I have been shopping around for a new truck for the last several months. Last weekend I made a 4 hour trip (car dolly in tow) to go look at a 96 6.5 Burb with 130k on the clock. I learned the hard way that even the best pictures can't give you an accurate perception of a vehicle's condition.

To make a long story short, the vehicle was in extremely rough condition so I left it there and drove home empty handed (empty dolly, that is). Then, to make matters worse, when I checked oil in my old burb the next day it was down 1 to 1.5 quarts. I don't know how much time an engine has when its eats that much oil in 600 miles, but I'm guessing it can't be much. Its a shame, since its running and pulling better than it ever has. An engine rebuild/replacement is out of the question. She's just not worth that much, being 13 years old and the paint is that crappy GM stuff of the mid-90s. However, I hope to find someone who already has an engine or rebulid parts waiting to go in.

So, now I have a F250 6.0 cc sb sitting in my driveway (notice I left the 4-letter 'F' word out of the description), 60k on the clock, $17,500 will buy it. My bro-in-law is selling it, and has allowed me to take it for the weekend. I've car faxed it and oasis'd it, and all looks good. So far, I'm in love. I'll put several hundred miles on it today and tomorrow before I make my final decision, though I'm afraid my mind is already made up. I think sometime next week, my old Burb will be sitting in front of my house with a for-sale sign in the window, and this truck will take its place in the garage.

:nono: well chap we will miss you on the 6.5 forum. :(

you can buy an awful lot of oil for 17,500

But best of luck with whatever you decide...

Seeing as you have decided you may have to part with it, have you tried an engine flush? My truck went to using a litre of oil in 300K. I found a site where someone recommended adding a litre of Marvel Mystery oil and running it for 4-5 hours, then changing the oil. I did this and my oil consumption went back up to a litre in 3000k...same as when I got the truck. I attributed the oil consumption to the brand of oil I was using. I switched to Shell Rotella and my engine has been good ever since. Been 3 years now.

Navek

Use Auto-RX, it is a slow process but it works. Check with BITOG.

Turbo or CDR are two causes of engine oil consumption !!!

what do you want for it

Keep the Burb, and spend the $17,500 on hookers. You'd be better off than throwing it on a Ford. :D

I'd think some before you can the Burb. Sounds to me like you want the Ford, and you are looking for reasons to sell. I 2nd the turbo and CDR for oil use.

If the truck is running good.........Why not just keep an eye on the oil level?
Sounds like you want the ford, but spending that kind of money versus dropping a quart of oil in every couple hundred miles........If your mind is made up, Good Luck........but I'm sure that truck has a lot more life in it than you think.

Louis

x2 on the hookers

Turbo or CDR are two causes of engine oil consumption !!!

Pulled the turbo and went through it, nothing wrong. Changed and cleaned the CDR. Even went so far as to pull the valve cover off that side to check and clean the steel wool CDR insert. Replaced the rocker keepers while i was in there. Nothing dripping on the ground, oil cooler lines clean, etc.... There's no place for the oil to be going other than out the exhaust. Never used anything other than Shell Rotella.

I might give the oil additives mentioned here a shot.

If the truck is running good.........Why not just keep an eye on the oil level?........but I'm sure that truck has a lot more life in it than you think.

I don't mind that its eating oil, and I don't mind keeping an eye on it. What bothers me is that my truck is only worth about $3000 or less as it sits (bad GM paint, needs tires, 230k), and if that engine goes kaputz it'll be worth a whole lot less. It's eating enough oil that oil changes were no longer necessary, and that scares me.

Give him a break,its possible to find a good F+*d, they all aren't bad, just like not all our LB7's haven't had injector issues.
I would however prefer a 7.3 over the 6.0, the 7.3 is every bit as good as ours.
Merle

Hope you find a good forum.

GEP or NAVISTAR drop-in solution engines should cost less than $17 500?

and then adding a new HP4 PCM from Bill should do great too....

If you really want the ford go for it. Who cares if its a ford. If you like it and it'll make you happy why not? You'll actually be able to pass people on the freeway now :)

Is your truck lifted? If not any issues with 285's?

how old is the ford?

I did just a slight amount of trimming for the 285s, but if you didn't know what you were looking for you wouldn't notice. They'll rub just a smidge if I hit a bump while at full turn, but not too bad and it doesn't happen very often.

