Should I or Shouldn't I Purchase this 6.0L PowerStroke

[LJ4174]

Hi Everyone...

New to the forum, first post...

I'm hoping to get some solid advice here because so far what I'm finding is all over the place and I don't want make $5,000 mistake...

I have a wife and 3 kids and recently got a dog and we like to travel and are also looking to upgrade our camper, so we need a larger vehicle. After looking for a while to upgrade, I thought I wanted an Expedition EL, even though that would push the limits to what I want to tow. Anyway, I looked at a few and a few were sold before I could look at them. Last week a 2004 Excursion 6.0L Eddie Bauer came on the radar. It only has 72K miles on it, had 2 owners, but from the carfax the first owner only leased it for 30 days and put about 450 miles on it.

I'm very intrigued by this truck and the diesel engine as I have never owned one before... I like the power of it and the gas, or fuel mileage I'm reading people are getting with this large SUV.

In January of 2006 with 29K on it, it had 2 pages of warrenty work done to it and a few recalls, the main one I seen here is the - "Replace EGR, Fuel Filter and Replace Turbo" - From talking to people and reading and such I know these are the big problems for this engine, however in 2006 did this fix this?

The vehicle looks completely stock, other then an added brake controller. I'm very close to making a deal on this, but want to make sure I'm not making a mistake. It looks like the truck was built in March of 04 and from my research I found that the 03 engines were the issue and some of them found their way into 04 trucks, again just want to ensure I'm making a mistake...

Please let me know your thoughts suggestions...

Thanks in advance...

LJ

[ZMANN]

they can all have issues up to the last one off the production line

the laundry list of stuff to check is out there under "what to look for when buying a used 6.0"

[dowmace]

All 6.0 have the egr and oil cooler issues. Do a delete and watch your deltas and the truck will do you fine.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using AutoGuide.Com Free App

[Dirty_Stroke]

I love my 6.0 and I'm die hard However, with the amount of time and money invested in my motor its no wonder I love it. If you are looking for a truck that you just put fuel in and keep the oil changed and it runs and runs forever with no issues, then the 6.0 is not for you. If your the kind of guy that likes to "tinker" and has the extra money then the 6.0 is a powerhouse of a motor! Don't get me wrong, everything for them is expensive. But they are BEASTS when modded. Just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

[PGreenSVT]

The point above should be well considered. A diesel, especially the 6.0 is very, very different from owner a gasser. Maintenance is critical to the well being of the 6.0 and regular maintenance isn't cheap. Oil and filter change every 5k-6k miles using synthetic 5w40 oil is $90-$130 if you do it yourself. Fuel filters every other oil change another $40 to $60 again doing it yourself. Regular coolant flushes every 30k or 2 years for the Ford Gold coolant, 5 years or 100k if you switch to ELC. If you aren't anal about maintenance the repair bills can be catastrophic.

I'm not trying to alarm you, just providing a reality check. Lots of problems with the 6.0 are due to new diesel owners that think they can treat them like their gas motor in their car. Well you can't. The 6.0 diesel is a great motor if you do the required reliability work up front and then maintain it properly. If you don't it will eat you out of house and home.

[LJ4174]

Originally Posted by Dirty_Stroke

I love my 6.0 and I'm die hard However, with the amount of time and money invested in my motor its no wonder I love it. If you are looking for a truck that you just put fuel in and keep the oil changed and it runs and runs forever with no issues, then the 6.0 is not for you. If your the kind of guy that likes to "tinker" and has the extra money then the 6.0 is a powerhouse of a motor! Don't get me wrong, everything for them is expensive. But they are BEASTS when modded. Just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

Well, I certainly don't mind "tinkering" - I typically do all my own oil changes and brakes and stuff like that, could I tear a diesel engine apart... Sure... Could I put it back together, maybe... Would it "work" - probably not... At least at this point anyway from what I know, but not sure how much I would actually attempt. Not really looking to mod it really at this point, of course that could change down the road, I plan on using this to tow, from reading some of the suggestions above on this thread and stumbling on some items, I may need a tuner, whatever that is!!!

Anyway, I'm also a Ford fan, currently have an 05 Explorer and a 2011 Taurus, but the Taurus is getting traded for the Excursion or larger SUV. Part of my issue, with my family a truck doesn't really work for us and I'm so against buying a 2500 Suburban. We bought the Explorer new, actually 8 years ago - looks better then it did when we brought it home and only have 76K on it, but use it all the time for the family, wife uses it for groceries and we use it for vacations and such, the Excursion would take over these duties, so I don't plan on putting a ton of miles on it, however I work from home a bunch and my office is 60 miles away, 1 way, may take it for a ride at least every other week and maybe even take it when I visit clients just to give the diesel a workout...

