Tow vehicle upgrade

[kyle47]

Looking to upgrade my TV and was considering a Ford SD with the 6.0L diesel. Any opinions, thoughts, likes or dislikesabout the 6.0L diesel?

[calliopeguy]

You are going to hear a lot of gloom and doom about the 6.0 but I had three of them,2003,2005,2007 and they were as good as it gets. I often got over 20mpg (solo), usually about 10mpg towing, and no problems. Since your 6.0 is used (I assume) it may also have already have had whatever problems its going to have repaired. For me personally the 6.0 was a good buy.

[mbinohio]

I have one and the best advise I can give you is to run, run away from it as fast as you can......I have 50K on mine, dealer serviced, too many EGR valves to count, and 3 turbo's.....oh ya, and a few oil coolers....mine is sitting in the garage, hasn't been moved in months, hopefully when my PP is gone, I will buy a new truck....I love the truck, nice interior, looks sharp, ride nice, but do I trust it.......NO.......

[cowboy_71]

Really like mine...no problems...yet...92000 miles

[spinella]

before buying you can take the VIN number to your local ford dealer and you can get an oasis report. it will give you all the info on that trucks dealer performed work. repairs-recalls-tsb's. keep a eye out for head bolt issues. take a look at this forum http://www.ford-trucks.com/tons of good info there.

[FB1965]

I have an 05 6.0 and not any problems.My son has an 05 and had some trouble, but never missed a camping trip because of it.I would think if there are 50k miles on one ,the problems have been fixed.I think I would buy from 05 up.Seems that most of theses years don't have that much trouble.If the truth be known there are problems with any thing you could buy even thru new ones.Also seems a lot of problems come from chips being put in these trucks and used for hot rods instead of towing.

[artgpo]

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Ford went to an in-house diesel for 2011. Too many Navistar Powerstroke problems?

[drcook]

without stepping on any Ford owners (I am myself a Ford owner, we have a Taurus and a Ranger as our daily drivers) I would like to throw out for your consideration the 06/early 07 GMC Duramax trucks with engine RPO code LBZ. They had the overheat issues mostly fixed with a 30% bigger cooling system and were not saddled with the extreme emissions requirements. It was also the first years of the 6 speed Allison. The Allison is probably the best tranny, with the possible exception of the new Ford auto.



Regardless of brand, as the folks above have stated, research on the respective brand forums (run some Google searches).



Try to make sure that you don't get a truck that has had a tuner run on it. GM has a TSB out on how to tell if a tuner has been used on a Duramax diesel. I am sure Ford and Chrysler probably have the same. The reason I am so against used trucks having had tuners run on them as people get carried away and try to push the limits and hurt the engine.



On one of the Duramax forums, there is a post from a guy who bought a late model Duramax (still under warranty), had issues, and GM voided the remaining warranty out on the truck. Unfortunately he bought it from a private party and had no recourse.



dcEdited by: drcook

[gossamar]

Kyle47, do you have a particular year in mind? As stated above, if there is one at a dealership, have them run an Oasis report on the truck. This will tell you what kind of life it has had in the repair shop. The SECOND question is how heavy of a load are you going to be towing? If it is a heavier load, then there would be a few options. If the truck has had a pretty good life, I would look at adding some aftermarket parts to enhance what the factory should have done in the first place. An updated oil cooler and EGR system is a must if you are towing heavy loads. Look in any diesel power magazine and you will find companies that sell these items and there are quite a few. Second would be to stick to one of the later year trucks as they do re-design some of the trouble areas, but not as good as what the aftermarket did. My 2004 6.0 was a GREAT truck for 5-years towing a 5K travel trailer, but when I upgraded to my current trailer, things started to go down hill. The truck was in the shop for a month while the egr cooler, oil cooler and head gaskets were re-done. The 2008-2010 trucks are having some issues as well, but the 2011's....this is a WHOLE NEW ballgame folks. A night and day difference between this one and the 2009 it replaced. I am averaging at least 3-mpg better towing with the 2011 and the power is...well the term freight train comes to mind!!! Good luck with your decision.

