6.0 and 6.4 Powerstroke...drop some knowledge on me

KE7JFF

Adventurer
I know various people with the 6.0 in their trucks.

My good friend has it in his redonkulous lifted F350 that I shall call "Clifford"; he bought it from someone else who never did any of the 6.0 fixes so after a few embarrasing tows, he poured good money to get that right and for the most part its OK; he once in a while needs to get some of the stuff that is failing after 12 years (its a 2003). Interestingly, he also previously had an all-stock 2003 F350 with the 6.0 that Ford replaced the motor under warranty; as he was told the new motor is bulletproof.

Several of my friends work as paramedics in their special detail which at one point had a TramaHawk 4x4 unit which uses an F450 with the 6.0; as I understand, they replaced the head gaskets and bolts every year on it due to it being an Type I ambulance so they could not do the upgrades on it; everything else as I understand has been reliable.

Overall, it seems like a good cheap motor that can be bulletproofed...
 

dave1014

Adventurer
Drew covered the basics on the 6.0. Glad to see another powerstroke.org member here. The 6.0 and 6.4 powerstroke are great platforms when maintained properly. Most issues come from lack of maintenance.
 
I would highly recommend looking at power stroke help on YouTube. Informative, and basically if you get an 05 or newer 6.0 it can be a great engine. The 6.4 had some problems, and isn't built as well. I would say go 6.0 and spend the money to bullet proof it
 

Viggen

Just here...
Yeah, but I really like Ford more than any of the other manufacturers. Perhaps motor issues are why I see more lower mileage used Powerstrokes than Cummins and Duramax on the market?
 

drewactual

Adventurer
I would highly recommend looking at power stroke help on YouTube. Informative, and basically if you get an 05 or newer 6.0 it can be a great engine. The 6.4 had some problems, and isn't built as well. I would say go 6.0 and spend the money to bullet proof it

Ol' Bill......

he can be compelling... he's dead on the money om some things... he's not on others... before you do something based off of his video's, seek opinions elsewhere first. :)


....break break....


DAVE!!! Good to see a familiar face over here!!!!
 

UrbanCummin

Diesel Mechanic
What problems specifically? Since theyre caused overwhelmingly by lack of maintenance by owners

Injectors
FICM
HPOP stand pipes and fitting on the back of the hpop
Oil cooler
EGR valve and cooler
Weak headbolt design

No matter how you look at it 6.0L is not a good engine, yes you can make it much better buy upgrading/addressing its weak spots but if it costs you several thousand bucks to make your engine "bulletproof" then is probably wasn't that good to start with.

Every modern diesel engine in the last 15 years has had some issues but imho the 6.0L is at the bottom of the list in terms of reliability.
 

dave1014

Adventurer
First gen duramax far worse. Injectors and the like all caused by poor maintenance. Idiots going 15000 miles between oil changes.

Oil coolers larger due to people not flushing the ford gold coolant as required.

HPOP failure is rare.

STC fitting I will give you that one
 

redthies

Renaissance Redneck
Probably true. The biggest problem with the Cummins motor is that it is wrapped in a Chrysler/ Fiat envelope. That is a really hard one to swallow.


It's actually not hard to swallow at all. I can sleep at night knowing my truck will run perfectly in the morning. I also don't have to look at the absolutely hideous Furd interior as I'm driving. A Ford would have been my second choice, and if I'd had my cheque book with me when I was out hunting a month ago, I would have bought the absolutely mint 2005 6.0 ccsb that a family rolled past in. Only 150k on it and he was only asking $4,000 for it. A Cummins truck in the same condition here goes for $20,000.
 

KE7JFF

Adventurer
First gen duramax far worse. Injectors and the like all caused by poor maintenance. Idiots going 15000 miles between oil changes.

Oil coolers larger due to people not flushing the ford gold coolant as required.

HPOP failure is rare.

STC fitting I will give you that one

That reminds me a story I heard from my military friends about one of the bulletproofing of the Duramax that replaced the 6.2 in the HMMMV; some genius field mechanics found out that if you double up on head gaskets, the failures went away...
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
That reminds me a story I heard from my military friends about one of the bulletproofing of the Duramax that replaced the 6.2 in the HMMMV; some genius field mechanics found out that if you double up on head gaskets, the failures went away...

Strange, I wasn't aware that military Humvees came with a Duramax. The TD 6.5 replaced the NA 6.2, but I never knew they were offered with a Duramax. 1st Gen Duramax's are known for having injector problems which resulted in Bosch re-designing them (which has gone a long way to fix it), but blowing HG's really only happened if the injector's were bad and the owner kept driving them or if they were turned up (especially with a poor tune).

Jack
 

drewactual

Adventurer
stacking them seriously reduces the compression, though, which is the root of many many issues in diesels- especially injectors... think about it- the injection event (if not advanced way ahead of the curve) happens mils from TDC, where there is redonkulous pressure the injector has to defeat to actually inject rather than relieve the pressure (direct injection not protected by a valve).... just a few pounds of relief makes that injector work less and inject more efficiently, and less likely to chase the piston to the skirt- causing their own set of issues beyond ignition... they may have 'ran' better and were more reliable, but I'll tell you plainly they weren't as powerful, unless- the fuel was actually used to better efficiency because of the relief on the injector.
 

KE7JFF

Adventurer
Strange, I wasn't aware that military Humvees came with a Duramax. The TD 6.5 replaced the NA 6.2, but I never knew they were offered with a Duramax. 1st Gen Duramax's are known for having injector problems which resulted in Bosch re-designing them (which has gone a long way to fix it), but blowing HG's really only happened if the injector's were bad and the owner kept driving them or if they were turned up (especially with a poor tune).

Jack

Err not the HMMMV, I mean the newer CUCVs with the Duramax.
 

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