The International version of the Ford 6.0L is the VT365, it actually has HIGER MEP than the Ford varient and ZERO HG or headbolt issues.
In almost every case, a leaking HG in a VT365 can be followed back to an overheat, low coolant or overspeed event. Not EVERY case mind you, but nearly so.
The EGR coolers are only an issue because of contamination in the coolant that restritcs flow thru the oil and EGR coolers causing abnormally high temperatures in the EGR cooler leading to boiling of the coolant (puking).
Another wonderful thing is when the injectors are not completely torqued in the head causing the injector tubes to leak combustion into the cooling system. Again, often misdiagnosed as a bad HG, head, EGR cooler etc. Great.
No engine, gas or diesel will operate "a couple of hundred thousand miles without any major expense", well at least not the mosts of them. Parts fail, it does NOT mean they are defective, it may be, but more likely the part wore out. Wear is inevitable and the more parts you put into a vehicle (emissions, power locks, etc) the more opportunity for failure you have.
If companies made SIMPLE vehicles that were reliable, no one would buy them because they would be underpowered, plain and you'd not get power locks, power steering, AC or a fancy radio with MP3 inputs. The cost of all these features is more opportunity for failure and unfortunately sometimes with a big bill.
I have a 95 ford Escort with 224,000 miles on it. It has never had the head off and other than a timing belt it has required only regular maintenance items. I have a 95 Chevy extended cab 2 wheel drive 350 v8 automatic with 195,000 miles on it that I use as a farm truck. Pretty much the same experience, although it did need an alternator at around 140,000 miles. My daughter-inlaw drives a Chevy S-10 with a 4.3 that is showing 314,000 miles on the odometer, no major problems. The guys that built my pole barn have Ford V-10's 2 of them, one has 420,000+ miles on it and the other one has 345,000 on it, no major problems. I don't consider an couple hundred bucks to get an alternator or a water pump replaced a major problem, and I know belt tensioner pully bearings (sealed for life
) and such are to be expected, although my escort has neede neither of those things, but my neighbor spent $2800 to get his transmission replaced....twice on his $45,000 Deisel truck at less than 120,000 miles, when it went out for the third time with the exact same problem, he traded it in on another brand. He pulled only a 10 foot utility trailer to do craft shows with his wife. It is the same size as the one I pull with my 4 cylinder Sonoma.
You might expect sand in your castings in a 4 wheel drive Chinees made tractor that costs $5000, although I havent found any in mine yet, but if I were to pay 10 times that much I think it is reasonable to expect better quality.
I don't consider failure of power locks or a CD player to be a big deal, but when people have to dig in their pockets to come up with thousands of dollars to keep a low mileage almost new $50,000 trucks motor or transmission operating, that is just wrong.
People will buy the plain vehicles if they have a chance and perhaps have a limited budget. Dealers don't order them that way because there is much less profit in them. They don't have much interest in selling them. My dealer had to do a dealer trade with a dealer 400 miles away to find a one ton dually extended cab 8' box, stripped down the way I like them. Diesel engine, automatic transmission, rubber floor mats, crank up windows, cruise control, tilt wheel, trailer towing package and the simplest radio/cd that was offered. (I rarely use it).
Doing so allowed me to buy a truck for $29,000 that looks identical to the $44,000 trucks that were parked next to it when I picked it up, yet when I use it to do truck things it does the same job. I am doing without $15,000 worth of "fluff". I origionaly wanted a standard transmission but nobody could find me one anywhere.
I have limited resources, the money I saved by not buying all the extra "fluff" paid for Harley Softail Nightrain and my 4 wheel drive tractor.
To each his own, but I have seen many newer (1990-2009) high mileage vehicles of various manufactures that have required zero major mechanical repairs in 200,000 miles. Perhaps my expectations are unreasonable, but that is what I base my purchasing decisions on when buying the best the manufacturer has to offer.
