NHKR
SDD Junior Member
Heres my sad story.....Bought my first PSD in 96(7.3,SC LWB,AT,4x4,XLT), loved it, ran great. Had it until 2000, put 156K miles on it, 1 minor tranny problem, nothing else. I bought my 2nd PSD in 2000 (7.3,CC LWB,AT,4x4, Lariat), loved it, ran great. Had it until 2004, put 212K miles on it, replaced 1 CPS and 1 oil seal on the engine, no other problems. Both of these trucks had the Banks exhaust systems and chips on them along with full gauges. I used them both for pulling 8,000 lb trailers through the mountains of Colorado as well as all over the US, they were absolute work horses and NEVER left me stranded on the side of the road. I don't abuse my trucks and I maintain them by the book 100%.
Then I bought my 2005 6.0,KR CC SWB,AT, 4x4. Within the first 6 months/5K miles, Ford had to replace my dash gauges to fix the false high temp TSB, replace the power steering hoses to fix a howling noise (TSB), and replace a failed steering damper that lost all of it's oil. Replacing that damper, by the way, did not fix the steering wobble. Ford replaced the steering wheel (TSB) which improved it but did not fix it. I finally bought a ProComp, dual cylinder steering damper and put it on myself, that fixed the steering wobble.
In the next 5K miles it was in to Ford 4 times. Once for the coolant tank label recall, once to reflash to address rough idle, and twice to address sticking turbo causing no/low boost and once to replace MAP sensor and VGT controller.
At 17K miles, while towing through NY state, the engine died and left me on the side of the road. Turns out there are cups pressed into the heads under the injectors, when these go bad, they let air into the fuel injection system. 4 days later after all new cups installed in heads, 8 new injectors and 1 new fuel lift pump (all covered under warranty) I was on my way.
Seemed to run fine until 22K miles when the turbo failed in Salt Lake City and we had to be towed to the dealer. Seemed to run pretty good after that, other than the CAC boost tube blowing off twice. I learned how to clean the tubing and re-connect it myself to avoid further tows into the dealer.
Then 2 weeks ago, at 29K miles, while towing over the mountains to Lake Powell, I noticed for the first time the "teapot whistle" coming from the drivers side of the engine compartment while pulling steep grades with my foot into it. If you let off, it stopped, but would start again if you started pulling hard again. On my 7.3's, they had waste gates that sort of sounded like this but the 6.0 doesn't have that so I was worried. I watched my gauges religously and never exceeded recommended EGT's (never, on all 3 trucks) and the water temp never moved beyond normal (right in the middle of the gauge). Finally, as I'm driving through the desert a few hours later on a lonely 2 lane road, pulling a steep hill I hear a loud "pop" from the engine compartment, look at the temp gauge and watch it go from normal to pegged hot in like 2.3 seconds, at which point I instantly shut it off and coasted to the shoulder.
I open the hood to see that the top of the cap to my coolant tank has blown out, just pieces of it still remaining, and boiling sounds coming from the engine like Ol faithful geyser. Of course, theres no cellphone coverage here so I'm on my own. I ended up swiping a cap from the engine of the boat I'm towing, after letting it cool down for 1 hour I dump all the drinking water and melted ice water out of the coolers to get it going. I babied it and managed to get to Grand Junction without further over heating or teapot whistling.
Bought a new cap for the tank, dropped the boat off and made it to Denver, where the Ford dealer gave me the bad news i.e. stretched heads bolts, warped heads, scored cyliners, etc. Apparently the teapot whistling can be the first sign of engine compression going into the cooling system from either a blown head gasket or stretched bolts, warped heads, etc. Its made by the over pressure coming out of the relief valve on the top of the cap on the tank. In the early stages it only happens when you're under heavy load/high boost conditions, and you don't see any symptoms under normal driving conditions other than possibly dirty looking coolant in the tank. But eventually it gets worse. They did say it was the first time they had seen it actually blow out the top of the cap. So they fixed it all under warranty.
At that point I went and looked at the new 6.4 08's. I love the exterior, love the interior, and they ride like a dream. Then I went over to the Dodge dealer and traded it in on a 07 Dodge with the 6.7L Cummins in it. I have been a devout Ford man all of my life, but I just didn't want to risk going through another 6.0 experience on the 6.4. I'm sure I'll have problems with the Dodge, but when you go to their version of a website like this one, you see problems with the DPF and emmissions systems, but you never see issues with failed critical mechanical components on the engine.
The Dodge doesn't look as good as the Ford, it sure doesn't ride as nice, and the fit/finish on the interior can't hold a candle to the Ford. But, I don't expect to be left on the side of the road with it either, and thats what was bothering me the most. Sorry for the long post, but I needed for someone to hear my story and frustration.
For those of you driving 6.0's with no problems, I'm happy for you, just watch out pulling heavy loads and at the first sign of trouble get to the dealer. Buy the extended warranty if you still can. For those of you wanting to file class action lawsuits, forget it, you do not have a case as long as Ford is fixing your truck under warranty. Ask for a buy back or refund if you're still under warranty. Or, trade the 6.0 in on something else, be it a new 6.4 or some other brand.
