I have a 2005 F250 which suddendly blew head gaskets, 7 of the 8 injectors are bad, the injector computer is bad, the ERG valve is bad, the oil cooler needs replace, the engine cooler needs replaced. All this happend with no check engine light (although the massive amount of white smoke that started pouring out of my exhaust was my first clue…) and wouldn’t you know it, my mileage is over my warranty so they tell me I am looking at about 5k in repair cost. I was also told this is very common for the 6.0 but there has not been a recall or anything. Can anyone give me help on who to contact with Ford if these are lemons?
The 6.0L and the newer 6.4L twin tubro diesels have numerous issues. Unfortunately there’s little you can do. If you’re out of warranty there’s not much you can other than petition Ford, don’t get your hopes up though, they are under no obligation to do anything for you at this point. Ford actually sued Navistar (International) over paying paying for warrany repairs due to all the problems the newer Powerstrokes are having.
You need to talk to someone else. Take your problem over to the forum at http://www.fordtrucks.com. It’s an independent -not Ford operated- site, tremendous amount of knowledge about these trucks there.
If you fix that much stuff on a 6.0 L for $5,000 you are doing good.
First of all, to replace the injectors, the Ford garage will remove the cab. That’s about 6 or 8 hours labor before they get started. Injectors are $350 each minimum, and probably more from a dealer not including labor. (While they have it apart, have them put glowplugs in it, it’ll save you in the long run by not having to remove the cab again.)
EGR valves aren’t very expensive by themselves and are a pretty simple job to replace. 2 small screws to remove and you wiggle it and lift it out. The problem is when an EGR valve goes bad it has a root cause and that’s soot in the intake. These 6.Oh Nooo’s were the first pickup engines to attempt to meet EPA guidlines and Ford designed that insane system that runs the exhaust back into the intake to be reburned. The problem is, the 6.0 unlike the newer versions didn’t have a particulate filter on them to get the soot out before it got back into the engine, hence that soot collects on the turbo vanes and the intake where the EGR valve is. When I pulled the EGR valve on mine it looked like someone tamped a 20 lb bag of Kingsford charcoal into it. Ford put 14 EGR valves on my truck under warranty but they were too stupid to clean out the soot before replacing it, so it’d just clog back up in a week or 2. Cleaning the EGR valve would be a chore and a half and would be a major job. However, it’s not going to fix anything to replace the EGR without cleaning it out first.
Oil Cooler? What is that? Are you talking about the transmission cooler?
What is an engine cooler? Are you talking about the radiator or are you talking about the cooler on the turbo? If it’s the one on the turbo, likely you have a problem related to the soot on the turbo vanes as well. 6.0’s have a variable vane turbo in them. It’s a similar principal to an airplane prop. the vanes move in and out to generate more or less boost depending on rpm’s. Max boost should be at the low RPM range and little boost as it revs up. If the soot gets into the pivots on the vanes (and it does) it can cause the vanes to stick. If they stick shut the truck won’t pull out of it’s tracks from a dead stop. If it sticks open the excess boost starts breaking things like the intercooler, intercooler hoses, intercooler tubes, and that water cooler on the turbo. It can also lift the heads off the engine and cause your bad head gaskets. Replacing a turbo and the cooler is a few thousand bucks by itself.
Recalls on the 6.0 liters included: Bad injectors (Cheap metal made in China) Bad EGR valves (several different recalls involving the computer program controlling it and at least 4 different EGR valve designs) Head Bolts (Cheap Chineese metal too weak to hold cylinder pressure allowing heads to lift causing blown headgaskets) Bad Intercooler boots and bad intercooler boot clamps, numerous computer reprograms, and who knows what all else.
As for Ford picking up the tab, I found out that after 12 months or 12,000 miles whichever came first that 100,000 mile factory warranty didn’t mean diddly squat. I had my nightmare 2 years. The last year it sat in my driveway 3 months waiting for a part, it sat in their shop 1 month solid waiting to get that turbo cooler fixed, and about 5 other times a week each for various fixes. The last conversation I had with their customer service people involved it quitting again 4 days afer I got it out of the shop where it had been for a week. Prior to that it ran 3 days after getting it out of the shop for the month long stint and they still wouldn’t agree to pay to tow it back in (still under factory warranty). I proposed an alternate theory on her species and she said they didn’t want people like me driving Fords. I said, “I’m not, I’m waiting on a Chevy wrecker again.” I eithered the every loving snot out of it, started it, drove it to the Dodge place and drove home with a Cummins. I’ve been happy ever since.
