it. All I have done is replace the batteries last week, keep the filters changed and oil. I was told that the early 03 models were prone to enging problems.
Need more info emaiil me, I have it all documented.
Larry
 
I don't know of many guys who bought a 6 L that still have them. More time in the shop than on the road. The 6.4's are better , but poor fuel mileage. My neighbor has one gets about 14 mpg empty.
 
hard to beat the 7.3 ..... and Ford is my rig of choice. on a quiet still evening here on the plains, you can hear a Chevy rust.
 
The Ford 6 litre diesels have turbo problems. For the few people I know that have had one have had trouble with them. I personally wouldn't touch one.
I agree that you can't beat a 7.3 powerstroke. My old 95 F350 had mega kms on it when I got it. I put on a whole bunch more and then I sold it and its still going with well over 600,000 km with just general maintenence. I sure miss that truck now :cry:
 
one thing to remember, NEVER add an after market air intake. Mine had a K&N system on it, and it broke way back behind......never saw the hole till it was tore apart to see why one cylinder dropped..... I guess sucking dirt is bad for an engine :???: :cry: :???:
 
It's got to 140,000 miles without a hiccup-would all the 6.0 litres troubles shown up by now or is it just a matter of time. The truck is perfect mechanically as far as front end etc goes.
 
Northern Rancher said:
It's got to 140,000 miles without a hiccup-would all the 6.0 litres troubles shown up by now or is it just a matter of time. The truck is perfect mechanically as far as front end etc goes.
Click to expand...

Got a few friends that have a 6.0. They haven't had any significant problems yet, but they don't pull trailers much either.

I would think the bugs would be worked out by now.
 
Our injectors went out before 36000. I would say it might be a pretty good rig if it has made it that far. When our injectors went out the dealer said that the people that are faithful to fuel additives haven't had any trouble but those that didn't use them are the ones having trouble. :roll:

have a cold one (I am enjoying the rodeo reports also)

lazy ace
 
Its just a matter of time until something on that 6.0L lets go. Poor injector design (HEUI design was fine for a low powered diesel like the 7.3, but not for something like the 6.0L), bad turbocharging (laggy, poor oiling), poor air system (inadequate flow for towing, EGTs would climb high) and lightweight rods and crank (6.0L had the lightest rods and crank in any of the modern diesels). Navistar is a company famous for keeping engine lines going for decades and they had to drop the 6.0L after only a few short years in service as the design problems were simply not correctable.

My advice is to stay away from it. If you want a diesel, a Cummins or a Duramax are far preferable choices. Eventually (within a couple years, if R&D reports are correct), Ford will drop the Navistar in favor of their own in-house diesel, and when that happens, you'll find getting parts to be difficult as very few manufacturers used the 6.0L in their trucks.

Rod
 
I have a friend who's Turbo went out at 40,000 miles I would stick with the Cumming's in a Dodge they get better fuel economy than Ford ever thought of.I have an 03 F250 but I went with the 5.4 L gas job it does all I need it to but the clutch went out in June at a 100,000 miles but I'm tough on pickup's.I've got an 84 with a 6.9 in it that gets over 20 mpg my gas gets 10.
 
the thing with the 6.0's is mainly the head studs. the stretch real easily especially if you run your truck hard and at full boost. the way to tell if the studs are starting to go is look in the coolant overflow for what is nick named "puking" which is really easy to tell because it looks like the motor puked coolant. if the truck is still under warranty ford will replace the head studs with a brand called ARP which wont stretch

I have an 08 F450 personally but have owned them all. 7.3, 6.0, and 6.4 and bought my new truck because of the deal i got.

I wouldnt trade my new truck for nothing. pulls hard, feels solid, and once you put a tuner on it boy does it wake it up.


CJ
 
Headstuds? Although there are many things wrong with the 6.0L (NR - that truck is one of the few that made it past 100,000 km), the one that I always here about is what Rod mentioned, the lightweight powdered metal connecting rods and block. Have heard of instances where the rods will shatter in the cylinders under heavy load and high rpm.

You can't beat the 7.3L. When the body falls off my '95, I am yanking the 7.3 and putting it into a 2008 F-350 body. Somebody can have the 6.4 in it for 1/2 price.
 
jigs said:
hard to beat the 7.3 ..... and Ford is my rig of choice. on a quiet still evening here on the plains, you can hear a Chevy rust.
Click to expand...
:agree: Heard how bad those 6liters are just the other day,was told to hold on to the old reliable 7.3!Just a work horse of an engine,thinking of putting on a banks turbo for a little more hauling power though!
 
My Mechanic works on nothing but Diesels. He is the best and I am at nearly 485,000 miles on my 7.3 litre "96 Powerstroke....It is a simple Ranch truck at this point, but at 150,00 miles, I was ready to trade it off. Then I found him and it went from Repairs to maintenance.. He is great...

He personally warned me against the 6 litre as it was the exception that someone did not have troubles rather than the rule....

He is not partial to any brand and was a Ford mechanic befoe coming up with the Powerbrake and setting up his own shop...

PPRM
 

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