I've driven five excursions this week and have found two that I'm interested in.

First is an 02 Limited 7.3L with 167k miles. It drove nice, accelerated smoothly yet slowly when I stepped on it. No smoke came out when I started it up. The computer inside said we were getting 17.5 mpg during the 20 min test dive. There was a bit of oil under the pan when I touched it but nothing on the ground. And the rear differential looked pretty warn, with a bit of flakey rust. Nothing else looked too rusted. Overall it appeared like a good used truck

Second was an 04 Eddie Bauer 6.0L with 92k miles. I got to take it home for a few hours and drive it around. It has a small lift, probably 4in. It comes with rear airbag suspension with compressor and a 1000 watt dc inverter under the second row bucket chair. It drove great. It has much more power than the 7.3L. Although there was a bit of axle wrap when gunning it from a stop, that went away when it shifted into 2nd. It's only had one owner, and the dealer claims that the head gasket and the EGR valve was replaced by the first owner. He also thinks its had the EGR deleted. There's no sign of white flakes in the degas bottle but I'm not amechanic so I'm not sure how to look close enough. I tried looking for the EGR delete but I think it looked like a normal EGR, but again I'm not sure what I'm looking at. There is no oil or rust anywhere in the undercarriage.

So do I take a chance with a 6.0 or do I take a chance with a 7.3 that has 166k on the body/tranny. Seems like I should be prepared for a 5k repair bill either way. I was also thinking of asking the dealer to show me the EGR valve before I buy it. That should only take 10mins to detatch.

Thanks!

 

Id go with the 6.0. Once bulletproofed its a great and powerful engine.

 

I've had both, a 2000 Excur with the 7.3D. I put about 35K to 40K miles on it before I traded it in on an 2004 with the 6.0D. I"ve had good performance with both, no major problems with either.

I pull a pretty heavy RV and the 2004 ran circles around the 2000. Lots more power and torque. Besides the 6.0D with the higher RPM engine is much quieter. The tranny in the 04 is great for towing. It automatically gears down when coming down hill to the point a barley touch the brakes towing a 11,000 lbs. trailer down a 6% grade.

The 7.3D is supposed to be rock solid and you should get 300K to 500K on the engine. I was going to add a Banks module to the 7.3D to get more power and economy but the 6.0D solved that problem. The 6.0D gets about 17mpg around town and about 12 pulling the trailer. The 7.3 got about 11mpg around town and about 8 pulling the RV.

I don't know what to expect on the 6.0D as for life, I have 95K now with no problems other that replacing the ERG cooler and the alternator and a few minor problems like a squirrel eating my wiring. But I hear some harsh stories and what the cost are on the 6.0D. So far the Ford demons have not touched my truck (maybe I should keep my trap shut).

Good luck,
JJ