My best advice, and your cheapest alternative is to go buy a used Dodge with a 5.9 Cummins in it. They are cheap right now used. It’ll pull 3 6.0’s backwards, get about 4 mpg better mileage, and not cause near as many problems.
Skipper
Talk to your dealer if you bought new. Ford has a program to help customers that have major problems that are “just out of warranty”. Ask me how I know… and good tip on Ford truck forum.
How many miles on this vehicle??
You guys know this was posted in October, right?
Oct!!!..well maybe he hasn’t fixed it yet! Got to look at posting dates I guess!
They wouldn’t fix mine and it was under warranty at the time.
I drove Ford trucks for almost 25 years and I’ve had a few minor problems with them over the years. One factory defect comes to mind is the hydraulic clutch cylinder on the 87-90 models. 87 was the first year Ford went from a cable clutch to a hydraulic clutch. They mounted the cylinder on a rounded piece of sheet metal spot welded to the engine side of the firewall. It turns out that the metal was too weak to handle the pressure of the cylinder and most of them eventually broke away. In 89 Ford designed a retrofit part to solve the problem. It looked like a half moon with 2 bolt holes in it and went on the inside of the firewall to stiffen it up. Something like a big washer. It cost $27 for the part and $300 labor to install it. If you were over $36,000 they didn’t bat an eye telling you it was your problem to pay for. A year later Ford found out that the half moon thing wasn’t stout enough either so they designed yet a 2nd retrofit part to solve the problem. This one required moving the windsheild wiper motor, removing the steering column, drilling about 5 holes in the truck, and a sheite load of work. The part cost around $500 and the labor they wanted was around $800 to do it. Ford wouldn’t pay for that either.
I’ve never known Ford to ever take any responsibility for any of the “Better Ideas” they’ve had over the years. Once your vehicle is past the warranty period, it’s yours, not theirs. I wasn’t all together surprised at the way they handled my 6.0 problems, but I was more than dissatisfied with the way they handled it under the manufacturer’s warranty. The fact that they would keep it a week, give it back to me to drive for 3 or 4 days till it quit again then refuse to send a wrecker to get it told me exactly what Ford was about.
Ford absolutely refused to pay for taking the intake off the engine and clean out the soot. Oh, they attempted to suck what they could out with a shop vac, however, the intake has diesel fuel and oil in it, so as you might suspect, wet soot doesn’t vacume very well and they never did clean it out. In the long run it cost them more money. I would imagine that as much as they worked on my truck, Ford spent more in warranty claim dollars than I paid for the pile of junk to start with because they refused to fix it right from the start and the problems continued till it completely ruined the engine, pissed me off as a loyal Ford Customer, and made me one that could care less if they filed bankruptcy tomorrow.
Ford may have sued Navistar over the engine. However, who designed the problematic system on the engine? Ford or Navistar? The answer is Ford. Navistar has made that engine for years and it’s a decent engine. Ford tweaked it out to attempt to double the horsepower and designed and built that mess of an intake system. Ford claimed these engines had more horsepower and more torque than it’s older 7.3 L Diesels. Anytime someone tells you that an engine with 85 cubic inches less displacement is more powerful than the bigger engine they should become suspect at best. The way they made it more powerful was blowing the snot out of it with more turbo boost. About 30 pounds v’s 10 to 11 pounds on the older engines. The problem was the cheap Chineese metal parts on it couldn’t stand the pressure being created and problems followed.
BTW: That Ford Truck Forum has ties to Ford. They don’t tend to allow truthful comments about 6.0 L diesels on it.
Skipper
You and everyone who has had a serious engine failure need to file a complaint with the NHTSA. Engine failures are a serious safety problem and if there are enough complaints and accidents caused by these failures NHTSA will force Ford into a fix and recall. Here is my complaint, links and phone numbers for you to file a complaint. http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/results.cfm?odi_ids=10279944&SearchType=QuickSearch&summary=true&refurl=email
SELL IT! I have a '03 Ford F-350 6.0 diesel 327,000 miles; Most of my work has been done by dealership techs. I had right side injectors replaced in 2007, this diesel has been the most expensive motor to repair and maintain I have ever had. I’m 55 and owned lots of vehicles. I use the truck for work and my ranch but work calls for lots of engine running while idle and it just carbons up and every 6 months i replace EGR or injectors or something else O2 sensor you name it. This is my first last and only diesel motor. If I am going to spend $54K on a truck I am going to buy a very old one and rebuild the thing. This new stuff is crap!