Hey guys, I'm looking at buying a 2006 king ranch 4x4 powerstroke for work. I only haul materials from job to job, I do not pull anything. The reason I am looking at buying a diesel is because they seem to last longer than gas motors. I currently drive around 200 or more miles a day and I average around 50,000 miles a year. I'm looking at Ford because that's what I drive currently and Ford is all I've owned my whole life. I'm just wondering since I'm not pulling anything with it, will I still need to bullet proof it and change the oil cooler?

 

Bulletproof: You might be able to get by without it. Plenty of work trucks out there not BPd

Change the oil cooler: I'd expect to do this at least once. You need to check the EOT/ECT split to verify the current condition of the oil cooler.

 

I have a 2006 F350 Crew Cab 4x4 that I use to pull a 8 horse trailer in the mountains of Montana and used to haul a 28' goose neck hauling hotshot freight.

The truck has 201,000 miles on it. At 99,100 the high pressure oil went - truck was covered under warranty so that was replaced. Besides that and a K&N air system and a Sinister coolant filter the truck is OEM.

I change the oil on schedule and use only OEM filters and Rotella T-6 oil.

Lately it has started running rough on start up and runs rough until it warmed up. At first I thought it might be an injector problem. Used Auto Enginuity and took the time to shut off each injector. Once I would shut one off the truck would run like crap - turn it back on and the truck smoothed out. Based on this I ruled out the injectors - took it for a test drive hooked up to Auto Enginuity and discovered my FICM would drop down to 44 volts so now I am thinking that is the cause of the problem.

Except for these problems the truck runs great and is not bullet proofed.

I have some major traveling to do next summer so I have contacted a couple of shops. For 15K I can re-motor the truck with a brand new engine with a two year unlimited mileage warranty. A lot of $$ but still a hell of a lot cheaper than a new truck!

 

Guys I really appreciate the info, it will help me a lot, I'm a Ford guy and I'll be a Ford guy till the day I die. Right now I drive a 2005 f150 fx4 with the 5.4L triton and I have 218,000 miles and I've done nothing but routine maintenance to it, still drives great! It just blows knowing that the truck I want needs things done to it right away so it can last a long time, but I think if I buy it and do those things I'll easily get 400,000 miles or more ya think?

 

Sounds like a good plan to me!

 

Prior to going to PSD Ford I had a 96 F250 4x4 with a 5 sp & 460 cu in with 4:10s. That had 298,000 miles when I sold it and it never had a valve cover off. Great truck!!