What Would You Do?

[DMas]

Would like a little advice from the group, but don't want to start a war. We currently own a 2003 Ford F350 dually with the notorious 6.0L diesel with a standard 6 speed transmission. I have put a lot of time (and money) into setting this truck up to haul our Lance 1161. It also serves as my daily driver. It has 85K miles on it. One of the reasons for the low mileage is the amount of time it spends in the shop!

Without getting into all of the details, the truck has been unreliable to say the least - EGR, head gaskets and bolts, ficm, hpop, rear wheel bearings, the list goes on and on. Once again, it is in the shop. It died on my way to work last week. Had it towed to the shop (again) and received a call that afternoon that it started and ran fine, No codes had been thrown, everything check out. The tech and I decided that he should keep it to see if he could replicate the condition. So far, nothing.

So, I would just like to start a friendly discussion as to what I should do. I have totally lost confidence in this truck. Most times that it failed, I was fairly close to home - but if this continues to happen on the road, say, in the middle of nowhere, what then? It has happened before and was not pleasant. I could tell some stories.....

Anyway, when do I cut and run? Do I abandon Ford completely and buy a new Ram with a Cummins and a 6 speed? What would you do? I'm open to suggestions. Sorry for the long rant.

[6pac]

Our 2cents worth ....we 've owned Ford , Dodge , and Chevys . By far the Chevy Duramax is the best on the market . The Ford we replaced the transmission at 100k. The Dodge we replaced the transmission not once but 4times ,twice with the dealer warranty and twice with us ,once with AAMCO ,once with the Dodge dealer in Washington state . Our 2001 had 178k on it when we traded it in 2006 . We only did the service required on it . The 2006 has served us well ,wheel bearings only, it has 176k now and we hope to have it for a long time to come

[devildog1971]

I have a dodge with cummins and six speed manual 4x4 130 thousand miles so far I just replaced the clutch and a hub bearing other than that just brakes a set of batteries and oil changes. this is my third dodge the first dodge had 750 thousand miles on it it was used as a farm truck the last few years before I sold it and it is still running for the new owner

[MTBob]

covered wagon wrote:

MTBob wrote:
Oh, boy, this gets me into a rant...
I agree with a number of other posts, the newer diesels are problematic. I have a 2008/1 ton/SWR/Allison Trans. that runs great... until the dam exhaust filter plugs up. Happened to me at a state park when I had to launch the boat every day for about 3 days in a row, for about 1/4 mile each time, at idle... that's all it took and it went into full limp mode... in the mountains with a truck camper on top and a boat behind... what a joke. Didn't even know that they put FILTERS on the exhaust system of new trucks... you gotta be kidding!!! After two days in a dealers shop and a few screaming sessions with GM about air pollution while I'm driving in a cloud of forest fire smoke so thick you couldn't see a 1/4 mile and their desire to run from their warranty, I finally got them to pay for the filter cleaning (a gallon of Simple Green in the filter is what they used) while under warranty ($600!!!). As soon as its out of warranty, I'm ripping that god awful filter out.
Exhaust filters on diesel trucks is one of the absolutely dumbest ideas I've ever seen - particularly when a computer decides to arbitrarily render the truck useless.
I love my other truck, a Dodge 98 3/4 ton, 12 cyl Cummins, stick. Now that's a real truck.
MTBob

Bob,I think you meant 12 valve.

Yup, this rant got me so flustered I gave my beloved Cummins twice the displacement. :B

[JimBollman]

Probably not a reasonable thing to do if you have to hire it done but I ran into a fellow a couple of years ago that loved the Ford Super Duties but hated the 6.0. He had converted 2 and was gathering parts to do a third. He drops Cummins in them with a kit he said cost around $3k. Of course you have to find the engine to go with the kit. Said it makes the best truck on the market.

When I was looking I decided I wanted a 7.3 for reliability and spent some time to find just the combination I wanted, a 2000 F250 6speed. Did have problems when a clutch spring let loose and jammed the clutch but been happy in general with the truck. I started looking for what I bought when I discovered that standard cab, 2WD, 6speed SD were not much more than the equivalent gas truck,not many made not many people want them. Of course diesel was cheaper than gas then. Since I don't really need this much power the majority of the time I would probably go gas today.

