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

Jstpssng · Aug 30, 2021

Last year when I was truck shopping I wondered if I would be better off waiting a year. Now I’m glad that Ixdidnt.

Tomtint · Aug 31, 2021

I posted in another thread about my 17 Platinum diesel 4x4 F350 with 24K miles on it that I just traded.. I bought it new for something like 75K,,got almost 70K for it 4 years later. Crazy times. I have had 4 or 5, 6.0s back between 04 and 09. Never really had any problems but got rid of them with less than 60K miles. One that I did keep was a 06 F350 4x4 King Ranch F350. I really liked that truck, But at 95K miles it died on the highway and it ended up being a fuel pump issue. It was fixed under warranty and I traded it when I got it back. I had a few 7.3s as well. They were loud, slow, and had ongoing small repairs all the time. Oil pans rotted faster than you can believe. I have a 17 V10 F450 now that has been ok.. Manifolds have been replaced as well as all the calipers due to rust. ..Truck pulls good but loves fuel..6.5mpg average. The new truck is a 2020 F450 Limited with the diesel motor...This truck is flat out amazing.. 19-20 mpg empty on the highway..12.5 pulling a 12k camper and it barely knows its back there.

crashz · Sep 3, 2021

For Harry Homeowner or Sammy Side-job like me, the gas trucks and old diesels are just fine. Love my 03 F450. It has the 7.3 and stick shift. Yeah its loud. Yep my gasser 3/4ton pulls the doors off it. But its fun to drive, fairly easy to work on and I don't make my living with it. I know I'd learn to hate it if I had to drive it everyday.

You want to talk real turds: the 6.2 and 6.5L GM Detroit Diesels. UGH! I still have my last one (the truck in my avatar). Of the three I had, each left me walking at least once. Had just enough power to pull a donut out of a wet paper bag. And we sent those monstrosities to our military!

Edit - I tried to come up with a reliability joke but can't. They were just so freaking bad that it's not funny.

spitter · Sep 4, 2021

If you want to talk about the biggest pos diesel engine ever produced don't forget the GM 5.7.

4570Man · Sep 4, 2021

spitter said:
If you want to talk about the biggest pos diesel engine ever produced don't forget the GM 5.7.

That was back in the 80s at least.

spitter · Sep 5, 2021

That when the 7.3 's came out and there still running. gm 6.2 came out in 82.

Frankenkubota · Sep 5, 2021

4570Man said:
That was back in the 80s at least.

didn't gm convert gas engines to diesel back then? slugs?

my dad bought a buick riv with one of those, took it out west and it could not get up the steep mountain roads.

brought it back and traded it in for a gasser.

Jstpssng · Sep 5, 2021

Frankenkubota said:
didn't gm convert gas engines to diesel back then? slugs?

my dad bought a buick riv with one of those, took it out west and it could not get up the steep mountain roads.

brought it back and traded it in for a gasser.

Yes. They were slugs, but got about 25 mpg in a ton truck. That was just after the gas shortage, and mileage was a consideration.

TMGT · Sep 5, 2021

Frankenkubota said:
didn't gm convert gas engines to diesel back then? slugs?

my dad bought a buick riv with one of those, took it out west and it could not get up the steep mountain roads.

brought it back and traded it in for a gasser.

It was based on the Oldsmobile 5.7, they had a number of reliability issues due to being rushed into production. A few small changes and they were actually pretty reliable but all stock they got a bad reputation quick. 2 biggest were head gaskets due to poor machining/ inadequate clamping force, and the lack of a water separator which caused a lot of inj. pump failures (diesel fuel quality was pretty bad back then)

At least they gave us Olds guys a nice heavy duty Olds block that can handle some power.

GM also made a smaller V8 (4.3L i think) and a V6 version between 78-85.
Surprisingly at 120hp /220tq the 5.7 were about the same output as the early 6.2 Detroit's (130/240).

Cacinok · Sep 5, 2021

Jstpssng said:
This thread sure has been resurrected in spades. I started it just before the Covid, because of the shutdown I never was able to go south to find a truck. At the time I was considering diesels because they seemed to be the only medium sized pickup which came with a manual transmission... Given all of the problems stated here I probably would have bought a gasser with an automatic instead.

The 6.0s have a horrible reputation and were honestly not great from the factory, but can be "bulletproofed", though it's costly to do so. My son just bought an '05 F350 w/ a bulletproofed 6.0. The previous owner put $7k into it to bulletproof it. It runs and tows amazingly well.

I have an Excursion with the 7.3 and absolutely love it.