Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Ford 6.0 Diesel

I have a 2004 Ford F250 with the 6.0 diesel engine. I bought it new and it now has only 68,000 miles on it. It is totally stock and has never given me any trouble, except that the turbo was replaced under warranty at about 25,000 miles.

The truck is stored for 6 months each year. I only drive it basically in the fall and winter. I do use it to plow snow and have a Western V-Plow on it.

I have recently thought of selling it, because I no longer have a camper to pull, but even though KBB and NADA claim it is worth $14,000.00 to $17,000.00 in trade (without the plow), dealers are only offering $8,000.00 to $12,000.00 in trade. I do have a friend who may be willing to buy it for $16,000.00 cash, with the plow included.

The other option is to keep it. It's still in great shape inside and out. If I powdercoated the wheels and fixed a couple spots of surface rust behind the wheel wells and put a coat of wax on it, it would look like a new truck.

The bugaboo, of course, is the 6.0's reputation. I have done the regular maintenance and just had the latest programming done by a dealer. I am not a mechanical expert by any means and would not attempt to work on the truck myself.

My questions are, first, how much should I worry about the 6.0 developing a problem, and second, is there anything that should be done to this engine to reduce the chance of a problem.

I am happy with its performance and fuel economy and am only looking for ideas that don't cost a fortune but would make a catastrophic experience less likely.

I would sell it if you could for $16k.

Having said that, I have the same truck although mine is a 2003. I have gone 185,000 miles with no troubles. From the sound of things, these engines can have problems at any time, and those problems are expensive to fix. Given an opportunity, I would sell my truck if I could!

For every 6.0 you've heard a problem about, there's probably a 100 or more out there that have been pretty trouble free.

I'm always looking at trucks and I'd venture to guess that 7/10 Ford Diesels I see on the road around here are 6.0

Best bet is to go to various powerstroke forums and look up what can be done to make them more reliable.

I'll be the voice of dissent and say that if I had a 6.0 I would get rid of it as quick as I could. Everyone I know who has owned one has had problems out of them.

install a monitor system that will tell you if any problems are starting to show and you can head them off before more serious damgage is done

beyond that deleting the EGR system will go along ways to eliminate many potential troubles

if you are going to pull it hard or turn up the horsepower the 6.0 s are known for stretching the head bolts....aftermarket studs can be installed that will eliminate that problem , but its a spendy proposition to hire that done .

The source of the issues with the 6.0 are simple to fix if you want to sink a little money into the truck and have it last. When the engine blocks are cast, they are cast in sand. Some of the sand is still in the water passages. Since the coolant is used to cool the EGR and the oil, the sand jams these up causing EGR failure and oil over heating. Delete your EGR and install a coolant filter. You will need some type of tuner so you check engine light isn't on because you have deleted your EGR. Lastly, use good synthetic oil and change it every 5-8k. On my Powerstroke, I use Valvoline Extreme Blue 5-40 (I think is the viscosity).

If you have a question about your truck, get in touch with Doug at gogodiesel.com. He knows that engine better than any dealer or internet posting you will ever read.

What does your oil analysis say about that oil? I switched back to dino oil as I was getting high wear numbers with the synthetics I tried.

No matter the oil, it's all used up viscosity wise around 6000 miles. The HPOP is hard on oil.

Oil leaks and turbo failures are what I've experienced with both my 6.0. (2003 & 2006) EGR hasn't been a problem but VGT solenoid, turbo and EBP sensor has.

if this engine pukes out of warranty it's getting replaced with a Cummins conversion.

Sell it if you can.

Do they all have problems? NO

THERE IS A REASON FORD NO LONGER RUNS NAVISTAR!

"According to the lawsuit, the relationship between Ford and Navistar became ugly in 2007 when Ford filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Navistar, Inc. over the 6.0L Power Stroke Diesel Engines that are the subject of the Brown and Anderson class action lawsuit. In Ford�s suit against Navistar, Ford alleges the 6.0L engine manufactured by Navistar is defective and, thus, Ford sued Navistar for failing to pay its share of the warranty costs that Ford had to pay in connection with warranty claims filed by owners and lessees of the Ford vehicles."

The new Ford "Powerstroke" 6.7L was designed in conjunction with AVL (Anstalt f�r Verbrennungskraftmaschinen List) of Austria.

I am a diesel tech, I love diesels....I really love that Ford finally wised up all they need now is a good transmission.

I couldn't agree more.........BTDT

The problem was that Navistar told Ford that they wouldn`t hold up putting out that kind of horsepower. Ford was told to use the Navistar ECM but Ford wanted to up the horsepower used their own ECM and that is why Navistar wouldn`t pay the warranty claims