Powerstroke 6.0 life expectancy

[scottp]

Am looking at a 04 F350 with a Powerstroke 6.0 with 280K and am wondering how long they last. The truck is stock and never chipped.There was about 9K in work done (injectors,etc) about 2 years ago and it ran fine on the test drive.
I plan on using it to haul the boat in the summer and sleds in the winter and not much else.

 

[Bnorth]

Has it had headgaskets done? If not warm up the chequebook.

Honestly, these have the worst rep of any heavy duty motor ever... why would you even consider it?

 

[tex78]

Cause I bet its cheap, cheap.

They just about cant give them away


sent while I should be drinking twisted teas

 

[Trashy]

I have a 05 with 130K on it, I will be doing the head bolts somewhat soon. There is a another thread in here about the 6.0L and some guys are getting some big miles on them. But I would say to make sure that you do your due diligence first.

 

[ABMax24]

We have an 07 F550 at work that has gone through about 16 injectors in 135k, obviously this truck has about the harshest use possible but the 07.5 GM's are still going strong at similar mileage with no major issues, and similar treatment.

Personally I would never buy a 6.0 liter, there are much more reliable options out there. Although there are many out there that have had few issues, but they are few and far between especially considering the age and mileage of most of them by now.

 

[snopro]

Most of the problems with the 6.0 were in 2003 and trucks with chips. I had one with no issues in 04. My diesel tech buddy told me not to chip it and it was a great truck?

 

[Bnorth]

A guy I ride with has at least one 6.0 in his shop every week. Usually headgaskets, heads, injectors, FICM, or a full motor swap. Big money jobs as lots of labour involved.

 

[moyiesledhead]

Turn around and walk away quickly!

 

[sledderdoc]

I have 165k on my 07 with no problems. Summitric did have to replace the FICM last month but she runs strong. I think the 6.0L is a good motor once the EGR delete is done. Mine is still stock as well.

 

[Summitric]

the base 6.0l engine is a good design............ now for the however........ in and International big truck, they work great, but due to emissions curfews placed on the manufacturers, it has had a lot of extra "crap" installed for it to work in a Ford light truck. If everything is done properly, you can expect some good mileage, even chipped for towing they'll last, however, if not maintained, they will cost you big time. The littlest item, that costs the most to fix is the lifters. Have had several where the roller part of the lifter wears out and grinds the camshaft down(similar to chevs and their 350 v8 gas engine used to do) and if not caught early enough, the tiny c-clips that hold them together drops into the oil pan and get sucked up into the pump, causing catastrophic damage..... only way to change the lifters is to pull the engine ....... major, major operation. scottp, if the truck you're looking at already has had injectors, egr cooler and oil cooler replaced or deleted, they can be fairly reliable, but there is so much more that can go wrong with these, eg: the ficm(fuel injection control module), oil pressure sensors, exhaust pressure sensors, etc etc...... I could go on forever. they do make good power, and do like to be chipped to a certain level(conservative)...... and decent fuel mileage.... and still one of the best interiors and body styling

 

[scottp]

Thanks.
I think I'm going to go the gas route as I am hearing more bad than good on the 6.0 and I am only looking at this truck for its load capacity and not its towing.
It really is a sharp looking truck and the guy is omly asking 6K but it sounds like I could be dumping that much into it if it craps out.

 

[GRD]

I had a 2006 F350 6.0L. Lots of problems... Loved the truck, the power and the look, but it was always in the shop. Sold it before the warranty was up!

 

[scottp]

Does anyone have any comments on the 5.4 gas? I am looking at Ford as they seem to have the highest GVWR for an F250 (Somewhere around 9800 LBS for an extended cab).

 

[Summitric]

Decent, average....... Have some camshaft phazing system problems, but they're not bad overall

 

[sirkdev]

Does anyone have any comments on the 5.4 gas? I am looking at Ford as they seem to have the highest GVWR for an F250 (Somewhere around 9800 LBS for an extended cab).

I have had all of the above 6.0, 6.4, 6.7 diesels for occasional use for sure buy a gasser.... 5.4 have a few quirks and are gutless. check on last time spark plugs were changed that can be a fiasco if not done regularly and is expensive. V10 is a better option. A 8.1 gm 2500 is the best but hard to find these days 6.0L vortec are also ok. FYI 2005 there was updates to the 5.4 it is better than the previous version but they are drastically different.

 

[ABMax24]

Does anyone have any comments on the 5.4 gas? I am looking at Ford as they seem to have the highest GVWR for an F250 (Somewhere around 9800 LBS for an extended cab).

The 5.4's were a little underpowered compared to the 6.0 vortec's or v10's, but still a decent motor (I believe it was the 3 valves that had spark plug issues, about $3000 if they seize in the cylinder head).

I wouldn't hesitate to look at GM's as well, they seem to have a fairly good track record, and if you are pushing that close to the limits of the truck then I would go a size bigger anyway like a 1 ton.

But I definitely agree on a gas vs diesel, if only used occasionally the fuel economy difference won't pay off, and you could use the money saved on a gas truck to buy newer, nicer, or lower mileage.

 

[sirkdev]

I have both versions of the 5.4 a 2003 and a 2007, both have spark plug issues, the 2003 they designed the cylinder head with too few threads in the head to hold the plug in so they tend to blow plugs out. The new version is a top mount with a long insulator, more threads but the long insulator tends to carbon up and can be a bitch to remove from the head.

 

[any1butjj]

A guy I ride with has at least one 6.0 in his shop every week. Usually headgaskets, heads, injectors, FICM, or a full motor swap. Big money jobs as lots of labour involved.

ditto on this! My son is an expert at working on these trucks because they see so many of them! cab off in 3 hrs. if motor problems average bill 12 to 15k, makes the $2k I spend on the front end of my Dodge every 2 years look good.

if serious get a mechanical and make sure they do a contribution check and coolant system pressure check - money well spent.

 

[Ancient Sledder]

I am a journeyman gas mechanic and we have taken on 3 of the 6 liters for head gasket problems. I can not have the cab off in 3 hours yet. The amount of work to repair these engines is incredible. I will admit that they are very nice to drive, but I would not buy one. For the other question, I own a 05 King Ranch 5.4 with 200K on it. These have the spark plug problem, cam phaser problem and exhaust warpage problem. I have only had to replace the right exhaust manifold on mine. If it is maintained, the spark plugs and phasers will not be a concern. You have to decide what problems you are willing to live with on your truck. None of them are trouble free.

 

[CrankShop910]

I am a journeyman gas mechanic and we have taken on 3 of the 6 liters for head gasket problems. I can not have the cab off in 3 hours yet. The amount of work to repair these engines is incredible. I will admit that they are very nice to drive, but I would not buy one. For the other question, I own a 05 King Ranch 5.4 with 200K on it. These have the spark plug problem, cam phaser problem and exhaust warpage problem. I have only had to replace the right exhaust manifold on mine. If it is maintained, the spark plugs and phasers will not be a concern. You have to decide what problems you are willing to live with on your truck. None of them are trouble free.

Why are you pulling the cab, you can remove the heads and install studs with the cab on.
The only thing extra thing you have todo is remove the RF tire, fender well, and the cover on the evap box..