Originally Posted by mblanken881

Thats more than once I've heard the 6.0s need to be maintained well. What kind of maintenance are we talking about here? I know diesels generally require more maintenance than gas trucks and I'm prepared for that. What kind of time and money are we talking about here for maintenance on the 6.0s? Is it maintenance I can do in my driveway or maintenance that has to be done at a shop?

Thanks,

Mike

Originally Posted by TennesseeMustangPerf

Not necessarily total ignorance, but half educated for sure.
The 6.0L is not a perfect engine, and did have some bugs as all motors do. I will address the main issues that people have had with them and add the truth to help you firgure out fact from fiction.

1. 6.0L's have bad head gaskets. Untrue. Often times people modify them beyond what they are capible of, and increase boost which tends to stretch the head bolts and cause gasket issues. As with all engines, the 6.0L's life will decrease with an increase in modifications, and simply increasing boost/horsepower without supporting mods will cause premature failure.

2. The 6.0L has a much better transmission than other trucks. This is one of those rumors about the 6.0L that is very true. The 5R110W is a much improved transmission over the 4R100W and the Torqeshift is also much stronger.

3. The 6.0L has oil cooler/EGR/EGR cooler issues. True, sort of. The early 6.0Ls had sand castings in the oil cooler and an EGR cooler that can clog with soot. This was corrected by 2005, however this can greatly be corrected by the "Drive it like you stole it" approach once and a while.

4. 6.0L engines have turbo problems. The turbo can stick on a 6.0L but is mostly due to improper service (too long on oil changes).

5. 6.0L engines do not like mods/tuners. This is true, but if the truck is outfitted with an EGR delete and head studs it can easily tolerate just about whatever you would like to throw at it.

6. The 6.0L is quieter than the 7.3L. Yes, and by quite a large margin. Matter of fact, when driving on the interstate at speed, I cannot even hear the truck running when I let off the throttle, and have a very slight sound when maintaining speed.

7. The 6.0L gets better mileage and power than other motors. True. The 6.0L gets much better mileage than the 7.3L and 6.4L on average, and has more towing ability than the 7.3L. While these may not reflect the average, my crew cab 6.0L dually 4X4 gets around 18-20MPG. 6.4L's get around 12-14 usually. Most 6.0Ls average around 16 or so.

8. 6.0L's are harder/more expensive to maintain. Yes and no. Working on these engines with basic service is actually easier. Oil changes are a breeze, you don't have a canister filter to deal with, it is a filter element right on top of the engine. Filters are about double the price of the 7.3L counterpart at around $20 each, and a Motorcraft filter is required, as is Motorcraft oil. Also, the transmission requires Mercon SP fluid which is pretty much dealership only and runs around $5 a quart. All in all though, they are pretty close to the price of servicing a 7.3L.

9. 6.0L's have bad injectors. There are some 6.0L engines that have had premature injector failure, but a lot of this also falls back to proper oil change intervals/proceedures.

10. 6.0L's don't like to be neglected. This is very true. The basic service intervals are 7,500 miles per oil change, 15,000 per fuel filter(s) change. They do not like to be neglected like the 7.3L could be done, but if properly serviced a 6.0L engine will give you many, many years of good service.

11. I should get an OASIS report before buying a 6.0L truck. This is true with any truck, and a 6.0L is no exception. The OASIS will tell you how the truck was treated in the past, and will show if there was a history of problems.

All in all, if you get a 2003-2007 PSD that has a clean OASIS report (or one that does not have a huge history of issues on the report) then you will be buying a very good truck! If I had heard/believed all of the rumors about the 6.0L before buying one, I would have missed out on a great rig! I have not had a single problem with my truck and absolutely love it! Not to say that there is not a place for the 7.3L, 6.4L, or V10 truck, but the 6.0L is a fantastic rig all around. In the end it is all about what you need, but do not shy away from the 6.0L based on rumors. To conclude, most of the problems that people have with the 6.0L has been due to improper service or modifications making the truck do what it simply was not designed to do. Service it regularly and allow it to warm up properly before you get into the pedal and you will be rewarded by a great truck that will pull anything you can toss at it, great fuel economy, and a nice quiet ride! Good luck with the decision!

Originally Posted by sammy77

I would think you would educate your sales people a little better. I for one would be rubbed the wrong way no matter what brand I'm lookin for. I hear a load of crap like this when I'm lookin at something. You know this isn't true and theres no line to trade your 6.0 diesel in at 10k miles. I know I'm a stickler for it, but honesty means alot to me. Don't just make up BS because selling another brand may put a few more $$$ in your pockets. (I don't know if thats the case) Now that being said, 1 bad salesperson doesn't make it a bad place to do buisness...

Originally Posted by sammy77

Very well done. Save this thread because it comes up alot and you summed up everything nicely. As far as the ignorance thing, you're probably right Rob I guess its growing a little old me hearing people talk about how bad a 6.0 is when they have no expirence with one. I guess its in my 6.0 blood... Or oil...