KYSkipper

By blow off valve, I assume you mean waste gate. The old 7.3 turbos were fixed vane turbos as most traditional turbos are. They have a waste gate which I assume is what you are talking about. You can sure hear it when it's open which is normally in the mornings when it's cold and has been started for the first time of the day. Until the wastegate closes it's tough to get the truck to run above 40 mph. It's really not that bad of a deal and hard to screw up on the old turbo systems. The VGT system on the 6.0 liter engines is a whole other animal. Unlike traditional turbo systems, the VGT has vanes that are supposed to change pitch to compensate for the amount of boost required under a given load. There is a huge solenoid type deal that acts as a shifter to move the vanes open and closed. These vanes are somewhat like an air plane propeller that changes pitch to provide more or less thrust. Working in conjunction with that is the EGR valve which is supposed to affect the turbo as well. TTHe EGR valve opens and closes. When it's open, it takes exhaust pressure away from the drive side of the turbo thus it doesn't drive as hard and produces less boost. The downside is, when it opens, it allows soot into the intake, turbo vanes, and engine. The soot eventually gunks up the vanes on the turbo and then you get vanes that are stuck and don't open and close properly. In my opinion, this combination of systems is the primary problem with the majority of the 6.0 liter engines. It may have worked super duper in the laboratory, but in the field where fuels aren't as clean, air isn't as clean etc, it causes problems. There is a Navistar shop about 60 miles from here, and I suppose they would work on it, but you have to understand, repairs on these engines aren't cheap. That turbo costs in excess of $1400 for the part alone. It is probably a 2 day job at $80 per hour to replace it. Then of course there are going to be gasket kits and other misc stuff. You are looking at a bill close to $3000 to get someone else to fix it. That also doesn't address the damage that has been done to this engine by not fixing it to start with. When you paid for a truck with a 100,000 mile factor warranty on the engine, you expect the factory to do what they promised when they gave the warranty with the truck. There are a lot of similarities between the 6.0 and Navistar's VT365, however, the Ford version is different. It has a lot of modifications over the International Version that are Ford engineered ideas such as the fuel filter water separator device. The Ford version is on the truck's frame rail. The Navistar version is completely different and the same as the one on the older 7.3 trucks. Also the wiring harness is different on the Ford version than the Navistar version. Skipper

