ok guys i have a 04 fx4 f150 but im thinking about trading it for a 06 fx4 f250 with the 6 liter. i have read a ton of info about the 6 liter and just like with everything else there is good and bad. wanted to get some 6 liters owners to chime in there thoughts....i have had a friend of mine that works for ford pull all the history on the truck and the only thing that really showed up was the egr was replaced a few times. never had injectors, turbo, or head gaskets done. dont know if thats good or bad. the truck is all stock and has 134000 on it. so lets hear what yall think

 

The only guy's that I personaly know who have blown head gaskets and caused the heads to warp have had cuctom tunes on there truck. I have a buddy with 130k miles on one with the edge attitude with juice. He doesn't run the truck hard and only issue he had was the EGR so he put the delete on it. I think it's a hit and miss. You will read a lot of bad about them on the forums, but that's b/c thats where people go to try and solve there problems. The guys who arent having trouble have nothing to post. I was in the same situation as you. After reading the forums I got scared and just went with the 6.4 with a warranty. A lot of guys were telling me if I got a 6.0 to change head studs and do an EGR delete and I'd be fine.

 

yeah i read that alot of people have problems with a big tune with them guess its just like everthing else you hot rod and its gonna tear up sooner or later. the only reason really im even thinking about it is i have a camper and i pulled it with my buddys 7.3 truck and it was so much better than with the 150.

 

Personally I'd stay away from them. I don't own one, but I spend alot of time behind the wheel of one. Out of the fleet of service trucks we have 4 of them are 6.0L. There are 2 early 03s, and 2 07s. The 03s have a laundry list so long it would make you sick. One of the 07s hasn't had alot of issues but I drove it yesterday and something is on its way out. The other 07 has had about $8-9k of repairs in the last 25k (one year). That particular truck left me stranded in a field twice this year. 95% of the repairs we do to these 4 trucks are all engine related. The rest of the truck is rock solid, and they get used hard. Luckily the engine is still under warranty on both of the 07s, so we're good for about another year or so. We have a number of 7.3L trucks still and 2 have over 200k and none of them have had anything major done to them. The most expensive thing was a trans going out on one of the F550s at 100k something. BTW, all of the trucks are bone stock.

The kicker is that it only takes a couple of failures out of warranty on some of the common items (EGR cooler, oil cooler, head gaskets, warped heads, etc) and you could have swapped in a Cummins and not have to worry about the engine again.

 

They are not cheap to repair I have replaced two injectors at 250 a piece for a total of 1300 with labor. Next up was the FICM at 800 and then the EGR delete for just under 1k. When they run right they are an absolute beast but when they break you will wish you never bought the thing.

 

My grandpa's had 3 of them. an 03, an 04, and now an 07. His 03 was a bad one. The 04 and 07 have had no problems. He has purchased them all new and pulled the same 10k pound fifth wheel with each one. They are really hit and miss imo

 

Another vote for hit or miss. IMO if you want to own a 6.0 you need to know the engine very well.

Edit: If you want a nice tow truck that is rock reliable just find yourself a clean 7.3

 

Good luck with that. Those are getting harder to find every day, and the prices are going up instead of down.

 

That's what she said....

 

I guess my first question would be why you want a Super Duty. They're great trucks - if you need a real heavy duty truck. If you're buying one that's just going to be used as a daily driver though, I wouldn't recommend it. The overall maintenance costs on a 6.0 are generally higher than your half ton. (Compare oil change prices and recommended frequency for instance.) If you really work a truck though (towing, hauling, plowing, etc.) a diesel starts to make more sense.

Then of course there's all of the well known problems with a 6.0. Yes, they can be one hell of a motor when they run right. We have three of them; a 2003 (absolute junk from day 1), a 2006 (85,000 miles and just starting to have problems) and a 2005 (only 23,000 miles, but has its issues). Personally, I wouldn't buy one with over 100k on the clock and wouldn't touch one that's been run hard or modified in any way. It might run great. But then again, it might just break the bank.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm still on the fence as far as what i'm going to do. It will be used to pull the camper and race car a good bit but it will also be my daily driver. I did find a 7.3 truck that is pretty clean but it needs some interior work like the leather and such.

 

If you could find a V10 version you would probably be farther ahead going that route. You will find they are thristy but the are so much cheaper to operate than a diesel truck.

 

From a pure reliability standpoint, 7.3's are generally much more reliable than 6.0's - especially early 6.0's. We've got a 2003 7.3 with 196,000 miles on it and the thing purrs like a kitten. (Ok, so it's a loud kitten.)

 

Find a clean 2006 or 2007 F250/F350 and run a Oasis Report on it. They are hit or miss on the 6.0 yet the older years seem to have they bugs worked out of them for the most part.

I have and seen a few people get new 2011 F150 with the 6.5ft bed fully loaded trucks, with max. tow package and think that they are superduties. They tell me oh I can tow this or that, I smile and say yup. Once you drive a PSD or any of the big three diesels you most likely will not won't to go back to a gasser truck. At least that is me and my take on it.

 

V10 would be my choice.......go figure!