could i get some reassurance please.

[lugnut]

hello everyone. i'm new here and would like to thank everyone who post's here for the valueable information i have been reading. i just bought a 04 f 350 last friday with the pwrstroke and absolutly love it. it has 43000 miles and runs great. its all stock and as of now i'm planning to keep it that way. i have read alot of bad things about this motor and now this long time chevy fan is getting a little nervous that i might have made a mistake. i was hoping to get alot of trouble free miles out of this truck and would love to hear about some who have. especially since i just found the bottom of my bellhousing a little wet with oil. thank god i got a warranty. thanks in advace for any responses.

[mschn99]

we refer to them as the "sick-0" liter desiel in the shops, but the motor is kind of funny. it seems that most of them are relatively problem free....as long as you dont chip them or do any major mods other than maybe exhaust. then there are the others, from what i can tell about 20% of the population of them are on the verge of lemons. they have electrical problems, along with major oil leaks, and sensors going bad. i work on them for a living, and if i was going to buy a truck, i would buy a 7.3, but that said, the sick-0 when running right will run circles around a stock 7.3 any day of the week. your oil leak is either coming from the top of the motor (cac tube, icp if it is an early build motor) or a rear main. nothing to worry about, warrnanty will cover....with a $100 deductable (that if i was you i wouldnt even think about paying if you bought it from the dealer you are taking it to for repair, i would raise hell and say they should have cought it and make them eat it). there are a few things to change maintanence wise of you are going to own a 6.0. i would never go over 4-5000 miles on an oil change, i wouldnt reccomend using synthetics, and i would stick with factory motercraft oil and filter, make sure to use 15w40. also service your coolant every 50,000....even though the book says 100,000. as long as it isnt one of the few that has a lot of problems, you are probably all right, and tell your chevy buddy that your powerstroke will run circles around a duramax on 7 cylenders and you will get better fuel milage doing it.........but honestly, as much as i hate them (because we do a lot of warranty work on them, and warranty does not pay the tech very well) they are not as bad of a motor as i, and a lot of guys make them out to be. it seems that 90% of the repairs go to 10% of the vehicles......

[AYP Tires]

Why shouldn't we use synthetic oil?

[mschn99]

i dont have an exact reason....it wont cause one particular thing to happen, but it seems that most of the problem children i get all have this....or that....something other than factory done to them. ive seen a lot of injector failures, for example, in vehilces with synthetic oil, but even more in vehicles running non ford conventional oil. its just my two cents, i cant say that synthetic oil will make anything happen for sure, i just wouldnt take any chances if it was my truck as pickey as these motors are.

[lugnut]

thanks for the info msch99. this is my first diesel and ford and love it. will be following your advice to the "T". gonna try and find where this oil leak is for sure now. don't really like letting other people working on my toys. thanks again.