Chris Sunkin

The '03 engine has a rear main seal campaign open on it.

I have 77K on my '03 and have had very few problems. I spend alot of time in commercial fleet shops and bought the truck based on fleet manager's and technician's recommendations. The fedback I received was an excellent engine- as with anything, the occassional one had a few bugs but Ford has done a pretty good job taking care of them. If you're not dealing with a large dealer or one who sell alot of fleet vehicles then they arte neither going to have parts in stock nor a dedicated, highly knowledgeable diesel tech. Find a dealer who has 50 white plain-Jane diesel Superdutys in his new car inventory and you have your guy.

frequentflyer

Thanks guys. You are the best. I have had the truck now for a few days and now consider it my mistress. I love this thing. I don't think I will ever go back to gas...

BTW..
Who do you South Florida guys take your trucks to for service. Want to get the tranny oil and filter changed, rear end oil checked ect...

Thanks again for all your help... This is an awesome Forum.. !!

Scott B

We do our own basic maintenance, send our major non-waranty repairs to Smutney's in Perrine.. Gettin g ready to send a tranny job to him as soon as the new one arrives as a matter of fact..

ghaskell

I have a 03 6.0 with 78,000 on it. 55,000 of those miles were chipped with the diablo 100hp program. I have had two major problems both of witch covered under the powerstroke warranty 1st Injectors early at 20,000miles, 2nd head gaskets at 70,000miles. The big problem is the head gaskets ford used on these motors in the early production. Just in aug 05 they put out a updated head gasket witch is supposed to cure the puking of coolant out the degass bottle and overheating. So far on mine it has worked perfect. If you have ford do head gaskets get a head stud kit to replace the factory studs, This will help hold the heads down to the block a lot better than stock. If I was you I would not chip the truck without head gaskets!!!! Go to the dealer and tell them its puking coolant do the new head gaskets and stud kit and get ready to chip it when you get it back, then you will run fourteens in the quarter(pretty cool for a 8,000 lbs truck). The motor should run for a lot of miles after that. They are great trucks and I've never been passed by any other diesel loaded or empty I think you made a good choice and like anything mechanical, its not if problems its when. The big thing is how they are fixed and Ford has a handle on the 6.0 now so there is no more surprises.

SkiDoc

iTrader: (4)

I wondered why I'm starting to smell antifreeze in the garage. Mines and 04. And has only 30,000. So the dealers are aware of this? Is there a service bulletin?

SkiDoc

iTrader: (4)

Just went out and looked at the overflow tank, has tracks all over the outside where coolant has flowed out. I noticed this the last time I changed the oil but I thought it might have happened when the dealer was replacing the injector wiring harness or the sensor or something else or the turbo. I am not much to complain. I might try to get a new one with the lemon law. Not a commercial vehicle, easy driver, less than a year old. Though I like the truck, whats up with that?

ghaskell

Yep you guys got the tell tail signs, However there is one more thing to have your dealer check, the egr cooler. The egr cooler does have a bad track record for leaking and will cross exhaust into the cooling system. Just run the truck hard and get it hot look for coolant out of the degass bottle and then have the tech pull the egr valve jack up the back of the truck and look for coolant in the intake plentum. Hopefully the tech knows all this. I would bet if the truck has been chiped or loaded often its the head gaskets. As far as service bullitin I'm not sure but ford is aware of the problem for sure, kind of the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Good luck, the truck is definatly worth the xtra effort .

vette131

there are 2 main oil leak culprits on 03 6.0's the glow plug harness has o rings that can leak. look through the wheel wells just above the exhaust manifolds for oil residue. the other leak area is the injector pressure regulator or the injector pressure sensor. both are located on the extreme rear of the intake valley behind a heat shield. 3000psi will make a mess if there is a slight leak at the icp or ipr.

frequentflyer

That's exactly what the mechanic told me before looking at it. It turned out to be a valve cover gasket though. I've had it for a two weeks now and it hasn't leaked a drop (knock on wood, thank god, ect...ect..)