6.0 Running Strong
Wanted to chime in to represent the happy 6.0 powerstroke owner's. 2005 f250 powerstroke with 221,400 miles and running strong. All I have done is replace one FICM board and wear items like ball joi...
Forum Discussion
It's great to hear about the success with your truck.
I owned a 2003 F-350 6.0L that I bought used in 2006. We really liked the truck; it pulled quite well and got respectable fuel mileage doing it. In regards to the not so good, it had an ongoing surging issue along with puffs of black smoke that improved when I spent $3500 on the truck "bulletproofing" it which included EGR delete, upgraded turbo drain tube, regulated fuel return system,turbo cleaning, and more stuff that I'm forgetting at the moment. In addition to this I also installed a coolant filter and upgraded the FICM. The truck had the head gaskets, ICP sensor, 1 injector, and exhaust manifold gaskets replaced under warranty and had more reflashes than I care to remember to cure hard cold starting and poor running when cold. The last flash it had was the inductive heat flash for the injectors that eventually ruins them.
The truck was extremely well maintained with oil changes every 3-4k miles, and fuel filters every second oil change along with 3 coolant changes in the time I owned the truck.
Although we did a fair amount of travelling with the truck and it did not leave us stranded, it did still have that surging issue (although lesser than it did previously), had a bedplate oil leak, and an intermittent surge at idle that nobody could seem to figure out.
It again developed a rough running issue when cold that I'm sure was a few injectors getting weak, my oil and coolant temperatures were spreading which was a sign of a blocked oil cooler, and the bedplate oil leak was getting worse to the point that I was constantly wiping oil off of my garage floor. I really thought about having the truck gone through but it was getting to the point that it didn't seem to make sense spending that kind of money on what was an 11 year old truck at that time. Even if we had done that there are still shortcomings in the design of the engine that still make it prone to problems which includes not enough head bolts/studs per cylinder. We decided to trade up to a newer truck and I was absolutely astonished as to what I was being offered for my truck. I even had 2 dealers tell me that they would not take it on trade because they had been stung on them before. I finally accepted what was good relatively speaking but poor compared to what GM and Ram trucks of the same era were worth. I had tried selling it privately but had no takers.
To the OP, I wish you the very best with your truck. For my family, the constant worry of watching gauges constantly and breakdowns far away from home made us move on from ours. We have a completely different outlook on long trips with the trailer now.
I owned a 2003 F-350 6.0L that I bought used in 2006. We really liked the truck; it pulled quite well and got respectable fuel mileage doing it. In regards to the not so good, it had an ongoing surging issue along with puffs of black smoke that improved when I spent $3500 on the truck "bulletproofing" it which included EGR delete, upgraded turbo drain tube, regulated fuel return system,turbo cleaning, and more stuff that I'm forgetting at the moment. In addition to this I also installed a coolant filter and upgraded the FICM. The truck had the head gaskets, ICP sensor, 1 injector, and exhaust manifold gaskets replaced under warranty and had more reflashes than I care to remember to cure hard cold starting and poor running when cold. The last flash it had was the inductive heat flash for the injectors that eventually ruins them.
The truck was extremely well maintained with oil changes every 3-4k miles, and fuel filters every second oil change along with 3 coolant changes in the time I owned the truck.
Although we did a fair amount of travelling with the truck and it did not leave us stranded, it did still have that surging issue (although lesser than it did previously), had a bedplate oil leak, and an intermittent surge at idle that nobody could seem to figure out.
It again developed a rough running issue when cold that I'm sure was a few injectors getting weak, my oil and coolant temperatures were spreading which was a sign of a blocked oil cooler, and the bedplate oil leak was getting worse to the point that I was constantly wiping oil off of my garage floor. I really thought about having the truck gone through but it was getting to the point that it didn't seem to make sense spending that kind of money on what was an 11 year old truck at that time. Even if we had done that there are still shortcomings in the design of the engine that still make it prone to problems which includes not enough head bolts/studs per cylinder. We decided to trade up to a newer truck and I was absolutely astonished as to what I was being offered for my truck. I even had 2 dealers tell me that they would not take it on trade because they had been stung on them before. I finally accepted what was good relatively speaking but poor compared to what GM and Ram trucks of the same era were worth. I had tried selling it privately but had no takers.
To the OP, I wish you the very best with your truck. For my family, the constant worry of watching gauges constantly and breakdowns far away from home made us move on from ours. We have a completely different outlook on long trips with the trailer now.
