Looking to buy 2007 Ford F250 diesel....

In January we bought a 2008 Ford F250 diesel with 130k miles on it. We had a Chevy Silverado 150. The difference the F250 made is unbelievable. When we are completely loaded to go camping I'm guessing our total weight is around 13,000 to 15,000#s. The truck doesn't even know the camper is back there. Particularly when the truck is going about 55 to 65 it is smooth sailing. No sway from semis, nothing. Love it.

Contrary to many of the opinions on here, the Ford 6.0 is a good engine...in 2007 model ;-). When ford introduced that engine in 2004, they had so many problems that people couldn't keep them on the road. 2005 wasn't much better either. 2006 saw drastic improvements, but still had some minor issues. You can google all the class action lawsuits against ford for this engine for more info. However, the 2007 version of the 6.0 was/is a great engine! They corrected all the major problems with the motor and made it something that is easy to own. But alas, right about the time they got it right, new emission standards had to be implemented and thus the 6.4...then the 6.7. I've not seen a problematic 6.0 make it for 265K miles. I think the price is a tad high, but I wouldn't have any hesitations on the engine. Problem with the high miles is not the engine, but everything else on the truck...trans, shocks, axles, bearings, etc.

If you want to be real serious, get the older 7.3. But good luck finding one. I would sell you my 7.3 for the same price as the 2007 you're looking at...and not a penny less ;-)

The 7.3 liter Ford Powerstroke diesel was discontinued in 2003. The 7.3 Powerstroke was a very well regarded diesel engine. Ford lovers seem to want a heavy premium for the 7.3 Powerstroke diesel because the 6.0 liter Powerstroke diesel engines that replaced them were so fraught with problems. There is no way I would own a 6.0 liter Powerstroke diesel engine... I simply do not enjoy being stranded in the middle of no where looking at a huge repair cost. There are upgrades you can spend a good amount of money on to supposedly make the 6.0 Powertroke a reliable engine. Many believe that the 6.0 Powerstroke is simply a bad engine and even after doing the upgrades it still has a considerably higher chance of breaking down and leaving you stranded than than a Dodge Cummins or GM/Chevy Duramax of the same vintage. To sum it up... If the 6.0 Liter Powerstroke diesels were horses they would simply be shot to put them out of their misery!

The Dodge Cummins diesel engines generally have an excellent reputation. The Cummins engines in Dodges are straight 6 (Six cylinders lined up in a row) engines vs everybody else's V8 diesel engines. A car person might think that a V8 is better than a straight 6 engine but in this case the straight 6 Cummins engine is simply an all round better engine. My major concern with the Dodge / Cummins combo is that when they get up into the 150K - 200K mileage range there is a very good chance that the automatic transmissions they are paired with will need to be rebuilt. So if you are looking at an older Dodge Cummins diesel truck with an automatic transmissions it would probably be prudent to figure that you will probably have to put a few thousand dollars into rebuilding the transmission. If you don't mind a manual transmission then you probably don't need to have this same concern. A Dodge Cummins engine running for a million miles with no major engine issues is not even notable because they frequently run this long without issues when taken care of well.

When I was shopping for a used tow vehicle around the price range you are looking in I did a lot of research and zeroed in on 2006 / 2007 Chevy or GMC Duramax diesels. I consider the Duramax almost as good of an engine as the Cummins BUT the 6 speed Allison automatic transmissions mated to the Duramax diesel engine is much more rugged than anything available from Dodge or Ford of this same vintage.

The 2006/2007 Duramax is sought after for several reasons. In 2006 GM made the internals of the Duramax even stronger than the previous excellent Duramax engines. In 2006 the Duramax bumped up the torque and horse power output of the Duramax considerably. In 2006 GM switched from the excellent Allison 5 speed transmission to the even more excellent Allison 6 speed transmission. By 2006 GM had worked pretty much all the quirks and weaknesses of the Duramax engine.

In the second half 2007 GM added emission control equipment to the Duramax engine to meet new emissions standards. The heart of this equipment was a filter in the exhaust stream that would filter out the unburnt diesel particles (The heavy black smoke diesel engines are so famous for). This filter gets backed up with these unburnt diesel particles by design. Also by design diesel fuel from the fuel tank is periodically injected directly into this clogged filter which has the affect of burning off the unburnt diesel particles and unclogging this filter. This system works very well BUT this extra step of injecting diesel fuel into this filter burns extra fuel and lowers the over all fuel economy of the truck by a few points. This is why the 2006 / early 2007 Duramax diesels are sought after. A few years later GM, Ford and Dodge all added a filter in the exhaust stream that uses an Urea fluid to reduce NOx emissions due to updated emissions standards. This means that there is an extra tank that carries the Urea that has to be periodically refilled in all of the late model diesel pickups regardless of manufacture.