Originally Posted by PGreenSVT

The point above should be well considered. A diesel, especially the 6.0 is very, very different from owner a gasser. Maintenance is critical to the well being of the 6.0 and regular maintenance isn't cheap. Oil and filter change every 5k-6k miles using synthetic 5w40 oil is $90-$130 if you do it yourself. Fuel filters every other oil change another $40 to $60 again doing it yourself. Regular coolant flushes every 30k or 2 years for the Ford Gold coolant, 5 years or 100k if you switch to ELC. If you aren't anal about maintenance the repair bills can be catastrophic.

I'm not trying to alarm you, just providing a reality check. Lots of problems with the 6.0 are due to new diesel owners that think they can treat them like their gas motor in their car. Well you can't. The 6.0 diesel is a great motor if you do the required reliability work up front and then maintain it properly. If you don't it will eat you out of house and home.

Thanks... I have 2 buddies who are mechanics, 1 is telling me I shouldn't get the diesel the other is telling me to go for it. The one telling me to go for it we went camping with earlier this year and he had/has an F250 with the V10 - it broke down on the way home from that trip. He since bought a Dodge 2500 with a Cummins and he said he couldn't beleive he hasn't done this sooner for as much as he tows. During that camping trip he was telling me he didn't think a diesel was worth it, he manned up and admitted he was wrong, so he is learning a bunch about diesels, even though they are 2 different motors he knows a bunch about the powerstroke... My neighbor has the 7.3 in his 99 dually and he recommended a diesel mechanic, but told me to stay away from the 6.0 motor, when I called this guy (the diesel mechanic), he also recommended I stay away from it. I know how you can believe everything you read on the Internet, but I'm actually finding more positives then negatives, especially if the block is studed. Any idea what a new head gasket and a studed block costs to have done?

As I mentioned we like the Expedition EL, but for the money I'm going to spend for that, I can pick this Excursion up, hopefully with an extended warrenty and do this "bulletproof" work and feel like I would have it for long run and just keep it on the road, eventually it may be a 3rd vehicle, well 4th, I have a 94 Jeep Wrangler I bought new with 133K on it that is lifted and such as well, but that's another story.

After driving the X I like the way how it felt heavy, I like the reports I'm reading for fuel milage and I think it would be a better tow vehicle for what we are looking to tow, even after all the reading and such, still nervous about this engine...

[amdriven2liv]

The warranty work shows "EGR" replaced. Back then they didn't concentrate on the oil cooler being the issue for the cause.

Get something to monitor as much as you can.

Edge Insight, Scangauge II, Dashboss for iphone or Torque APP for Androids.

Take one of these shopping for the next vehicle. When you find the one that tests out ok, you will now have gauges for it. Cheap insurance.

Good luck.

[LJ4174]

Exactly what is the torque app? How does it get readings from the truck, would I need a cable or something? I seen it uses BlueTooth, but not sure how that will work. Also, what am I looking for, for readings?

Thanks again for all the replies...

[Fordtrucktexan]

The fact that the EGR cooler has been replaced it a little bit scary - if the previous owner didn't monitor (have an aftermarket monitor or gauges) their oil and coolant temps, chances are they didn't notice the blown EGR (and possibly oil cooler) until it started spewing white smoke, which means coolant dumped into the cylinders and possibly stretching the head bolts.

You may be fine though - my own truck has the same notation in it's extensive dealer service history and I have no evidence of blown or leaking head gaskets.

[amdriven2liv]

Originally Posted by LJ4174

Exactly what is the torque app? How does it get readings from the truck, would I need a cable or something? I seen it uses BlueTooth, but not sure how that will work. Also, what am I looking for, for readings?

Thanks again for all the replies...

Here is a good thread on monitoring the 6.0:

Write Up: Monitoring the 6.0L PSD.

The Torque APP needs a bluetooth adapter for the OBDII port. There are cheap ones that are $25 and they are hit and miss as far as quality goes. Do a search in the little box under the powerstroke.org name above for "Torque APP" There might be a couple folks who have found good ones.

I bought a cheap one and it was a miss, so I bought the PLX Kiwi which is $99 .

What ever you decided to do, follow the monitoring information in the above thread.