December 17 2003 Purchased truck from Paul Steely Ford. The truck was originally shipped to Ramey Ford in Johnson City, Tennessee and was found on the Ford computer system’s vehicle locator. Steely’s Ford did a dealer trade to get it. I went with Paul to pick it up in Johnson City and drive it back to Williamsburg. It had something like 14 miles on it when I left Ramey’s in Johnson City. It was a new vehicle not used. Chronology of Problems with truck 8-30-2004 Headed to my grandfather’s funeral in London, Kentucky on I-75. As I began to accelerate off of the Exit 25 Northbound ramp the engine began detonated twice. I considered parking it then, but I only had an hour to get to the funeral home where I’d been given paul bearer duties. The entire trip to London the truck bucked, refused to run at interstate speeds and several times the engine quit but was started back by the transmission as it rolled down the road. I took it to Paul Steely Ford that evening for repairs. They replaced the DPFE sensor and VGT Control. See RO 11248 I picked up truck about 10 days after that and it had a nagging lope in the engine. Running at speed it did not run smoothly. It also had an extreme loss of power compared to what it had originally. I returned the truck to Steely Ford the next week and they reflashed the computer. I do not have a ticket on this trip from the garage. When I picked up truck again and the lope was less noticeable but the engine had lost power. On hills that it previously pulled in 3rd gear, I would now have to downshift to 2nd and at times 1st. I figured that I would drive the truck for a while and hope that whatever was wrong with it would go ahead and break so it would be easier to find. By December it had gotten extremely poor in it’s performance and I scheduled an appointment to have it worked on again. On Jan 18th the truck was put into the shop. Service technician test drove and observed the low power condition and the constant surging. This time the EBP and EGR valve were replaced as both were clogged with carbon. See RO 11732 Feb 22, 2005 Experienced problems with fuel filter and pump system on the bottom frame rail. Truck would not start and had to be towed to the dealership. Pump Water separator housing replaced. RO 11896 Picked up truck and it ran fair for a few weeks although not as good as it had prior to the initial problem then went back to the same low power condition. I continued to drive it hoping it would either straighten out or break and make the problem obvious. By May, the truck had completely lost power and would hardly pull out into the road from a stop. I scheduled an appointment in June. Again the VGT solenoid was replaced. RO12380 The truck was not any better when I picked it up than it was when I took it in, so I took it back in July at the next scheduled appointment. Tech could not find a problem after running computer tests although the truck did have low power driveability issues. RO12503 8-24-2005 Back in shop again with same complaint. The technician contacted the hotline and requested an engineer inspect the truck. They did some tests on it but could not find the problem. The engineer requested I come down and show them what it was doing, so I went to drive the technician. I spooled the engine up in the parking lot and dropped the clutch. The truck barley rolled from the parking lot entrance to well past the first red light before the engine picked up power and took off. The EGR valve was replaced again. 3-20-2006 Returned to dealership with same low power complaint. They found a recall on the program for the computer and recalibrated the computer. This did not solve the low power issue and I finally decided that I would have to live with that. RO 13255 In Late May of 2006 The low power problem, In My Opinion, began to manifest itself in another way. Intermittently, the engine would be almost super powered. When that happened, it would blow the turbo boot hose off. I stopped in the dealership with the hose blown off and they put the hose back on. I made it less than 3 miles from the dealership before the boot blew off again. I called and they said that they would order a new boot. It turns out that Ford had a redesigned boot to replace the original boot complete with a new pipe. Dealer said they would call when the parts arrived as they had to be ordered. No ticket was made on this service. By mid June approximately 2 weeks later, nobody had called, so I called and asked and was told they still yet did not have the boot. This seemed rather odd to me that it had took over 3 weeks for a Ford Dealer to order a rubber hose from Ford. Meanwhile I was having to drive my 1995 F250 which doesn’t have an operational air conditioner. Over that weekend, I decided I was going to put the boot back on myself or roast one in that older truck, so I re installed it and tightened the fool out of the clamps on the hose. I also tightened the other clamps on the other hoses in the same system. I found I had to retighten the hoses every 2 or 3 days or one or the other would fall off. The truck seemed to run a little better for that couple of weeks, but I still wanted a new hose to give me piece of mind that my truck was dependable to be on the road in. I called the dealership again and found out that the Service Manager had left and the new guy knew nothing about my hose. He said he’d get one. I thought over a month is a bit long to wait on a hose, so I called Ford’s Customer Non-Service. I finally spoke to Sherri Konicki at 1 866 631-3788 Ex 7385. She said that she would look into the problem as well as the alternating low power and over power issues and see what could be done. She said she would call me back. She called me during my lunch hour and when I returned, I returned her telephone call to get her voicemail which states, “Leave a message and I will return your phone call within 24 hours.†So I left a message. 2 Days later, I’d received no phone call so I called and left another message. 2 more days and no return call so I left another message. The next week, I called daily leaving messages. At this point, My truck is still not fixed and it’s mid July driving my farm truck with no AC in it. By the weekend, I’d had no return phone calls from either Sherri or the Dealership. The next Monday, I called Sherri every hour leaving a message and got no response yet. Tuesday morning, I recruited some friends to help me call Sherri and leave messages for her to call me back. I believe I was told that she got 168 messages that morning to call me. Maybe that was a tad overboard, and I shouldn’t have done it, but any business person should return their phone calls. I don’t know what else would be expected other than an Irate customer who can’t get a simple phone call. I believe I was patient enough trying to work with Ford over the 2 year time period and multiple visits to the dealership to fix my problem. Finally David at 1 866 631 3788 Ex 7302 called me back and informed me that he was taking over for Sherri. He told me flat out off the bat to not ever call Ford again. Then he threatened to have me charged with Harassment for placing so many telephone calls to Sherri. To say the least, I was quite upset over that threat. I asked David who I should call to get service on my Ford truck, Possibly General Motors? I said it in a sarcastic way. David said, “I consider that to be a threat.†He listened to a little bit of my problem and eventually told me, “The thing for you to do might be to purchase a Chevrolet.†I replied that I might very well do that. He said that he considered that a threat and hung up on me. Eventually, the dealership called and told me the boot was in to come get it. I did, but when I picked up the truck, the low power condition was definitely still there. There is a traffic light at the corner of the dealership’s property and when I got to it, I was the 2nd vehicle back from the red light. When it turned green, I released the clutch and stepped on the fuel pedal. The light turned yellow before the truck managed to pick up power and roll through the light. I turned around and returned to the dealership and told them it was not fixed. I understand that a Ford engineer looked at the truck while it was in the shop this time and the EGR valve was replaced again, but I was not provided with a service order for this visit. I returned to the dealership and spoke with the Owner’s Father who oversee’s the dealership. I was told that my truck was fixed, nothing was wrong with it and they had done all they were going to do for it and not to bring it back. I told him that since it was fixed and he had a new truck on his lot, that I’d like to trade for the new truck to make me a price. He said with the mechanical history on my truck, he would not be willing to trade for it at all as with it’s problems he would not be able to sell it. That week I was in Richmond Kentucky inspecting property for a client and attempted to trade it at a dealership there. They ran the computer report on the truck and they too would not trade for it. At that point, I realized that I owned a truck that I could not trust to drive on trips out of town, could not sell, and would be stuck with. This low power problem is getting worse and worse and it is a dangerous safety issue. In September it stalled 4 times trying to pull out of a driveway onto a side street in Corbin. I would let the clutch out and give it fuel like normal and it would just quit. I stopped by Falls Ford in Corbin since I was in Corbin at the time and asked if they would hook it to their computer and see what was wrong with it. They said that since I bought it from the dealership in Williamsburg, I should take it there and since I’d had so many problems with it they were unwilling to get involved with the truck. The truck stalled 6 to 8 times before I was able to get it out of their parking lot and onto the highway. The next day my adjuster and I went to look at a fire loss in Woodbine, KY and the truck stalled twice on the CSX railroad tracks. These are a double set of tracks coming into the largest yard between Knoxville and Cincinnati. It is a very busy set of tracks. This is a very dangerous situation and nobody at Ford or their dealerships seems to want to see to it that the truck I purchased is the one they advertised and not the ill performing clunker that I have. I called Customer service again and asked to speak to a supervisor. Blanche who identified herself as a supervisor called me back at approximately noon on 10-5-2006. She took information and said she would call me back Blanche called back that afternoon and said that Margo will call me tomorrow and Sherri would take over Monday and call me then. Lucretia Sutherlin Called a 4:58 pm on Monday said Ford would be doing nothing to fix my truck and that it was in perfect working order. This on a truck that a week prior to that was stalling out on railroad tracks. Lucretia Sutherlin Called at 10:20 am and instructed me to take the truck to Paul Steeley for Service. I told her that in my conversation with Margo Austin on Friday I had given specific instructions on what sort of repair I would accept and that nothing short of that would be acceptable. Before I took this truck in, I would have to be assured that the instructions I gave would be followed to the letter. That includes Replacing the engine with a brand new, not rebuilt, not remanufactured engine. All pieces and parts would have to be new. The clutch would have to be replaced as well since the faulty engine is causing it to wear prematurely. All computers and wiring harnesses would also need to be replaced. I specifically told her that I was not interested in any repair that did not involve that list. I also told her that Blanche the Supervisor had given my case to Sherri Koniki and I expected the call I was promised on Thursday. Margo Austin – Customer Service Calling Tomorrow 1866 631 3788 Ex 7420 Called Friday discussed problems with truck. We discussed it’s problems for the better part of an hour. Margo talked as if I might be due a replacement vehicle or a buy back. Sherri Konicki- Will Call Thursday October 12th 1 866 631 3788 7385 Sherri Called Oct 12th and said that Ford would offer me a discount on the purchase of a new truck but would not buy mine back. I don’t see the advantage of this since my truck has been refused as a trade in by 2 dealers. Sherri said Ford would not guarantee the trade in. I told Sherri to get me a price on the difference before I would even consider this offer. Sherri called back Oct 17th to see if I was interested in the discount on the new vehicle. I said I still do not have enough information. I don’t know what they plan to give me for mine. She said she understood but was argumentative when I pointed out that unless Ford was guaranteeing a fair value for mine, this deal wasn’t going to fly and I am still stuck with this p.o.s. truck that nobody seems to be able to fix. I mentioned that it was currently leaking something in my driveway. Nov 2nd, Stopped by Dave Damron’s to have my oil changed and check on leak. Leak appears to be antifreeze coming from rear of engine on the passenger side. It was 2 gallons low on coolant which we filled to the mark on the bottle. Sunday Nov 5th, drove truck to south interchange and back. Coolant leak was audible. I could hear it dropping down. Inspected and found coolant pouring out of the bell housing area of the transmission. Starter appeared to be soaked with coolant, and it appeared to be coming from somewhere on the engine block above the starter toward the head. Too much junk in the way to see exactly where it was coming from. Nov 6th, dropped truck off at Steely’s to be fixed. They said they wouldn’t touch it till Thursday. Went to check on it Thursday November 9th. The current issue is a bad EGR cooler that has leaked antifreeze into various parts of the engine and onto the ground. EGR coolers tend to get damaged when the turbo is overboosting the system because it’s vanes are not correctly positioned. The technician told me he would be replacing the hose for the cooler, but would have to disassemble the engine to clean the antifreeze out of where it’s not supposed to be, put it back together and give it back to me. I expressed my opinion that so long as the root cause of things like EGR cooler hoses coming loose, turbo boot failures and the like is not addressed and repaired, those things will continue to happen. In my opinion, this and all of the other issues are being caused by the sticking turbo charger alternating between closed and wide open. When it sticks wide open, the pressure from the overboost condition causes the destruction of boots, hoses, head gaskets and other items meant to seal in the air. Called Sherri Konnicki and left a message Thursday for her to call me in the morning. Her voice mail suggests that she may not be in the office. I called Margo Austin hoping to get to Blanche the supervisor. Margo is out of the office until the 16th Her voice mail states for me to call Johnna Harris at extension 7430. Called again and finally got someone. They said that they would have a supervisor call me in 2 days. I drove to Williamsburg and spoke to Paul David Steely. I handed him a written copy of my 3 option demand and instructed him to get it to whoever at Ford that needed to have it. I also explained that Randy, the service advisor who was in charge of the shop when I had my initial problem refused to take my truck the first time I brought it in and told me to bring it back 10 days later that he was making me an appointment. The problem was, the truck was backfiring and quitting on the interstate coming to Williamsburg and I didn’t feel like the truck would make it to my house and back which I explained to him. At that point, I dropped the keys on the counter and told him I wasn’t getting back on the interstate in a truck that was quitting going down the road. If I was going to walk, it’d be in town where I could call someone for a ride. From that point on, we did not get along, and over the years, I haven’t gotten my service tickets from him. I requested that Paul David provide me copies of the tickets. He did provide most of the service tickets for me. I have the ticket on the original problem and 7 of the follow up tickets on the continuation of the problem. There is a service order in September of 2006 where a Ford Engineer looked at the vehicle, but I can’t seem to get a ticket on that one. That evening I e-mailed my demands to Ford and received this reply on Monday. Dear Lonnie, Thank you for contacting the Ford Motor Company Customer Relationship Center regarding your 2004 Ford F-250. The circumstances that you have outlined in your original e-mail have been given careful consideration. Our records indicate that on 11/10/2006 09:48:19 AM, you contacted the Ford Customer Relationship Center via phone and our Customer Service Representative advised you that you wil be contacted not later than Tuesday 11/14/06 by the end of business day. Please allow the requested time for the follow up to occur so that your issue may be properly addressed. If any new information regarding this matter should become available in the future, please let us know. We consider the satisfaction of our customers one of our most important objectives. If you have any other inquiries or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to address them for you. Sincerely, John Customer Relationship Center Ford Motor Company [THREAD ID:1-3779K1] To date I have not received the telephone call.

