Im looking to buy my 1st powerstroke. I need to have a wheelchair installed for my son who had a football injury this season in high school. I actually work at a chevy dealer in service as an asst service manager and dont want to touch a duramax. I plan on buying a new one in 2 years after i pay off my GM z71 and switch to ford. I just bought the wife a 2012 escape and we have officially become a ford house.
Thanks for the info. One of my techs gave me this site and wow. You guys have a great community. I hope to join it soon.
As far as I know they are pretty much the exact same thing... maybe a few things changed to accomadate the location of the engine for the van.
But the engine itself and parts are all the same.
Let me give a little more info. I am looking to get an E-350 with a 6.0 and shopping around a guy told me they are different engines and tuned differently. With the money we have on hand i can start with an 05 06 e-350 with about 100,000 on it. I have found a few one owner (even a few with the chair lift0.
Another question is can aftermarket cruise be installed? Anyone have a name that has worked? The aftermarket shop we use wont do it.
After all the work I've done on my 6oh and the tight places I had to go, I would be scared to death doing the same work on a vanhnoes:
That sucker has no engine space AT ALL...!
I could see them being tuned differently. When you go to look at one you should purchase a monitor first. Scan Guage II is a great, and cheap ($160) way to help you pick the correct van. It will show you all of the important information (EOT, ECT, FICM, ect..) so you can make a better informed decision.
Well i have worked in a union chevy/olds shop behind the desk for 15 years haha. But i take good care of my techs and they turn a hell of a wrench. Its just the fact that its diesel scares some of my guys when i told them what im getting which means they are getting it too.....To fix. But we are a chevy store and only one of the guys has exp with this engine out of 27 guys. But my gut is telling me this is the way to go.
My son and i have fished together since he was 3. After losing his ability to walk he thinks life is over at 16. I am trying to get the stuff i need to make sure we can still do all those things. I have a 5,200lbs boat we need to tow as well and his dr apts are going to be about 300 miles away. I need something that can handle all of that for 2 years.
If you guys have other ideas im listening. I thought about the v10 but i honestly always wanted a diesel.
Should i really be looking for an 06 or did they clean up the 6.0 by 05? So much info to read i havnt covered all the threads yet.
I'm afraid that's a big mistake, this isn't just "a diesel", like you could take it to any old diesel shop. If your mechanic is not heavily experienced with the 6.0L specifically, you're gonna have more trouble than you want. Even Ford got it wrong for a long time, many dealerships STILL get it wrong when they are forced to work on one of these. There are some very important things that are not like any other engine.
Learn it yourself at these forums, or prepare to pay through the nose for a real 6.0L mechanic. No other path should even be considered.
I'm guessing you want the van for wheelchair access? However, I have seen a number of trucks with sweet wheelchair set-ups, including a remote operated boom to load the chair from the box. The guy who had that one had a 6" lift on his truck as well. Really strong guy to pull himself up into the driver's seat, but he never let his situation get in the way of his 4-wheeling truck.
The vans are de-tuned. I sold a 6.0 truck engine to a fellow to put in a cube van. I believe he only swapped out the oil/fuel filter housing to make it all work out. With the truck we think we have access to the engine with the bay, but most of it sits under the dash. The van still has the hatch. If it is in good shape and requires no immediate work (delta is good, no leaks or injector problems), I wouldn't concern myself with it. Contrary to what you read here, most of the vehicles run very well. You are only looking at 2-3 years, so if it fits your situation, go for it.
Now, if you really need to fix it, there isn't much difference to raising a crew-cab as a van cab, especially if you have a large shop, albeit GM.
The reason i need the van is because he will end up driving it. I will have controls installed for him after his surgery later this year. The van i could rig so he could get from chair to driver seat pretty easy. Once he goes to college in 2 years i will buy him a brand new one. We are very new to this and this is kinda of a rush thing. I normally would plan for months on how to do this and what to get but i have about 5 days before we need it for a trip to drs 300 miles away.
With that amount of time and being in a rush I am almost sure you will get a problem 6.0 engine. Do you know they are very, um.... Problematic?
Unless you know the engine well and can WORK on it yourself, it might cost you thousands and thousands to fix!!!
I am sad to say this but I think the best thing for your family is to NOT get a 6.0:sad:
It might bite you REAL hard and might make it very tough to deal with it.
That is my opinion after doing much work to my truck.
The few units i have in mind are goverment fleet vehicles. Serviced every 3000 and verified on carfax. It picked up wheelchair patients. No towing at all. What are the odds of me getting a 6.0 that takes me 50,000? I work at a dealer so i understand the routine of oil changes and vital fluids. I mean are they all bad? The guy im talkin to says it runs great. No smoke Well maintainted with about 90,000 on it. Its an 05.
I could go to a gasser but i would love to get the tow power and gas milage......Not to mention the sound of some power.
If you guys are tryin to scare me out of it....its semi working.
I like the 6.0 but it's a different animal in the econoline. It's much more confined and subject to the stresses of a hot engine bay. They are infact detuned and they run in the powerband nearly all the time. Also an e-series that old never came with an hour meter so even if it has 90k miles it may actually have double the equivalent in engine hours, you'd never be able to know what the actual run time on the vehicle is. Considering it was infact a fleet vehicle I wouldn't be surprised if it idled a lot.
I was given some good advice recently. Any labor time for a 6.0 F-series? Double it for an e-series. Something as easy as a set of injectors in an F-series now becomes a minor ordeal on an e-series.
You need to ask yourself if you really need a diesel engine, can you get by with a gasser? It will likely be much more reliable.
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