Ford 6.0 vs.7.3 Diesel

[Hap]

Looking to buy a late '90s to early 2000's Ford diesel either truck or Excursion. Have heard mixed things about the 6.0. Anybody have experience with both engines. Thanks in advance, Jim

I don't have experiences with both but we do own a 2002 F350 Superduty 7.3L 4x4 lariat w/crewcab. We bought it used a couple years ago and I would like to mention a couple things that have been touched upon here.

We had no problems with the truck at all until I chipped it up. At that point our main problem was the truck would start fine cold ... but after running for a while if we shut it off, it didn't want to start unless we let it sit for a while. At first it seemed like the cam sensor was the problem (cheap and easy fix). But the problem continued until we had the HPOP (high pressure oil pump) replaced. The truck was fine for a week and then the same problem started up again.

We arranged to have our truck hauled to some diesel specialists south of Houston and they found that the HPOP had hairline fractures in it - and it was only a week old. So we had that replaced (to the tune of $1800 which was actually cheaper than the dealership) and returned the dealer installed HPOP for a refund since it has less than 200 miles on it.

However, after that we unchipped our truck.

A few months later we had some farm equipment delivered and the Hotshot that brought in the load pulled up and asked where the local Ford dealership was. He had just chipped up his F250 a few days earlier and was now leaking oil.

I mentioned our experiences and my suspicions and he wasn't happy about it and we took him to a local mechanic so he could get back on the road.

He got it repaired and not long afterward we were emailing back and forth and he mentioned that he had the same problems again. He unchipped his truck, had the problems repaired again, and didn't have any issues after that.

While I don't have any proof that chipping up my truck caused the problems, I had zero problems until I did that. I guess if you work on trucks for a living you would know what else to augment as well to do it correctly ... but I'll never chip-mod my truck again.

I will say that the "tow" version of the program did make a difference in hauling heavy stuff (like hay trailers and tractors). The automatic was much cleaner and quicker on the gear changes.

We have about 165k on the engine and except for chipping saga we've been extremely happy. I will say one thing - diesel engines are expensive to have work done on them. Much more so than a gas engine (based on my experience). Once the economy recovers diesel prices will once again be $1 per gallon higher than gas. If I buy a truck in the future I doubt it will be a diesel. But I still have my 1993 jeep wrangler so it's unlikely that I'd ever buy another truck. I am very happy with what we have.

I hope some of this helps somehow. Good luck with your research. Those diesel forums that the others have mentioned are great! :thumbsup:

H

 

[Dick Whetstone]

I have a 2004 Ford F-250 King Ranch King Cab 4X4 with the 6.0 engine. When I bought the truck I was not aware of all the problems people were having with the 6.0 engine. I have been towing a 2001 wide beam 270 Sundancer with an estimated total weight of 11,000 pounds when full of fuel, fully loaded, fully provisioned, and the trailer weight.

So far I have not had a single problem with the truck, but based on all the bad things I have read about the 6.0 engine, I keep my fingers crossed. Unloaded and at 60 MPH the truck gets at least 20 MPG.

If I could buy the same truck with either the 6.0 or the 7.3, I would go with the 7.3, but sadly that is not an option.