Ford sent a little prissy engineer to look at mine about a year ago. This little guy, IMO, had never owned a pickup truck in his life. He asked me to come drive it for him and show him what it was doing. I went down to the dealership and we all got in to go for a ride. My problem is and has been no power to pull out and loosing power on hills. I reved it up to about 1800 rpm's and dropped the clutch. You'd have expected it to launch itself, it didn't, it barley even with my foot on the floor rolled out of the parking lot onto the highway and took about 600 feet before it finally broke loose and took off. The engineer turned toward me and asked, "What's wrong with it?" IMO, he didn't have enough sense to figure out where to start working on it. I think one of the biggest problems today is Ford thinks these computers are going to solve everything. The problem is, a vehicle is not MS Word or some other computer software, it's a mechanical device. Sure, you can monitor the dickens out of it with a computer, and it might help, but the basics of mechanics still apply. Techs are being trained by the factory to rely 100% on the computer to test and diagnose. When the computer doesn't find a problem, none must exist. Unfortunately, that's not the case most of the time. I'm not even entirely convinced my computer is working right to start with. I has been reflashed at a minimum of 15 times since I've owned it. Several times we have found it defaulting back to the failsafe program, but they even refuse to replace even the computer modules. Skipper

I tend to agree with Jeff. Way too many things on the 6.0 Liters were not fully tested and ready to go when the engine hit the streets. Ford immediately went from having arguably the most reliable diesel in the busines to the most unreliable. Heck, even Chevrolet finally put out a diesel that was semi reliable and that is a major stretch given their history with diesels. These 6.0 trucks have a ton of things on them that is frankly nothing more than piss poor engineering. Simple things like the fuel filter. Why in God's name is that under the truck, turned sideways and poised to dump a quart of fuel on whoever has to change the filter? It's an electric pump with a filter housing, it could have been located on the tailgate for all intensive purposes, yet it's under there where to screw out that filter cap take 10 minutes unless you first go to the trouble of removing the driveshaft so you can actually get a wrench on it and be able to turn the wrench more than 1/16th of a turn before flipping it over to get a different angle on the nut. The EGR system and turbo were neither one ready to go in an engine for sale. They redesigned the EGR system how many times in the first 2 years? 5? 6? The 05 Turbos have increase clearances from the engine to alleviate a problem there. I wonder if they even test drove these rigs before they went on the market? The 7.3 trucks are fairly easy to work on. Open the hood, you can get to most of it without a lot of aggrivation. Look at Dodge's Cummins, it's the same way. Chevy's Duramax is the same way. You can actually see down the side of the motor. This 6.0 is a whole other animal. When procedures to work on the motor require removing the cab from the frame of the truck, that's ridiculous. Someone should have thought that out some more. I know they built these things with the idea of forcing customers to go to dealers for service. Problem is, when it takes 14 days in my case, to fix a truck and you have 3 or 4 others just like it in the garage with similar issues taking the same amount of time someone is going to get sore at someone. I think if you are going to build something that darn complicated, you ought to have a Super Service Center somewhere like UPS does. An engine goes down in one of these trucks and it's going to take a week to fix it at best, have the local dealer remove the engine and put a loaner in the truck. Crate up the bad engine and ship it to a location that has the highest skilled mechanics and engineers available. Fix it and send it back to the dealer to put back in the truck. The thing is, this is Ford's Warranty, not the dealership's warranty and Ford designed, built and marketed it. Skip

I didn't type all of that at once. It's a log of sorts I've been keeping of these problems. I take notes down on that document each time I speak to someone. I just printed out the thing, made copies of my service tickets, and wrote a separate letter. I'm sending it certified mail to Alan Mulally. The other copies I made have other destinations. Skip

