I bought a "bullet proofed" 04 6.0 last year with 140k on it.. I spent 5k in less then a year and it was still not running right when I ditched it.. I couldnt get rid of it quick enough.
About a year ago, one of my employees cracked his second head on his 6.0 in 80K miles. After the first one they blamed his tuner, so he got rid of it and had it "bulletproofed". Studs, gaskets, oil cooler, coolant filter, bunch of aftermarket gauges so he could monitor everything, and a ton more crap that I can't even remember. He spend around $8,000 at 40k miles, none of it was warranty because he was running an edge programmer. At 80k it went bang for the second time. This time there was no tuner to blame, it was stock. He sold it as-is to a local diesel performance shop, and wait for it.... bought a brand new 6.7. :crackhead: I don't get why anyone would touch that truck at any price.
The new 6.7's are awesome. The 6.0's don't go "bang" for no reason, and NEVER put an edge tuner on anything. They don't tune the tranny and it will kill it. The 6.0 was a great engine, engineered by international. The issue came when ford put the EGR/emissions system on an engine that wasn't designed for it. It cooked the coolant and plugged the coolers. If you get rid of the EGR system early on, or do it later with a new oil cooler, they are awesome engines.
The VT365 engine was quite successful in the standard International configuration, which was detuned about 75hp and were installed in trucks/equipment that never got chipped to above it's power rating.
And that truck will invariably look like a DRW Crew Cab (or quad cab, whichever is biggest) longbed with a 4-5" lift running ungodly tires with ~$20,000 in "essential" upgrades, all while getting 45 miles per gallon and rolling coal. Either that or a Fiat.
We had a fleet of the 6.0's that did pretty well up here. They would start running shitty and have injector issues if you were not on top of the oil changes but other than that they were good.
I have 209k on my 2005. Aside from injectors at 150k and some "EGR cooler work" at just over 100k it has been reasonably trouble free. I love it.
Because there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of them that have driven billions of miles with no major issues. These things have turned into the urban legends of the truck world. Everybody knows a guy who's spent 16 bazzillion dollars repairing his engine over and over, then is stuck with it because he's got too much money in it to sell. At the end of the day, they're working trucks, and working trucks get worked, and when you push a mechanical device hard, it breaks.
Under 150k unless super clean. Extended cab, 2wd, short bed is preferred power windows would be nice but not required. AC is a must. Work truck interior is fine also.
I'm one of the lucky ones. '05 with 148K miles. I put 70K miles on it mostly towing and it's been great. The only thing I've done is an EGR delete at 140K.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Ram-2...tr=true&hash=item4aeed6e584&item=321834640772 Listing is in Colorado. 5.9 Cummins is a proven motor. Manual transmissions are sought and coveted. Easier to find manuals with 2wd setups rather than the 4wd. Automatic trans is ok. It's the weak point of the truck. Under body does not rust as quickly as some older Fords. Ford 7.3s aren't bad, either. However, they are older and most will be high mileage at this point. I hear 6.7 Fords are far better than the 6.0s. Actually, anything is better than the 6.0s except the first or second gen Duramax engines. They went through injectors every 50k miles. And, of course, those injectors required substantial tear-down to get to as well. You'll be acquainted with DEF and EPA choke-holds on diesels after 2008. FWIW, I bought my 04 Cummins two years ago with 139k on it in February. That March, I went to Roebling. I filled up 3 times goings down because the truck sat for a bit. Towed a 5x8 v-nose with 1 bike. On the way back, filled up at RRR and then at Richmond, VA. I live near Philadelphia, PA. Since then, the front and rear brakes needed to get done and just replaced the u-joints. Usual wear and tear. It's on its second auto trans. Now it stands with 159k on it. Still have yet to have a problem. No tuner, just a bigger exhaust to keep the exhaust temps down. As stated before, there is a reason the 5.9 Cummins trucks still cost more than the others.....
2005 Ford Excursion Up to 140k miles mostly injector and small miscellaneous issues. At 140k started losing coolant ever so slowly. No leak down test could detect anything so we had a couple of options for which way this was headed. I chose to wait and see what presented itself. After another 10k miles the coolant finally puked out the exhaust. At that time it was put in the shop it was determined that the EGR cooler went. So we ended doing the bullet proof set-up. ARP, delete, delete, delete, upgrade oil pump etc. I did however add a small tuner that so far I am not real happy with. The mapping is just not perfect throughout the rev range, and I'm so used to near perfect mapping, that it drives me bat shit crazy. Right now I'm sitting at 180k miles with no other problems. When I get the time I'll unplug the tuner and just leave it alone. Although with 450hp and 750 ft./lbs. of torque it surely hauls ass. It is fun messing with the little import tuner cars and just dusting them. The look on their faces is priceless.
Is there a fix for that on the Duramax? I bought mine used and it started smoking within a month, so I replaced all the injectors with re-manufactured and was led to believe they fixed the issue. Supposedly originals had some plastic part inside. It is now smoking again and I haven't yet done the research. I still like the Duramax way better than the old 7.3 Ford. Everyone raves about 7.3's, but stock to stock, the Allison transmission is so much nicer. Plus the truck drives better and doesn't have all the Ford front end problems. My 7.3 needed a turbo and also had to replace the inserts the injectors screw into. I removed both heads and had it done, but later learned companies specialize in that, so you can do it while the motor is together.
I promise if you needed your truck to work & earn a dollar... the 7.3 is not a platform to bet reliability on. Have fun when those high pressure injectors stick & cost you a long block or that glass transmission that gives up the ghost every 30-50k or that stupid cam sensor thing. For this round of crew vehicles I bet on 6.2 gassers! (after disposing of 2 2005 6.0s with close to 300k on each) I wish we could buy Chevy but the owner HATES them.
I plead ignorance, Rob. I am truly not sure. It was such a bad design to begin with. I agree that the Allison mated to the Duramax is nice. Especially on newer trucks. Turbo, correct me here but I believe the 7.3's have hydraulic valve lifters as opposed to the Cummins mechanical on '01s and up. 2Fer, I missed it, what is your goal with the truck?
