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Old 07-29-2011, 12:47 PM   #1
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6.0L / 6.3 / 7.3 - anyone have pros or cons to share?

Hi guys,

I'm interested in any comments on these engines.
I dont know how valid but a school bus mechanic mentioned that the
6.3s often had issues with injector/cylinder #8.

I think it woyld be useful to many in the group to hear you own experiences on poss issues and typical upkeep / maintenance.

Thanks.

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Old 07-29-2011, 02:05 PM   #2
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Re: 6.0L / 6.3 / 7.3 - anyone have pros or cons to share?

I assume you are talking about engines in the powerstroke family?

I am not familiar with the 6.3 liter, but i have worked in the emergency services for over 10 years, and have worked out of a multitude of ambulances. I think that in general, all of the v8 navistar or ford engines are ill suited for skoolie use. The 7.3 is the better built of all the powerstrokes. At least in my experience, the 7.3 motor would stay together and keep running between repairs longer than the latter series of PS engines. The 6.0 liter engines were much better boat anchors then they were ambulance engines. The first pair of them we had needed to be torn down and rebuilt in under 10K miles. Not to mention multiple turbo's, injectors, fan clutch's, and a myriad of other problems, on brand new engines.

IMHO these engines are not built to withstand the abuse of a full size skoolie. However, plenty of people have 200K or even 300K miles on a 7.3 ps motor in pickup trucks.

For a light duty diesel, the duramax is a much better engine than the PS, but neither can hold a candle to the cummins 5.9. A bus wit ha 5.9 and a lock up torque converter (newer electronic trans or the allison mt643) will pay for itself in the fuel you save over most any other engine/trans combo. You can get 50% better fuel economy with this setup vs a dt360 (5.9 liter) international and at545 trans.

Just my 02 cents.

ps. i've owned several full size buses with various engines, and my current shuttle bus has a 7.3 liter ps engine.
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Old 07-31-2011, 08:27 PM   #3
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Re: 6.0L / 6.3 / 7.3 - anyone have pros or cons to share?

IN case this is helpful to anyone else out there doing topic searches, I was mistaken about the 6.3's those are Chevy engines I was referring to not the Ford PowerStrokes.
I did manayge to find some very good information on the PowerStrokes (plus some bonus detail on Veggie conversions).
In case you're interested, check this out: http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/bio-di ... nvert.html
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Old 12-20-2014, 02:14 AM   #4
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I've owned 2 7.3l powerstroke pickups now, both of which are 6 speed manuals. I did a ton of research and shopping around before I bought my first diesel truck. The 6.0 can be a good motor, makes great power with the variable vane turbo aka vgt (creates more even boost through the whole rpm range) and is more fuel efficient than the 7.3. However the vvt turbos also have more things that can go wrong. The 6.0 motor is notorious for stretching head bolts, leading to leaky head gaskets or worse. The diesel guys all call these the "6 leaker." If you do decide to go with a 6.0, head studs are a must! Even after a $6,000 "bulletproofing" job, a friend of mine still blew his 6.0. I'd steer clear personally.

The 7.3 powerstroke on the other hand was made by international and was the follow-up to the naturally aspirated 7.3 IDI. There are millions of these motors in existence in everything from ambulances to combines, and they have a very proven track record. Its not unheard of to get 1,000,000 miles from a 7.3 powerstroke, and 300-500k between rebuilds is common.

My future shuttle bus will absolutely have a 7.3 ps, if for no other reason than interoperability and access to parts. I also still own my previous truck (was totalled out from being rear-ended) so I'll be using the parts from that on my 4x4 conversion.

The newer 6.7's have a good track record for the most part, but have way more smog equipment than I'm willing to deal with. You wont regret going 7.3ps, everywhere I go people compliment my diesel and the manual zf6 is great. There's a ton of aftermarket support for the 7.3, parts are easy to find and the engine isn't overly complex or difficult to work on.
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