December 17 2003 Purchased truck from Paul Steely Ford. The truck was originally shipped to Ramey Ford in Johnson City, Tennessee and was found on the Ford computer system’s vehicle locator. Steely’s Ford did a dealer trade to get it. I went with Paul to pick it up in Johnson City and drive it back to Williamsburg. It had something like 14 miles on it when I left Ramey’s in Johnson City. It was a new vehicle not used. Chronology of Problems with truck 8-30-2004 Headed to my grandfather’s funeral in London, Kentucky on I-75. As I began to accelerate off of the Exit 25 Northbound ramp the engine began detonated twice. I considered parking it then, but I only had an hour to get to the funeral home where I’d been given paul bearer duties. The entire trip to London the truck bucked, refused to run at interstate speeds and several times the engine quit but was started back by the transmission as it rolled down the road. I took it to Paul Steely Ford that evening for repairs. They replaced the DPFE sensor and VGT Control. See RO 11248 I picked up truck about 10 days after that and it had a nagging lope in the engine. Running at speed it did not run smoothly. It also had an extreme loss of power compared to what it had originally. I returned the truck to Steely Ford the next week and they reflashed the computer. I do not have a ticket on this trip from the garage. When I picked up truck again and the lope was less noticeable but the engine had lost power. On hills that it previously pulled in 3rd gear, I would now have to downshift to 2nd and at times 1st. I figured that I would drive the truck for a while and hope that whatever was wrong with it would go ahead and break so it would be easier to find. By December it had gotten extremely poor in it’s performance and I scheduled an appointment to have it worked on again. On Jan 18th the truck was put into the shop. Service technician test drove and observed the low power condition and the constant surging. This time the EBP and EGR valve were replaced as both were clogged with carbon. See RO 11732 Feb 22, 2005 Experienced problems with fuel filter and pump system on the bottom frame rail. Truck would not start and had to be towed to the dealership. Pump Water separator housing replaced. RO 11896 Picked up truck and it ran fair for a few weeks although not as good as it had prior to the initial problem then went back to the same low power condition. I continued to drive it hoping it would either straighten out or break and make the problem obvious. By May, the truck had completely lost power and would hardly pull out into the road from a stop. I scheduled an appointment in June. Again the VGT solenoid was replaced. RO12380 The truck was not any better when I picked it up than it was when I took it in, so I took it back in July at the next scheduled appointment. Tech could not find a problem after running computer tests although the truck did have low power driveability issues. RO12503 8-24-2005 Back in shop again with same complaint. The technician contacted the hotline and requested an engineer inspect the truck. They did some tests on it but could not find the problem. The engineer requested I come down and show them what it was doing, so I went to drive the technician. I spooled the engine up in the parking lot and dropped the clutch. The truck barley rolled from the parking lot entrance to well past the first red light before the engine picked up power and took off. The EGR valve was replaced again. 3-20-2006 Returned to dealership with same low power complaint. They found a recall on the program for the computer and recalibrated the computer. This did not solve the low power issue and I finally decided that I would have to live with that. RO 13255 In Late May of 2006 The low power problem, In My Opinion, began to manifest itself in another way. Intermittently, the engine would be almost super powered. When that happened, it would blow the turbo boot hose off. I stopped in the dealership with the hose blown off and they put the hose back on. I made it less than 3 miles from the dealership before the boot blew off again. I called and they said that they would order a new boot. It turns out that Ford had a redesigned boot to replace the original boot complete with a new pipe. Dealer said they would call when the parts arrived as they had to be ordered. No ticket was made on this service. By mid June approximately 2 weeks later, nobody had called, so I called and asked and was told they still yet did not have the boot. This seemed rather odd to me that it had took over 3 weeks for a Ford Dealer to order a rubber hose from Ford. Meanwhile I was having to drive my 1995 F250 which doesn’t have an operational air conditioner. Over that weekend, I decided I was going to put the boot back on myself or roast one in that older truck, so I re installed it and tightened the fool out of the clamps on the hose. I also tightened the other clamps on the other hoses in the same system. I found I had to retighten the hoses every 2 or 3 days or one or the other would fall off. The truck seemed to run a little better for that couple of weeks, but I still wanted a new hose to give me piece of mind that my truck was dependable to be on the road in. I called the dealership again and found out that the Service Manager had left and the new guy knew nothing about my hose. He said he’d get one. I thought over a month is a bit long to wait on a hose, so I called Ford’s Customer Non-Service. I finally spoke to Sherri Konicki at 1 866 631-3788 Ex 7385. She said that she would look into the problem as well as the alternating low power and over power issues and see what could be done. She said she would call me back. She called me during my lunch hour and when I returned, I returned her telephone call to get her voicemail which states, “Leave a message and I will return your phone call within 24 hours.†So I left a message. 2 Days later, I’d received no phone call so I called and left another message. 2 more days and no return call so I left another message. The next week, I called daily leaving messages. At this point, My truck is still not fixed and it’s mid July driving my farm truck with no AC in it. By the weekend, I’d had no return phone calls from either Sherri or the Dealership. The next Monday, I called Sherri every hour leaving a message and got no response yet. Tuesday morning, I recruited some friends to help me call Sherri and leave messages for her to call me back. I believe I was told that she got 168 messages that morning to call me. Maybe that was a tad overboard, and I shouldn’t have done it, but any business person should return their phone calls. I don’t know what else would be expected other than an Irate customer who can’t get a simple phone call. I believe I was patient enough trying to work with Ford over the 2 year time period and multiple visits to the dealership to fix my problem. Finally David at 1 866 631 3788 Ex 7302 called me back and informed me that he was taking over for Sherri. He told me flat out off the bat to not ever call Ford again. Then he threatened to have me charged with Harassment for placing so many telephone calls to Sherri. To say the least, I was quite upset over that threat. I asked David who I should call to get service on my Ford truck, Possibly General Motors? I said it in a sarcastic way. David said, “I consider that to be a threat.†He listened to a little bit of my problem and eventually told me, “The thing for you to do might be to purchase a Chevrolet.†I replied that I might very well do that. He said that he considered that a threat and hung up on me. Eventually, the dealership called and told me the boot was in to come get it. I did, but when I picked up the truck, the low power condition was definitely still there. There is a traffic light at the corner of the dealership’s property and when I got to it, I was the 2nd vehicle back from the red light. When it turned green, I released the clutch and stepped on the fuel pedal. The light turned yellow before the truck managed to pick up power and roll through the light. I turned around and returned to the dealership and told them it was not fixed. I understand that a Ford engineer looked at the truck while it was in the shop this time and the EGR valve was replaced again, but I was not provided with a service order for this visit. I returned to the dealership and spoke with the Owner’s Father who oversee’s the dealership. I was told that my truck was fixed, nothing was wrong with it and they had done all they were going to do for it and not to bring it back. I told him that since it was fixed and he had a new truck on his lot, that I’d like to trade for the new truck to make me a price. He said with the mechanical history on my truck, he would not be willing to trade for it at all as with it’s problems he would not be able to sell it. That week I was in Richmond Kentucky inspecting property for a client and attempted to trade it at a dealership there. They ran the computer report on the truck and they too would not trade for it. At that point, I realized that I owned a truck that I could not trust to drive on trips out of town, could not sell, and would be stuck with. This low power problem is getting worse and worse and it is a dangerous safety issue. In September it stalled 4 times trying to pull out of a driveway onto a side street in Corbin. I would let the clutch out and give it fuel like normal and it would just quit. I stopped by Falls Ford in Corbin since I was in Corbin at the time and asked if they would hook it to their computer and see what was wrong with it. They said that since I bought it from the dealership in Williamsburg, I should take it there and since I’d had so many problems with it they were unwilling to get involved with the truck. The truck stalled 6 to 8 times before I was able to get it out of their parking lot and onto the highway. The next day my adjuster and I went to look at a fire loss in Woodbine, KY and the truck stalled twice on the CSX railroad tracks. These are a double set of tracks coming into the largest yard between Knoxville and Cincinnati. It is a very busy set of tracks. This is a very dangerous situation and nobody at Ford or their dealerships seems to want to see to it that the truck I purchased is the one they advertised and not the ill performing clunker that I have. I called Customer service again and asked to speak to a supervisor. Blanche who identified herself as a supervisor called me back at approximately noon on 10-5-2006. She took information and said she would call me back Blanche called back that afternoon and said that Margo will call me tomorrow and Sherri would take over Monday and call me then. Lucretia Sutherlin Called a 4:58 pm on Monday said Ford would be doing nothing to fix my truck and that it was in perfect working order. This on a truck that a week prior to that was stalling out on railroad tracks. Lucretia Sutherlin Called at 10:20 am and instructed me to take the truck to Paul Steeley for Service. I told her that in my conversation with Margo Austin on Friday I had given specific instructions on what sort of repair I would accept and that nothing short of that would be acceptable. Before I took this truck in, I would have to be assured that the instructions I gave would be followed to the letter. That includes Replacing the engine with a brand new, not rebuilt, not remanufactured engine. All pieces and parts would have to be new. The clutch would have to be replaced as well since the faulty engine is causing it to wear prematurely. All computers and wiring harnesses would also need to be replaced. I specifically told her that I was not interested in any repair that did not involve that list. I also told her that Blanche the Supervisor had given my case to Sherri Koniki and I expected the call I was promised on Thursday. Margo Austin – Customer Service Calling Tomorrow 1866 631 3788 Ex 7420 Called Friday discussed problems with truck. We discussed it’s problems for the better part of an hour. Margo talked as if I might be due a replacement vehicle or a buy back. Sherri Konicki- Will Call Thursday October 12th 1 866 631 3788 7385 Sherri Called Oct 12th and said that Ford would offer me a discount on the purchase of a new truck but would not buy mine back. I don’t see the advantage of this since my truck has been refused as a trade in by 2 dealers. Sherri said Ford would not guarantee the trade in. I told Sherri to get me a price on the difference before I would even consider this offer. Sherri called back Oct 17th to see if I was interested in the discount on the new vehicle. I said I still do not have enough information. I don’t know what they plan to give me for mine. She said she understood but was argumentative when I pointed out that unless Ford was guaranteeing a fair value for mine, this deal wasn’t going to fly and I am still stuck with this p.o.s. truck that nobody seems to be able to fix. I mentioned that it was currently leaking something in my driveway. Nov 2nd, Stopped by Dave Damron’s to have my oil changed and check on leak. Leak appears to be antifreeze coming from rear of engine on the passenger side. It was 2 gallons low on coolant which we filled to the mark on the bottle. Sunday Nov 5th, drove truck to south interchange and back. Coolant leak was audible. I could hear it dropping down. Inspected and found coolant pouring out of the bell housing area of the transmission. Starter appeared to be soaked with coolant, and it appeared to be coming from somewhere on the engine block above the starter toward the head. Too much junk in the way to see exactly where it was coming from. Nov 6th, dropped truck off at Steely’s to be fixed. They said they wouldn’t touch it till Thursday. Went to check on it Thursday November 9th. The current issue is a bad EGR cooler that has leaked antifreeze into various parts of the engine and onto the ground. EGR coolers tend to get damaged when the turbo is overboosting the system because it’s vanes are not correctly positioned. The technician told me he would be replacing the hose for the cooler, but would have to disassemble the engine to clean the antifreeze out of where it’s not supposed to be, put it back together and give it back to me. I expressed my opinion that so long as the root cause of things like EGR cooler hoses coming loose, turbo boot failures and the like is not addressed and repaired, those things will continue to happen. In my opinion, this and all of the other issues are being caused by the sticking turbo charger alternating between closed and wide open. When it sticks wide open, the pressure from the overboost condition causes the destruction of boots, hoses, head gaskets and other items meant to seal in the air. Called Sherri Konnicki and left a message Thursday for her to call me in the morning. Her voice mail suggests that she may not be in the office. I called Margo Austin hoping to get to Blanche the supervisor. Margo is out of the office until the 16th Her voice mail states for me to call Johnna Harris at extension 7430. Called again and finally got someone. They said that they would have a supervisor call me in 2 days. I drove to Williamsburg and spoke to Paul David Steely. I handed him a written copy of my 3 option demand and instructed him to get it to whoever at Ford that needed to have it. I also explained that Randy, the service advisor who was in charge of the shop when I had my initial problem refused to take my truck the first time I brought it in and told me to bring it back 10 days later that he was making me an appointment. The problem was, the truck was backfiring and quitting on the interstate coming to Williamsburg and I didn’t feel like the truck would make it to my house and back which I explained to him. At that point, I dropped the keys on the counter and told him I wasn’t getting back on the interstate in a truck that was quitting going down the road. If I was going to walk, it’d be in town where I could call someone for a ride. From that point on, we did not get along, and over the years, I haven’t gotten my service tickets from him. I requested that Paul David provide me copies of the tickets. He did provide most of the service tickets for me. I have the ticket on the original problem and 7 of the follow up tickets on the continuation of the problem. There is a service order in September of 2006 where a Ford Engineer looked at the vehicle, but I can’t seem to get a ticket on that one. That evening I e-mailed my demands to Ford and received this reply on Monday. Dear Lonnie, Thank you for contacting the Ford Motor Company Customer Relationship Center regarding your 2004 Ford F-250. The circumstances that you have outlined in your original e-mail have been given careful consideration. Our records indicate that on 11/10/2006 09:48:19 AM, you contacted the Ford Customer Relationship Center via phone and our Customer Service Representative advised you that you wil be contacted not later than Tuesday 11/14/06 by the end of business day. Please allow the requested time for the follow up to occur so that your issue may be properly addressed. If any new information regarding this matter should become available in the future, please let us know. We consider the satisfaction of our customers one of our most important objectives. If you have any other inquiries or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to address them for you. Sincerely, John Customer Relationship Center Ford Motor Company [THREAD ID:1-3779K1] To date I have not received the telephone call.

