Ford 6.0 diesel; the good, the bad, the ugly?

[groundcover]

I would have the 6.0 before the 6.4 any day of the week. Had the choice of ordering the 7.3 or the “ new and improved” 6.0 with more power. Last time I’ll fall for that ! Each year of the 6.0 had it’s quirks, after delete and tune it’s been fine.

 

[dodge man]

I owned a 2004 Cummins for several years. Had a 150,000 mikes when I traded it in. Solid drive train while I owned. The truck was just ok. Rust was an issue and wind noise was bad. My general take on trucks from that era, they just aren’t that great compared to newer truck, but for your use, just a little bit of use each year,probably serve your purpose. The problem with diesels is if there is a major problem, it’s expensive, injectors or a injector pump being very expensive.

I always remember a guy on the Cummins Forum posting his expenses for his truck. His was a 2004 2 wheel drive dually as I recall. He put a lot of money into the truck, but he was a hot shoter a put a lot of miles on it, so the cost per mile was really good. He had some 900,000 miles on it when an injector over fueled and he needed a new engine.

 

[Gunny]

If they're only asking $6900 for it, I'd let it sit, something doesn't smell right. The Ford 6.0 can be a very good engine, but they take a lot of flak because you only hear about the bad ones.

They are maintenance intensive, which a lot of people don't keep up with. Fluid changes must be done on schedule or the results will get into your checking account real quick. Some of these engines have gone over 500K miles, some blow at 80K. Oil has to be changed at 7500 miles or less, fuel filters have to be changed every other oil change. If it throws a check engine light, it shouldn't be ignored to see if it will go away. They really don't like short trip driving, it's hard on the turbo, the batteries and they don't like to idled for long periods.

I inherited mine from a relative, it's almost completely stock other than the EGR delete and a coolant filter. I've done a few preemptive modifications to it to hopefully prevent a major blow up, maybe to the tune of $300 or $400 worth of outlay. They also need to monitored so you can shut it down if you see something not right.

Mine currently has a little over 118K on it and the only thing I've really had to do to it other than fluids and filters is one glow plug, which cost a whopping $10.

In other words it's not an engine for a casual user, short trips will kill it slowly, it needs to be taken care of - so for a large percentage of the drivers out there, it's not the one they need or want.

The 7.3 is a pretty good engine and doesn't require near the amount of preemptive care the 6.0 does.

Ford also put some V10 gasoline engines in those trucks, seems most of them had manual transmissions, but they're hard to find and you wouldn't believe how fast they can drain a gas tank.

I'd suggest a F350 with the 6.2 gas engine in it.

 

[Rock Crawler]

The 6.7l is where you want to start with Ford. The 7.3L is great, I just sold mine... But it's far under powered today, even with a +100 hp tune in it.

The 6.0L PSD is not just some dailies as someone above claims. The extreme strong majority of them had it will be expensively problematic. To fully head it off, $400 might order the ARP head studs... But that's just warming up. You need much more.... And much more cash to get in front of that mess.

That is likely the single most horrible engine design ever released. I can't think of an engine that had a higher failure rate.

 

[Bigkrank]

 

[Rock Crawler]

View attachment 633849View attachment 633850

Yep. My buddy Glenn is a Ford diesel tech. I used to go up to the dealership on Sundays during the 6.0L era/hayday while the dealership was closed and we would pull 3 6.0L Superduty trucks in on Sunday morning and in 8 hours have all 3 trucks with cabs in the air and be started on stripping the accessories to pull heads.

The dealership stocked ARP head stud kits and Innovative Diesel Performance modified EGR manifolds and blocker plates. As fast as he could pull cabs, more trucks were brought in.

Eric and his dad Ted at Innovative Diesel were one of the very first to pioneer the hardware fixes for that turd.

I've worked on more 6-leakers than I could count. Despise that thing, an embarrassment to Ford and International.

 

[goeduck]

Who ultimately was to blame for the crappy 6.0 design, Ford for directing International or International for trying to shave costs or rush an engine out? I thought the bottom end came from bus engines and was a solid platform?

 

[STERLING351]

I have a 7.3 and a 6.0. I love my old 7.3 but the ride and cab noise is crap compared to the 2005+ 6.0's. My 7.3 has been solid only replaced the water pump and batteries, but now the torque converter is going out. My 6.0 have been a great truck im the 2nd owner. The previous owner had it bulletproofed (headstuds, egr delete, oil cooler, fuel rail crossover) but it had a High pressure oil leak from the dummy plugs when I got it. I think it was like $160 and a few hours of my time to fix. I would not be afraid to own a 6.0 if the price is right, the ride is great and the transmission is far smoother than the old 4r100. I find most 6.0 haters have never owned one but have heard from a friend who knowns a guy who married another guy that they hate their 6.0. When my dad bought his 6.0 new it had blown a head gasket while under warranty and had the turbo bearings go out but has been good since except for the FICM which went out due to a bad alternator.

 

[crashz]

Anything in that era is getting to be old. My 2003 F450 is a great truck. Love the 7.3 and stick shift. But I've done a lot to it. And it needs more and more. Currently need a dump body and radiator. Its modern enough that repairs are not really easy and not cheap. But its far cheaper that buying new and I just love the old diesel truck smell. Nothing will be cheap, reliable and relatively modern.

If your handy, how about an older 1 ton like a C3500 or F350 from the 80's and 90's? If you can find a southern truck with no rust, the mechanical part is a piece of cake. The only downfall is power. Gas or diesel, neither will keep up with modern traffic.

 

[crashz]

I realize I didn't answer your question either. From what I know, the 6.0 is a strong engine when running well. Once "bulletproofed" (which has a loose definition) it can be reliable, but out of the gate it needs work. From people I know that own these, the ones that have run and maintained their trucks like Gunny have had good service. Daily drivers and poor maintenance have been big issues as well as fuel quality. If you find the right combination of good fuel, fuel lubricant, clean filters, regularly drained fuel bowls, etc you might not have an injector issue.

The 6.4 is just epic. I wonder if it was Navistar's answer to: Can you build a more problematic engine than the 6.0? Yes. Yes we can.