[salda01]

Having an '07, I can attest they too have issues or least mine was issued prone. Under the Factory Powerstroke warranty I have had replaced 2 EGRs, 1 Turbo and 1 set of heads, and a cooling fan clutch. I'm not certain if this was because of poor design, quality or if the previous had a tuner on it. I do recall seeing a thick black cord coming out of the the ODB port, but couldn't see what it was attached too, the selling ebay dealer stated it was from a IPoD. I feel now it was from a tuner, cable to thick to be an ipod.

Being it has been about a year and 10,000 towing miles (30,000 driven miles) since the head stud replacement, I have had no issues. And I'm beating this thing to hoping to create an issue as the next step is a complete engine replacement. After this towing season the "trust" factor is returning and I'm looking forward to driving this truck for at least another 200,000 miles.

OP - Ford does offer an additional Powerstroke warranty that will cover major engine components until 200k, if purchased before 100k. If your local dealer won't run an OASIS report I some folks at powerstroke.org will.

Good luck in your searchs

[RKCRWLR]

I would be the doom and gloom referred to above on the 6.0L. My 2006 - EGR failure, injectors twice, blown head gaskets, HPOP failure, three vacations spentin out of state dealers waiting rooms, four dissappointed kids, one really ticked off spouse, and a lot of cash. Ford would not help with the injectors because I did not have receipts with me for the fuel filter changes and they felt the filter seemed to be heavy...$3400 dissagreement. NO WAY NO HOW. I need an engine that runs reliably. So now I have gone back to the Cummins and will try to be happy with a great tried and true engine while watching the truck wrapped around it fall apart.



I will say that theSuperduty its self was awesome. I liked it much better than my '10 Dodge. The PS 6.0L would pull the house down when she was running. But she kept kicking me on the road. I sure hope the '11 Ford diesel will pan out, butI was not going to be a guinea pig. Its pretty bad when the local service guy is telling you to get rid of it fast.



By the way, they have KILLED the mpg on the newer diesels with the DPF and EGR add-ons. My 01 CTD was 22 empty and 17 with 9K behind her. The 6.7 is giving me 16 empty and 11 towing... Not that I am a bitter diesel guy or anything!



Best of luck with your decision... its a tough one!

[sking]

Originally Posted by RKCRWLR

I would be the doom and gloom referred to above on the 6.0L. My 2006 - EGR failure, injectors twice, blown head gaskets, HPOP failure, three vacations spentin out of state dealers waiting rooms, four dissappointed kids, one really ticked off spouse, and a lot of cash. Ford would not help with the injectors because I did not have receipts with me for the fuel filter changes and they felt the filter seemed to be heavy...$3400 dissagreement. NO WAY NO HOW. I need an engine that runs reliably. So now I have gone back to the Cummins and will try to be happy with a great tried and true engine while watching the truck wrapped around it fall apart.



I will say that theSuperduty its self was awesome. I liked it much better than my '10 Dodge. The PS 6.0L would pull the house down when she was running. But she kept kicking me on the road. I sure hope the '11 Ford diesel will pan out, butI was not going to be a guinea pig. Its pretty bad when the local service guy is telling you to get rid of it fast.



By the way, they have KILLED the mpg on the newer diesels with the DPF and EGR add-ons. My 01 CTD was 22 empty and 17 with 9K behind her. The 6.7 is giving me 16 empty and 11 towing... Not that I am a bitter diesel guy or anything!



Best of luck with your decision... its a tough one!

WOW!! I'm glad I didn't get another 6.7 now. My 2010 2500 Hemi gets 18-20 hwy and 11-13 pulling my 32qb

[salda01]

Originally Posted by sking

WOW!! I'm glad I didn't get another 6.7 now. My 2010 2500 Hemi gets 18-20 hwy and 11-13 pulling my 32qb

Come on.. With a gas engine that mileage has to be either down hill or flat with a 50mph tail wind.

