2006 Ford E350 with 6.0l diesel - worth checking out?

[TooSteep]

I am hunting for a vehicle, and there is guy selling one here that ticks all the boxes except ... it has a 6.0l diesel. I'm new to all of this, but it is impossible not to have read about the oil cooling issues with these.

His is a 2006 E350 with just 84,000km (53,000 miles), and it's never had a hitch or towed, although it is carrying a motorcycle on a custom rear platform. No mention in the ad if he has done any of the 'bulletproofing' mods, so I will assume no.

The threads/articles on this engine are very scary, but I've seen some contradictory claims about which year they were improved upon. Not having any mechanic skills of my own, I'm leery. Are any of these engines worth owning for someone lacking engine skills? It's too bad, he's done all the hard work of an interior build and it's very well priced.

 

[Timjim]

By 2006 a few of the big issues had been addressed as well as new flashes that helped as well. If anything, those are low miles on a diesel, maybe a touch too low. It is my opinion that many of these diesels from that era were tuned and abused and folks had a hard time when they blew them up and chirped it up bad. But there are some flaws with that motor as well that caused a lot of headaches for common folks too. 2006 was a decent year for them and if service records are square, then you could easily get 50k before anything might become troubling. Consider that for about 3000 or so you could get that motor bulletproofed and would have one hell of a van. There are a whole whole lot of those engines on the road and many going 2-300k miles and above. My F250 has 130k miles and has had one semi major repair. You will love the power and torque and how they handle grades and towing. You may not like the maintenance and how loud it is in the cab.

I just had a conversation with my Ford service guy today and he said it's been hit or miss. He's got customers with 300k trouble free miles and customers that something is always going on with them. But we both agreed that there are a lot of them out there and folks still like them.

Again, check service records and think about some modifications to make it rock solid.

That's my 0.02

 

[Bbasso]

Imho I'd pass unless it was a killer deal that you're looking to flip I wouldn't want to own a 6.O.
Working on them isn't a pleasure because of the lack of room, and you know you'll be working on it.

 

[gtbensley]

For the right price it could be great. They do have issues but they can also be great. I had a 6.0 with 231K and never really had issues.

 

[RVflyfish]

Once bulletproofed, they're, well, bulletproof. I'd grab it no hesitation if it ticks your boxes. If it doesn't, will you PM me the link? I'm interested.

 

[TooSteep]

Once bulletproofed, they're, well, bulletproof. I'd grab it no hesitation if it ticks your boxes. If it doesn't, will you PM me the link? I'm interested.

I sent it to you. Please let me know if you got it. I'm scared off by the work, but I think its a decent price at under $15,000 USD, with just over 50,000 miles.

 

[Navi]

If the modifications are done nicely and the van is in good shape then I would do it.
Their are some extremely good youtube vids to walk you through the normal engine mods to make the 6.0 reliable. Or call a local shop and ask them their pricing.

 

[RVflyfish]

Yep, got it and sent you a reply. Thanks.

 

[Timjim]

And it's never a bad thing to really understand the mechanical nuances of your camper van.

 

[derjack]

Thousand times discussed before.

Remember: nobody posts something on the Internet if it's from no interest. This means if anything is normal you will NOT read about it! Imagine someone posting: I got a 6.0 for 5 years now and it runs good. Nobody will do that.
If something if bad everybody jumps on that train. Same in politics... different story.

Check out Powerstrokehelp on YT. There's dedicated video on 6.0. No questions after that seeing

 

[Bikersmurf]

Thousand times discussed before.

Remember: nobody posts something on the Internet if it's from no interest. This means if anything is normal you will NOT read about it! Imagine someone posting: I got a 6.0 for 5 years now and it runs good. Nobody will do that.
If something if bad everybody jumps on that train. Same in politics... different story.

Check out Powerstrokehelp on YT. There's dedicated video on 6.0. No questions after that seeing

I've got a 7.3 Diesel. I've had it for three years with no problems. It even started in cold weather with a bad glow plug relay. It's got over 16000 hours on it. It gets good enough fuel economy that I've been called a liar for reporting my economy.

Yeah it's boring... even though it'll go 0-60mph in underr 17 seconds for a 9k+ rig