In Search of our Sportsmobile

[jage]

Originally Posted by DocSavage

I called my guy at the Ford shop and he said you either have a good one or one that lives at the shop.

Did you clarify this is a VAN and not a pickup with the 6.0L? They're over tuned in the pickups causing some of the problems. Also over 50K and things should be ironed out unless your (their) dealer is worthless/thieves/incompetent.

[DocSavage]

Today missed out on one the looked like a nice vehicle. It was on the forum in the on-line Craigslist section. I was playing phone tag with the car dealer as we confirmed a few issues and questions I had. I had made an offer and he accepted but between the time he left the message that my offer was good and I could drop a deposit, someone came into the car dealer and bought it. Guess it wasn't meant to be. I did learn a lot about what to ask right up front. All the research I did and questions I asked made me lean a bit more toward the V-10 but if the right diesel showed up I'd have to give it a strong look see. Bottom line still looking.

[Viejo]

Jage wrote:

Also over 50K and things should be ironed out unless your (their) dealer is worthless/thieves/incompetent.

And with Ford dealers, that's more likely than not.

[Ultrasport12]

I am not a diesel hater in fact one of my all time best vehicles ever was a 2001 F-350 srw with a 7.3 with a six speed manual. I would still have it today but it was totaled right when I was moving out west otherwise I would have bought it back from the insurance company and fixed it. It had just over 200,000 on it at the time and was like new. Many people have had little or no problems with 6.0s and others have had lots. Dealers and repair shops and even owners can make a huge difference. I think no matter what van and or engine you should have someone check it out thoroughly before purchase.
Any vehicle can be good or bad, lots of reasons for variations no matter what anyone says.

When I was looking at vans we started looked at diesels vans exclusively. We avoided early 6.0s because of the problems associated with them in vans and trucks both. (early 6.0s trucks had the most TSBs of any vehicles ever) But after driving quite a few 2006 or newer vans with 6.0s the main reason we ended up with a V10 was engine noise. We like to talk and and listen to music when we drive and since we like to take long trips with the van we both decided we just could not listen to the diesel noise all of the time. So we ended up with a V-10 van and we love it. I would still buy a 6.0 diesel in something as they can be good engines. I would just have it checked out well before doing so. Good luck on your search.