Howdy my peeps. Wife and I have been looking at trading our '04 F350 Crew Cab 6.0 DRW 4x4 for a newer model. Last night we found a used '06 F350 Crew Cab DRW FX4 but the hours on the motor were high relative to the mileage. So the discussion began....
Anyway, she suggested that we just buy a new '08 customized to the way we want it. :thumb: WHAT A LADY! But I'm concerned about the '08s because of the threads associated with the 6.4 motor.
Coming to you all.....should I wait another 4 to 5 months for the bugs to be worked out in the '08s and 6.4 line? Go with a 6.0 instead (if I can find one).
Bottom line....this truck has to last me MANY years so I need to do it right this time. Newer stuff is always exciting but can be a bigger headache too until things are ironed out.
I recently talked to a Ford rep in Atlanta at a show. In his opinion Ford jumped the gun by releasing the new engine. He said they were too eager to get it out and should have waited until 2009. He admitted to several small problems with them and a couple of large ones. I told him we bought a new one and had similar problems. He said some Ford workers hope the company will do something to help us 08 buyers out in a year or 2. I will not hold my breath. This guy could loose his job for some of the statements he made to me. He didn't get specific with the problems other than the flames and regen. we all know about. Fuel mileage was a concern with Ford according to him.
bugs..what bugs? I'd say if you want one now buy it now. This truck is pretty sound. No matter what year or manufacturer it is there will always be lemons. And of coarse you're going to hear more about the bad than the good...that's the way the world works. Everybody nit picks at one thing or another but i bet the consensus is that 99% of 08 SD owners are more than happy with their trucks.
I'd like to know what this Ford rep was admitting to? I do believe the the whole reason for the release of the 6.4 was because the 6.0l would not meet 2008 emission standards just like the Cummins 5.9 (correct me if i'm wrong).
bugs..what bugs? I'd say if you want one now buy it now. This truck is pretty sound. No matter what year or manufacturer it is there will always be lemons. And of coarse you're going to hear more about the bad than the good...that's the way the world works. Everybody nit picks at one thing or another but i bet the consensus is that 99% of 08 SD owners are more than happy with their trucks.
I'd like to know what this Ford rep was admitting to? I do believe the the whole reason for the release of the 6.4 was because the 6.0l would not meet 2008 emission standards just like the Cummins 5.9 (correct me if i'm wrong).
I know of a few bugs. Axel seal blew out dumping much grease out the side of the rearend finally resulting in a Chevy hauling a loaded trailer home and limping the Ford back to the dealer. Dealer said it was a smart move on our part since the gearbox was very low at that point. It took 6 hours just to get oil residue off the whole side of the truck and trailer. This was at 2k miles.
Next, truck missing and smoking on many occasions resulting in a couple of trips back to the dealer. The fuel was the problem the first time but not the second. It may happen again tomorrow. Who knows?
And there was that time at 3.6k miles when it left us sitting on the side of the interstate with another loaded trailer at 1am in the morning. A rollback took it back to the dealer and a Chevy pulled the trailer back home. Injector wiring issue that time. Mechanic said it possibly could happen again but he hopes not.
I would call 9.5 mpg empty a bug myself when our 7.3 gets 16, our 6.0's got 18 and our former Duramax got 20! I just calculated how much it's costing us to run this truck per year versus the others and it was disgusting.
Would high idle 2 to 3 time per week be a bug? I think so.
I just asked the Ford guy in Atlanta if there was any good news for us 08 owners and he offered all this info. I finally had to walk away from him because I had no more time to chat. He might have went into depth if I gave him the chance. I have no reason to make anything up or lie about it. Sure sucks to have a $63k truck and be able to write about all the problems with it at just 9k miles.
Yes there are lemons. Reminds me of a 1999 Dodge dually once owned that was even worse than this new Ford. But, after talking to a couple of other 08 owners locally, a Ford rep in Atlanta and seeing the same Super Duties sitting at the local dealer for over 4 months with nobody buying them I think they may have a pretty high percentage of lemons currently.
I love Super Duties! I love their look and the cabs are the most comfortable out there. They also handle a load better than any other truck we have owned. But after 2 6.0's laying down on us and now all the problems with this current F-450 the love affair is fading.
