Ford Anybody Ever Consider Diesel Excursion?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

wrong forum
I think your looking for the fix or repaiar daily forum
if it aint yota it aint s**t
 
I'd think the 6.0 would be lower on torque since it's over 20% smaller displacement and I can't see how that would go over big with full size truck types. Kind of a similar situation happened with the marine 7.4L engine going away for the smaller new GM blocks - 6.0 again if I recall. I think they've got that handled by now but losing displacement on the big stump pullers is tough to recoup with electronics.

In fairness, if I drove my 80 through that bog with those street tires I think I'd need a winch out as well. I wheeled a Suburban once in Utah for the comedic relief. Man, you feel like the front and rear wheels are in different counties...

DougM
 
and to be off topic- like this thread

this as 80/LX450 tech area, not Ford who-gives-an-efff:rolleyes:
 
Does the 6.0 also have more torque?

DougM

Yep more power and more torque. They had a bad batch of engines go out. Some get them and some don't. Navistar (who makes the PSD) didn't want to pay for replacement engines so Ford had to pony up the dough on warranty claims. Both respond well to mods. I have a friend with a 6.0 F350 that has some bolt ons, and that thing can kick itself sideways spinning the tires from a dead stop. (it has 39's on it and is twice as long as my cruiser)
 
I drive both.

My DD most of the year is my 80 series.

When the roads are clear I (try) to drive my F250 with the 7.3L PSD. I say try, because my wife steals it from me if I'm not looking. She loves driving that big pig. It's got power for miles and miles. It's got brakes that nearly throw you through the windscreen compared to our 80's. I'd never offroad it though, for one, it's 2WD, second reason- it's just too big. For a DD though, it's lovely.

PM me if you want further specifics.
 
you don't want a 6.0, just call the dealer and ask what it cost to replace the headgaskets. To do about anything to the engine I usually have to pull the body first, that should give you a clue to how expensive 6.0's are to work on.
 
I'd think the 6.0 would be lower on torque since it's over 20% smaller displacement and I can't see how that would go over big with full size truck types. Kind of a similar situation happened with the marine 7.4L engine going away for the smaller new GM blocks - 6.0 again if I recall. I think they've got that handled by now but losing displacement on the big stump pullers is tough to recoup with electronics.

The 6.0 also got a VGT turbo and 4 valve heads as well so it actually not only produces more torque but produces more torque than the 7.3L at lower rpms as well. A 2003 7.3L PS put out 250hp/525tq with an auto and a 2003 6.0L PS put out 325hp/560tq.

The switch from 7.3L to 6.0L also brought a 5 speed auto that replaced the 4 spd and has a wider gear spread over the 5 gears (3.1-0.7) compared to 2.71-0.71 for the 4 speed.

There were definitely some calibration issues etc. the first few years though.
 
I don't think an 80 would make it through that bog-o-mud with the tires on the excursion. What was that dude thinking?

It is a lot easier to get unstuck an 80 than this land yacht!:hillbilly:
 
I drove the v-10 for awhile,I liked it. Trips to Atlanta at 70mph yielded 17 mph.I liked it better than Suburbans. Mike
 
There were some software issues with the early 03 6.0L trucks, but even then there are a lot more good trucks out there than bad. I had an 03 that I put 65,000 miles on before someone decided to find out what happens when they ran a stop sign and I t-boned them at 50mph. It never saw the dealer from the day I bought it til the day it rode the flatbed in after the wreck. My current 06 has 67,000 miles on it and it's never been back to the dealer since I bought it.

I would go for the 6.0L/5spd transmission combo over the 7.3/4spd tranny. The newer combo is lightyears ahead. As stated above the 6.0L is more powerful than the 7.3L in stock form and you can easily add another 150hp/200ft-lbs with a simple tuner. The transmission is one of the best around. Smooth shifting, handles a load like a dream, and seems to be pretty bulletproof. The older 4spd transmission is a known weak point in the drive train.

My 06 is a crewcab shortbed, so it's the same size as an Excursion. These vehicles are made for use and abuse off road, but not in the sense of a trail rig. The HD Fords would be my first and only choice if I were running around on oilfield roads and/or pulling a trailer, but they are not nimble enough to be driving tight trails and switchbacks.
 
Excellent feedback. Nice to see many of you 80 guys have onwed them or can at least respect them. On other boards where members literally only see only see their brand or model. But I have been quite scared of the 6.0 after all of the stuff I've heard.

They make it seem like the 6.0 has many points of failure and when it does break its much more expensive. The 7.3 is supposedly significantly more reliable and can be easily tuned as well to more than enough power yet with reliability. Still on the fence... We'll see.
 
Nice to see many of you 80 guys have onwed them or can at least respect them.

Actually, this is the Ford section. So, everybody who's owned an Excursion (not necessarily 80 guys) is telling you about them.
 
I loved my 02 f350 w/7.3. Towed trailers loaded down to hell and back and that truck never missed a beat. those mileage numbers are not right unless the rig has already been reprogramed. Ireprogramed mine and added 100 hp and I was shocked with the increase in fuel economy. With 410 gears i could take just about anybody off the line! I suprised many people with that monster ( dulley )
 
The problem 6.0L are a very small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of them out there. Most of the issues were programing issues. Most of the headgasket issues were due to people adding a lot horsepower before it was understood how to safely add horsepower to these engines. Injectors were an issue early too, but this was mainly due to programming.

Like I said before, I've never had issues with the 6.0L in 2 different trucks. If you find one you like you can have an "OASIS" report run on the VIN by a Ford dealer and check it's service history. If it's been in multiple times for computer and/or injector issues, I would pass on that truck.

The 7.3L is a very good engine, but plan on upgrading the transmission internals if you add power. The AOD-E transmissions were adequate at best for stock trucks, and don't hold up well to any added power.
 
So if I do basic mods like intake, exhast and reprogram to the 7.3 I'll need to beef up the transmission?

If so, what exactly does such a "beefing up" entail? I'm also wondering which is worse - a 6.0 that I have to really stay on top of or a 7.3 that I have to worry about the trans...
 
Generally, you drop your tranny and mail it off to one of the handful of tranny shops that specialize in thes things. There is one in Montana, one in GA, etc... They re-build it with better parts than ford spec'd.

The good thing about that is, once it's re-built- they are built proof. If you're not going to pull a lot of weight with it, then I wouldn't even worry 'bout it anyway.
 
Like Doc said, get the tranny rebuilt by a shop that specializes in them. Check the Ford diesel websites and you'll find the names of the shops most used.

As far as the 6.0L, get the OASIS report at a Ford garage before you buy. If the vehicle you're looking at has a clean record go for it. If it has more than a couple trips to the shop for computer or injector problems then keep looking.

Definitely test drive both the 7.3L and the 6.0L. In my opinion, the 6.0L/Torqshift transmission combo it hard to beat.
 
7.3 all the way

I have a 01 7.3 with 52k on it and I love it not as powerful as a 6.0 but come on its a truck not a sportscar.If you dont beat on it the tranny will last just fine,just keep up on regular maitnence oil tranny fluid and fuel filters and you should have no problems what so ever.I have a banks turbo,intercooler 4'' exhaust and a banks transcommand.It hauls the mail and I get about 17-18 hwy and 14-16 city keep the rpms around 2krpm and you will get great fuel economy.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom