I am thinking of making the switch from my F150 to a Superduty. I tow quite a bit and the 8 MPG is killing me. My local dealer has a 2005 Superduty crew with about 30,000 miles on it. The truck appears to be in very good shape and they say (of course could be lying) it was an elderly gentleman who owned it and traded up for a 2008 SD. There are no indications of any performance mods like a chip, exhaust or CAI. Lots of guys tell me to stay away from the 6.0 PSD due to head bolts breaking or ???.
So... those of you that own / have owned the 6.0 PSD, what is your experience with them for longevity, maintenance expense, and typical mileage? Are they something to shy away from especially once they are off warranty?

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I've been looking for an '02-'03 7.3 but just can't find one with the options I want. Now I'm (gulp) looking at 6.0s. A good friend of mine is a diesel tech at a Ford dealer. This is what he said:
Stay away from the '03 & '04 6.0!
'05 only under warranty!
'06 & '07 are ok.
Potential problems to watch for:
EGR valve clogging.
EGR cooler getting over heated and leaking.
High pressure oil line quick-connect failure (there's a revised line from Ford)
Injectors go bad.
Turbo over-heated and warp vanes.
VGT solenoid sticking.

Warranty on the SD diesel is 5 years/100,000 miles.
Bottom line is watch for signs of over heating. The 6.0 doesn't like to sit around idling. Get one under warranty and you should be good.
Bad fuel = problems!

 

Thanks for the info. I know all manufactures have their lemons but I have not heard anything negative about the Cummins or Duramax engines. I guess that's why the PSD's are considerably less $$ than a comparable Dodge or Chev around here.
I still like the looks of the Superduty better. I guess as long as it checks out, price is good enough, and it has some warranty, there is little risk. If it turns into a POS once warranty is up, I'll just get rid of it.

 

I still stand behind my 06 even though I just had the head gaskets changed along with the EGR Cooler and Oil Cooler. I pull heavy loads with mine and I had a bully dog programmer which led to my head gasket problem. I have to admit that I was rough on my truck. The truck is now fixed and she runs like a champ. I take better care of her now so she should give me another 60k miles with no troubles.

The cummins engine is a great motor but dodge trucks are garbage. They have electrical problems as well as egr problems. The Duramax has injector problems so all of them have problems. I was a chevrolet man for years but after owning this F250, I will never switch back. The Ford is a strong, durable work horse and I plan on staying with them.

 

I have a 2005 F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab 4wd diesel that I purchased new back in September 2004. I currently have 109,000 miles on it. I have towed just about everything under the sun with it. I drive it hard and put it away wet. Hauled many cords of firewood and I use it everyday for work. I have had zero head gasket issues. My fuel mileage is about 14 to 15 miles per gallon with all of my equipment in the back. I would highly recommend the 2005 to 2006.

 

That's good to know. From doing some more research, it would appear the 6.0head gasket issues are mostly a result of tuners, etc... It sounds like if you leave these engines alone, they're fine.

 

I'm right there with bugman(same truck) And not the first problem yet(knock on wood. I have 116,000 on mine and give it no slack but take good care of it. I wished i would have waited and got an Outlaw or kept the F150 but oh well. I'm still debating on wheather to go back to the F1, if i find the right one for the right price I will. I would goes as far as putting an exhaust and cold air but I think I'll keep away from programming on the F2.If Diesel would stop going up I will. And as far as full milage I get 19.7 on long trips and 15 to 16.5 around the house. Anything over 2,000 RPM's kills ya.
Like cajun said, I like the cummins but hate dodge and can't stand the bow-tie.POS.
All I can say is go for it if the truck is in good shape and you feel good about the purchase.

 

Well I hand a 05 reg cab 350FX4. I had a # of problems from tans cooler leaking, egr cooler leaking, turbo leaking oil into the intake and out of the oil lines this happend two times! also the 2nd to 3rd shift would stall then slam-in all in 25,000m. they said the shifting was not a problem (right) I was towing a 11,000 pound trailer alot. But all of this was a big disapointment to me! All this said I MISS HER