Ford F450 Questions

I have a chance to pickup a F450 ford truck pretty cheap. I know the truck. It has 196,000 miles. New engine at 100K. I am looking for any known weaknesses about these trucks. Lot's of work done on the truck recently. It has mostly highway miles. It has the 6.0 litre diesel engine. Runs real nice and has been taken care of. Custom flatbed. I can buy it for a little of $9,000. Although I realize without seeing it, it will be hard for an opinion, but seems like a pretty good deal to me. Any thoughts? Inside looks like 196K, but should clean up. Tires are fair. Extended cab. Thanks for any thoughts. Bob

Stay away from the 6.0 engines, they're nothing but trouble. An F450 with the 7.3 would be much better, and an awesome towing truck. Unfortunately due to the low gearing fuel mileage isn't the greatest.

My brother recently bought a 250 with the 6.0 (after I warned him not to). He has already had to but a Fuel Control Module in and has put less than 5,000 miles on it...at least it was on the dealer"s dime!

What year is it? The biggest problems with the 6.0's was in 03, and 04. They pretty much got the bugs worked out after that. I have an 06 that I like except I hate the factory lockouts. The problems with the early model years was with the EGR which can be taken out or welded shut (labor intensive job). Lots of heads were replaced due to antifreeze leaking out the exhaust but the actual problem was this egr valve (I don't know exactly what it does but it's emissions related). Everybody that I know that has had trouble had it right away with a fairly fresh engine, and another thing to add might be a coolant filter ($200 and easy to self install). Like I say I like mine but like others have said after running countless 7.3l 450's when I was working construction I would rather have a 7.3 than my 6.0 but I am not unhappy with the 6.0. I'm sure someone will have better details on what I said but that is my .02.

The truck is a 2005 model

New engine at 100k, to me, says plan on another in 4k miles. Personally I'd run.

Dunno, but about 30,000 mile average per year - truck was really used. Add some money and buy a better vehicle with low miles. I can think of dozens of items ready to be replaced is why I said add some money for a better one. 100,000 miles on the first motor is a good sign of future problems.

New engine at 100K was probably done under warranty. As said below the 2003 and early 2004 engines were nothing but trouble. The late 2004 engine was much better (with a lot of changes) and they gradually got better each year of production.

Given the year and the fact it was replaced its probably one of the better 6.0s on the road.

I will say this, it seems none of the newer diesel engines in Ford, Chevy or Dodge will run 300k without periodic maintenance and part swapping. Its not uncommon to need a couple fuel injectors every 40K-50K or some (or several) sensor replacements and given the type of engine they are these "basic" parts are very expensive. The newer engines are running hotter and are much more powerful and you pay for it with more expensive repairs.

With every new diesel its supposed to be the one that gets great mileage but from the 6.9 to the 6.4 in Ford it seems that 12-14 empty is average and 8-9 loaded is about as good as it gets. The Cummins a bit better, the Chevy a bit less.

A complete engine at 100K says the truck was more than used, it's been flogged. My professional opinion is avoid them like the plague. They never really got "the bugs" worked out. FICM's burn up, EGR valves stick open due to carbon, chunks of carbon hold them open, unison rings stick in the turbo, STC fittings blow off the H.P. oil pump, EGR coolers leak caused by plugged oil coolers caused by neglected coolant.
There is a reason that the 6.0 trucks sell for less than the older 7.3's or a Duramax...

Run don't walk away from ANY Ford 6.0 diesel. The JD dealer I retired from bought three F350 with the 6.0 diesel. The first was a 2005. Ford spent over $17,000 in repairs on the motor in the first two years. Then it was out of warranty and the dealer was hooked for another $6500 in the third year. The last two where 2006 models. Ford Company gave him a heck of a discount on them since he had so much trouble with the first one. Well they did not hold up any better than the first one.

In the fall of 2006 all three service trucks went down right in the middle of the fall harvest. All engine problems. He had to pay his techs to use their personal pickups to run service calls. This left them with out a crane, welder, generator, and compressed air. It caused one of his best service techs to rupture three disks in his back trying to man handle a kernel processor out of a self propelled chopper. The tech missed almost a year of work and still has back problems.

In Dec. of that year he bought three new Chevy Doromax trucks and moved the service beds over on them. He put the Fords out in front of his store with a big billboard telling what kind of junk they where. He sued Ford and fought them for almost two more years. Ford did end up paying him a chunk of money.

The Chevy's have been bullet proof for them. One truck needed new injectors at 150K the other two have not had anything done other than routine maintenance.

You may get a cheap truck or you might just get a multi thousand dollar repair bill on wheels.