big mistake
 

so last week I went against all the advice I have ever learned here....I bought a regular cab 2004 F-350 dually with the 6.0 litre in it. I drove it for four days. I couldn't get acceleration out of it at all. Took it to a commercial truck shop that I know thinking maybe the turbo was bad. They told me that I should have investigated the truck more because they believe I took it off the lot with out the hoses being hooked up to the radiator and with out coolant. Now, it will not hold any coolant and it all seaps out.

Bottom line, there is not a warrant. Its a respected dealership but should I count on them helping me at all? I didn't even have it a week.

The truck shop told me I need a new block. Any thoughts? Other than of me being an idiot?

Thanks

I would certainly take it to the dealer you bought it from and have a discussion with them to start with. I would probably hold on to the information from the third party shop until you need to bring it out. If you didn't remove the hoses or drain the coolant, I would ask them to see if they did an inspection when the vehicle came in to them. It sounds to me like whoever traded it to them may have been trying to cover up a problem with the truck. The worst they can do is tell you there is no warranty, the best is they take the truck back.

Wow man that totally sucks, Did it run alright when you test drove it?

Dealerships can be just as guilty of covering up problems to make a sale. Our last 6.4 we bought used with 120k miles on it and only made it to 140k before we dumped it. The dealership we bought the new one from worked with us on a good deal for a new one, lost no money on the trade, and robbed parts off of a bad engine that they were returning to Ford to get the one we traded in running long enough to make it to the wholesale auction and out of all of our hair. I have no idea how it turned out, but the truck was going through radiators, had a strange whistle when accelerating, and was believed to have a warped exhaust manifold. All I know is it was going to cost over $2k to fix with no guarantee of it working.

2003-2004 6.0's are notoriously the worst. When they work though and are fixed to prevent the problems they have (head studs, EGR block), I hear they are great. But it costs some bucks to make them bulletproof.

Sounds like what a dealer did to me in Florida... Here's a good sit back and read story:

I was looking for a diesel truck to add to my fleet of vehicles, and I happened to see a nice looking one on ebay. Of course it was down in Florida, and the body and frame looked brand new. Well, I bidded on it, and bidded on it, and I wound up winning it for a little more money than I really wanted to pay. But it looked like a good truck from the description and photos. So I payed them thru a bankwire, and I went down there to pick it up. No biggie. So I flew down, and got down there and test drove the truck. It seemed fine to me, and it drove ok. So I signed off on it, and I was on my way. Well, about an hour out, the truck didnt want to accelerate or do anything. It would fall flat on it's face. But it would only do it once and a while... maybe after an hour or so, and then it would disappear. I contributed it to the heat. Well, I drove it up 95 and got to 83 in MD, and it finally died on me. The tranny high pressure line busted. I called my insurance company for a tow, and I got towed to a dealer to have them inspect it. They only found the tranny lines to be unhooked because they weren't clamped tight enough. So they flushed it and stuff. The Florida dealer payed for it. So off I was again in a couple weeks, and the truck still wasn't driving right. So I got home, and I brought it by the local Dodge dealer, and they found like 8 grand worth of stuff to be fixed. So I took it back up to the house and bought a new tranny... had it towed to a dealer, and then had it towed back to the house... then sold it for for a loss.

Worst thing I've ever done.

Wow.. I would cry lol

What did you pay for the truck?

Didnt any of your temp gauges say she didnt have coolant?

Wow, that's terrible.

All of my temp gauges ran fine and none of my lights on the dash went off. It was towed from the commercial truck garge to the dealer yesterday and they are suppose to take a look at it today. They just keep saying about how there is no warranty. The truck lasted 3 days worth of driving and I owned it for 5 days before it had problems. I paid 18,000 for it so I am really in a jam now.

You would not have been able to drive that truck with out coolant for three days. I have a couple questions though.

1. How many miles are on the truck?

2. Where is it leaking from on the engine?

What he said, you probably have a bad egr cooler or possibly a blown head gasket. If you plan on keeping this truck install an EGR cooler delete kit and a set of ARP head studs it will eliminate most of the problems he 6.0 has and will make it more reliable

There's no way in hell you could have driven the truck for 4 days with no coolant. You'd have a million warning lights going off about low coolant, and it'd also be overheating like a mofo.

Agreed. If you get a diesel that hot you are going to know about it either by the way it runs or by the warning buzzers that will go off until it cools back down.

I dunno even what to say...

The truck had 51,000 miles on it when I took it off the lot. It was driven home where it sat for a few days until I went and bought the new insurance from it. No gauges ever read hot and no sensors ever went off. The owner of the dealership called me saying that a new engine might be the only solution, however i do not have a warranty. While I had the truck I drove it around 50 miles.