6.0 Pre-Purchase Help/Suggestions "would you buy it"

[rox5488]

Hello and thank you for Reading!

New to this forum, New to Diesel Trucks, Looking for any help or suggestions on Pre Purchase.

So i'll try not to put you to sleep but some background. I am looking for a Diesel Pickup Crew Cab for hauling horse and flat deck trailers. Mainly farm related work. Not Every day but regular enough. Also will be making the usual trips for every day needs. I want a truck that will last me at least 5 years and 100k. That would be a good start. I have had Ford gassers and have always liked Ford products in the past.

I have come across a 2006 6.0 Crew Cab XLT lariat Many power options. Truck has 50K miles on it. Is at a Chevy Dealer 1 state away from me so I can't really jump in the car and go see it and want to do some research. Dealer has had it about 1 month on the lot. One guy was going to buy it but couldn't get financing.

Truck appears to be in very good shape, clean, tires 85%

Got the Carfax. 1 owner avg 8000 miles per year. In looking at the Carfax service history it looks very good. Looks to be serviced about every 5000 miles at a Ford Dealer every time in VA. Was what appears to be traded in at another dealer and sold at Auction in PA to the current dealer.

Called my local Ford Dealer and asked for Oasis report. Dealer Provided info over the phone to me (friend of mine) so I don't have a hard report. Although he said it appears it was under some sort of ford maintenance plan as all the Oil changes were done under Warranty work. Only "major" issue he saw was they cleaned the Turbo in Jan 2011. Although the person giving this report is a Ford Service Dept Rep he told me (when I asked) he never recommends buying a 6.0 or 6.4 due to all the issues they see on them. He said you just never know about those engines.

Now I have read this site at Length and there is a wealth of info here! more than I can take in in the 4 or so hours I have read so far on here! Thank you to all those folks taking time to publish this info for a guy like me!~

With that said... I think it sounds really good actually. Maintenance was performed what it seemed very regular. The truck actually at times apparently wasn't used alot as there were maintenance intervals with less than 20 to 100 miles a time or two (3 months in between). The carfax just states oil changes.

I was considering calling the Ford dealer that this vehicle was serviced at but I thought maybe they would not really care to help since they get nothing out of it.... don't know.

Any suggestions out there? again interior and exterior are very nice and appear in good shape. I can ask the current dealer to get me info or pics of anything etc.

The current Chevy Dealer this is at also offers a lifetime powertrain warranty on any used vehicle sold that is under 100K. This qualifies. Included in that is 4x4, engine (yes Diesel), Tranny, Fuel transfer equipment. Even though I am not from the area they said it can be taken to any qualified repair shop close to me for any warranty issues... So now I don't know what that worth but again... what am I missing.

I can tell you need to do a little work on these to "bulletproof" them so I am hopeful I can do some of that myself and save some money... Maybe with the help of this site!

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Pics

[DEVERO2]

looks like a clean truck and that you have done a lot of reading. Do you have a monitor that you can go plug in when/ if you go test drive it? if no, maybe a scan gauge. It will monitor the important things and also is small and wont get in the way.

[6.0f250firstcar]

The truck you're looking at looks like a nice truck!!

I would pick up a $150 Scanguage II and bring it with you on the test drive. If you spend the little amount of money now, it could save you thousands down the road. The fact that the turbo got cleaned doesn't bother me very much other than the fact that it might have been granny driven which these engines hate.

If the deltas check out and it looks and drives like a solid truck, then I'd go for it!! This site is a wealth of info, I came on here to research before I buy my own truck and I still learn something new everyday!!!

Good luck and if you have any more questions, fire away!!

[dieselmatt]

Truck looks nice! My thoughts on this deal are simple. That is, if they are going to offer a lifetime warranty on the truck then buy it! Just make sure that the warranty covers the known issues of the truck. Those are; oil cooler, EGR, head gaskets, and the turbo veins sticking if they aren't run.

If you want to verify the health of the truck prior to buying it then I would invest in a monitor such as a Scangauge II ($160), Edge CTS, Dashboss, or any of the others. The dealer might even be able to hookup their system to the truck during the test drive. Not sure though since its not a Ford dealer. If you were to buy one the one you buy will depend on how set you are on buying a 6.0. If you are going to buy a 6.0 then I would personally buy the SCT Livewire TS. It is a monitoring system and a tuner all in one unit. Anyway, what you are looking for are the temperatures of the coolant and the oil. With the truck warmed up and driving between 60-65 mph on a flat surface, you are looking for a difference of no more than 15* between your coolant and oil temps. Preferably you want to see less than 5. In general, the lower the difference the better the health of your oil cooler.

I hope this helps!

[rox5488]

Thanks for the quick responses!

I will look into a scangauge.

I neglected to mention asking price is $27K. think I could do a little since its been there a month already though?

Thought of asking for pics of the Degas Bottle but its clear to me the dealer cleaned the truck up so there may not be white residue there anyway now...

I need to look up the "delta's" info so I know what I am looking at on the scangauge!

Thanks again so far... Very appreciated.

[10secondC]

the delta is the difference between oil and water temp.

[Lilpooh]

What dealer in Pa, got a link?


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App

[rox5488]

Dealer is in OH I'm in PA! heh. Sorry if I confused you on that on.

Delta = Thank you!

Will need to see where I plug in a scanner too. Assuming it would go down under the dash near fuses/pedals. No big deal there.

Going to Email Dealer right now on the Lifetime warranty thing..

I guess an off question. How long do Injectors in these trucks last. I had looked at a Dodge and then figured I wouldn't be happy with that but guys were saying injectors at 120K miles or less usually. Thanks again!

[Lilpooh]

Have you read the "sticky" section.

Things to consider about owning a 6.0L

Write Up: Monitoring the 6.0L PSD.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/96...used-6-0l.html

[6.0f250firstcar]

Injectors are pretty good but you can't let your batteries go bad cause that'll start taking out injectors if not fixed in a timely manner.