Kentucky's lemon law is 12 months 12,000 miles whichever comes first. My problems began at 15,565 miles during the first 12 months of ownership. Skip

December 17 2003 Purchased truck from Paul Steely Ford. The truck was originally shipped to Ramey Ford in Johnson City, Tennessee and was found on the Ford computer system’s vehicle locator. Steely’s Ford did a dealer trade to get it. I went with Paul to pick it up in Johnson City and drive it back to Williamsburg. It had something like 14 miles on it when I left Ramey’s in Johnson City. It was a new vehicle not used. Chronology of Problems with truck 8-30-2004 Headed to my grandfather’s funeral in London, Kentucky on I-75. As I began to accelerate off of the Exit 25 Northbound ramp the engine began detonated twice. I considered parking it then, but I only had an hour to get to the funeral home where I’d been given paul bearer duties. The entire trip to London the truck bucked, refused to run at interstate speeds and several times the engine quit but was started back by the transmission as it rolled down the road. I took it to Paul Steely Ford that evening for repairs. They replaced the DPFE sensor and VGT Control. See RO 11248 I picked up truck about 10 days after that and it had a nagging lope in the engine. Running at speed it did not run smoothly. It also had an extreme loss of power compared to what it had originally. I returned the truck to Steely Ford the next week and they reflashed the computer. I do not have a ticket on this trip from the garage. When I picked up truck again and the lope was less noticeable but the engine had lost power. On hills that it previously pulled in 3rd gear, I would now have to downshift to 2nd and at times 1st. I figured that I would drive the truck for a while and hope that whatever was wrong with it would go ahead and break so it would be easier to find. By December it had gotten extremely poor in it’s performance and I scheduled an appointment to have it worked on again. On Jan 18th the truck was put into the shop. Service technician test drove and observed the low power condition and the constant surging. This time the EBP and EGR valve were replaced as both were clogged with carbon. See RO 11732 Feb 22, 2005 Experienced problems with fuel filter and pump system on the bottom frame rail. Truck would not start and had to be towed to the dealership. Pump Water separator housing replaced. RO 11896 Picked up truck and it ran fair for a few weeks although not as good as it had prior to the initial problem then went back to the same low power condition. I continued to drive it hoping it would either straighten out or break and make the problem obvious. By May, the truck had completely lost power and would hardly pull out into the road from a stop. I scheduled an appointment in June. Again the VGT solenoid was replaced. RO12380 The truck was not any better when I picked it up than it was when I took it in, so I took it back in July at the next scheduled appointment. Tech could not find a problem after running computer tests although the truck did have low power driveability issues. RO12503 8-24-2005 Back in shop again with same complaint. The technician contacted the hotline and requested an engineer inspect the truck. They did some tests on it but could not find the problem. The engineer requested I come down and show them what it was doing, so I went to drive the technician. I spooled the engine up in the parking lot and dropped the clutch. The truck barley rolled from the parking lot entrance to well past the first red light before the engine picked up power and took off. The EGR valve was replaced again. 3-20-2006 Returned to dealership with same low power complaint. They found a recall on the program for the computer and recalibrated the computer. This did not solve the low power issue and I finally decided that I would have to live with that. RO 13255 In Late May of 2006 The low power problem, In My Opinion, began to manifest itself in another way. Intermittently, the engine would be almost super powered. When that happened, it would blow the turbo boot hose off. I stopped in the dealership with the hose blown off and they put the hose back on. I made it less than 3 miles from the dealership before the boot blew off again. I called and they said that they would order a new boot. It turns out that Ford had a redesigned boot to replace the original boot complete with a new pipe. Dealer said they would call when the parts arrived as they had to be ordered. No ticket was made on this service. By mid June approximately 2 weeks later, nobody had called, so I called and asked and was told they still yet did not have the boot. This seemed rather odd to me that it had took over 3 weeks for a Ford Dealer to order a rubber hose from Ford. Meanwhile I was having to drive my 1995 F250 which doesn’t have an operational air conditioner. Over that weekend, I decided I was going to put the boot back on myself or roast one in that older truck, so I re installed it and tightened the fool out of the clamps on the hose. I also tightened the other clamps on the other hoses in the same system. I found I had to retighten the hoses every 2 or 3 days or one or the other would fall off. The truck seemed to run a little better for that couple of weeks, but I still wanted a new hose to give me piece of mind that my truck was dependable to be on the road in. I called the dealership again and found out that the Service Manager had left and the new guy knew nothing about my hose. He said he’d get one. I thought over a month is a bit long to wait on a hose, so I called Ford’s Customer Non-Service. I finally spoke to Sherri Konicki at 1 866 631-3788 Ex 7385. She said that she would look into the problem as well as the alternating low power and over power issues and see what could be done. She said she would call me back. She called me during my lunch hour and when I returned, I returned her telephone call to get her voicemail which states, “Leave a message and I will return your phone call within 24 hours.†So I left a message. 2 Days later, I’d received no phone call so I called and left another message. 2 more days and no return call so I left another message. The next week, I called daily leaving messages. At this point, My truck is still not fixed and it’s mid July driving my farm truck with no AC in it. By the weekend, I’d had no return phone calls from either Sherri or the Dealership. The next Monday, I called Sherri every hour leaving a message and got no response yet. Tuesday morning, I recruited some friends to help me call Sherri and leave messages for her to call me back. I believe I was told that she got 168 messages that morning to call me. Maybe that was a tad overboard, and I shouldn’t have done it, but any business person should return their phone calls. I don’t know what else would be expected other than an Irate customer who can’t get a simple phone call. I believe I was patient enough trying to work with Ford over the 2 year time period and multiple visits to the dealership to fix my problem. Finally David at 1 866 631 3788 Ex 7302 called me back and informed me that he was taking over for Sherri. He told me flat out off the bat to not ever call Ford again. Then he threatened to have me charged with Harassment for placing so many telephone calls to Sherri. To say the least, I was quite upset over that threat. I asked David who I should call to get service on my Ford truck, Possibly General Motors? I said it in a sarcastic way. David said, “I consider that to be a threat.†He listened to a little bit of my problem and eventually told me, “The thing for you to do might be to purchase a Chevrolet.