New here / buying 2003 ford diesel

I went from a 5.9 cummins,loved....to a 2000......7.3,all smiles now.....if 7.3,be not afraid....I would not switch.....back.....:W

To this moment, none of us know, including the OP, which engine in is it. I'm dying to know!

What's behind the curtain?

You know, if I would have taken the advise as noted above, I would have "run" from my current truck. Glad i didn't. I bought my 2004 6.0 in 2008 for $16,000. Had 45,000 miles on it. I realized that with the price I paid I had plenty of $$ left over for any potential problems. Well, 5 years later, and a lot of great campin, and with no issues, the truck is still my daily driver as well as pulling our 5er all over the place.

Not worth the risk and most of the time folks that say they never had a problem have under 150K on it.

My work truck is an '03 F-350 with the 6.0 diesel. It's a pile. It starts hard, idles rough, has no power, overheats, etc.
I've always had Chevys for my personal trucks and this company truck only reinforces my brand preference. Do yourself a favor and don't buy a 6.0 Ford diesel.

At my previous job before retirement we had 4 F350's with 6.0's with flatbeds and welders & boxes. All 4 were parked before 100K. Company decided they couldn't afford to maintain them after the warranty ran out. My foremens were stranded on a reg basis and then tow it to the dealer and then had a foreman on the job with no tools or transportation. Turbos on all of them. EGR valve & coolers, head gaskets, and a cracked block. There's a reason there was a class action lawsuit and Ford sued Navistar and on & on. Like I said before if it has not been Bullitproofed, run it's not worth the greif. There are a few and very few that do not have issues. Do you feel lucky??


Glad I have a 7.3

Thanks for the question. Let me start off by saying there are going to be strong opinions on the 6.0 liter PSD. The 03 / 04's had their problems. Do not be afraid of these trucks just because "they all suck" according to the wizards of smart. Other peoples fear is a great opportunity to get a nice truck that will last a long time. Just need to be smart about it.

Things to check for on a used 6.0:
1. Does it have head gasket replaced and new studs installed? If so, you are fine this is the major thing that went wrong with these trucks. If not, that is ok too just go for a test drive and see if the water temperature and the oil temperature are not more then 15 - 20 degrees apart. Also, a really easy test is to simply look at the underside of the hood if it has a bunch of white powder looking stuff everywhere that is dried up antifreeze that has puked out of the overflow. This could be a sign of overheating which is bad, or could be a bad overflow tank cap (The Ford stock cap is junk, only holds to 4-6PSI).

2. Look in the Antifreeze resevour is the coolant green? If yes, I would pass on the truck. ELC coolant turns to sludge in the high temp oil cooler. There is great debate about this, but ELC coolant is proving to be a "good idea at the time" and destroying oil coolers (at least that is what we are seeing).

3. Try to see if the oil cooler has been replaced, either under warranty or after. If it has been replaced that is a good sign. If not, again check the temperature of the coolant and oil while driving. A plugged oil cooler is easy to spot and replace this way.

4. Pull the EGR valve, this is a simple 10 minute procedure. A dirty stuck EGR can cause many issues in any diesel, however, in the 6.0 it is especially bad due to the way the turbo works. The unison ring can get coaked up over time and sieze up in the turbo, EGR maint is a must, or just a simple delete kit to get ride of it all together.

Basically, heat is the issue that kills the 6.0 PSD. Make sure your cooling system is right, and flush the coolant every 30-40k miles and the engines will last for a long time.

I have a 2006 F350 with 69k miles and have had 0 problems. I just do normal maint and I recently installed a Sinister Diesel coolant filter bypass kit, for 130 dollars it seems silly to not have a filter on one of the most important pieces of the engine.

PM me for more info if you have a specific question.

Here is a great YouTube channel with a ton of information.

Powerstrokehelp

I still think a person can come out ahead with a 6.0 when a good 7.3 still sells for 20k keeping in mind that is still a 11+ year old truck at this point. Go find a 6.0 for 12-15k and if you bulletproof it for 5k you end up with more HP, more Torque for the same or less money.

Just because some people are afraid does not make it bad.....

Good Luck!

My brother recently borrowed a 2005 29 foot Class C moho with a 6 litre diesel. It has about 50,000 miles on it. He loved how it ran but had also heard concerns reference the 6 litre diesel.

1. How can one tell if these bullet proof mods have been done.

2. Were they done by Ford on recall?

3. Are there hidden warranties that cover the problems?

4. What are the indications that they are or are not done.

5. How expensive are they and specifically what are they.


Thanks in advance.

The "Bullet Proof" concept is not really specific. In general it refers to Head Gasket replacement with Studs. There is not an easy way to see that specific change. The only way is to look at the bold holding the head on and kind of know what you are looking for. Some other common things that you can see which are good are things like New Intercooler, New Radiator, Coolant Filter Bypass, EGR delete. This is all aftermarket stuff designed to fix some of the issues with the 6.0. A class C motorhome will be on a E series chassis most likely and if that is the case this version of the 6.0 is de-tuned from Ford to generate less heat in the confined space. The best thing you can do if you already own a 6.0 is purchase a ScanGauge II for about 100 dollars and plug it in under the dash into the OBDII port and watch the coolant temperature and oil temperature while you drive. This is the first sign of a clogged oil cooler if those numbers get farther then 20ish degrees apart. The oil temp will always be higher then the water temp. Also, if this motorhome has never had a tune put into it the head gasket and oil cooler are probably fine.

Some dealers will do them Go online to Bullitproof Diesel. It's an aftermarket co here in the Phx area that manufactures the replacement parts to correct the cheap oem parts. They are not cheap.