Hello All, Well I have a 2006 f250 PSD that I am the original owner of. I use the truck for light towing, trips to the desert, trips to the river, etc. Since I have gotten the truck its been nothing but odd issues.

About two years ago and only 20k miles on truck the family and I took a trip to Yellow Stone National Park for two weeks. Truck, 4 passengers, and 1 12k trailler. I took my truck in for service just before I left like a good boy. Got he oil, fuel, rotation, etc. Was feeling good about the trip until I got about 300 miles out and the truck over heated on me. it cooled off very quick so I thought maybe it was a fluke. When I got to St, Georges Utah and the truck was over heating just going up and on ramp, I went to the ford dealer ship. The replace the cracked coolant tank and flushed the entire system. Continue on the trip, truck is overheating almost every hill. Swing by another dealership, they replace the Oil Cool, continue on trip, truck still overheating all the time. Drive very gently until I get home and take it in for the issue. Dealership replaces the Oil Cool again, 2 months later (and not more then 500 miles) truck blows the EGR system, white fog's the freeway (o man that was a riot). Truck goes to Ford replace EGR system and some fuel injectors for hard start issue. Truck still over heating and now leaking oil. Ford can't get it to do it when they have it, Its now mid 2009 and the truck is still intermittently overheating. Ford finally realizes that the Diesel truck should be leaking and in taking a look the truck over heats on them, yep you guessed it yet another oil cooler, but this time with head gaskets. I get the truck back and it has this burning oil smell in the vents. Take it back they replace some sort of turbo boots, and put in a new alternator for the hard starting issues its having again. Get truck back this week, still has oil smell in vents, but I guess on the bright side its not leaking oil on the deck and has not over heated as of yet...

So my question is does this seem like a lot of crap to go wrong on a Truck that just broke the 50K mark, I would expect to see 300k out of this thing but I am not feeling like I will now days, anyone?

 

Welcome to the 6.0 world. My advice? Blow those headgaskets again, quick, before your warranty runs out, then have them replace the bolts with head studs and some better gaskets, and do an EGR delete. It will cost you some out of pocket since you won't be using Ford parts, but you'll get rid of the issues.

 

Good info Zach. I am really suprised the dealer didnt do the EGR cooler and Oil cooler at the same time because the dealer here wont do one or the other they usually change them as a pair. I have owned mine for a year and I think I have been driving mine for about 10-1/2 months.

 

Well I asked if they would do them this go around and the dealer was not willing to do that. Not sure why to be honest, just not something they would do. So I think I will get the head studs and knock them out myself, along with the better gaskets, once its gets time. I am not sure how to blow just head gaskets with out compromising the rest of the package, lol. For now I would settle for a truck that is just not in my opinion reliable, nor does it seem like it will go the distance with out a lot more money... urgh!

So with the head studs, once those are done on these there are no more issues related to the heads? Is that really true? Seems to me for a truck I plan on keeping for a long while, its worth making the investment.

Thanks for the advice.

 

Unless you plan on running a crazy amount of power, you won't have any issues after you do the head studs & egr delete. By "knocking it out yourself", do you mean you're going to do all of the work yourself??

 

Yes, I mean myself. I have been working on my vehicles for many years now. Its only metal, and worked on by mere mortals so I should be just fine.

 

Er... Ok. Not saying it can't be done, but, it's a beeyotch to do if you keep the cab on the truck.

 

You do realize that with the 6.0L you need to either completely pull the engine from the truck or pull the cab off the frame to pull the heads? Every tech at a dealership will pull the cab off the truck as thats faster than pulling the engine. Changing the heads on the newer trucks with the "cab forward" design are very difficult to do. You could do it in about half a weeks time if you had a 2 post lift, if you just have a cherry picker you're looking at at least a week, even longer if you're just working on it in your spare time. I just can't believe that you don't have enough sense to just pay the $100 deductable to have the gaskets replaced under warranty. Dealers will put in the head studs for you, you just have to provide them when they go to do the install.


Oh, and ditch the K&N filter if you want to hang onto your engine for more than another 50k.

 

Are these problems veryone has with the 6.0?
Sounds like a lot of trouble...

 

Haven't blown any head gaskets yet on any of the 4 6.0L trucks at work, but 3 of the 4 (F550s) overheat on a regular basis. The 4th is just a 250 so it doesn't get worked hard at all. The other 3 are in the shop on a regular basis. One of them goes through a set of injectors about once a year and 2 of them have been through multiple hpops. I've currently got our 07 F550 with me in the field now, and if I want to start it at 6*F or below I have to plug it in all night. I wouldn't even think twice about starting my old 7.3L in that kind of weather. I never plugged it in unless it was -10*F.


Bottom line the 6.0L has been nothing but a POS in any of the trucks I've driven or ridden in.

 

So, the 6.4 fairs better as far as repairs, but the mileage sucks?

 

I know it's not a diesel... but... my F150 since this past summer has been very weird.

I had my alternator bend it's shaft (I have no clue what kind of force that takes), which killed the idler pulleys and the tensioner and pulley. The bolt and snap ring on one of the pulleys is wobbley causing a small squeak during cold idle, and I can't find the Ford P/N to save my butt. I also have a leak on the block coming from the valve gasket. The hvac actuator arm is shot as it is either -20F or +90F in my cab. The fan motor sounds like there is a playing card stuck in it.

Only 33k on it...

 

So why post it? Another worthless post brought to you by Manuel...

 

:santa:

 

Pretty much. Our 08 F550 has been trouble free as far as I know of. I had it at the end of last year for a few weeks and it ran just fine. I haven't run it at all this year. The thing got 8mpg unloaded (some guys said they saw 10mpg, but I never did). If you put a trailer behind it (26K+) it was down to around 5mpg. The deep gears is what kills it. Firezapper on here has an 09 F250 and he was getting 18mpg on the highway, but it dropped down to around 12mpg in headwinds and towing.