[sking]

Originally Posted by salda01

Come on.. With a gas engine that mileage has to be either down hill or flat with a 50mph tail wind.

No sir, I was going to be happy with 8-10 out of the truck but after my first tow of my skid loader I was very surprised. My skid loader is allot heavier and I got 12.7 pulling it from San Antonio to Laredo and back. The day I picked up my 32qb I reset themileage after hookup and took off. It started out at 9 do to the stop and go but once I hit the hwy itclimbedto 14 going down the hwy. I drove 82 miles from the dealer to my house then to the camp ground then back to my house then storage. From storage I drove 2.3 miles to the gas station and filled back up to checkmileage and it came out to 12.883 mpg. My 08 cummins 6.7 would get 12-13 on the same trip to Laredo and back and after many turbo problems I bit thebullet with this gas truck. Myneighbor bought a 2010 2500 trx4 Dodge 5.7 hemi with 4.10s to pull his 5th wheel and he loves it. He showed me his millage report for his 1100 mile trip and it was 12.4 so I figured what the heck and went back to a gas truck. I will say itdoesn't pull like a diesel off the line but it is fine on the hwy. I do feel it needs a little moretorque so I am having 4.10 gears installed to help with future hills I may travel. I've only pulled the TT two times but have many other work trailers I pull loaded and the worst I have seen under a heavy load is 11.4 do to hills. I have only 3200 miles on the truck so the millage may get betterbut who knows. Unloaded on hwy trips I have had a couple of tanks that came out to 18.8 and another at 19.4 hand calculated. My average unloaded with 50% city and 50% hwy is right around 16. There were some changes done to the 2010 5.7 hemi and what ever they are improved the mpg. I keep a very good millage and cost log for taxes since I'm selfemployed, so in 3 or 4 months if it gets better or worse I will report back. I have a long hill country trip coming up next month so I'll see how it goes pulling longer grades and such..

[artgpo]

Is your mileage off the truck's computer or done with a calculator?



My Duramax gets up to 20 mpg on the highway with just us in the truck. Add the Cruiser and we get a constant 11 at 63 mph, my tow speed. If I am on a flat road I can get 12. Before I read the tire sticker on the side of the coach I was towing faster than 63 and was getting 10 mpg. Safety = better diesel mileage.



I think the big difference between gas and diesel (other than the $8,200 in cost) is the huge difference in torque. My truck has 660 pound feet of torque. The 2011 Duramax is 770 and now the 2011 Powerstroke has been re-tuned for 800! Going over a mountain the diesel will leave the gassers gasping for power.

[RKCRWLR]

For my mileage, its calculated from the pump. The trucks computer is... shall we say... optimistic -LOL. I LOVE the torque though. We pull a lot of high altitude steep passes in the Rockies. Even with our Cruiser 5vr, we are in the passing lane at an easy 65 mph. I have a difficult time not speeding, but the ST tire thing worries me. But end of the day, the EPA has hurt the mileage of these engines with the new requirements.



Back to topic, I really do like the Ford Superduty we had and the new version. But the Powerstroke, particularly in the 06-07 range, is well known for having EGR/headgasket-studs/ and injector-HPOP issues. Ford cranked the power up and went to those crazy injectors. Hard to service and not very reliable. They chew even the best oil up on shear in short order and will die quickly on worn oil. Cross our fingers on the new '11. I also hate the pending urea injection systems. Another EPA anchor on the diesel...Edited by: RKCRWLR

[sking]

Millage is done with a calculator since the over head is never right. RKCRWLR dont let the urea hold you back, it seems to be the wonder drug for the diesel world. I have a good friend that has 5 2011 fords and thinks they are the cats meow. I wish cummins would get there trial run with urea on their cab & chassis trucks done so they can place urea on the 2500 & 3500 trucks.