The Ford is 4 years old, RhinoLined, new tires, etc.... I've learned that the EGR cooler and head gaskets are the trouble spots on this model.

if u end up with the ford, check out ford powerstroke.org. nice bunch of fellas. :)

if u end up with the ford, check out ford powerstroke.org. nice bunch of fellas. :)

Yup. Thanks for the info! I registered there just a couple of days ago, along with thedieselstop and ford-trucks. They all seem quite helpful and informative.

...I've learned that the EGR cooler and head gaskets are the trouble spots on this model.

The turbo vane actuator can also be a problem spot on 03's and 04's if the trucks are not "worked" regularly. The good news is that many of the other "trouble" spots have been worked out with the latest reflashes. I believe that my dad's '03 is on its 10th reflash and mileage even improved!!!! So there is hope...

Regards,

I have honestly been looking into getting a new truck... But instead of switching to the Ford people I want a Duramax. I don't know if I can afford to keep/run both trucks so I may be selling my current truck... Just need to pay off some other things first.

Can a noob chime in? I looked long and hard for my truck before I settled on the one I have. I heard nothing but horror stories about the PowerStroke 6.0. The 7.3 seems to be a good engine, but the 6.0 seems to be poorly designed. Gee, that sounds kinda familiar. At least repair parts for our 6.5's are relatively inexpensive.

I didn't research it thoroughly, however, so do your own research. I ruled out the Ford because it doesn't have head restraints in the back seat in crew cabs, and the fronts are too low to do any good. ...pretty silly, perhaps, but I've lived with a whiplash injury for 17 years now. They really suck.

That said, $17,500 for a Diesel Ford with 60K on the clock would certainly be tempting. I always figure even if I blow my engine and transmission, I'd still only be in it for about $17,500, but my truck is in really good shape, so I figure it's worth it.

I have to admit I have also thought about the Powerstroke or Cummins. I did not do the research I should have on the 6.5 before I bought it. If I had it all to do over again I would probably not have bought the 6.5. But now I have too much $ tied up in the beast to swap it out.

I have honestly been looking into getting a new truck... But instead of switching to the Ford people I want a Duramax. I don't know if I can afford to keep/run both trucks so I may be selling my current truck... Just need to pay off some other things first.

Im planning on having a Dmax this time next year, thats my goal for the summer. I seen a 01 Dmax 2500 4x4 for $5100, said need new solinoid.

Im also planning on keeping my 6.5 for a beater or for a parts truck. I like the 6.5 because parts are cheap and it sounds cool :D. Id like to build a straight axle 4x4 because I like the 90s body style but a 2500 from the 80s with a 6.5TD+4L80E wouldnt be a bad azz truck.

I'll be looking at an 05 GMC LBZ CC Dually after I retire from the Navy. Im still keeping my 96!

I have a buddy with a 1996 powerstroke, a buddy with a 2002 powerstroke, and a father-in-law with a 2001 Cummins. I haven't driven the 2002, but the 1996 powerstroke is starting to have a few injector problems at 136K and you can get a whole set of injectors for what it costrs for 1-2 powerstroke injectors. His truck doesn't pull his trailer any faster than mine, and at 136K he has had a lot of different sensor problems. The 2001 Dodge with a super chip in it set on the tow safe mode, still has less acceleration than my 6.5L. The thing is a dog. I drove it to work to replace a leaking front axle seal, A/C compressor, we replaced the lift pump a few months ago, and from what I am told the injection pump is probably not far behind. Guy that owns the business next to my shop has a 2005 Powerstroke is losing over a gallon of coolant in 4000 miles. Not leaking externally. It has never towed anything and only has 20K on it. Every time I change the oil t is down and he keeps telling me he is just going to take it back in to the dealer, and next oil change he's down again. I know at some point the truck is not worth putting money into, but to own a neweer diesel out of warranty can be pretty expensive.

Definitely a good point about owning a newer diesel, as that is one of my main concerns.

(If I buy it) I'll be going into this with the presumption that it won't stay in my garage if it ends up being troublesome. It could be an expensive lesson learned, I just need to decide if I'm willing to risk it.

When you think about it though, all diesels have their issues (the 7.3 seemingly the least of the lot). So they're all "risky", so to say.

Exactly. They all have their issues. I have been really fortunate with my 6.5L(knock on wood). But I hear where you are coming from. I think I would have a hard time dumping a lot of money into a truck wth over 200K on it.

