What To Do With 2003 Superduty 6.0L PSD

[jayste]

Ok fellas. I've got the burden of owning a 2003 Ford F350 with 6.0L PSD and was wondering (PLEASE WITHOUT STARTING A WAR) if there is something I could do to alleviate any worries or trouble down the road. I bought it with 35,000 miles on it, it now has 76,000 on it and other than being cold natured below 50 deg. F. it's been a great truck. I haven't researched anything as of yet just wanted to get some input from my TBN pards first. You should know I own a 1999 F250 with a 7.3L PSD as well and have been trying to sell the 2003 F350 to downsize and get out of a payment.

Jay

 

[Diamondpilot]

If you want to sell it I would. The cold natured thing has to be glow plug related. Probably a timer or relay. Have it looked at and properly diagnosed by a qualified tech. Glad you had good luck with it overall.

The 03's got a bad rap that was deserved. The main problem was the 6.0 is it's a old engine that made about 180HP in things like school buses and IH did not do enough R&D before releasing them to Ford Making nearly double that power. The rushed it to the market and left the early trucks and owners to sort out the problems. Because of this the 03 has a bad resale. The problems were sorted out by late 04 but the damage was done.


Chris

 

[jayste]

Chris,

Are there any preventative measures that I can do to "fix" it before something happens? I'll look into the glow plug/relay thing.

Jay

 

[Diamondpilot]

Not sure what your maintenance schedule is like but here is what I use. Oil and filter every 5K. Air filter every 15K. Fuel filter and tranny filter every 25K.

Change gear lube, tranny fluid, and coolant every 50K.

Other than that thats about it. Many have put ARP head studs but if you are not running a chip or have hand no head problems to this point with 70K+ on it I would leave it alone. Fix anything that breaks, even a dome light. If not things seem to compile and add up on any make of truck or car. Just keep it up to par, rotate the tires, and drive it, sometimes hard. Everyone I have ever met that had a diesel and babied it had troubles, usually with the turbo. Driving it hard, towing real loads, and using the truck weekly or better goes along way.

Chris

 

[farmboy12]

Please don't get on me for not doing my homework, but didn't Ford use the 7.3 1988 and half- 2004? Then the 6.0 2005-2007? Then the 6.4 2008-09? And 6.9 Intl. 84-88? Please let me know?


Kyle

 

[JESSE1]

Ford used the 6.9 from '83 through '87, the 7.3 from '88 through '93, 7.3 with factory turbo in '94 only with automatic trans. The first Powerstroke came out in '94 but only with a manual trans. This engine was used until the '99 SuperDuty came out in January '98. Improvements in HP were made to this engine and it was used until the '03 came out in August '02 until about January '3 when the 6.0 hit the market. The 6.4 came out in the summer or '07 and will be used until early in '10 when the 6.7 is introduced.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Kyle, in a nut shell the 6.0 came out in late 2003 and ran through early 2007.
The first part of 2003 they still used the 7.3. The late 2007 trucks switched over to the 6.4.

Chris

 

[WH401]

Just for clarification, the 7.3 Ford used from 88 - 93 was the 7.3 IDI, an in house built Ford diesel, and in no way was it the 7.3 Powerstroke that was introduced in 94' that ran til early 03'. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Bill_C]

Correct, except I'm pretty sure International built the 6.9/7.3 IDI as well.

http://www.navistarengines.com/about-us-company-heritage.aspx

 

[JESSE1]

All Ford diesels used from the 6.9 through the 6.4 were built by International. The new 6.7 is the only diesel to be built by Ford for Ford pickups. They did use a Brazilian made Ford diesel in the medium duty trucks in the '80's and early '90's.