okay guys I need some info on another truck. I am looking at a 2003 ford f 250 with 85,000 miles and a 6. 0 diesel. I have them down around 16,900 right now. before I bargain any more or go any further on this truck, I figured I would get some opinions here. last time I asked for opinions here about trucks I got great results. I am looking for fuel mileage info, experiences, and any other useful for you can give me. thanks in advance! Oil change cost, regular maintenance costs? This Ford
Keep the Shiny Side Up!
2011 F150 Supercrew, 4X4 3.5 Ecoboost, 145" wheelbase, 3.73 gears, Max trailer Tow package
Deduct from the value $15,000 (cost of new engine / transmission) if it has any of the following:
- no documented evidence of proper maintenance (oil, fuel, PROPER diesel grade oil, etc.) changes.
- any evidence of the use of a tuner of any kind (sometimes hard to tell, but look for tell tale signs if there are any other mods that go with people who do tuners.
- OASIS report showing major work or significant heads up warranty claims
- any evidence of major repairs like heads off repairs e.g. ARPs,
- evidence of mods like emission deletes or EGR deletes
If you are still sitting down... then there are more tips.
News, you are full of it. Not every truck that has mods is a bad truck. It depends on what was done and why. Prove to me other wise.I would buy a truck with those miles on it with studs before I would one without. That just tells me that the know problems of the 6.0 have happened already and someone has already fixed them. I would want to know who did the fix.
I bought a 2005 F250 XLT Supercab 6.9 PSD 4wd about 6 weeks ago with 50K miles, paid a little less than where you are at. My truck was pristine inside and out, had been used to pull a 5th wheel down for snowbirding in Florida and not much else. Came with a Reese 16K slider and a nice roll-up tonneau cover. I'm really happy with mine now but - it came with a steep learning curve. My saga is in the records here, if you search on my user name and 6.0 PSD.
The 6.0 is a funny engine. It can be perfect for a long time, then cost a lot all of a sudden. There are two main things to watch out for - fuel pressure and FICM voltage. There is a fuel pressure regulator spring upgrade that is mandatory - it raises the fuel pressure from 50 psi to 60 psi. The problem is that under load the pressure can reduce, and it it gets below about 48 psi the injectors can fail, which is bad. So step one is get it to a dealer or diesel shop and have them test the fuel pressure. 60 PSI at idle is the minimum that you want to see, below that you need to have the spring kit installed and test again. This is very important. A Ford dealer should have a special tester that simulates full load to test for pressure drop under the worst conditions.
FICM - Fuel Injection Control Module. This is a computer that lives on the driver's side valve cover that sends the on-off signals to the fuel injectors. It needs to have 48 volts going to the injectors - if that voltage falls below 45 volts the FICM is failing (about a $400 repair if you can swap it yourself - not a hard job, or about $1,000 at a dealer). Again, a dealer can scan this voltage and tell you what it is, or you can buy a Scangauge II and program it to tell you what the voltage is.
Next is a variety of things, the high pressure oil pump that supplies oil to drive the injectors can have a few issues, if it has been tuned the head gaskets can need to be replaced, the head bolts can need to be upgraded to studs, but those things are usually found on trucks that have been tuned to produce higher than stock horsepower. On the 2003 engine the EGR cooler was pretty good, had few failures but the oil cooler can clog with sediment from old coolant and fail. The Scangauge can read the oil and coolant temperatures and you can monitor for a difference between them where the oil is over 15 degrees higher than the coolant - that means the oil cooler needs replacing.
So it's not particularly a truck for the uninformed owner, or for one that likes to neglect maintenance. Oil changes every 5K miles are mandatory. But man - it drives nice, is very comfortable, and pulls the trailer very well indeed. I am getting 18 - 20 mpg in typical around the city mixed driving (depending on hills, stoplights and traffic jams), and 11 - 12 towing at 65 - 70 mph.
I am a ford owner with 4 of them being diesels, I can tell you from my experience if you deduct 10K from that price your getting close. It is the most troublesome engine ever put in a pickup of any manufacturer. I would look for a 7.3 with around the same miles or even a little more. then you know the weak link is the tranny but it will only cost 2-3K versus 15K for a 6.0. My local ford dealer has made millions doing work on that engine. They can work 24/7 and not keep up with the needs.If it were me I would keep looking. JMHO. Good Luck
RUN as fast as you can. It was a VERY bad year for Ford. Both the truck and the engine have serious problems. I purchased my 04 model with 60,000 miles on it and averaged over 2,000.00 in repairs for each of the three trips I took with it.
EGR Valve
EGR Cooler
Oil Cooler
Power Steering BOX (not the pump)
Alternator
Air Conditioning compressor
Two Injectors
Fuel Pressure Sensor
Stereo
tow Haul button
Air Cleaner Sensor
All replaced while traveling and a few other items while at home. I used the truck for a little over a year before deciding I could not afford it and went back to towing with my VERY trusty old F 150 which NEVER needed a repair in over 90,000 towing miles towing the same trailer and my previous one.
2011 F-150 HD Ecoboost 3.5 V6. 2550 payload, 17,100 GCVWR - 2004 F-150 HD (Traded after 80,000 towing miles) 2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
US Govt survey shows three out of four people make up 75% of the total population
I was at a Ford dealer getting my 7.3 smoged
and the salemen told me he could sell my truck
in a heartbeat but the 2 6.0's he had on the
lot have been there over a yr he told me the
word is out on the 6.0 good luck
RUN FOREST RUN !!!!!!
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