Any major problems with 6.0?

[chedderboy]

I am looking to buy an Excusion 7.3 or 6.0 diesel, but everyone I have spoke with have all advised to get a 7.3. They state it is more problem and less prone to problems. Finding a 7.3 like my wife wants appears to be harder than I thought (immaculate black/leather 4x4). I keep leaning to an 04-05 6.0, as they seem to be more available as they are coming in off leases / trades now.

What type of "life" can I expect from a diesel 6.0 from an 2004-2005 model year? I am told the 6.0 is more powerful, which sound good too....

Any advice appreciated to help me decide... Any major problems with a 6.0 that I should be looking for when buying the car?

I test drove a 04 4x4 the other day, but it seemed to have little takeoff power when stabbing the pedal from a dead stop. At moving speeds, it seemed to take off much better. I plan on test driving another one at a local dealer (wrong color) for another chance...

[Clay Henry]

100,000 trouble free miles on my 03 6 liter.

[chedderboy]

Do all 6.0's have dual batteries from the factory?

[Clay Henry]

yep..........

[sldghamr]

all Ford Diesel's are dual batteries from the factory

[06ARMADILLO]

87,xxx miles on my 2006 F250 6.0L, still runs as strong as when I bought it.

[Texas6.0]

Cleaning the EGR valve is considered regular maintenance. Some blow head gaskets and rupture EGR coolers while stock and some are tuned, tow pigs and never have a problem. It's hit or miss. Mine has been very reliable.

[2006PSDSD]

You can't stab the throttle on any diesel, and expect it to take off like a gasser. You have to wait for the turbo to spool up before you get the power. There is a guy in the Sept issue of Diesel power mag, that has 400k on his '03 6.0, it doesn't say anything about what he's had to do to it though.

I think that I would stick with a late '05 if you can, not to say that you would be in trouble if you went older, but Ford had most the bugs worked out by then.

[mako314]

my 06 just crapped a HPOP and not to long ago had the EGR go. it only has about 30,000 miles

[tech10002]

Mine has almost 60k on it. The only engine related problems I've had were a coked up turbo, dirty EGR, and exhaust drone. The turbo was cleaned under warranty. I cleaned the EGR myself, and an aftermarket exhaust shut up the drone. The original exhaust could have been fixed by an adjustment procedure, but the service manager at Commonwealth Ford was too dumb to read a TSB. I wanted a new exhaust anyway, so the problem solved itself.

There are people that have trouble prone 6.0s, but there are trouble prone 7.3s, and 5.4 gassers... You name it. If you keep the 6.0 well maintained, it shouldn't be any more likely to fail than any other diesel if you leave it stock. Now, if you tune it, you are much more likely to blow gaskets, have EGR cooler problems, etc. Having said that, many people here have 100k on their trucks with a lot of that running a tuner and haven't had issues yet. It's just luck of the draw.