†I replied that I might very well do that. He said that he considered that a threat and hung up on me. Eventually, the dealership called and told me the boot was in to come get it. I did, but when I picked up the truck, the low power condition was definitely still there. There is a traffic light at the corner of the dealership’s property and when I got to it, I was the 2nd vehicle back from the red light. When it turned green, I released the clutch and stepped on the fuel pedal. The light turned yellow before the truck managed to pick up power and roll through the light. I turned around and returned to the dealership and told them it was not fixed. I understand that a Ford engineer looked at the truck while it was in the shop this time and the EGR valve was replaced again, but I was not provided with a service order for this visit. I returned to the dealership and spoke with the Owner’s Father who oversee’s the dealership. I was told that my truck was fixed, nothing was wrong with it and they had done all they were going to do for it and not to bring it back. I told him that since it was fixed and he had a new truck on his lot, that I’d like to trade for the new truck to make me a price. He said with the mechanical history on my truck, he would not be willing to trade for it at all as with it’s problems he would not be able to sell it. That week I was in Richmond Kentucky inspecting property for a client and attempted to trade it at a dealership there. They ran the computer report on the truck and they too would not trade for it. At that point, I realized that I owned a truck that I could not trust to drive on trips out of town, could not sell, and would be stuck with. This low power problem is getting worse and worse and it is a dangerous safety issue. In September it stalled 4 times trying to pull out of a driveway onto a side street in Corbin. I would let the clutch out and give it fuel like normal and it would just quit. I stopped by Falls Ford in Corbin since I was in Corbin at the time and asked if they would hook it to their computer and see what was wrong with it. They said that since I bought it from the dealership in Williamsburg, I should take it there and since I’d had so many problems with it they were unwilling to get involved with the truck. The truck stalled 6 to 8 times before I was able to get it out of their parking lot and onto the highway. The next day my adjuster and I went to look at a fire loss in Woodbine, KY and the truck stalled twice on the CSX railroad tracks. These are a double set of tracks coming into the largest yard between Knoxville and Cincinnati. It is a very busy set of tracks. This is a very dangerous situation and nobody at Ford or their dealerships seems to want to see to it that the truck I purchased is the one they advertised and not the ill performing clunker that I have. I called Customer service again and asked to speak to a supervisor. Blanche who identified herself as a supervisor called me back at approximately noon on 10-5-2006. She took information and said she would call me back Blanche called back that afternoon and said that Margo will call me tomorrow and Sherri would take over Monday and call me then. Lucretia Sutherlin Called a 4:58 pm on Monday said Ford would be doing nothing to fix my truck and that it was in perfect working order. This on a truck that a week prior to that was stalling out on railroad tracks. Lucretia Sutherlin Called at 10:20 am and instructed me to take the truck to Paul Steeley for Service. I told her that in my conversation with Margo Austin on Friday I had given specific instructions on what sort of repair I would accept and that nothing short of that would be acceptable. Before I took this truck in, I would have to be assured that the instructions I gave would be followed to the letter. That includes Replacing the engine with a brand new, not rebuilt, not remanufactured engine. All pieces and parts would have to be new. The clutch would have to be replaced as well since the faulty engine is causing it to wear prematurely. All computers and wiring harnesses would also need to be replaced. I specifically told her that I was not interested in any repair that did not involve that list. I also told her that Blanche the Supervisor had given my case to Sherri Koniki and I expected the call I was promised on Thursday. Margo Austin – Customer Service Calling Tomorrow 1866 631 3788 Ex 7420 Called Friday discussed problems with truck. We discussed it’s problems for the better part of an hour. Margo talked as if I might be due a replacement vehicle or a buy back. Sherri Konicki- Will Call Thursday October 12th 1 866 631 3788 7385 Sherri Called Oct 12th and said that Ford would offer me a discount on the purchase of a new truck but would not buy mine back. I don’t see the advantage of this since my truck has been refused as a trade in by 2 dealers. Sherri said Ford would not guarantee the trade in. I told Sherri to get me a price on the difference before I would even consider this offer. Sherri called back Oct 17th to see if I was interested in the discount on the new vehicle. I said I still do not have enough information. I don’t know what they plan to give me for mine. She said she understood but was argumentative when I pointed out that unless Ford was guaranteeing a fair value for mine, this deal wasn’t going to fly and I am still stuck with this p.o.s. truck that nobody seems to be able to fix. I mentioned that it was currently leaking something in my driveway. Nov 2nd, Stopped by Dave Damron’s to have my oil changed and check on leak. Leak appears to be antifreeze coming from rear of engine on the passenger side. It was 2 gallons low on coolant which we filled to the mark on the bottle. Sunday Nov 5th, drove truck to south interchange and back. Coolant leak was audible. I could hear it dropping down. Inspected and found coolant pouring out of the bell housing area of the transmission. Starter appeared to be soaked with coolant, and it appeared to be coming from somewhere on the engine block above the starter toward the head. Too much junk in the way to see exactly where it was coming from. Nov 6th, dropped truck off at Steely’s to be fixed. They said they wouldn’t touch it till Thursday. Went to check on it Thursday November 9th. The current issue is a bad EGR cooler that has leaked antifreeze into various parts of the engine and onto the ground. EGR coolers tend to get damaged when the turbo is overboosting the system because it’s vanes are not correctly positioned. The technician told me he would be replacing the hose for the cooler, but would have to disassemble the engine to clean the antifreeze out of where it’s not supposed to be, put it back together and give it back to me. I expressed my opinion that so long as the root cause of things like EGR cooler hoses coming loose, turbo boot failures and the like is not addressed and repaired, those things will continue to happen. In my opinion, this and all of the other issues are being caused by the sticking turbo charger alternating between closed and wide open. When it sticks wide open, the pressure from the overboost condition causes the destruction of boots, hoses, head gaskets and other items meant to seal in the air. Called Sherri Konnicki and left a message Thursday for her to call me in the morning. Her voice mail suggests that she may not be in the office. I called Margo Austin hoping to get to Blanche the supervisor. Margo is out of the office until the 16th Her voice mail states for me to call Johnna Harris at extension 7430. Called again and finally got someone. They said that they would have a supervisor call me in 2 days. I drove to Williamsburg and spoke to Paul David Steely. I handed him a written copy of my 3 option demand and instructed him to get it to whoever at Ford that needed to have it. I also explained that Randy, the service advisor who was in charge of the shop when I had my initial problem refused to take my truck the first time I brought it in and told me to bring it back 10 days later that he was making me an appointment. The problem was, the truck was backfiring and quitting on the interstate coming to Williamsburg and I didn’t feel like the truck would make it to my house and back which I explained to him. At that point, I dropped the keys on the counter and told him I wasn’t getting back on the interstate in a truck that was quitting going down the road. If I was going to walk, it’d be in town where I could call someone for a ride. From that point on, we did not get along, and over the years, I haven’t gotten my service tickets from him. I requested that Paul David provide me copies of the tickets. He did provide most of the service tickets for me. I have the ticket on the original problem and 7 of the follow up tickets on the continuation of the problem. There is a service order in September of 2006 where a Ford Engineer looked at the vehicle, but I can’t seem to get a ticket on that one. That evening I e-mailed my demands to Ford and received this reply on Monday. Dear Lonnie, Thank you for contacting the Ford Motor Company Customer Relationship Center regarding your 2004 Ford F-250. The circumstances that you have outlined in your original e-mail have been given careful consideration. Our records indicate that on 11/10/2006 09:48:19 AM, you contacted the Ford Customer Relationship Center via phone and our Customer Service Representative advised you that you wil be contacted not later than Tuesday 11/14/06 by the end of business day. Please allow the requested time for the follow up to occur so that your issue may be properly addressed. If any new information regarding this matter should become available in the future, please let us know. We consider the satisfaction of our customers one of our most important objectives. If you have any other inquiries or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to address them for you. Sincerely, John Customer Relationship Center Ford Motor Company [THREAD ID:1-3779K1] To date I have not received the telephone call.

