6.0 Powerstroke question

[jerem0621]

Looked at a 05 PSD with 185k miles

Motor starts great from cold without any misses or hiccups... No smoke boiling out of the tailpipe. Degas bottle looked clean and the coolant looked good. Truck ran good... Batteries were dead as it has been pretty cold so they had to be jumped off before I could start it. FICM concern there I suppose.

Drivers side TTY bolts had lines on them indicating that the driver side head had been removed and reinstalled at some point. These lines were not on the passenger side TTY bolts.

I have a decent understanding of these motors but I can't figure out why only one head would be pulled at some time. I thought if a 6.0 popped a HG you pulled both heads and did both at the same time.

Any idea why ford would have replaced just one HG?

Mostly just curious... I'm a gasser at heart but for $11,900 for a crew cab XLT F250 Short Bed 2wd... With a perfect body and interior...I'm at least curious...

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[Flashman]

shum02 wrote:

T diesel wrote:
With that mileage injectors are not far off.
You will need a water pump soon.
The front end with that mileage is suspect.
stc fitting changed to the new upgrade?
How's the alternator?
$5000.00 may be light!

You guys really should put a wrench in your hands and turn them once in a while.

First off with any decent SD truck get an OASIS report run. That will at least during it's warranty period show any work done to the truck.

Oasis reports are next to useless.

I sold my Chrysler 300C on craigslist. The buyer came over and ran an Oasis report - it missed the fact that the car had been submerged in a lake and required and engine and transmission replacement - all done at the dealer.

To claim a Oasis report on a Ford 6.0 with it's record of problems is a catchall would be disingenuous at best.

Water pumps - again even if a coolant change has only been done once in that mileage it's more than likely good and if not....well they don't cost $500 each and are doable by a decent shade tree mechanic.

Front end - well even the SD's front end parts don't last forever. Just did the upper and lower BJ's and U-joints on mine this past summer along with outer tie rods. A lot of work but I would not have paid someone else to do it.

Alternator - Reman's cost about $120 and take all of a half hour to R&R. The truck loves batteries and alt's

Really I'd only buy ANY used diesel from any of the 3 manufactures if and only if I had deep pockets OR don't mind turning a wrench.

If you don't have or like to do those things buy a gasser or buy a new truck. It's just not possible to buy a used diesel truck and not have to look forward to repairs and maintenance.

[shum02]

T diesel wrote:
With that mileage injectors are not far off.
You will need a water pump soon.
The front end with that mileage is suspect.
stc fitting changed to the new upgrade?
How's the alternator?
$5000.00 may be light!

You guys really should put a wrench in your hands and turn them once in a while.

First off with any decent SD truck get an OASIS report run. That will at least during it's warranty period show any work done to the truck.

Water pumps - again even if a coolant change has only been done once in that mileage it's more than likely good and if not....well they don't cost $500 each and are doable by a decent shade tree mechanic.

Front end - well even the SD's front end parts don't last forever. Just did the upper and lower BJ's and U-joints on mine this past summer along with outer tie rods. A lot of work but I would not have paid someone else to do it.

Alternator - Reman's cost about $120 and take all of a half hour to R&R. The truck loves batteries and alt's

Really I'd only buy ANY used diesel from any of the 3 manufactures if and only if I had deep pockets OR don't mind turning a wrench.

If you don't have or like to do those things buy a gasser or buy a new truck. It's just not possible to buy a used diesel truck and not have to look forward to repairs and maintenance.

[mabynack]

T diesel wrote:
A 6.0 is a VERY expensive******shoot.
If you can put $5000.00 aside for the inevitable,
I guess it's a life lesson for you! 😉
Enjoy this tutorial.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvi6KcOHcCg

I searched the web and found a site that documented the legal issues between Navistar and Ford over the 6.0. The press release said that Ford spent more per vehicle to repair the 6.0 than any other engine they've ever released. The average cost per vehicle for warrantee was about $1000. The problems were bad enough that Ford curtailed their contract with Navistar for the remaining undelivered engines and stopped doing business with them.

The troubles with my 2005 Powerstroke started at about 95,000 miles and were only apparent when towing in the mountains. When towing up a hill most of the coolant blew out of the degas bottle.

There are companies like "Bulletproof Diesel" and sinister diesel that are making a lot of money building replacement parts for this engine. The information that you're hearing about the problems isn't just confined to a few trucks, it's a documented fact that this engine is prone to expensive failures even if you baby it.

[Flashman]

T diesel wrote:
A 6.0 is a VERY expensive******shoot.
If you can put $5000.00 aside for the inevitable,
I guess it's a life lesson for you! 😉
Enjoy this tutorial.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvi6KcOHcCg

Great youtube - couldn't stop laughing.

[T_diesel]

With that mileage injectors are not far off.
You will need a water pump soon.
The front end with that mileage is suspect.
stc fitting changed to the new upgrade?
How's the alternator?
$5000.00 may be light!

[Big_Katuna]

My co workers 6.0 needed new heads. His bill about a year ago was about $6K.

