Thinking of buying 03 6.0, should I be worried?

[Chuckdog]

Was looking at a used 03 6.0 with 91000 miles. I was told that on the earlier 6.0's that if they are over 75K on mileage that most of the problems and bugs have been worked out on them. I got the VIN number and my wife called a Ford dealer today and found out what warranty work was done on this truck thusfar. What they have told her and she scribbled down was:
Fuel leak at fuel pump
Recalibrate powertrain control
Fix door ajar light (twice)
Upper/Lower Ball Joints
Cleaned Turbo
ICP sensor
Recalibration again
New Turbo
Turbo pipe cracked

Was wondering if most of the troublesome things have been taken care of. I would really like to get a nice crewcab Ford diesel. Right now, I would be using it to pull our camper on vacations(30 foot trailer loaded about 7K at most), and pulling around tractors and my new crawler loader I just bought on short trips with trailer and load at 10K max. Right now I am killing my half ton gas truck and am looking for something bigger and better. Having a hard time finding a nice 7.3 and this 03 crew cab diesel with Lariat trim and loaded to the gills, they're asking just under 20K for it. Thanks for any help. Hope to be a new owner and on here more often.

[Ljutic SS]

Many owners of early 03 6.0's have not experienced any major problems such as EGR failures and blown HG's. When I retired in 2002 a coworker and myself bought new 2003 models, I the F250 the other guy a Excursion. I now have 120,000 and he has 150,000 both are trouble free. I think the asking price of the one your looking at is on the high side.

[pennery]

The Asking price does seem quite high.. However I would spend more if it was a clean truck and not chipped or abused... I have an 03 6.0 and they are not impervious to issues.. I just put a new FICM in mine 2 days ago. $1300 and it runs great again... I use Stanadyne in every tank of fuel and keep my oil and filters fresh... I replace fuel filters every 30K and I clean my EGR Valve frequently. I have had to do 2 Injectors off warranty ($850 each) a starter, alternator, and I had a power steering leak. My truck does some idling in the winter and It is a strictly a highway truck that pulls a few fifth wheels and my boat...

Would I buy another? in a simple answer... NO however I do like my truck but not as much as I spend on it... My family is a Dodge Cummins family and they don't have nearly the major issues.... If you are spending that much go buy a Cummins...

[Ljutic SS]

Originally Posted by pennery

The Asking price does seem quite high.. However I would spend more if it was a clean truck and not chipped or abused... I have an 03 6.0 and they are not impervious to issues.. I just put a new FICM in mine 2 days ago. $1300 and it runs great again... I use Stanadyne in every tank of fuel and keep my oil and filters fresh... I replace fuel filters every 30K and I clean my EGR Valve frequently. I have had to do 2 Injectors off warranty ($850 each) a starter, alternator, and I had a power steering leak. My truck does some idling in the winter and It is a strictly a highway truck that pulls a few fifth wheels and my boat...

Would I buy another? in a simple answer... NO however I do like my truck but not as much as I spend on it... My family is a Dodge Cummins family and they don't have nearly the major issues.... If you are spending that much go buy a Cummins...

Before you buy that Dodge/Cummins go to the 3rd. generation forums and spend a few weeks reviewing the posts comming in. That setup is no more impervious to major issues then Ford or GM. Dodge uses the worst automatic transmission in the industry, in fact 10% of the posts are trans related.

[over the edge]

I have 276,000 on mine love it.I have had few minor issues.pre-maitenance is your friend with these 6.0!

[riddick01]

if you keep the truck stock or close to it (chips are ur EGRs enemy) then ull be fine. i put 150K on my 04 before i got i chipped and everything was fine (minor stuff like sensors goin bad and blew the trans but that was my fault) but 2 weeks after i got it chipped my egr went bad...then (not knowing it was my chip) i did it again and had the same thing 6 months later. finaly i got sick of it and ran over my chip.

now im in an 06 where i paid 2000 bucks to have an egr made (its alot bigger and doesnt mess up as easy) and ive got it chipped and its fine now