6.9 liter Ford Diesel Reliability in VFD

[FloridaEd]

My niece and her husband are members of a Volunteer Fire Dept NE of Dallas. Talking with him tonight, he told me he knew of his and 4 other nearby VFD's which bought 6. 0 Fords and all had to have major work and/or engine replacement. The 6. 0 his VFD bought had internal damage before 1400 miles and had to have a piston replaced.



These guys are pretty hard on equipment, I know. And the equipment is operated by different people depending on who's available to answer a call for help. He says all the VFD's he knows had used Ford 7. 3 engines and built up a preference for CrewCab Ford diesels base on operational performance. He said they just ordered another Ford when a new vehicle was needed, but they now talk like they will switch to Dodge CTD's. (He told me he and another paramedic were running hell-bent down a road on a call when the 6. 0 Ford slowed down to 45 MPH, then stopped and a ball of smoke came pouring out of the engine compartment... ... . good thing they were firemen and prepared for things to catch fire. )



My nephew had a '96 Dodge 2500 CTD extended when he came out of the Navy. After riding in my '00 CC F-250, he bought a CC F-350 SWB SRW 7. 3 truck and dolled it up.



Last Saturday, he went slumming in Oklahoma and came back with a Dodge 2500 Quadcab CTD... ... .



Love them 'fireball' 6. 0 liter Fords.....



Florida ED

 

[bmoeller]

Might want to change the title slightly. Don't need to give the 6. 9 a bad wrap. Not powerhouses, but reliable. :-laf



My uncle has '04 350 w/6. 0L. So far, so good. Not even a leak. Time will tell if it is any good at 100k. Assuming it makes it that far.

 

[WDaniels]

Also a vol for EMS and have ford 6. 0 in the ambulances. Have to get one of them in every couple of months because of loss of power, smoke and just general doggie-ness. The longer we wait, the worse it gets. So far my ambulance has been good.

WD

 

[wtfd6]

a local department in my area had an f550. it was just a nightmare. it was way underpowered for what it was being used for. it had to be in overdrive to get the pump to work to capacity. the electrical was a nightmare also. it had so many alternators go bad. not the stock one but the add on powerhouse to run all the accessorys. the last one actually blew apart. part of it went through the radiator. they got rid of it and went to a chevy 5500 with a duramax. it is a much heavier duty chassis for what they are using it for. my department has a 7. 3 in our rescue. it has only had one issue. i had to change out the cam sensor. the 7. 3's all need one sooner or later. but i still love my ctd better.



mark

 

[FloridaEd]

Sorry about the mistake in the title. My typing isn't that great, so I always proofread my posts... . but forgot to proofread the title.



It sould refer to the newer Ford 6. 0 liter diesel, of course.



Florida Ed

 

[Rescue Ram]

Both of our 6. 0's have been very troublesome. We're going to give the 5500 Dmax a try this next time around.

 

[10-9jc]

6.9 had problems too!

A bunch of the F/F's I worked with bought 6. 9 Ford Diesels

in '85. We ALL had injector pump problems - usually at about

30-40 thousand . . . for the first one.

If purchased in CA - was under emissions warranty. Out

of state (like mine) you were the warranty station.



If you kept it long enough you replaced a few more!



Other than the pump replacement/s, no turbo, no OD

. . . it was a pretty good motor].