[Bird_Freak]

Big Katuna wrote:
Does the $2500 price include new heads?

No, why should it? They are normally not needed and Ford is not the only place to buy parts.

[transamz9]

shum02 wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
Does the $2500 price include new heads?

Why? Heads are not the problem but the bolts holding them down can be if you chip it and run the shi*e out of it - they can stretch. 170k miles on mine and zero issues with the heads.

They love NEW batteries and the bigger the better 🙂 Just installed my 3rd set a few weeks ago, perks the truck right up.

The biggest problem with the truck the OP is buying is he knows nothing about it. If it has an OE EGR cooler,oil cooler,HPOP and SCT fitting. You are not going to change that stuff for $2500. The complete head gasket set from Ford with all the other gaskets needed is $750 alone. Oil cooler? $500.EGR cooler? The problem is he is looking at the unknown. This truck has a lot of miles on it. If it doesn't have a coolant filter installed you don't know the damage that could or has occurred.

Unless you do all the work yourself labor around here is $110 per hour. Most shops remove the cab to do the head gaskets.

[shum02]

Big Katuna wrote:
Does the $2500 price include new heads?

Why? Heads are not the problem but the bolts holding them down can be if you chip it and run the shi*e out of it - they can stretch. 170k miles on mine and zero issues with the heads.

They love NEW batteries and the bigger the better 🙂 Just installed my 3rd set a few weeks ago, perks the truck right up.

[Big_Katuna]

Does the $2500 price include new heads?

[Bird_Freak]

Greene728 wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:

Greene728 wrote:
Jeremiah
I just traded a 05 in with only 93725 miles. Yes, it was a good truck that I kinda hated to part ways with. But the truck was about to need some serious work that I just couldn't justify spending the cash on for a 10yr old truck and the hx of these motors and my different driving/towing needs. As other poster stated, if babied and taken care of they are great when running well. But the list of problems with the 6.0 is just to great to ignore. I know there's plenty out there with many miles and little to no problems. But, they are much fewer than the ones who have had em. Essentially your rolling the dice. The price of this truck with the equipment it has and the mileage is also a tad steep IMHO. My truck was in excellent condition inside and out and a lariat, CC, 4x4, FX4 package and only the miles stated earlier, and I think the dealer I traded at is only asking slightly more than 19k. I know I rambled on a lot here and most likely told you stuff you already knew. But having one and recently trading it I thought I'd chime in. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Could you please post where you got the information as to how many had problems verses those that did not to back up this statement.
I have heard this a few times but wonder where this real info came from. Or did it? Just curious.

Respectfully, my post was to hopefully give the op some potentiality useful information having owned and recently sold a vehicle similar to what he was looking at. Not to derail a thread and get into one of these long winded debates on statistics or what I heard things. Google is your friend.

I could not agree with you more and I still own one of these. My point was to try not to scare the OP with inflated repair prices when it can be done for half of what a lot of people post now.

[Greene728]

Bird Freak wrote:

Greene728 wrote:
Jeremiah
I just traded a 05 in with only 93725 miles. Yes, it was a good truck that I kinda hated to part ways with. But the truck was about to need some serious work that I just couldn't justify spending the cash on for a 10yr old truck and the hx of these motors and my different driving/towing needs. As other poster stated, if babied and taken care of they are great when running well. But the list of problems with the 6.0 is just to great to ignore. I know there's plenty out there with many miles and little to no problems. But, they are much fewer than the ones who have had em. Essentially your rolling the dice. The price of this truck with the equipment it has and the mileage is also a tad steep IMHO. My truck was in excellent condition inside and out and a lariat, CC, 4x4, FX4 package and only the miles stated earlier, and I think the dealer I traded at is only asking slightly more than 19k. I know I rambled on a lot here and most likely told you stuff you already knew. But having one and recently trading it I thought I'd chime in. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Could you please post where you got the information as to how many had problems verses those that did not to back up this statement.
I have heard this a few times but wonder where this real info came from. Or did it? Just curious.

Respectfully, my post was to hopefully give the op some potentiality useful information having owned and recently sold a vehicle similar to what he was looking at. Not to derail a thread and get into one of these long winded debates on statistics or what I heard things. Google is your friend.

[Bird_Freak]

T diesel wrote:
A 6.0 is a VERY expensive******shoot.
If you can put $5000.00 aside for the inevitable,
I guess it's a life lesson for you! 😉
Enjoy this tutorial.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvi6KcOHcCg

Who are you paying $5K? Send it here and I can have the local shop bullit proof and put the other $2,500 in my pocket.

[mudfuel07]

The chicken littles of the world always come out on these threads! I would buy it and beat it like a red-headed step child! Change the oil, put a coolant filter on it and run it hard. The only flag I see is the dead batteries. The could signal a FICM problem later down the road.

[T_diesel]

A 6.0 is a VERY expensive******shoot.
If you can put $5000.00 aside for the inevitable,
I guess it's a life lesson for you! 😉
Enjoy this tutorial.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvi6KcOHcCg