Glad you are having good luck with yours. Hope the good luck keeps up for you.
There is always something that will go wrong.. I had a 2003 Duramax and traded it for an 05 and then I was told the 05 was prone to overheating. The 03 was prone to bad injectors. Both trucks had 30,000 miles on them when I got rid of them. Neither truck ever fell victim to the "known" problems. I also had an 01 fist year duramax that had 20,000 miles with no problems. If you find something you like and can afford it buy it. All the horror stories are the minority of cases and the odds are you will love the truck you pick. Chances are you will want a new one in a couple years anyway!
That is just my opinion...don't live in fear...just live
If you have to buy a brand new truck right now do it. Buy a new Duramax and wait a couple years for Ford to get the kinks worked out. That's what we would have done if given another chance. Or do like stated above and save several thousand bucks and just find a very nice 6.0.
knock on wood - i have no bugs. just keep up with the maintenance, and get your dealer to run an oasis report every now and then to keep up with the recalls, and you shouldnt really have any problems.
as far as the 9.5 mpg's i belieieve with the 450 youve got either 4.30 or 4.88 gears depending on how you ordered it. 9.5 towing is not bad with either of those gearsets IMO
Like MJM said..i've heard just as many horror stories about other trucks as well and just as many "so called bugs" with the 07 Dodges and Chevy's...I guess it all comes down to what manufacturer you favor.
Pooods, i really feel for you. I'd be one irate mofo if something like that ever happend to me. With the exception of poor MPG which seems to be getting better with mileage all of the 08's around here have had nothing but praise from their owners and have no reports of problems from the dealers.
My experience so far has been great with mine. I'm coming up on 7K miles, averaging 13 MPG with the 38" tires. I was at the dealership about 3 weeks ago and talked to the service guy for a few minutes and he said most of the '08s in for service were for either the injector replacement issue (the known problem from 3300 engines from Navistar) or to replace the DPF. Otherwise thier diesel techs were happy about the 6.4 because they have such a huge backlog of work on the 6.0 trucks.
I'm very happy with my purchase and was very sceptable about buying another first year diesel. In the end you have to do what you feel comfortable with. Keep in mind that you are going to find more people online complaining about thier vehicles as that is why they are online...looking for answers. People with good things to say usually don't go online bragging about not having issues. That isn't a slam against those of you with issues, I've been on both sides of the fence...I went through my share of misery with my 6.0.
1100 miles here... only complaint I have is the regen frequency and possibly a bad fan clutch. The regen thing seems to happen every 200miles which is too frequent in my mind. Granted I only drive 9 miles each way to work but it's not stop and go stuff. The truck has plenty of time to warm up here in Phx. Also with the fan clutch, I can't say for sure but I read somebody else had a similar issue of the fan kicking on/off for very short durations and at odd times. Mine exhibits this but until I take it to the dealer, I'm not crying foul...
I tell eveyone that will listen to avoid the new Ford, mine is starting down the road that got my 1999 replaced by Ford. Love the truck, hate the powerstroke!
We have had no problems with ours. It has almost 6K on it now. It does go into regen (high Idle as it was refered to earlier) several time a week. Sometimes once a day, depending on load. If any major problems were to surface, I'm sure we would have found 'em. My brother drives the crap out of it and it is always pulling 14k to 25k loads.
I say go for it and enjoy watching heads turn while the trucks are new to the market.
whether it's a cummins, duramax, or PSD, there all gooona have problems.....checked a few other websites and saw complaints about all the new emmissions engines......and not a single diesel engine in either a ford, dodge or chebby is actually made by them. Blame International, izuzu, or cummins. and blame the new emmissions regs.....it's only gonna get worse in the future. If uncle sam devoted more time to pressuring auto makers to offer more diesels cuz they are more efficient, get better MPG, and are less polluting per gallon, then maybe the budgets for R&D at these automakers would be aliitle heftier. Besides the promise of bio diesel, deisels are way better than gassers in my opinion. But isn't that what the ford dodge chevy rivalry is all about? Opinion? Sorry for the rant guys......
