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Reply to "Head temperature gauge"

Even I, as a past 6.0 Power stroke owner, will tell you that a Cummins or the older 7.3 Power Stroke is the way to go.  I wouldn't bother with a Duramax, either.  The 6.0 Power Stroke is one helluva diesel for hauling one of our little cars, but it has it's set of headaches.

Stan mentioned one of the five things that seem to be common failures of all 6.0 Power stroke engines.  Each of those five things, when it happens, costs $1,500 - $2,000 to fix.  People know this (I didn't when I bought it) and that has driven the resale price down to around $5K lower than it should be, but you'll spend that 5 grand sometime while you own it on repairs.  

Even a $27 part like the fuel injection pressure regulator (another of the five things) ends up costing $1,800 because it's buried so deep at the back of the engine that it takes 6 hours to get to it and replace it and another five hours to put everything back.  Trust me, I've been there.  Ford has so many complaints about the cost of the Big Five that they have a special warranty extension to cover some (labor) of the cost of those repairs.  Contrast that with the #1 7.3 failure, the cam position sensor, which costs about $50 bucks and an hour to replace (you can easily do it on the side of the road, too).  

After my third big ticket failure, I sold it to a kid who worked for a Ford dealership and he was thrilled to get it.  "First thing I'm gonna do is slap in better head gaskets and a set of ARP headbolts, then I'm gonna CHIP it!" he said when signing the paperwork.  I wonder if he knew about the big five?

It was bittersweet to see it go - It was one helluva truck - but I no longer needed it.  I can steal Chris' rig if I need to trailer somewhere.  I'm gonna miss pulling that 11 mile uphill on I-81 heading into Virginia at 75+MPH hauling the Speedster and seeing the turbo boost gauge swing up past 40 pounds.       

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