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Advice Wanted!

2K views 37 replies 15 participants last post by  dsljnky 
#1 · (Edited)
I’ve been thinking of buying a ‘05 6.0 with 101,000 miles from a used car dealer. I want a newer truck but am kinda scared of the 6.0. I would be the third owner of this truck behind the original owner who was an older guy and a 22 yr old who bought it with 70k miles and then put stacks on it. Other than the stacks as far as I know the truck is stock. I know the guy traded it in on a ‘08 XLT CC. I do not want to spend $15,900 on a ticking time bomb that finally goes off 6 months after I buy it and have to put another $6000 in it to get it fixed. I know that there isn’t any crystal ball that tells you if it will break or not but I’m not sure that I like my odds. I know that “bad news travels half way around the world before good news ties its shoes” and I hope that all I am hearing and reading are the bad stories. I know everything has its problems and breaks down. I just don’t want to buy into what turns out to be some piece of junk and end up putting way more money into it than what it is worth. So you guys with the 6.0s, if you were to do it over again would you buy a 6.0 or would you look for something different? Do you regret signing that dotted line?
I’m getting the VIN checked today and the salesman is supposed to call me back with the number of the guy that traded it in.
What are some good questions to ask him when I talk to him? Head gaskets, EGR system, etc. let me know your opinion! I want to find out all I can about the trucks history before I decide.
Thanks guys! :thumb:
 
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#2 ·
Absolutely do it again. But then again, I haven't had a single problem and mines been custom tuned for 15k.
 
#4 ·
I would do it again and i was customed tuned (race tune) for over 60k miles before egr cooler went and i had the headstuds put it at the same time.... I love my 6.0
 
#5 ·
I just got done talking to a friends brother who had an 03 and he said steer clear. He said on avg his truck spent 20 days a year in the shop, bone stock no chip. He said he was on his 3rd transmission and it was starting to slip when he traded it in. I realise that it was an early 6.0, but he said steer clear.

Thank you guys for your thoughts. Keep em coming! Good or Bad.
 
#6 ·
not to get off topic but thats not 6.0 related...... And the torqshift is one of the best heavy duty transmissions you can get.... very rare for them to fail
 
#7 ·
I Love mine and would do it again and again and again. Mine is an 05 and had 99,000 on it when I bought it last May and it has almost 119,000 and no major problems.
 
#8 ·
I would buy it.
 
#9 ·
I have an '04 too. There was 1 owner before me and he kind of rodded it a little bit. I would check underneath the truck and the motor for starts. I had the EGR coolor go bad and then 4 days later the injector went bad. Haven't had any problems since (except for i'm having an electrical problem, but thats because of my aftermarket stereo i think). Overall good truck. Still beats out my '04 V10 I had before this one.
 
#10 ·
Love my truck, just look at my sig. if you don't believe me...LOL
 
#12 ·
I would do it. I bought my 04 with 10000 miles and now it has 113000. Only had a few injector problems but was covered under 100000 warranty. Egr cooler blew 2 weeks ago (Knew it was coming and was going to delete anyway). Just finishe it a few days ago with instructions from this site and runs amazing with no problems. DO IT BRO!!!
 
#14 ·
Got the Oasis Report

Just got the oasis done about 30 min ago, so this message is hot off the presses.

No warning messages found for the VIN
Build Date 1-29-05, 77 miles when sold new get this WARRANTY EXPIRES at 100,000 miles or on 2-4-09... well it was 1000 miles over 100,000 anyway, but still kinda funny

On 1-28-2008 with 85,969 miles it went into the dealership and got an EGR cooler replaced. Typical for a 6.0 right? But other than that it seems to have a clean bill of health.
 
#16 ·
get it if you can afford it bud. i owned 2 6.0's and never had any major issues with them. only problem with my 03 was i needed a new turbo. i had the edge and than the sct on it and still no problems. it did start to puke coolant right before i sold it tho. :hehe:
btw, how much you want for your f150?
 
#26 ·
Sounds okay to me since the report came back fine. I had a 2002 with the 7.3 before leaving the diesel world for a few months (what was I thinking). Anyway when I started searching again I really wanted the 7.3 because of the horror stories I had heard a bout the 6.0. After researching it seemed like most problems were worked out on the 6.0 on the 2005 and up so I started including them in my search. Ended up finding the one in my sig with a clean bill of health with 48,000 miles on it. Only have 54,000 now but so far so good.
 
#28 ·
Update

Talked to the guy who traded it in and he said when he did the stacks that he did a 4" downpipe too. along with the EGR system being replaced it had an injector replaced in it too. He said when he traded it in he was starting to wonder about a head gasket because if he would get on it then let off there was another "whistle" and he said best he could figure it was pressure inside the cooling system releasing :dunno: he said to ask for some kind of extended warranty on it if i were to buy it just incase. Also he said it had some ABS issues before he bought it.
 
#29 ·
the whistling is probably a ic boot tore somewhere. probably by the turbo inlet. common problem on these trucks. i wouldnt sweat it. go get it man along with a sct and youll never go back to a 7.3 :woot:
 
#30 ·
Instead of replacing your EGR cooler with a cap off-type system, I have heard of some guys in the PHX that have a new cooler - they take the inside guts out - the ones that fail all the time, and then replace the inside guts with a welded stainless-steel tubing assembly. This allows the EGR cooler to still work, and is lots better than capping it off, IMHO.
 
#32 ·
You dont eed to worry about the tourqshift unless your planning on going well on up in the HP. I am dynoing 413hp on my stock tranny and I have plenty of mods and 0 tranny mods. That is one thing Ford done right. I did a write up with pics on here for blocking the EGR.
 
#33 ·
Oh i see. the only thing im, worried about is that one of my professors specialises in automatic transmissions and he said than anything like 75 horse over stock should have at least a valve body adjustment.
How much extra power does hat box give you?
 
#34 ·
well, I cant say exactly what the programmer alone delivers. I know what they claim, but what it delivers is a whole different story. I am in the HP range well above stock and thats not a programmer alone. Im thinking stock is low 300's (claimed) delivered is prob 280's. Drive the truck hard on a test drive, spin the tires, hit wot left off and wot it again,do what ever and if the tranny slips then maybe you wanna walk away from it. All I can really tell you I have never heard a horror story about these trannies. Look under the truck for moist spots on the rear main and around the tranny also lift the hood and look for the same thing around the heads. I have 135k on my 04 and it's just as strong as ever.
 
#38 ·
Im takin another look at it in the morning and he is going to let me have it for the day. Im gonna pull it over the pit at work and check everything out top to bottom. I talked to the guy that owned it before he traded it in and he suggested asking for an extension of the factory warranty. I think that if they dont go for that i might walk.

And thank you for the neg. comment too. Im being serious, i want to hear both sides.

Thanks guys, Ill keep yall posted.
 
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