[Dewey]

I'm in the market for a second plow truck..... Today was the first day looking.
I'm looking for a F-350 or a GM 3500 pickup... I looked at two F350's that had the 6.0 diesel in it... I know one of the diesels are more problematic but not sure if it is the 6.0 or 7.3... The trucks are at two differrant dealers. And they both said that the typical problems have been fixed but..... Being salesmen they weren't sure what the problems are....I also saw a F350 with the V-10... what do you guy think....

One was a 03 with 55'000
the other was a 06 with 69'000
the v 10 was an 06 with 80'000

 

[capnkel]

The 6.0 was the problem child.The 7.3 for the most part is a much better motor.My 03 had the 6.0 ,it was a january built truck,which put it as a fairly early production run.Most of the early problems were caused by fords programing causing injector failures,and sometimes much worse.In 77000 miles i had no issues with the motor,but the tranny died at 36700,ford covered it over mileage and 6 months out of warranty.I'd take a 7.3 anyday over the 6.0 just for the reliabilty,but performance wise the 6.0 will do circles around a stock 7.3,but that can be fixed if you want to do some mods.If you do consider the 6.0 ,make sure you carfax it,and see if the owners had any issues with it.opcorn2

 

[chtucker]

I know of dealers that won't sell 6.0s used. They are afraid of them. These are lots that turned over 15-20 diesel trucks a month to the oil and gas drillers.

I buy the v10

 

[JMac]

cant stress enough to shop outside a dealership lot. The last 2 business trucks have come from ebay and craigslist respectively - and my personal honda was from CL this summer too. I paid a song and a dance for all and they work as hard as anything a salesman would take a cut on too. I have the v10 in my 450 and it isnt as hateful on gas as you might think - close to 7mpg actually.

 

[bigcat]

the 7.3 is the way to go , the 6,0 had alot of problems but alot of get up and go ...the v10 my company never had much luck with them.. IMO the 7.3 is the truck you want, you can beat the crap out of it and still wants more. plus add a chip and leave the 6.0 and 6.4 in the dust.

 

[J&JProperty]

Over the years I have had the 7.3(99 F-350), V-10(04 F-350) and the 6.0(06 F-450). My F-450 has the 6.0 and the power and performance out do the 7.3 all day long. The 7.3 is pretty much bullet proof and I had over 220k on mine when I sold it off. The V-10 was nice if you didn't use your truck like a truck but more as a grocery getter and occassional truck. Comparing the 3 motors isn't fair since each is its own beast. The 6.0 did have problems early on, some were a Ford/IH issue and some were owners trying to treat them like a 7.3. I was skeptical with the 6.0 but I couldn't pass the deal up and so far I have no complaints and would get another late model 6.0 - 2005-07, the 2003/04 models are hit or miss with the oil coolers and ICM's.

 

[PSDF350]

I know many have had problems with the 6.0l but I love mine. I have over 130,000 miles on my 04 and I have not been gentle to it and it has been good to me. My 01 550 with the 7.3l is a bit of a dog. Could be the 4.88 gearing. If your getting a srw and the price is right go with the v10. .60 cents a gallon differance between regular gas and diesel and honestly the differance in fuel mileage isn't that great.

 

[Mark Oomkes]

Well, just spent $1600 on 4 new objectors on my '04.

I've had 7 new objectors on my '05. I have 2 or 3 bad on my other '05.

That doesn't include any of the rest of the crap that I've had go wrong.

You decide.

 

[BSDeality]

i'm getting a $2k repair bill today for my 6.0. for a fuel injection control module, new EGR valve and a bearing that failed... 75k miles on the truck, a few months out of warranty (5yr/100k warranty on the powerstroke). I'm not a happy camper today. ford will not budge on assisting with the repair bill. I like the truck but the problems with them are expensive to fix out of warranty and as soon as toyota comes out with a diesel I am jumping ship.

 

[jmac5058]

Toyota dosent have to come up with a diesel the came out with a V-8 common rail twin turbo for the rest of the world to go along with the I-6 and I-4s they have made for decades.They just dont sell them here,move to Argentina and you can have one.The Hilux is not offered here , its a mid size diesel pick-up thats been bullet proof for ever and all we get is a gasser Tachoma that gets milage like a full size truck.

 

[Pickering Snow]

Its two expenisve for the hit and miss 6.0 engine like Mark i have had more bad than good. My 04 has its third warr engine in it and has been a dream but not a wet dream ok just been nice not to carry oil around and worry but thats one out of 4 trucks that had 6.0s thats ok and again only after its third engine.
The truck i sold Dr Wally in Indy with 8k miles turned into a nightmare i know i got spanked on a bad Ebay deal with that using a ebay consignment company here thats out of buss but he who laughs first laughs last :wink

My one F550 Wrecker now sports a 12v Cummins since the 6.0 in that which i deemed a 4-6-8 engine depending on its mood wouldnt even pull a car up a hill on its last days and smoked like a chimmeny.

The best Wrecker i own is a 02 F550 we drove out to Mass to buy with a 7.3 manuel trans it had 68k on the clock when i bought it two years ago and is a work horse best 23k i have spent.

To be honest i would put a 6.0 GM gaser up to alot of these diesels for overall dependabity if a waterpump and fuel pump are all i have too worry about and maybe some rusted exhust manifold studs ill take that any day over the hell of a diesel outside of cummins. And on Cummins i wasnt that inpressed with the 6.7 i had in the Sterling or Dodge 5500 they both seemed gutless and the dam regen coming which seemed like anytime i had a load on i could do without.

Best Diesel i have owned is a DT466 but thats not practical because it sets in my 14t 4300 TMS wrecker.

 

[Mr BigBlock]

Save yourself alot of time and money go get a 6liter gmc 3500 srw gasser. I have two of them one from new 05 a never had a problem