The problems Ford has had with the 6.0 liter diesel are well known. I'm one of the unfortunate people who owns one and have had to deal with the piece of junk, poor service, and a customer service hotline that is about as poor of an excuse for service as anything I've seen. One thing I've been told is, "Take it to another dealer to be worked on, maybe they have better mechanics." Well, I have 3 dealers within 25 miles of me and none seem to be any better than the other furthermore, the other 2 dealers won't work on a truck that the 3rd dealer sold. I see a good bit of the problems with these trucks as related to the competency of the dealer's mechanics. If I were Ford, and I had the shear amount of warranty work on these trucks and the expense involved with it, I believe I would set up something like a Super Service Center just to take care of problems that can't seem to be fixed by the dealers. The idea being they staff the Super Service Center with the most skilled mechanics they can train and when they run across a truck that the dealers seemingly can not fix, they send a rollback to fetch it to the Super Service Center where better qualified people can be found to work on it. They seem to want to make it my problem to find a dealer capable and willing to handle their warranty work. I believe Ford should be right on top of that. Then again, we are talking about the same outfit that has a customer service staff that won't return phone calls and won't discuss problems with vehicles rationally nor provide customer assistance before you have to go hire a lawyer to get it done. Skip

My old 7.3 Powerstroke gets 18 to 18.5 mpg my 6 liter Powerstroke gets 14 to 15 at best sometimes a lot less. The last Cummins I tested in a Dodge got 24 mpg. You'd think Ford could build a diesel that could manage 20 mpg. Skipper

It depends on what you are doing with your diesel and how turned up either motor is. The Cummins and the older 7.3 Powerstrokes were pretty even with the Cummins having a slight torque advantage. At highway speed towing a heavy load, the 7.3's would outrun the Cummins trucks. As far as this 6.0 l diesel goes. There's no comparison. The older 5.9 Cummins will walk on a 6.0 in all aspects. The newer 600 Cummins isn't quite the 5.9, but it is more powerful than the 6.0's. The thing about the 5.9's is they are factory majorly detuned. Add a little juice to them and they'll walk on a powerstroke. The Cummins can take a lot more modification than a Powerstroke. Go to a diesel truck pull sometime and see which ones are winning. Skipper

Most of you all know I have a 2004 F250 with a 6.0 that has been a total piece of junk since June of 04. It has been repeatedly worked on at the dealership I purchased it from for the same problems and it has never been fixed. It has been looked at by a Ford Engineer, but it still has never been fixed. I'd guess they've worked on this truck on a monthly basis since my first problem occurred. The first problem occurred shortly after they did the first recall reflash on the truck, and that problem was somewhat major. I was headed 15 miles North on the interstate to a funeral and when I climbed up the on ramp it backfired twice and from there to the funeral it kicked, bucked, backfired, quit, stalled, and about every other thing it could have done except leave me on the highway. After the funeral, I drove it straight to the dealership quitting, bucking, and sputtering the whole way. The dealership changed the valve thing that controls the turbo vanes and sent me on my way. I almost immediately noticed it had lost power. Hills that used to be no problem to climb seemed like mountains and where when it was new it would run circles around my 7.3, after that, it couldn't hold a candle to my old 300 6 cylinder truck much less the 7.3. I took it back the next day and they reflashed it but no improvement. They worked on it off and on for the next year and a half. To this day, it still looses power from time to time, paticularly on little hills. Hills that my 7.3 or that old 300 6 cylinder for that matter would have no problem climbing in 3rd or 4th gear would require me to downshift eventually to 1st to make the hill. Finally, now over a month ago, I blew a turbo boot off it. I drove it in and the dealership put the boot back on. I made it around 2 miles from the dealership and it came off again. I called and they said they would order me a boot. I had almost begun to believe my dealer's mechanic and the engineer Ford sent that this truck was normal and if that was the case, the 6.0 is the biggest pig of an engine I've ever had the displeasure to drive. After driving around in my 12 year old truck with a busted AC for 4 days without a call from the dealer saying "I have your hose, come get it" I decided to attempt to put it back on myself. I took it off and cleaned it up with carb cleaner and reinstalled it. I then ignored that part about not overtorquing the slimy tube and tightened it till the nut quit turning. Guess what? The power on my truck picked up considerably. I decided to check the other boots. I tightened all of them and it got even better. It got to the point that I could tell that the turbo vanes were sticking and the EGR would open and not close. I took the EGR out and cleaned it, then left it unplugged. The turbo is still sticking severely. Sometimes it sticks open and over boosts sometimes it sticks in the low boost position and won't pull a greasy string out of a cat. The way I see it, and what I've told the dealer and Ford is I expect the turbo to be replaced, all 4 of those boots and their clamps, the faulty EGR (For the 3rd time), and that valve that opens and closes the turbo vanes. I have called Ford's customer service and spoken with Sherrie. She said she would call me back 3 weeks ago. She did, she called while I was at lunch and left a message to call her back at 1 866 631 3788 Extension 7385. I called about 20 minutes after and left a message on her machine. Then the next day I left another, The next day, Moday 3rd, Wed 5th, Thur 6th, Fri 7th. I left 1 message per hour Monday 10th and solicited several of my buddies to leave messages today. I think we left about 80 messages total today. Finally, I got a call back, but not from Sherrie who is supposed to be handling my case. Some guy who told me first of to NOT Call SHERRIE AGAIN. Huh? He said Sherrie was in training and to not call again, then gave me the 1 800 number in the manual that gets you to an Indian that connects you with the service manager at the dealership. (Not like I don't have his number on speed dial by now) Evidently this new guy is David Gardner at 1 866 631 3788 Extension 7302. David and my conversation went something like this: David: Do not call Sherrie again, here is a number for you to call. Me: That is the number I called to begin with to set this case up to get my truck fixed. Are you saying I have to start over? David: Yes, Sherrie is not going to talk to you. Me: Give me a name and extension at the new phone number. David: I can't Me: What do I have to do to get Ford to carry through with fixing the problems with my truck? David: Go see the dealer. Me: I've been there, they have no idea how to fix this truck. There is 0 use in me griping at them, they don't know. I want Ford to set up a time for an Engineer to meet me at the dealership with the mechanic and diagnose this problem. David: I don't have the authority to do that. Me: Who does, I want to talk to someone with Ford who has that authority. David: What kind of problems do you have? Me: I have a faulty EGR, bad turbo, at least 1 leaking injector, and a hot spotted clutch from driving this no powered pig around. David: Why don't you go to the dealer? Me: I've been there, they have piddled around till I'm in the deductible stage of the warranty and I don't want to be paying $100 a pop for them to experiment some more. This is a continuation of the same problem. I am a loyal Ford Customer and the owner of 3 Ford vehicles. I expect Ford to take care of this problem. I paid $40,000 for this truck and I want it FIXED. If I have to start paying to fix what Ford can't, I can guarantee my next vehicle will be a GM or some other make. David: That would be the thing for you to do, buy a Chevrolet. Me: Huh. David: You know I could consider this harrassment and we could file charges. Me: (BS O meter went off) I said, which of my friends do you want me to put on conference call so you can file your BS harrassment charge? The Sheriff? Police Chief, District or Circuit Judge? Should I call my lawyer now or after you have me arrested for repeatedly calling Ford to attempt to get my truck fixed? David: Your truck is running normally. These parts are like any other parts, they wear out. Me: The same parts haven't yet worn out on my 12 year old 7.3. David: Some BS about the fuel companies cheapening the fuel to save money for the oil companies. Me: How do we go about setting up an engineer to look at this truck with the mechanic at the dealership so we can decide what is going to fix it? David: I don't have the authority to have that happen. Me: Did you say you worked for Ford? David: (Rather smart like) I properly identified myself to start this conversation and yes, I am a with Ford. Me: Well who should I call to get service on my Ford? GM maybe? David: I consider that harrassment. "Slam" Phone goes dead. If you all wouldnt' care to help out my other buddies, I'd like to fill David's voice mail tomorrow to call Skip back. I guarantee he'll know who I am. David's phone number and extension is 1 866 631 3788 Ex 7302 I do not intend to get nasty with him but I want to speak to his supervisor whoever that is. I want this truck fixed, that is all I'm asking for. Skip

