Shopping for a Van
- Thread starter OGL
- Start date
No worries! I appreciate the dialog.
Racerman27410
New member
I purchased my 2004 E350 w/6.0L diesel brand new in 04 and have had only one issue with it in 125K miles ... stuck EGR valve at 5K miles ,replaced under warranty and the same day i got the van back i had a custom tune written for it that turned the EGR valve off ( closed permanently) only other failure was a alternator that failed at 77K miles
Van has not had a hard life... occasional towing of a small tandem axle enclosed trailer but mostly used as a local service vehicle for my HVAC company.
12 years later and i am still on stock egr cooler and stock oil cooler The engine runs like a champ and i get 17mpg rocking 70+ mph on the highway and 14 mpg around town.
I change the oil every 10K miles (synth Rotella from Walmart ), fuel filters and air filter get changed every 20K, Coolant flushed and changed at 50K and 100K,
transmission fluid/filter at 75K and due again at 150K . Was still on stock rear end oil until a few weeks ago when Chris at Ujoint installed a rear ARB locker for me.
That being said I do plan on doing a EGR cooler delete and a couple of other things that i know are potential failure points as i am planning on doing some adventure travelling with the van now and i will enjoy tripping in it more if i know these things are addressed.
My point being the 6.0 is not a terrible engine and with proper maintenance it will last just as long as anything else..... You really only ever hear about the ones blowing up so i thought i would inject my positive experience with the 6 oh. I wouldn't be scared to own another as long as there were good service records for the vehicle.
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Racerman27410
New member
Rob,
YEp! Been lurking around here checking out all the awesome van builds. trying to get some ideas for mine.
Hope you had a great holidays.
Frank
KMG
Adventurer
I purchased the van new with the Quigley 4x4 installed.
Its not so much that the 6.0 is a bad engine, I've had 2, but more about just how ridiculously expensive it is to repair the modern diesel when something goes bad. When the high pressure fuel pump on my 6.4 went south, sitting it my driveway, it was an almost $8,000 dollar fix. Dang near double that if done via the Ford garage. When the HPOP blew on my first 6.0, $4k at Ford because it was out of state and I didnt know where else to get it done, and that wasnt the end of that story because when the HPOP blew it fragged some injectors in the process. Of course Ford didn't know/care about that so I had to have all those replaced by someone else. Current 6.0 runs like a raped ape, but the first thing I did on purchase was take it to my favorite PStroke shop and get all the usual bullet-proofy stuff done. About $6-$7k in preventative maintenance.
I can buy a complete set of injectors for my 7.3 for the cost of 1 for the 6.4 I had. I can buy a complete 7.3 powerstroke long block from Ford for about the same money it cost me to fix that fuel pump in the 6.4.
That's the problem with the 6.0, 6.4, the 6.7, and just about any other modern diesel.
I can buy a complete set of injectors for my 7.3 for the cost of 1 for the 6.4 I had. I can buy a complete 7.3 powerstroke long block from Ford for about the same money it cost me to fix that fuel pump in the 6.4.
That's the problem with the 6.0, 6.4, the 6.7, and just about any other modern diesel.
Racerman27410
New member
No problem..... i think a lot of people are missing out on/passing up a fine engine and transmission package due to worrying too much about all the bad stuff they read on the internet.....I bet there are tons of people out there just like me who have never had a minutes problem with their 6.0 engines.... but that also never post anything so when you go researching all you see is the bad news.
I think the biggest problem with the 6 oh engine is that people quickly realized how much power they could squeeze out of them with just a simple plug in flash tuner..... next thing you know everybody and his brother were writing tunes and making huge HP and TQ increases.....and people plugged that stuff in and had a large time rolling coal and drag racing and then go posting all over the internet when their engine blew up and they got their wallets slapped.
then there are always the lemons....and mechanical failures..... its a machine made by man.
i worked closely with a smart fellow who wrote the tune for my van and he discovered the 6.0 engine in the van runs a completely different tune than the pickups (less HP and TQ in the van application) so should be even less stressed and longer lasting. ( In theory)
I will agree that the cost to repair is high but repairing anything modern is high these days.....anything engine related in a van is going to cost extra whether it be diesel or gasoline ( i had two gas vans prior to the diesel) mainly because it sucks to work on them..... I use the 50% increase in fuel mileage (both city and highway as compared to my gas vans) as justification for paying a little more if something goes wrong..... after 12 years i figure i have saved enough in fuel to put a few grand into bulletproofing the engine for the long haul.
frank
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350outrage
Adventurer
I agree with Brad; that first white van for about $26K, v-10, 5R110, very low miles (like new!), FINISHED OUT with power everything on the inside! You have no idea how much nicer this would be for a family vehicle than some clapped out old cargo van. Even though $26k might seem like a lot, let me assure you, its not, for that level of finish and utility. You can't refurb an old van to that level for $26K.