I totaly agree with Ian, ive run diesels 4 ever now mostly mine were benzes, i was dissappointed in the US assembled vechiles, for milage etc.. But one cant relay compair a ford ,chebbie ,dodge to a benz in all fairness...... Ok remeber allof these vechials are made by the lowest bidder in china or where ever shipped to detroit or indy or where ever and than assembled.. Enges are mostlikley made in the US, but who knows these days..... Now that said i had back in themid 80s a ford escort that had a VW diesel in it .. Ran like a op and i beleive its still runing !!! Ford also made a diesel powered ranger which is actualy a Madza those diesels were great an they stopped makig them?? How many of you guys realize You can get a diesel powered ranger in South America or in Europe!!!!!! Same goes for several other modles.. funney huh The older i get the more synicial i get just some food 4 thought !!!! the big problem i believe is the manfacturer is telling us what we will pay 4 a vechicle i beleive this should be the ohter way around.... Just an ohter thinking point<<<<<<<<<<< Bill>>>>>>>>>>
My new '08 CC LWB DRW F-350 replaced an '06 SRW CC SWB F-350, and I'd hesitated at first as well - no point in waiting for anything major to "improve". Emissions controls are not going away, and the regen/DPF will be on all diesels shortly. I like my '08 a lot - it's quiet, powerful, rides like a dream and is very easy on the driver. But here's a simple math question for the gurus who designed all this stuff - if my old 7.3 and the last 6.0 liter P'Stroke I had managed to get 30-35% better mileage than the 6.4 I now have, how on earth can you claim fewer emissions? In a perfect world, exhaust is CO2 and water vapor - if CO2 is such a horrible atmosphere wrecker (and the trees on this earth tend to disagree completely) then my 6.4 is putting a lot more of it out the tail end than any previous diesel I've ever had in a pickup. If the idea is to trap carbon, what have you gained? - carbon is the fundamental building block of all life forms as we know them and a base element to boot!
My new '08 CC LWB DRW F-350 replaced an '06 SRW CC SWB F-350, and I'd hesitated at first as well - no point in waiting for anything major to "improve". Emissions controls are not going away, and the regen/DPF will be on all diesels shortly. I like my '08 a lot - it's quiet, powerful, rides like a dream and is very easy on the driver. But here's a simple math question for the gurus who designed all this stuff - if my old 7.3 and the last 6.0 liter P'Stroke I had managed to get 30-35% better mileage than the 6.4 I now have, how on earth can you claim fewer emissions? In a perfect world, exhaust is CO2 and water vapor - if CO2 is such a horrible atmosphere wrecker (and the trees on this earth tend to disagree completely) then my 6.4 is putting a lot more of it out the tail end than any previous diesel I've ever had in a pickup. If the idea is to trap carbon, what have you gained? - carbon is the fundamental building block of all life forms as we know them and a base element to boot!
I was thinking the same thing as well. My new truck gets 30L per 100kms where as my 6.0 on it's 100 tune gets 16.5L per 100kms :Shocked: WTF. So i'm burning almost twice as much fuel but some how at the end of the day i'm reducing green house gases?!
I think it's all hype from the government that we need this shiat. Hype for what i'm not sure..money..probably..but who really knows. What the government isn't telling everyone is that this planet is going through the early stages of a polar shift. It's supposed to happen every 50,000 years and it's been an estimated 200,000 since the last one. What's the catch with a polar shift you ask? Climate change (sometimes severe in parts of the world), strange weather patterns. There are theories that say the last polar shift was the leading cause in the extinction of the Neanderthals .... Our own sun went through it's own polar shift in 2001. Just some food for thought..sorry for getting off topic.
You're not really all that far off the topic at all. It's puzzling, the directions that are taken to "reduce" emissions. If that was the real intent we'd be getting 30 or 40 mpg with these rigs - a lot more miles driven per cubic foot of stuff out the back end. My ecological conscience tells me to do whatever I can to stretch my mileage, so I'm waiting impatiently for an improved reprogram that wipes out the ridiculous rate of fuel burning to "clean" the PDF (eliminates the regen completely) and cranks up the mpg's - every programmer I've ever used has done that to some extent, some just plain better than others - and then the exhaust system on my '08 is history. It can sit in the garage until my next new truck shows up and then someone else can have it!
