Dad and I went out to look at a 2004 Superty Duty F250 Diesel. He drove it and liked it. Has anyone heard anything good or bad about these trucks. The truck had and automatic. It was also four wheel drive. He would be selling his 1999 Chevy Silverado 2500 for this. Thanks, Nick

A friend has a Powerstroke F350. It has been a good truck, except the power steering. IMHO that is garbage on that truck. His pumps routinely failed, until he got fed up with it, and put an aftermarket one on. Fixed it permanently.

Other than that, it has been bulletproof. He has the Bullydog system on it, and runs high 13s at the track. Everything is able to take the abuse in it, as I feel it is probibally one of the better Fords.

Oh yeah, the only other things that have died were the stock CD player, and the rear diff. He was spinning around in the mud, and all of the sudden BOOM!!! No more forward pull, unless he engages 4HI and the fronts did the work.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Take a tour around the Ford website where they really go over their new truck. There are videos on avaery aspect of the design and construction, along with side-by-side comparisons with the competition. An outstanding truck--built like no other.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

RUN!!!

Do not buy a 6.0L diesel. Ford has bought back thousands of them.

Nah. I've owned a 2000 7.3 and then a 2004 6.0 with the TorqShift. There have been a lot of problems with the 6.0, but a lot of those problems were brought on by owners who modded their trucks with chips and such. I had my truck for 1.5 years and put 50k miles on it. Never had a single problem.

My advice is:

1) Make sure it was never chipped or programmed. A chip will be piggybacked on the computer - you can find signs of that easily. Programming is much more difficult to spot, but the dealer should be able to hook a diagnostic reader up to it and tell you if it's been chipped in the past.

2) You want to make sure you don't buy a problematic 6.0. Find the dealer who regularly serviced it and very no issues. If the old owner left his insurance card in the glovebox or something, you could contact him.

If the truck checks out, there's no reason to be scared of it. You can read up on many Ford forum sites, but be warned: many of those people ***** and complain about every single nuance that they don't like; they can scare you out of a Ford before you even sit in one. My 6.0 was a great truck, I've known many others who loved theirs too without any problems.

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- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600

PowerStroke in general are junk. Look at a Cummings or nothing.

It depends on what you are using it for. I have friends with them. They don't get good fuel mileage are loud as hell in the cabin and, as heavy as the engines are, are worthless as off-road vehicles. OTOH, if it is being bought as an on-road tow-vehicle, I would say it is a decent choice.

I have seen mechanics who love the 6.0 because it keeps them in business. There have been too many issues with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navistar_VT_engine

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

The other big problem with them is the engine control management system. They have had 5-6 flash bios updates to the computer. The problem manifest as no power and is especially bad at altitude.

My wife wants to trade in her 2000 F350 with the 7.3 litre Power Stroke on a new F350. She uses the truck to pull a large horse trailer, so reliability is a big deal. She wants to get rid of the 2000 before it gets too old. That Wikepedia article says that they are coming out with a new version for 2007. If the current PowerStroke is so bad, maybe we should wait for the 2008 model year. That will give us time to see whether the 2007 version is any good.

She doesn't like Dodge or Chevy trucks, so we are stuck with Ford.

When I was shopping for an Excursion, they kept trying to sell me the 6.0 one. I asked why they didn't have 7.3s and they said the owners were running them into the ground and wouldn't part with them. So, why should I get a 6.0 if they are so plentiful?

I'd keep the 7.3 if I were you. The 2007 one is the 6.4L one. It is supposed to be redesigned so it has two turbos in sequence rather than the variable vane one which has stuck vanes causing a problem.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I have always liked the Ford trucks, always had good luck with them. Was under an 01 Dodge Ram the other day. It had more rust then my dads 94 F150!

To bad you couldn't get a Cummins in a Ford.

Do you really need a diesel? What about a gas one?

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

First I've heard of this. Fords rust @ the chasis WAY before Dodges do. Especially today.

Good question. We don't drive it nearly enough for the diesel to make financial sense. The diesel gives the wife a sense of security when she's rolling down the interstate with a load of horses. I have no idea whether there is any reason why that should be so, but it is, and that is worth something. We drove a friend's F350 with the V10 gas engine. It was hitched to a moderately heavy trailer. We took it over the biggest hill we could find. It seemed to pull OK going up, although maybe not as well as the PowerStroke. The biggest difference was going down. The truck with the PowerStroke has much better engine braking than the truck with the V10. I do not know whether the trucks were geared the same. The V10 truck might be geared higher.

I just bought a 99 F250 PS Crew Cab to tow my 30 Shasta travel trailer. My little Dodge 1500 with a 318 gas could not cut the mustard! My friend and I who drives a Cummins with a fith wheel just took a shake down trip to Stone Mtn. GA. I had some serious hills to climb when I left home and she pulled them like it was nothing. I put a Hypertech tune on it and that extra 60 ponies makes it a real rocket! Did not think a oil burner could move that fast!! Next to Bigblue Bigred is fun to drive! Without the trailer I get as good fuel milage as I did with the little 318 gas!

Smokie

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95 E420 BigBlue
500E Sway bars
2001 C Class 16 in. Rims
KYB Struts and shocks
Rear spoiler
American Stitches Wheel
Bigred 99 F250 Powerstroke
JVC EXAD Mp3 player
JVC EXAD GPS