Buy it for yourself and give her your OBS.

 

Haha; but I like my crewcab longbed, and she wants something smaller (not a bad idea, I need 3 lanes of opposing traffic and an island to make a u-turn), plus I'm rather partial to the OBS.

 

wait...
you can make U turns :surprise: :rofl:

read the sticky section on monitoring and bulletproofing a 6.0.
they can be made reliable but dont come that way from the factory :doh:
and I wouldnt want my daughter in something this size with this much power that hadnt been completely gone through to make it solid...just my 0.02

 

No matter what 6.0 you look at head studs always need to be on your mind, along with an egr delete, no exceptions, imo.

Personally, unless she will be towing, I would just put my daughter in a gasser and call it good.

 

Take it to a good diesel shop and have them look it over. If its stock that's good but there are going to be some things to do to it right away to avoid some of the common issues. If it's going to be stock and not used for heavy towing I don't think you have to do the full bulletproof.

But some things to do first is flush the coolant system to get rid of the factory ford coolant that plugs up the oil cooler.

Get a scanner that actively reads oil temp and coolant temp, these numbers will determine if your oil cooler is getting clogged.

The fuel pressure "blue" spring is important too as the original one gets weak and causes a drop in fuel pressure.

I'm still new to the 6.0 but this is what I have gathered over the last few months, coming from a 7.3 I was scared too but I love my 07 with 60k. I'm told if I take care of it and don't push it beyond what it's built for it should last forever.

Or a shop can do all the bulletproofing for about 3500-4500 and it should be set forever

 

aslong as the previous owner took care of it . you should be good I've had mine since brand new . and I've done two or three injectors a sensor or two . along as you have it checked out good by a diesel shop or mechanic i say get it

 

have you got 7-10 K laying around extra to dump into the truck after you purchase it? If not then say no to the 6.0...... Great trucks but take they TLC and coin to make reliable..... I wouldn't do it all over again knowing what I know now. I'm a one owner bought brand new and have been paid off for years but I wouldn't do it all over again. I have read to many stories of members dumping lots of money to bullet proof only to have the same issues happen again and again and again.

 

Aside what they said above, as long as your daughter needs the towing power and can afford this truck, then should be fine. I've got daughter, and I would want her to have two things for the truck. First silver AAA towing with 70 mile range and the $4k for it to be bulletproofed mentioned above. I also live in a valley with 4 million people and many decent 6.0 diesel mechanics.

May know this already with the your truck. The long run cost of these trucks is dollars per mile, not miles per dollar. It's not four quarts of WalMart grade oil I put into this. This is why right now I would not want my daughter getting one is just that I'd end up "owning" two trucks, because I'd be maintaining it--dollars and time, but she would be driving it all the time. If your daughter is grown with a decent job, then the 6.0 could be great. Just don't want to set her up where she's just starting out and now a large chunk of her income is going towards the truck.

 

What have you had to repair to cost that much and how many miles? Same repair over and over or constant engine failures?

 

For me the cost per mile is high because I did have head gaskets done the correct way by being magnafluxed and machined and a BPD air cooled oil cooler installed. What also brings the cost up is my oil changes are between 150 and 200 every 500 miles, the front / rear differential fluid changes, a couple of coolant changes; STC fitting busting and breaking the rear housing assembly; a couple of steering issues--a leaking pump and a bad steering stabilizer. My first tire purchase was mud tires, but they only lasted 12k miles, I replaced those with A/T tires. I get around 10 MPG in the truck, a lot because I drive it on the trails and not a paved road. Also included in my cost is the cost to "Tool Up" so my tool kit can now handle an oil cooler change in my driveway.

This truck is not a daily driver, so if it was, I think the cost per mile may be a little lower. I take it out to go into the desert once a week and a couple of times a year to tow light. It's my one "irrational purchase."

What I'm saying is if you look at a lot of our signature blocks, you'll see these trucks can be quite expensive once you start adding up all the expenses aside from cost of diesel, just make sure your girl can afford it or you can help her foot the bill. As much as I'd like to see my daughter in a decent truck, right now I'd rather see her living in a decent, safe place.

 

Its all in how she was treated and how you treat her, you need realistically about 5k on hand POTENTIALLY if something goes wrong.

 

I actually have my first kid on the way due in Nov and its a girl.....Long and short, I would look over it good and buy it. I came from a 7.3l and dumped a ton of money into the truck, but love my 6.0l.....Be on top of stuff with monitoring etc and drive.....Glad she wants a truck, more protection around here as well....My baby girl when the time comes is going to drive a Monster Truck..well you guys get the picture haha

 

I've got an 03 F350 and the main thing for me on these early engines is if the oil cooler is plugging and needs replacement be proactive and install a Dieselsite or other aftermarket HPOP while it's apart, as they are a known weak point.

 

ChrisSki I don't think it would be fair to tell them to expect to spend that on every 6.0. Your maintenance is far different than anything I have heard of. The way I read it is every 500 miles you change your oil? also the tires shouldn't be included because that is personal preference of the type of tire.
Most of the things you mentioned are basic vehicle maintenance for any vehicle, I think they are more interested the cost of the 6.0 engine specifically. The head gaskets, cooler, and fitting are valid repairs but they are all included in bulletproofing and more for the 4K cost.

 

BPD quotes 10-12 for the full bullet proof at their shop. Far more than the 4 you are talking about. Also repeat repairs for "bullet proof" is a reality for some.

 

My experience

So here is how mine went. I found a 2003 king ranch crew cab 4x4 on craigslist for 6K with 180K miles. I knew it had bad injectors when I bought it. Turned out to have blown head gasket, bad turbo, 8 bad injectors (vegetable oil used as fuel), bad intercooler, bad radiator, and needed all the extras done. Put a new exhaust on it as it had one in the bed of the truck and put an XCT tuner in it. By the time I was done I was into the engine work $9100 dollars. I now have a beast of a motor I believe I can trust for a long time with proper maintenance. I am in the truck 16K with some other work I had done. More then I wanted to pay by a lot, but it is a very nice truck. Also an 2003 has a very loud turbo. It wines at all volume throttle levels and flat out screams when you open it up. 04 is quieter by a lot.

I am glad I didn't pay 12K for the truck then find out how much needed to be done. I second the statement above to have a damn good mechanic that works on 6.0 fords go over the truck before you purchase. Heck if possible buy it from a dealer and get a warranty.

Good luck. From what I remember in my research an 05/06 with a v10 is a nice truck if you don't want the risk of the diesel.