I have a 3/4 ton (2500 series) Chevy Duramax. Specifically in the GM/Chevy Duramax diesel pickup trucks the only difference between the 3/4 ton 2500 series trucks and the 1 ton single rear wheel 3500 series trucks is a single spring leaf in the spring pack on the rear axle. All other aspects of the 2500/3500 series Duramax trucks are identical. I do not believe this is true of the 2500/3500 gasoline engine powered trucks. My 3/4 ton truck is more than capable of handling the trailer in my signature. If I ever need the additional capacity of a 1 ton 3500 series truck I can add a spring to the rear spring pack or add air bags to the rear axle for additional capacity.

Specific model year trucks / engines have specific weaknesses. BUT the most important factor in determining the life of any truck with 100K+ miles on it is how well the previous owners took care of the truck. The best designed/engineered trucks WILL have issues if the owners to not properly maintain the truck!

Good luck in your hunt for a pickup to tow your trailer!

Yeah I would look for pre mid 2007 to avoid all the DPF stuff. Since I RV in Mexico a lot that is especially important as there is no ULSD yet. Be careful of the 2003, 2004 Duramax. Injectors are the big issue there and it.s $5500 to change them. The issue is not the injectors but fuel filtration. You need to put in a lift pump and double filtration like the FASS system to avoid that issue. A good idea with any diesel actually. A dually will give you much more stability. I would also look at GM or Dodge & avoid Ford unless you go older and get a 7.3 in good condition.

A 2009 will have the 6.4L. Much more reliable than the 6.0, but if it does have a problem it can be more expensive. But... The 6.4L uses just as much fuel as the V10, and they both pull just as well at least up to about 5,000 ft. But the V10 is worry-free reliable.

BTW - do your research into the emissions systems on the newer diesels. High milage may be ok for the motors, but the emissions systems can be very expensive to repair.

Saying the Ford 6 liter had it share of problems is like saying the ocean might be wet.

The engine is only rated for so many miles per Ford. Its great that it lasted this long.
For older diesel check out a Duramax or Cummins.

thanks everyone! I'm of the female side of the species & hardly understood what all that engine talk meant! haha! But I had some hesitations regarding this vehicle & I appreciate the reassurance! We were also looking at an F350, I found one in the area that is a 2009 for 18,900 with 185K on it- seems like a great price for the vehicle, although we would ideally like to pay less than that for a truck. Hopefully it's not too good to be true!

Agree above.. 6.0l Ford engine can be problematic if you are not up to speed on all necessary modifications to bullet proof the engine.

2008 introduces the 6.4l, this is a better engine, but has a Diesel Particulate Filter and regen cycle, which uses unburned diesel to clean a particulate filter. You can remove the DPF and tune out the cycle, which makes it a much better engine. Lots of modifications can still be done to make this a better engine.

2011 and up has a new engine again... the 6.7l.

There are a LOT of dealers in my part of the country that will not take a 6.0l in on trade, or sell, due to the potential problems with the 6.0l.

The moral however, is be aware of what you are getting in to, and be prepared to make the recommended upgrades and perform the maintenance required.

I have an '08 F250 with a deleted DPF and DPF cycle tuned out. I haul at the bumper about 8,500lbs. I wouldn't hesitate to haul a bit more, maybe 10,500lbs, but that would be about it. My 08 F250 is rated for 12,500lb with a weight distributing hitch. 16,900 for a 5th wheel.

Buy more truck than you need.. I'd be looking at a F350 dually as well.

Oh wow, where to start...13k is too much weight for a 250, no matter what the owner says. You need a350, preferably with duallies (although srw should handle that). As for the truck, too many miles, imo. Lots of similar trucks around BECAUSE...that had the famous (or infamous) 6.0 liter Powerstroke, which had its share of problems. Those problems have now been identified and can be remedied if necessary, at which point you will have a towing beast, but you need to learn how and what to look for, to avoid or fix the problem areas. There is no shortage of information here and at other sources if you're wiling to learn. If you can work on it yourself, great,.if not, it could run from a couple thousands to 4 or 5 to fix. Then again, you might find one that has not had problems, or has already been "bulletproofed". You need to educate yourself about this engine if you're considering buying one.

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

Lots of people are Ford guys, I'm not. Really rough quick search on NADA web site implies thqt price is in the right ballpark, but, wow! 35K miles year is a lot. My truck is a daily driver with a 50 mile round trip commute and I am only putting on 15K a year.
This should start some battles!