2004 Ford F-350 diesel

Ford had chassis, suspension and brake upgrades in 2005. If you are set on that era Ford, I would suggest the more capable ones one year newer than the one you are currently shopping.

I had good luck with my 2005 and replaced it after 115K miles due to wanting more payload, not because I was worried about reliability.

jerem0621 wrote:


Bill @ Powestroke Help is in the business of Powerstroke failures and how to prevent them and of course fix them. He has a lot of good info for free but just beware that he is still in the business to make money.

Bulletproofing is something that is pretty unique to the 6.0 PSD. The 6.0 was Fords first shot at really trying to meet more stringent emissions regulations and make big HP to keep up with market demand for more power.

Navistar built the 6.0 PSD for Ford based off of one of their engines designed for medium duty work. You can find Navistars versions of the 6.0 in buses, MDT trucks, etc. those versions didn't have near the problem that Ford had in the Powerstroke version.

Ford had to add a mountain of emissions equipment to sell the 6.0 in the light duty truck market (F350 and down) AND Ford decided to crank the computer programming up to exceed the head pressure that Navistar built the 6.0 for.

Poorly engineered emissions equipment (much better in 05-07 6.0's) plus higher combustion chamber pressure than what the DESIGNERS intended lead to more than some owners having catastrophic failures in their 6.0.

Given the popularity of folks adding engine tuners to the 6.0, which was essentially a factory hot rodded truck...to add even more power and you had folks popping head gaskets right and left.

Bulletproofing adds aftermarket parts that are designed to be better than the factory. Soft head bolts are replaced with hardened head studs, Emissions equipment is either deleted (not recommended) or replaced with "Bulletproof" components. The engines are routinely tuned to match the bulletproofing.

Monitors are recommended to be added to the 6.0 so the operator can keep close watch on many parameters on the truck...and educated owners knew what temp ranges, voltage ranges. Etc to look for and when they see a parameter out of whack they know something is wrong. Basically, they fix things before they get stupid expensive.

Just know as a Ford man myself...many people choose to Bulletproof their 6.0's back in the mid 00's buy trading them in on GM or Rams or Ford V10's. I personally recommend looking for a 06-07 GM Duramax... Or an 03-07 ish Ram Diesel. They both have minor issues but will put you ahead on this bulletproof mess. Basically...consider buying a truck with a much better reputation.

Many 6.0's that were bulletproofed had to re-bulletproofed because there are many ways for the 6.0 to fail.

Like I said..Ford is my Go-To... But when I choose my Super Duty it had a factory bulletproof V10 in it.

Thanks and good luck.


Jeremiah

Thank you.

DeezPanthers1 wrote:

Mont G&J wrote:
I highly recommend watching the you-tube video about the best Ford diesel year as explained by a mechanic that specializes on Ford diesels.
What year Powerstroke is best?

Thanks for the link hubby is watching a lot of his videos.

So it seems if we go with a ford we will need to bullet proof it. Can you all tell me more about this? Is bullet proofing a good idea for any brand diesel or just the ford? Would it still be a good idea to do if we get a dodge, gmc, or Chevy? I want to make sure we leave money in the budget if so. Any input would be great.

Bill @ Powestroke Help is in the business of Powerstroke failures and how to prevent them and of course fix them. He has a lot of good info for free but just beware that he is still in the business to make money.

Bulletproofing is something that is pretty unique to the 6.0 PSD. The 6.0 was Fords first shot at really trying to meet more stringent emissions regulations and make big HP to keep up with market demand for more power.

Navistar built the 6.0 PSD for Ford based off of one of their engines designed for medium duty work. You can find Navistars versions of the 6.0 in buses, MDT trucks, etc. those versions didn't have near the problem that Ford had in the Powerstroke version.

Ford had to add a mountain of emissions equipment to sell the 6.0 in the light duty truck market (F350 and down) AND Ford decided to crank the computer programming up to exceed the head pressure that Navistar built the 6.0 for.

Poorly engineered emissions equipment (much better in 05-07 6.0's) plus higher combustion chamber pressure than what the DESIGNERS intended lead to more than some owners having catastrophic failures in their 6.0.

