potential excursion owner questions

[darklcd]

Hey all

My wife and I are looking for another suv and I was thinking about getting a diesel excursion but I had a vew questions.

1. how are the 6.0 powerstrokes I have herd some peopel say they are ok and I have herd some people say that they are time bombs.

2. I have never owend a truck or suv that was stock so I am wondering what I can do to get a little more power with out blowing the powerplant or the tranny.

3. How is the gas mileage I know they are a large suv but I was thinking that he diesel would be better then the v10.

Please let me know what you all think because if I do I will be putting a lift kit on it and some bolt on power if I can.

Thanks all

[Fishermedic]

My opinion.... Do some (ok a lot of) reading and make an informed decision. There are "stickies" in the 6.0 General Discussion forum and in the 6.0 Tech Files forum that will help answer some of your questions and give you a ton of info. Oil coolers, EGR coolers and coolant are the big ones to read up on. Think about what you want the vehicle for, (towing, family hauler, weekend truck or daily driver, etc.) and decide if this is the truck that fits.

I love mine and hope to have it for a long long time. For me I needed something to haul 6 kids, gear for a 1000 mile round trip and pull a 19' boat. The Ex is the biggest I could find and the diesel... well I'm hoping it'll last a long time.

Answers to your questions...

Is the 6.0 a time bomb... YES!! But only if you neglect it.

Can you add power... YES!! But like anything if you go too far you'll pay for it. With a custom tuned SCT it'll be fine as long as you don't neglect it.

As for the gas mileage... I get a combined average of 16 MPG but that varies with my use of the skinny pedal. I can get 21 or 22 on the highway if I'm conservative or I can drop that to 15 on the highway by driving 70 and passing everything at WOT.

I couldn't think of a way to work in a comment about neglecting it for that last one. The 6.0 needs to be taken care of. If you neglect it, it''ll let you know and it'll be inconvenient and expensive.

Good luck with the search, enjoy the reading and if you have any questions just ask. There is a ton of great knowledge on this site.

[Heathrm]

Fishermedic nailed it. You need to do your homework on the 6.0 ahead of time. My truck has been great, but it did take a lot of work and money to get it there. The biggest problem with buying a used 6.0 X is that you don't know what has, or has not been done to the truck. I flushed every fluid, replaced the oil cooler, deleted the EGR cooler, coolant filter, CTS, etc. That is just to get a good base line, then came the 100,000 mile maintenance, ball joints, shocks, brakes, rotors, altenator. Now she runs like a top. It is a labor of love for me. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

If you are serious about any 6.0 get an oasis, get it checked for any codes, pray, cross your fingers (kidding), educate yourself to make the best decision you can. Pray some more....

Not trying to scare you off, but I am OCD about taking care of my truck. Some of the things I have done were not required at the time, but I did anyway. Hope this helps.

[darklcd]

I am still looking at the parts that I will need and I have seen a few kits out there that are designed to make the 6.0 "bullet proof" but I don't know if they are the right parts.

I am looking to sup it up a little to try and get better gas economy and a little more power so I hope they help too.

[Heathrm]

I have done some reliability mods, etc, and I have not seen a single gain in MPG. If that is your desire, good luck with that. Not to pop that bubble, but if you want to get into a 6.0 X it is not for good fuel milage. With mixed driving I am around 15, straight city 13, highway best is almost 20. The best MPG mod is a light right foot!

[darklcd]

I was looking around and I found this last night

Complete 6.0 Ford Powerstroke Solution with Sinister EGR Delete Kit, Oil Cooler and ARP Headstuds

I am thinking that it might be what I need to make the 6.0 the engine that I want it to be.

What do you all think

[CT Performance, Inc.]

Just a FYI I will be selling my '04 EB...with all my suspension mods..done.

[fishintheobx]

I purchased an '05 with the 6.0 last summer and had many of your same concerns. I spent probably a good month reading the 6.0 forums on this site and learned a lot. I came to the conclusion that most people who are really happy with the 6.0 won't go out of their way to post like those that have had problems. One of the biggest conditions I had on purchasing my truck was getting the Oasis report from the Ford dealer so I could see what work had been performed and if there was anything alarming.

The 7.3 was an awesome engine, but that 4R100 tranny has a history of it's own too. I know 3 Ex owners with 7.3 less than 150k miles that are on their second tranny. That's not acceptable in my book. But, as they say, your mileage may vary!

At 107k miles on her, I immediately flushed the coolant, changed fuel filters, sent off an oil sample to blackstone labs for analysis, changed to Schaeffer's synthetic, and installed the coolant filter. Total cost was about $400 doing everything myself. I talked to a few guys that make their living either servicing or writing tunes for this engine and the consensus seemed to be: always use Motorcraft filters, don't let it idle for long periods, leave the intake alone, obey oil change intervals for your service usage, buy a Scangauge and monitor engine oil temp and engine coolant temp (the two should never be more than 17 degrees apart), boost the cetane to at least 45 with an additive, and don't push the tuning on this engine too hard or head-studs / gaskets / injectors will fail. Make sure you look for signs of "Stiction" as described here: http://www.alliantpower.com/pdf/APTB-0109-watermark.pdf

I ran my truck on a 700 mile trip last month and saw 18.5 mpg. It's completely stock, flat ground, 285 tires, cruise set on 72-75 mph, with roughly 700 lbs of people / cargo.

[Raul@Stealth Automotive]

to add a little bit to Fish's post...

yes the 4R100 has a history as well.. but you can get it built up for about 3k to withstand anything you can throw at it... its going to cost you alot more then that to bullitproof a 6.0L engine...


now in my 7.3L ex i would regularly see 15mpg with a 10" lift and 40" tires...

that being said... is there a specific reason your looking to get a diesel?

around here you can find very nice v10 excursions for about 6k. whereas a diesel version of the exact same thing is more than double the price...

a v10 excursion gets around 10-11mpg... its not that much less than a diesel...

i wont do the math but if you take the at least 6k savings your going to get with not buying a diesel and put that into fuel its going to take you years to just recoop the diff of the purchase price between gas and diesel excursions...

not to mention out here diesel is about 50 cents high priced then regular gas...

[Fishermedic]

With either a 7.3 or a 6.0 or a V10 there WILL at some point be issues. EVERY vehicle has a weak point, something that will need to be fixed.

I think the key is to look at the history, maintenance records service history OASIS, everything you can get your hands on. The better the maintenance the longer things last. Once you have a truck don't wait for a small problem to become a big one, stay on top of the maintenance and take care of your investment. Any of the 3 will be great if you take care of it.