SP I have to agre with you it sure puzzles me i had a 1986 MB 300 sdl this is a big heavy car wit ha 6 cyl diesel. and like clockwork i would get 34 mpg. Now my problem with all htiese guys ie ford generious mtrs,dodge the (detroit crew), here we are 20 years latter and they cant improve fule milage??? I realy think there is something worng with this formula..... Anyway i m not "jonsey" and i use my PSD for long trips, think ill just keep my ole 7.3 ltr for an ohter 100K.. than the way i look at it 4 or 5 K$ is a lot cheeper then the price of a new superduity.... Just my thinking .... Bill
I have a SRW 08 F-350 CC XLT with 3.73 gears auto and 7000ks Here are the faults: the front panel on the box produces a humm on wasboard roads, maybe a spray on lining may reduce that.
Gas mileage is 5 mpg less than the duramax,as well as power on the dragstrip.
Regeneration kill the gas mileage, and lasted up to 1.5 hours hi-idling in the driveway
My remote start still doesn't work after 4 times to the dealership
If you opt for the carpet delete option, the rubber carpet fit is horrible, trying to get a new one under warranty.
My drivers side window makes a ratcheting noise, so they ordered a new module for it.
You absolutelu cannot drive this truck with the back windows half way down, you will think there is an army chopper over top of you.
The paint is orange peel
The tailgate rattles on dirt roads
If you get the all terrain tires option on 18 inch wheels the tires are basically all season tires so don't waste your money
On the plus side:
The suspension is a little better than the 07
The road noise and engine noise is the lesser of all the diesels
I like the interior better that the others
The front end is alot better and tougher than the others if used on gravel roads or off road in the long run.
The truck is alot higher than the others
Lighting is great
If you live in cold climate the optional heater is a must have and it works great, heated mirrors are also good.
I like the steel plateforms under the rear seats to lay stuff on.
Nearly all NON-luxury vehicles and even some luxury vehicles come from the factory with what you call orange peal - its a factory finish..
I am a claims adjuster and have seen it on ever make/model... very rarely will a manufacture put enough clear on that someone who custom makes cars will to get the glass like shine
But as for this thread, I say get it if you want it!
I have own my 08 for about 2 months I have not had any problems with it. 1600 miles on it and love it. I have not had bad truck form ford at all and would not own anything else.:thumb::soapbox:
Not sure why anyone would let thier truck idle for 1.5 hours. I never do and no where does it tell you that you have to run the truck in idle and get through regen before shutting it off. I let it run through regen while I'm driving and it doesn't kill the mileage anywhere near as bad as sitting and idling.
How could you list fuel mileage compared to another truck isn't a fault. That's like buying the Duramax and saying a fault is that it doesn't tow as much weight as the Powerstroke.
I could have swore I was buying a truck not a BMW or Mercedes.
I have to get rid of this truck! Word is they are: poor milage, orange peel, poorly geared regeneration piles of crap. Oh wait, all of that was on the sticker and I bought it because I wanted it. I guess I'll keep it.
I drove the truck over one hour in regen mode with all the symptoms mentionned in the service buletin, the dealer thought that something was wrong with the truck and they suggested to let it idle for a while to see what if it would get out of its first regen cycle. The second regen lasted 20 minutes and the third lasted 50 minutes of driving time. Three regens in 5000 miles.
Yes the gas mileage is a fault and a major one.
mjm --- the reason I posted this is just a non-biased opinion of my truck for someone to make an informed 50000 dollar purchase. They do have all the plus's mentionned above.
I have been a diesel mechanic for 25+ years and feel people should know what they are buying.
Had I seen the paint finish and known about the poor mileage I would not have bought this truck but I had already sold my old one and had given a deposit on the order that took 2 months to arrive
Don't kill the messenger because you are brand loyal, to me I bought this because of the features that I wanted and they are all simply pieces of tin and I don't fall in love with any particular brand, I just buy what I need and want.
pierre3737,
I was just just messing with you. I always regret buying a new truck! They are never worth what you pay for them and 80% of the time the old "girl" was better than the new. I truely feel bad that you are not satisfied.
No problem mjm, I'm happy with the truck but there are small issues that are to be expected with first year vehicles. I was expecting some problems, as a mechanic I understand that and I knowingly bought one anyways for the features that I wanted.
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