[redink]

Dump it. If you are asking it's probably time, go with your instinct. As an owner of multiple quick lube locations, the 6.0 has the most complaints from our customers. My 08 6.4 has been great, only a leaky radiator hose in 67,000 miles and that was covered under the 100,000 mile engine warranty. Also 3,500 miles in baja with who knows waht kind of fuel being put in. I do change my oil, all synthetics, and fuel filters before and after going and change the gear box and trans fluids way more than Ford recommends. One advantage to getting parts at cost and having free labor.

[zb39]

My newer Ram has had no issues in 2 years. Love it. Planning a trip right now actually.

[Lantley]

At this point you need to bite the bullet and trade it in. The 6.0 has been problem plagued from the start. Cut your losses now.
You could consider the bullet proof mods however for me that $5k could go towards the new truck vs. trying to fix the issues that the factory never properly addressed in the first place.

[ecoast]

I would hate having had to put ANY substantial repair $$$ into it @ 85k miles, never mind spending 5k+ to 'bulletproof' something that should work correctly in the first place in it's stock configuration... !

have you not had enough problems yet? in a supposed DD?

it's not going to get 'better', you know?

I guess we can't always come out smelling like a rose in life, so it may be time to take your losses and go in a different direction.

[Photomike]

You are having the opposite problem that I am having. My truck runs great and I cannot see ever getting rid of it (even with me wanting a couple of additional things - power windows and 4 doors).

When would I? As soon as it is not reliable any more, then it is gone.

A non reliable vehicle is asking for problems in so many ways.

[RandACampin]

Get a Chevy

[cewillis]

DMas wrote:

Anyway, when do I cut and run?

Now.

[wintersun]

I would not want a vehicle that I had to worry about breaking down anywhere much less with a camper in the bed and many miles from home. I would also never choose a heavy diesel powered truck as my daily driver with the poor fuel economy and with diesel costing more than premium grade gasoline.

Unless you are towing a very heavy 5th wheel trailer there is no reason to have a diesel engine. A gas engine with a 4.10 rear end is going to do the job equally well 99% of the time. A diesel for a camper and most towing is a nice to have and not a need to have item.

My daily driver is a 45 MPG Prius that uses regular grade gas. The Duramax truck is used to haul large stuff that will not fit in these cars and to haul a camper and for towing. The choice of the diesel engine was to get greater range from a tankful of gas when "camping" in the western USA and even then the 36 gallon capacity is marginal and I will be changing out the factory tank for an Aero 52 gallon tank next month.

[campingken]

If you like new, and it would work fo what you haul and/or tow, I'd go with either the Ford 6.2 with the 4.33 or the GM 6.0 with a 4:10 rear end. New diesels are just too expensive and complicated.

[Road_Runners]

I am one who owns a 2005 F-250 PSD that was bought new. It has had problems, but they were all fixed under warranty. Right now I have 84,000 miles on it. It is used almost exclusively to pull our fifth wheel.

I figure if I ever have problems with this truck I will just fix it with the new mods. I looked at the price of new trucks and decided that I can do a lot of fixing for just what I would lose in one year depreciation on a new truck.

[covered_wagon]

MTBob wrote:
Oh, boy, this gets me into a rant...
I agree with a number of other posts, the newer diesels are problematic. I have a 2008/1 ton/SWR/Allison Trans. that runs great... until the dam exhaust filter plugs up. Happened to me at a state park when I had to launch the boat every day for about 3 days in a row, for about 1/4 mile each time, at idle... that's all it took and it went into full limp mode... in the mountains with a truck camper on top and a boat behind... what a joke. Didn't even know that they put FILTERS on the exhaust system of new trucks... you gotta be kidding!!! After two days in a dealers shop and a few screaming sessions with GM about air pollution while I'm driving in a cloud of forest fire smoke so thick you couldn't see a 1/4 mile and their desire to run from their warranty, I finally got them to pay for the filter cleaning (a gallon of Simple Green in the filter is what they used) while under warranty ($600!!!). As soon as its out of warranty, I'm ripping that god awful filter out.
Exhaust filters on diesel trucks is one of the absolutely dumbest ideas I've ever seen - particularly when a computer decides to arbitrarily render the truck useless.
I love my other truck, a Dodge 98 3/4 ton, 12 cyl Cummins, stick. Now that's a real truck.
MTBob

Bob,I think you meant 12 valve.

Anyway I can't agree more with the above statement. I own 2 of these and won't trade em till they rot into the ground. The 2nd gen took about 6 k to build up to a reliable point and the 1st gen is so old, so full of reliable free miles.... I married the thing.:)