How unreliable are these 6.0's?

[sf jakey]

Obviously, from reading on the internet, I'm concerned about the reliability of these motors. I hear about oil leaks, injector problems, reflash issues, ecm problems, but are these common or just a small segment bitching on a forum. I've had it with my Duramax, just barely got home towing my boat and got a whopping 6mpg! I hear the new dmax is supposed to be a workhorse, but the truck is still the same, not a real heavy weight 3/4 ton. Dodge is out of the question, so I'm here looking at Ford or another Duramax. Are most of the bugs worked out on the 6.0 by 2006, or are they still iffy. I wanted this dmax to last me 10 years, but here I am at just under 5 and 65k miles and I'm through with it. Please tell me your honest opinions of the 6.0 motor, is Ford dumping it because it is a POS or just to be bigger and better. Fuel economy is also a major concern of mine, and I hear numbers from 14 unloaded to 20. What is reality. Thanks for helping me out. I look around and I don't ever see a Chevy tow truck, never see a chevy ranch truck, and don't see too many chevy work trucks, so I do believe the Ford is the heavy Duty winner, but reliability is foremost, especially when you're spending 40k plus for a vehicle.

 

[Mobeydick]

I haven't had any problems out of either of mine!!

 

[bushpilot]

34k miles on mine and no issues, ive had 2 recalls (one transmission & one
wireharness) but i had NO symptoms of any problem.

i had a defective EGR valve recently that was also replaced under
the 3/36k warrenty.

Im happy w/ the truck and id buy another (just not the 1st model year),
I beleive anything built after sept. 03 is a reasonably good truck
and should be fairly problem free. (i beleive many of the repeat problems
are do to poor trouble shooting skills due in part to poor tech training)

 

[budtoh3zo]

I have got 68,000 Km on mine only have one problem is going on the highway it does not want to pick up speed till it downshifts then she goes like a scalded cat. Remeber mine is a 03 and no problems

 

[DaveBen]

All of the trucks have quarks. Ford has theirs and GM has theirs. I have had no problems with my truck with almost 60K miles. I was expecting some, but I have had none. I can tell you that I get more than 6 mpg towing.

Dave

 

[Black_Mamba]

I have a dec/02 built truck. I run the wheels off of this truck and most of ya'll that now me here in North Texas know I ain't to easy at all on my truck. I have had not one problem out of my truck due to poor manufactuering just poor nut behind the wheel. I still have the original 03' programming and it runs like a scalded ape stock and modded. But like DaveBen said all the big 3 trucks have there own problems and concerns. I've seen two personally 03' trucks with over 300,000 miles that are still running strong. They are hotshot trucks at that. I think the main reason they switched from the 7.3L to the 6.0L was due to the new EPA emissions and Ford wanting those stupid points. Now they are moving to the 6.4L once again due to emissions.

 

[rgdillon]

SF,

Most of what you read is in the early 03 first year runs. I have an 04 and it's only had the standard recalls. And they were done when I felt like it - saved them all up and did them together.
Ford is not dumping the 6.0 cause they want to - most of it is the Fed Regs - but remember - pickup trucks are the hottest selling things out there. Ford, GM and Dodge all want to be the big dog and this means more newer, bigger, high HP engines.
Towing - I think the average towing heavy would be from 12 to 15 mpg's - average.
Reliable - I'd go out and get in my truck and drive to CA with only two worries. One it's dirty and two it needs and oil change.

Good luck with it all.

