Three months ago I touted the later 6.0's as great motors as I had zero problems well up to the 99k mile mark. Then my mind was changed.
I had 99,928 miles on my 06' on the morning of 5/20 when I left Cape Cod for Devon, Pa. I left at 3:30 AM with four horses going to a show for the weekend. I started to notice excessive smoke coming from the tailpipe at about the 100k mark (say Providence RI) of course just out of warranty and with horses it's not like one just pulls over and calls a tow truck unless the truck is totally dead. I limped down to Milford, CT's ford truck dealer. Having a bit of diesel experience that comes from owning a few CAT powered tractors I was somewhat familiar with the smoke and tick that indicates a bad injector.
I could type forever here. The long and the short of it is I had two bad injectors with 100121 miles on the Odo. The Ford dealer wouldn't warranty it, even though it had been going before the warranty expired i was stuck. At least when this happened to my CAT C15 I had a check engine light come on. So $1685 later I had my truck back, not to mention the $ I had to pay a competitor, who showed up with a Dodge (that ran very well I might add).
A close family member owns an 04' that has had a tremendous number of problems, EGR, turbo, EGR cooler, injectors, headgasket as well. Most of which occurred under warranty, but a few that didn't. If I find a late model pre 6.7 liter dodge cummins in my company's colors, I will probably buy it. I have three competitors that I am close with, two of whom are friends, that own Dodges and they have had zero problems with 100k-200k on the clock. There are pictures of my 06' on my website
http://hollyhilltransport.com/home.html.
I need my trucks to run well not only because they pay the bills, but because of the precious nature of the cargo transported.
I hate to be so narrow minded, but for reliability, I would buy a Dodge (Cummins). (Nationwide dealer network through Freightliner as a Cummins dealer, many are 24 hour!).
Nothing seems to inspire such heated debate as the "which diesel is best question," and I certainly don't want to start an argument, but would like prospective owners to be well informed. Good luck with your purchase, whatever it may be-Charlie Venezia