Did I hear right? The 6.4 is supposed to have 6 EGR valves on it? There's only 1 on my 6.0, and it's been replaced twice and cleaned once. I can't immagine the problems 6 of those would cause? Skipper

Wait till they need replaced, and the NAPA brand will have a grease fitting. Ford doesn't want you maintaining these trucks. Heaven forbid one last more than 40 or 50,000 miles. Skipper

More complicated = more problems. KISS Skipper

They sent an F600 or 700 wrecker to pick up my 6.0 F250 once that had a Caterpussy in it. That thing was sick. It would get up to 50 mph in less than a mile and in under 2 minutes. Skipper

They've solved the rusty oil pan problems with the 6.0's. The new engine isn't expected to last 2 years or long enough to rust an oil pan out. Skip

Yep, after trying for 2 years, I finally got someone to give me a telephone number for Ford customer service. I called it, and they are going to have the service manager call me. Now, that's getting somewhere. I've only talked to the service manager at the dealership 48 times in the last 2 years and still have the problem. He's offered no solution to me, never would give me the customer service number and the dang truck ain't fixed, but I've got to talk to him again. Lots of help that will be. I guess I've learned a lesson about buying a Ford. Skip

I want Ford to put in writing that they are going to guarantee my engine and clutch from the problems I've had. The dealership can't do that, Ford Management has to, and that's why I want to talk to them. And this bull crap of "we've been working on it for 2 years and haven't fixed it yet, but now you are over 36,000 miles so you have to pay a $100 deductible for us to work on it" isn't getting it with me. If the truck had been fixed right 2 years ago when it had 12,000 miles on it, it wouldn't have been a problem. However, it wasn't, it has never been right since. Now that I know what the problem was and has been, I want Ford to lick upon their calf and stand up and take responsibility for that mess. Skip

I have a $40,000 truck that has has problems since it was new. I have wore my dealer out with it and it has yet to be resolved or fixed. I have asked numerous times to be able to speak to Ford Management about the problem and what resolution they could offer me for this problem, and I have been told that they will not talk to me. I have had 1 other Lemon car in my lifetime and it was a GM. GM rolled out the carpet on that car and I ended up with a number and a written guarantee that GM would guarantee that engine as long as I owned the car. They have done that, and yes, 14 years later I had to call GM, give them the number and they let me right through to management and took care of a little burp in that engine again. Ford on the otherhand has a 1 800 number in their manual for customer service. When called, you get some Boobla Boobla who can't speak English and only knows to refer you to your dealership. I have talked all I need to talk to my dealer. They evidently do not know what's wrong with my engine and have no idea how to fix it. I want to talk to Ford Management, not the service manager at the dealership. I am a long time F-series truck owner. I currently have 2 F250's in my driveway and an expedition. I have owned 3 other F150's and another F250 over the last 20 years. Fortunately I've had little problems out of them till now and had no idea that Ford would not talk to it's customers. Skip Walden Corbin, KY

I paid $40,000 to buy that piece of trash 6.0 truck. Naw, they ain't paying me, tis the other way around. Skip

Emissions is a bunch of BS. The 6.0 I have has far worse emissions than my old 7.3 ever did or ever will. Why? The 6.0 is plagued with problems and the darn thing runs around with a black cloud of smoke trailing it all the time. The 7.3 never did do that. I'm not an emissions engineer, but it seems to me that if you can make one engine qualify, you could make another qualify. It also seems to me that the way Ford saved $ on the 6.0 was using Chineese parts on the engine that aren't made worth 3 hoots. Yep, they might have got one through emissions when they first started it up, but 10,000 miles later, no way. Skip

If Ford did real world testing on the 6.0 how come it's taken 4 years of production and it still ain't right? Skip

How much are they paying you all to talk good about the 6.0? I know this, the dealer wasn't at all interested in trading for my 1995 7.3 powerstroke when I bought my 04 6.0. I'm dang glad I didn't trade it off otherwise I'd be towing my boat, hauling steel, dragging my tractor and riding around in a 5 year old taurus with 180,000 miles on it and no windsheild wipers because I can't keep the 6.0 running and out of the shop. 6.0 good running engine? Have you driven a 7.3 truck? A Cummins powered truck? Even a Duramax? I don't think so. My 6.0 doesn't have enough power to spin a tire. The old 300-6 F150 I had would have more torque. Skip

There is no way in heck a Duramax could be a worse engine than a 6.0L POS Diesel. I know, I've got one of the 6.0's. You don't really want me to say what I think about that $40,000 hunk of junk. Now, the old 7.3L was an engine that could be depended on and would easily drag 2 trucks like my 2004 6.0 truck backwards. Yes, Chevy used to have a sorry diesel, they don't any more. That Duramax is a much much better engine than the new Powerstroke. Chevy has always had a reputation in the tuck market of having a suspension too light to do the work. They have always had a reputation for more fuel milage and less maintenance than Fords. People buy Ford trucks for the suspension. If you lighten up the front ends on an F250 with that heavy diesel up there, the truck won't handle worth 2 hoots. I made the mistake on my 1995 F250 of putting 6 ply tires on it and won't do that again. The lighter tires couldn't handle the engine weight and it slowed me down considerably in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. I've owned 1 Chevy in my life and it was the sorriest handling truck I've ever drove. It could not take a turn for beans. Back when I had my 300-6cyl F150 heading to Dale Hollow for bass tournaments it would leave the 350 v8 powered GM products in it's dust going through Cumberland Falls on hwy 90 specifically because it's suspension was more up to the task than the Chevy's. The 350's would easily out run it on the interstate, but their front ends roll too much to take turns at any kind of speed. Dodge has a reputation of having the best diesel and the absolute worst truck to sit the motor in. What Ford needs to do is put their diesel truck back like they were. Put the 7.3's back in their trucks. Those engines run, they are trouble free, and they have power. There is absolutely no need for this BS of designing a new engine. Further, they need to stick with the straight axles. Skip