Given the popularity of folks adding engine tuners to the 6.0, which was essentially a factory hot rodded truck...to add even more power and you had folks popping head gaskets right and left.

Bulletproofing adds aftermarket parts that are designed to be better than the factory. Soft head bolts are replaced with hardened head studs, Emissions equipment is either deleted (not recommended) or replaced with "Bulletproof" components. The engines are routinely tuned to match the bulletproofing.

Monitors are recommended to be added to the 6.0 so the operator can keep close watch on many parameters on the truck...and educated owners knew what temp ranges, voltage ranges. Etc to look for and when they see a parameter out of whack they know something is wrong. Basically, they fix things before they get stupid expensive.

Just know as a Ford man myself...many people choose to Bulletproof their 6.0's back in the mid 00's buy trading them in on GM or Rams or Ford V10's. I personally recommend looking for a 06-07 GM Duramax... Or an 03-07 ish Ram Diesel. They both have minor issues but will put you ahead on this bulletproof mess. Basically...consider buying a truck with a much better reputation.

Many 6.0's that were bulletproofed had to re-bulletproofed because there are many ways for the 6.0 to fail.

Like I said..Ford is my Go-To... But when I choose my Super Duty it had a factory bulletproof V10 in it.

Thanks and good luck.

Jeremiah

I had some bad fuel injectors on my 2004 F-450 and to avoid future problems I invested in the Bulletproof diesel package while I was in Mesa. No problems since then, 70,000 miles later.

DeezPanthers1 wrote:

Mont G&J wrote:
I highly recommend watching the you-tube video about the best Ford diesel year as explained by a mechanic that specializes on Ford diesels.
What year Powerstroke is best?

Thanks for the link hubby is watching a lot of his videos.

So it seems if we go with a ford we will need to bullet proof it. Can you all tell me more about this? Is bullet proofing a good idea for any brand diesel or just the ford? Would it still be a good idea to do if we get a dodge, gmc, or Chevy? I want to make sure we leave money in the budget if so. Any input would be great.

Bullet Proofing is a Ford only term, mostly for the 6.0 and 6.4.

Well not sure what you would consider a "Great Price" on a 2004, with less than 100,000 miles. Don't know how brand centric you are but your good deal may require additional cash to be reliable. Then again it may go a couple more 100,000 miles.
Did you buy a Power Ball ticket for tonight's drawing?

The numbers that I have seen show that this engine cost Ford over a billion dollars in warranty costs.

Google Ford 6.0. TONS of info on it.

Mont G&J wrote:
I highly recommend watching the you-tube video about the best Ford diesel year as explained by a mechanic that specializes on Ford diesels.
What year Powerstroke is best?

Thanks for the link hubby is watching a lot of his videos.

So it seems if we go with a ford we will need to bullet proof it. Can you all tell me more about this? Is bullet proofing a good idea for any brand diesel or just the ford? Would it still be a good idea to do if we get a dodge, gmc, or Chevy? I want to make sure we leave money in the budget if so. Any input would be great.

We have an '06 f250 diesel. Have had it for several years now; we purchased it used with 90k miles. It has been a dream, especially towing our 5th wheel. No issues. Maintenance I believe is the key to good long service from these trucks. I've heard of issues in the 03 and 04 years but if maintained shouldn't be an issue. Most engineered problems were resolved by 06 model year. Do not modify it in any way, maintain it with scheduled services and it should last longer than you'll want it to.

We had quite a few 2004 F450's and 550's at work. These were roughly 15K lb. bucket trucks. They have all been laid to rest except one and most died from blown head gaskets anywhere from 180K-225K miles. They all had turbos and injectors along the way as well.
Now knowing that these trucks were driving by guys who didn't own them and very little maintenance was ever done. No coolant flushes. No fuel filter changes etc, etc. Just an oil change every 5K miles and thats about it. They were also idled for long periods of time.
So another words. They were rode hard and put up wet and most still ran over 200K miles.
The truck itself was a tank, held up very well over years of abuse.