Working on 2nd 6.0l Ford company truck, there not the most comfortable but they get driven hard in the patch up here and I've pulled the same trailer in my garage with my 6.5 and the 6.0 and there really is no comparision plus i've pulled my trailer with mother in laws 6.0 with 40hp program in it all the way to Salt Lake City and back and never had to take it off cruise control once. In spring I'm going to buy one off company office 6.0 as the are not abused and are loaded and cheap for pulling trailer

Working on 2nd 6.0l Ford company truck, there not the most comfortable but they get driven hard in the patch up here and I've pulled the same trailer in my garage with my 6.5 and the 6.0 and there really is no comparision plus i've pulled my trailer with mother in laws 6.0 with 40hp program in it all the way to Salt Lake City and back and never had to take it off cruise control once. In spring I'm going to buy one off company office 6.0 as the are not abused and are loaded and cheap for pulling trailer

If I was going to spend 10k or more I would go for a GM rig. I would be more worried about the transmission. I think they worked the bugs out of the 6.0 so it may not be a bad engin to have now. But a friend has a ford and when he pulls a trailer that auto tranny whines like a baby. And he had his dump trailer on at the dump hauling some trash and got into some mud and he put it in 4x4 and it died. He had to replace both batteries and put 3k into the transfer case. He pulls a trailer maybe 4 times a year and put 5k into the transmission to soup it up for pulling then tore it up and then he put about 7k into the transmission.

Ive seen alot of allison transmissions go trouble free until the truck or school bus was sold with well over 150k on it. Im not sure how different the transmission is in the chevy trucks but I have yet to see a junk allison.

Mike 4L80 or 4L60 GM trans that came with the 6.5s if those are what you are referring to aren't Allison trans, Allison trans were 1st mated to DMAX in the GM, FWIW a 4L80 is hard to beat though its holding up on my big pulls

Mike 4L80 or 4L60 GM trans that came with the 6.5s if those are what you are referring to aren't Allison trans, Allison trans were 1st mated to DMAX in the GM, FWIW a 4L80 is hard to beat though its holding up on my big pulls

I know the allison came on the dmax, thats why I said if I was going to spend 10 grand or more on a truck I would buy a GM truck. I guess I should have said I would buy a GM truck with a dmax.

Buddy, say it ain't so! That's a lot of bread for that gasser. Seems to me that you might want to examine Turbo/CDR, perhaps get the oil consumption under control, and then you'd be fine. I ran Sea Foam in the Previa, and it seems to be running a LOT better than it was before, I should have checked - I think that the compression is even up.

Best of luck whatever way you go.

Rob :)

Use Auto-RX, it is a slow process but it works. Check with BITOG.

Excuse me, what is Auto-RX and BITOG?

Thanks,

Rob :)

Buddy, say it ain't so! That's a lot of bread for that gasser. :)

A gasser? you mean 6.0L powerstoke diesel?

A gasser? you mean 6.0L powerstoke diesel?

Oops. My bad. I didn't read it closely enough. I have heard quite a few complaints on the 6.0, though. Read the wikipedia article.

Sincerely,

Rob :)

Oops. My bad. I didn't read it closely enough. I have heard quite a few complaints on the 6.0, though. Read the wikipedia article.

Sincerely,

Rob :)

I think they fixed most of the problems now. A friend had a 6.0 and put 8500 miles on it trouble free in a 2006. I read about a guy who bought a brand new one had lots of trouble like once a week it was back to the dealer. Finaly with like 500 miles he rebuilt it himself and said there was sand from the casting still in the water jackets. I think he said it cost hime like 6k to rebuild it but he hasent had trouble since.

Oops. My bad. I didn't read it closely enough. I have heard quite a few complaints on the 6.0, though. Read the wikipedia article.

Sincerely,

Rob :)

With the volume of diesels Ford and GM are selling you are going to have problems. My uncle is a ford employee, so that is all the cousins drive along with my brother. Prior to the release of the 6.4l twin turbo we counted 6 at a family get together. only problem with the lot was a reflash on the brothers '04. Heck look at the LMM threads and one could make a case for holding off on purchasing one of those. Point is every year/brand has its isssues and all that we as buyers can do is arm ourselves with knowledge. As an LLY owner I admit I pay a significant amount of attention to my Temp gauges in august when towing:p