I'm still a hard core Ford guy, and I'll wear this Dodge out in 3-4 years. If the new 6.4's turn out to be good reliable motors like the 7.3's were, I'll be back from the dark side then and back in a Ford. Good luck to everyone and I'll still be checking in here periodically to see how the new Ford's are holding up.
Then I bought my 2005 6.0,KR CC SWB,AT, 4x4. Within the first 6 months/5K miles, Ford had to replace my dash gauges to fix the false high temp TSB, replace the power steering hoses to fix a howling noise (TSB), and replace a failed steering damper that lost all of it's oil. Replacing that damper, by the way, did not fix the steering wobble. Ford replaced the steering wheel (TSB) which improved it but did not fix it. I finally bought a ProComp, dual cylinder steering damper and put it on myself, that fixed the steering wobble.
In the next 5K miles it was in to Ford 4 times. Once for the coolant tank label recall, once to reflash to address rough idle, and twice to address sticking turbo causing no/low boost and once to replace MAP sensor and VGT controller.
At 17K miles, while towing through NY state, the engine died and left me on the side of the road. Turns out there are cups pressed into the heads under the injectors, when these go bad, they let air into the fuel injection system. 4 days later after all new cups installed in heads, 8 new injectors and 1 new fuel lift pump (all covered under warranty) I was on my way.
Seemed to run fine until 22K miles when the turbo failed in Salt Lake City and we had to be towed to the dealer. Seemed to run pretty good after that, other than the CAC boost tube blowing off twice. I learned how to clean the tubing and re-connect it myself to avoid further tows into the dealer.
Then 2 weeks ago, at 29K miles, while towing over the mountains to Lake Powell, I noticed for the first time the "teapot whistle" coming from the drivers side of the engine compartment while pulling steep grades with my foot into it. If you let off, it stopped, but would start again if you started pulling hard again. On my 7.3's, they had waste gates that sort of sounded like this but the 6.0 doesn't have that so I was worried. I watched my gauges religously and never exceeded recommended EGT's (never, on all 3 trucks) and the water temp never moved beyond normal (right in the middle of the gauge). Finally, as I'm driving through the desert a few hours later on a lonely 2 lane road, pulling a steep hill I hear a loud "pop" from the engine compartment, look at the temp gauge and watch it go from normal to pegged hot in like 2.3 seconds, at which point I instantly shut it off and coasted to the shoulder.
I open the hood to see that the top of the cap to my coolant tank has blown out, just pieces of it still remaining, and boiling sounds coming from the engine like Ol faithful geyser. Of course, theres no cellphone coverage here so I'm on my own. I ended up swiping a cap from the engine of the boat I'm towing, after letting it cool down for 1 hour I dump all the drinking water and melted ice water out of the coolers to get it going. I babied it and managed to get to Grand Junction without further over heating or teapot whistling.
Bought a new cap for the tank, dropped the boat off and made it to Denver, where the Ford dealer gave me the bad news i.e. stretched heads bolts, warped heads, scored cyliners, etc. Apparently the teapot whistling can be the first sign of engine compression going into the cooling system from either a blown head gasket or stretched bolts, warped heads, etc. Its made by the over pressure coming out of the relief valve on the top of the cap on the tank. In the early stages it only happens when you're under heavy load/high boost conditions, and you don't see any symptoms under normal driving conditions other than possibly dirty looking coolant in the tank. But eventually it gets worse. They did say it was the first time they had seen it actually blow out the top of the cap. So they fixed it all under warranty.
At that point I went and looked at the new 6.4 08's. I love the exterior, love the interior, and they ride like a dream. Then I went over to the Dodge dealer and traded it in on a 07 Dodge with the 6.7L Cummins in it. I have been a devout Ford man all of my life, but I just didn't want to risk going through another 6.0 experience on the 6.4. I'm sure I'll have problems with the Dodge, but when you go to their version of a website like this one, you see problems with the DPF and emmissions systems, but you never see issues with failed critical mechanical components on the engine.
The Dodge doesn't look as good as the Ford, it sure doesn't ride as nice, and the fit/finish on the interior can't hold a candle to the Ford. But, I don't expect to be left on the side of the road with it either, and thats what was bothering me the most. Sorry for the long post, but I needed for someone to hear my story and frustration.
For those of you driving 6.0's with no problems, I'm happy for you, just watch out pulling heavy loads and at the first sign of trouble get to the dealer. Buy the extended warranty if you still can. For those of you wanting to file class action lawsuits, forget it, you do not have a case as long as Ford is fixing your truck under warranty. Ask for a buy back or refund if you're still under warranty. Or, trade the 6.0 in on something else, be it a new 6.4 or some other brand.
I'm still a hard core Ford guy, and I'll wear this Dodge out in 3-4 years. If the new 6.4's turn out to be good reliable motors like the 7.3's were, I'll be back from the dark side then and back in a Ford. Good luck to everyone and I'll still be checking in here periodically to see how the new Ford's are holding up.
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