Ron

 

[ranger boy]

I have an 05 with 25k miles (oil change time) and no problems unless if they were my fault (*cough* dad putting regular in it)

 

[draftlover]

I have an '05 CC Dually 1 ton with 4:10 gears. I've lost two injectors plus had to have two re-flashes and a couple of recalls done. The truck only has 16,000 miles and has left me stranded on the road twice. I get tops of 13.5 MPG empty and usually it runs in the 10.5 to 9.5 MPG range with combo Interstate and in-town driving. Usually gets 6-8 MPG towing. After all this, it has been running right for the last 2 months or so. I can't honestly say it's a piece of crap, because it is a nice truck. I have had reliability issues that I don't want to deal with, so I wouldn't recommend Ford. Ford should recall every 6.0, but they don't because it would put a serious hurt on an already under performing company. I haven't heard how the new redesigned Dodge's are doing, as far as overall quality, but I would reconsider leaving Dodge out of the loop. Duramax is up to 360 h.p. stock now, so maybe the bugs are gone there. Ford is dumping the 6.0L because it can't be fixed, it's design is just plain bad. No struggling company runs an engine for 5 years and then dumps R&D, design, and re-tooling money into a new one unless it doesn't work, i.e. the 6.0L Powerstroke or it's out of date, i.e the old Chevy 6.5L and arguably the 7.3 Powerstroke (both great engines, but lacked the power to compete with Dodge). Look how long the Cummins has hung around. Why... because it is a reliable, proven engine with no real design flaws. Wait until the foreign vehicle companies bring out the Diesel heavyweights...the American companies will have to step it up about 10 notches in the reliability, power, warranty and lower cost categories just to keep half of the market share. (Ha,Ha is what the big three thought when the first Toyota and Datsun/Nissan cars hit the lots in America...I bet their eating those words now. Lets hope they don't do it again with foreign trucks and actually try to compete BEFORE they have a foothold!!!)

 

[ranger boy]

I have an '05 CC Dually 1 ton with 4:10 gears. I've lost two injectors plus had to have two re-flashes and a couple of recalls done. The truck only has 16,000 miles and has left me stranded on the road twice. I get tops of 13.5 MPG empty and usually it runs in the 10.5 to 9.5 MPG range with combo Interstate and in-town driving. Usually gets 6-8 MPG towing. After all this, it has been running right for the last 2 months or so. I can't honestly say it's a piece of crap, because it is a nice truck. I have had reliability issues that I don't want to deal with, so I wouldn't recommend Ford. Ford should recall every 6.0, but they don't because it would put a serious hurt on an already under performing company. I haven't heard how the new redesigned Dodge's are doing, as far as overall quality, but I would reconsider leaving Dodge out of the loop. Duramax is up to 360 h.p. stock now, so maybe the bugs are gone there. Ford is dumping the 6.0L because it can't be fixed, it's design is just plain bad. No struggling company runs an engine for 5 years and then dumps R&D, design, and re-tooling money into a new one unless it doesn't work, i.e. the 6.0L Powerstroke or it's out of date, i.e the old Chevy 6.5L and arguably the 7.3 Powerstroke (both great engines, but lacked the power to compete with Dodge). Look how long the Cummins has hung around. Why... because it is a reliable, proven engine with no real design flaws. Wait until the foreign vehicle companies bring out the Diesel heavyweights...the American companies will have to step it up about 10 notches in the reliability, power, warranty and lower cost categories just to keep half of the market share. (Ha,Ha is what the big three thought when the first Toyota and Datsun/Nissan cars hit the lots in America...I bet their eating those words now. Lets hope they don't do it again with foreign trucks and actually try to compete BEFORE they have a foothold!!!)

That's very harsh IMO, just because you got a bad one I don't think you should put a bad name on Ford forever. I have had 0 reliability issues (other than a crappy steering stabilizer) from Ford. From what I know they aren't getting rid of the 6.0 because it's a bad engine, but because it won't pass emissions, which is also why they got rid of the 7.3. You're getting such crappy MPG because of your 4.10's and the dually factor. I have the 3.73's and I'm getting around 17 city and 19 highway. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that the Chevy's and Dodge's are good, but they have their bugs too, I'm sure that there's somebody in there Duramax and/or Cummins saying the same exact thing that you're saying.




Officially the Longest Post by Me



P.S. Personally, I don't think any import diesel engine will be able to compete with a good ol' American one.