I owned an 04 F350 6.0 that I purchased in 07 with 100,000 km on it and just got rid of it at 370,000 km when the head gaskets went for the second time two weeks ago. Once I had the truck, synthetic oil was changed every 8,000 km, fuel filters every 24,000 and all scheduled maintenance was done. Despite these expenses, it was the most unreliable and expensive to operate vehicle I have ever owned.
It had already had the EGR cooler and turbo replaced under warranty when I bought it but the EGR cooler failed again at 150,000 km and after it was replaced I still had a coolant leak so just before the end of the 160,000 km warranty the heads were removed and the gaskets replaced. I tried to get ARP head studs installed at that time but my dealer service manager (he has since been let go) refused to install them because Ford was paying for the head gasket job. The alternator failed a few thousand kilometers later and FYI there is no warning light or other indication that there is a problem. First the radio and instrumentation stopped working, a few minutes later the power windows and locks quit and withing ten minutes the F350 was dead on the shoulder. At 240,000 km the EGR cooler failed again and rather then spend $4,000 to replace it I put the truck on a trailer and towed it to River City Diesel. They are great guys and in one day they deleted the EGR cooler, replaced the oil cooler, replaced the factory down pipe, installed boost, EGT and trans temp gauges, installed a new 4" exhaust system front to back, a coolant filter with fresh coolant and an SCT tuner.
The truck ran better than ever for about a year and then the FICM went and a few months later I had a rough idle at start up which was diagnosed as being two bad fuel injectors - one on each bank. In August of 2011 at 320,000 km I made a deal with the dealer to replace all 8 injectors at the same time due to the mileage on the truck and the labour cost in getting at the injectors. During the injector replacement they discovered some pin hole leaks in the rad so I had it replaced and the coolant changed. The intention was to get another 150,000 km and three years out of the truck so I could trade my Kubota
B26 and upgrade to an
L45. The truck ran fine through the winter so in April I upgraded to the Kubota
L45.
The truck continued to run fine until about 350,000 km when I noticed that the auxiliary cooling fan was running more often and under lighter loads than it should. I took it in to have the clutch fan replaced and they reported that I had a 30 degree difference between my coolant and engine oil temperature also so despite having a coolant filter in place for 110,000 kms the oil cooler had to be replaced again. Less than a month later lower power was traced to a failing HPOP (High Pressure Oil Pump) so that had to be replaced. I took the truck in at 368,000 for an oil change, brake job and inspection sticker plus a slow coolant leak. It turns out despite all the times the coolant had been changed in my engine the front cover had corroded so that had to be replaced. I drove the truck for four days after this work was done and going up a hill the engine started to vibrate and when I pulled to the shoulder I could tell it wasn't firing on all eight cylinders. The diagnosis the next day was head gasket blown on number three and $4,500 to do the head gaskets. Having spent $7,000 since May, I decided to stop the financial bleeding and get a new truck.
I have driven exclusively Chevy and GMC trucks since 1976 and I don't think all of their repair bills totaled together would equal the repair costs of my 6.0 litre F350 and have put 300,000 km or more on a couple of my GM products. That being said, when it ran well the F350 was a great truck for towing and hauling heavy loads which I have done a lot of over the last few years. I went shopping for a replacement truck and I looked at Dodge and GM but in the end I have purchased a new 2012 F250. I wanted an F350 but no crew cab long boxes were left so I purchased an F250 and will upgrade the rear springs. I wanted to keep my costs down but I too have heard horror stories about the cost of servicing out of warranty 6.4 litre engines and so far the 6.7 seems to be a good motor. I can tell you with less than 600 km on the odometer it is head and shoulders above my 04 F350 in terms of comfort, performance and towing ability in stock form. Hopefully it will prove to be reliable over the long haul but as others have suggested, unless you can do a lot of your own work and don't mind riding in tow trucks buy the extended warranty for your 6.0 or 6.4 or trade them before the warranty expires.
Regards,
Lauren
