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

[Peace]

Powerstrokehelp

This guy bullet proofs 6.0 and 6.4L F250's. He use to to have trucks for sale that have been bulletproofed. Usually cost about $35K but the trucks were almost brand new looking after he was done with them.

He guarantees the cylinder heads and head gaskets for the life of the engine, unlimited mileage. He uses stainless steel o-rings around each cylinder. I thought it was kind of pricey until I got a local quote for my 6.0 from a diesel repair shop (not dealer)and it was just about the same at $10k. I only get a 90 day warranty, if I remember correctly and factory style head gaskets. I have 120k miles on mine. Just got the injectors and FICM replaced locally. Bill has an excellent reputation from his customers. When it’s time for head gaskets I suppose I’ll need to take a short vacation in Georgia.

 

[Peace]

Studding and bulletproofing helps, but I still blew one up that had that (was tuned for power) and they can still be expensive when stupid little things fail on the road like injectors and IRP valves.

Just sold my last one. I'll go slower up the hills and burn gas.

The maintenance costs seem extreme. This has been a very expensive engine to maintain.

 

[Peace]

6.4’s not much better. Nice bottom end and a nice driving diesel, but too much unreliability. Soured me on Ford pretty much for the last 5 years.
Would like to see if Ford develops and offers the F-600 into a crew cab and gives it a GCWR of over 45,000, or what RAM does next. GM must increase their GCWR numbers on their 4500-6500. They are sorely lacking.

Also, IMO these medium duties need push button automatic transmissions, like the true mediums have. Let’s get rid of the steering column stalk forever. It takes up too much space.

With electric trucks now the focus, I wonder if what we are seeing is the best we will get from ICE trucks?

I put a deposit on a Tesla truck for my son back in April. His birthday gift. He sent me a text that he upgraded the order to ‘self driving option’. On the web sight it claims as much towing capacity as my F250. It sure is going to take some time to get used to the strange look of it. I watched some YouTube videos as well. Seems like a really tough vehicle. I like the tailgate that is also a built in ramp. With all these fancy options, it’s less than a new F250 King Ranch PSD.

 

[4570Man]

I’d rather have my 6.4’s than any of the 7.3/6.0s.
If the truck needed monthly repairs, at least the 6.4’s were fast, powerful, could tow a lot more, and had a modern layout.

Given the option between a 7.3, 6.0 or 6.4 I’d choose none of the above but the 6.4 has an even worse reputation than a 6.0. I’m no 7.3 fan either. They were reliable but how could something that’s 1000 pounds, 444 cubic inches and putting down 200 hp not be reliable? They were noisy rattle traps that shook the whole cab and they didn’t start worth a crap in cold weather especially when they’re old. I’d rather just feed a v-10 gas apposed to the insane maintenance cost over any of those.

 

[Peace]

Given the option between a 7.3, 6.0 or 6.4 I’d choose none of the above but the 6.4 has an even worse reputation than a 6.0. I’m no 7.3 fan either. They were reliable but how could something that’s 1000 pounds, 444 cubic inches and putting down 200 hp not be reliable? They were noisy rattle traps that shook the whole cab and they didn’t start worth a crap in cold weather especially when they’re old. I’d rather just feed a v-10 gas apposed to the insane maintenance cost over any of those.

We had a E350 15 passenger soccer mom van with a v10. Never had a problem with that engine until it reached 199k miles. It was diagnosed with a bad rear main bearing. A $600 repair and it would have probably gone another 30k miles or more. Had it smog checked with a perfect score. I had just spent over $4k on the complex dual air and new axel seals. I was so angry about the engine that I was convinced the van was trash and gave it away. Looking back, that was actually a no maintenance vehicle except for oil changes and tires. The man I gave it to, came back a few days later after easily replacing the crank bearings himself and with tears, insisted that I take the $100 bill he brought for me. He was so excited about the van and he told me I was the first person he ever met that didn’t try to rip him off. As the old saying goes: I suppose one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. We both walked away thanking God.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

Mine was pretty lethargic when it was stock, but I feel like they were on par with the trucks of that day.

Shortly after I got it I put an intake, exhaust, and tunes from DPTuner on it. Even just my 60 and 80 HP tow tunes really woke the truck up big time. Made it fun to drive, and my 80 HP economy tune. The max tune was a 140 HP tune. Those numbers still pale in comparison to even stock trucks of today, but I start to wonder at what point we really have more than we need.

With my 100-140 HP tunes the truck was a riot to drive. I could lay into it and fish tail and get sideways for fun all the time. I could dump the clutch and sometimes get into 4th gear before I quit spinning. You could row through all 5 gears in no time. It towed very well. In theory it would have been 370 HP and 650 torque at the crank with the 140 HP tune and the mods, as 650 torque is about the limit on stock injectors (I eventually added a 38r turbo but never did make it to injectors). I towed a pretty large fifth wheel camper with it. When I was a landscaper we would haul a t190 with a power rake and other tools on it, haul a trailer full of sod, my dad would haul logs, skid steers, track hoes, etc. So I've seen them move loads around daily and make it to the job site every time, I've driven one that was quite fun to drive after being tuned. I just don't know how much more power is necessary.

 

[Hay Dude]

Given the option between a 7.3, 6.0 or 6.4 I’d choose none of the above but the 6.4 has an even worse reputation than a 6.0. I’m no 7.3 fan either. They were reliable but how could something that’s 1000 pounds, 444 cubic inches and putting down 200 hp not be reliable? They were noisy rattle traps that shook the whole cab and they didn’t start worth a crap in cold weather especially when they’re old. I’d rather just feed a v-10 gas apposed to the insane maintenance cost over any of those.

You ever own a 6.4L?

 

[Hay Dude]

I got $18,500 for this 2008 F-350XLT 6.4L diesel 5 months ago.
Guy thought it was a great deal and loved the truck.
I liked the looks of it and it would tow a crap ton of weight. It was a decent snowplow truck, although the turning radius wasn’t as good as my F-550.
Had zero rust and about 200,000 miles on it when I sold it.

 

[4570Man]

You ever own a 6.4L?

Nope and I plan to keep it that way. Yours might have been a fine truck but their history was terrible.

 

[Hay Dude]

Nope and I plan to keep it that way. Yours might have been a fine truck but their history was terrible.

I didn’t think so.
I had 3 of them.
Your opinion on the 6.4 is welcome, but lacks any legitimacy whatsoever.
I had every version of the Ford diesel, except the current 6.7.
The 6.4L would run circles around a 7.3 or 6.0, look better doing it, and have many more features, higher tow ratings and more power.
Reliability was on par with a 6L. Considering the 6.4 had a dpf and the 6.0 didn’t, that’s more a bad reflection on the 6L.
I didn’t really like any of them….