What is a 6.0L Chevy engine

[opnspaces]

I need to buy a new Suburban as my current one has a bad transmission.
When I look at the early 2000's Suburbans they often list a 6.0lL engine. I'm not familiar with a 6.0, is it basically the equivalent of a 350 (5.7L) of old? Is it a good engine or is it something to steer clear of like the Fords of that era that spit out spark plugs?

While I have been trying to hold out for an 8L I'm not having much luck and I've had my current 350 powered Suburban for 14 years and it pulls my trailer fine.
Any thoughts?

[FishOnOne]

The 6.0 is about as reliable as an anvil

[LIKE2BUILD]

WVcampground wrote:
Creeping up a hill is nobody's fault but your own. A 6.0 is designed to run at 4000 rpm when pulling a load up a hill, and if you drive it right you would not be creeping at all with only 7500 lbs behind the truck.

Exactly. I pulled a 7,500 lbs travel trailer with mine with no issues at all. Yes, it had to wind up in the hills but still pulled just fine. I certainly didn't win any races but I could easily maintain 40MPH going up steep grade any day.

Unloaded the best fuel economy was about 16MPG on the highway. Towing I was pretty much always about 9.5MPG.

It's not a race engine, so you aren't going to win drag races.
It's not a hybrid, so you won't get amazing fuel economy.
It's not a 16L semi engine, so you aren't going to have 1,000+ ft-lbs of torque off idle.

It IS a well designed, reliable, small block engine that produces good power, fair fuel economy, and works very well when used within truck limits.

KJ

[kw_00]

IdaD wrote:

kw/00 wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
It may be a great engine but just don't try towing up a hill. It creeps towing my 7500 lbs. but I don't like to run at 4000 rpm!

Not sure why you would say creeping... I pull 10k with mine up mountain passes and I have zero issues pulling grades. Let it spin to 3800 or 4400 and I can tell u, that hills won’t be an issue.....otherwise dead reliable, best engine gas wise that I have ever owned.

Aren't overpasses considered grades in Florida?

Good one....actually any road grade in Florida above flat is a mountain....lol. Yes Florida is flat for sure, a few hills here and there not bad. We like to go a lot up to Georgia, TN, Virginia ect.....

[badsix]

to compare to your old 350ci, a 6.0 is 364ci and the 8.0 is 496ci a friend of mine has a 6.0 its got a lot of pulling power.
Jay D.

[timmac]

I have a 2014 Chevy 1 ton van with a 6.0 V-8 with a 6 speed HD tranmission, it is fast and will eat gas like crazy if you drive it fast, other than that I have 55000 miles and no issues..

[IdaD]

kw/00 wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
It may be a great engine but just don't try towing up a hill. It creeps towing my 7500 lbs. but I don't like to run at 4000 rpm!

Not sure why you would say creeping... I pull 10k with mine up mountain passes and I have zero issues pulling grades. Let it spin to 3800 or 4400 and I can tell u, that hills won’t be an issue.....otherwise dead reliable, best engine gas wise that I have ever owned.

Aren't overpasses considered grades in Florida?

[kw_00]

Dick_B wrote:
It may be a great engine but just don't try towing up a hill. It creeps towing my 7500 lbs. but I don't like to run at 4000 rpm!

Not sure why you would say creeping... I pull 10k with mine up mountain passes and I have zero issues pulling grades. Let it spin to 3800 or 4400 and I can tell u, that hills won’t be an issue.....otherwise dead reliable, best engine gas wise that I have ever owned.

[WVcampground]

Dick_B wrote:
It may be a great engine but just don't try towing up a hill. It creeps towing my 7500 lbs. but I don't like to run at 4000 rpm!

Creeping up a hill is nobody's fault but your own. A 6.0 is designed to run at 4000 rpm when pulling a load up a hill, and if you drive it right you would not be creeping at all with only 7500 lbs behind the truck.

[Dick_B]

It may be a great engine but just don't try towing up a hill. It creeps towing my 7500 lbs. but I don't like to run at 4000 rpm!

[LIKE2BUILD]

jerem0621 wrote:
The 6.0l is a LS based V8 that was available in 2500 series and up trucks and in some limited capacities in the 1500 series trucks.

It’s a tough motor and reliable as an anvil. It is head and shoulders better than a 350 small block. Great motors.

Yep. Had one for 10 years in a 2004 Chevy 2500HD. Absolutely dead reliable. On the 4-speed transmissions low end torque was a little lacking, but if you let that engine rev between 3,200RPM and 4,400RPM it would pull extremely well.

I only had 2 issues and they common to that engine:
1) Exhaust manifold bolts will break on the front and back cylinder of each side. This is a very easy fix for any exhaust shop that knows what they are doing.

2) Check engine light for knock sensor. The Knock sensors are located in a hole the valley of the engine. The rear sensor tended to collect moisture, corrode, and fail. There was a TSB for removing a piece of foam and making a dam around the sensor cover with RTV silicone.

Both of these were easy fixes and not very expensive. If I had another small block V8 I'd own a GM 6.0L engine in a heartbeat.

KJ

[Lwiddis]

I’ll let you all know about the new 6.2 in a couple of years.

[discovery4us]

Great motors. My 2004 6.0 just turned 110,000 miles and runs great. Just sent two work trucks to auction that had 320,000 and the other with 270,000 miles on the odometer. Engines still running perfect but the truck around them was falling to pieces. Only issues we had were the 4 speed transmissions would start slipping at about 80,000 miles.

[WVcampground]

packpe89 wrote:
One small issue you might have in an early 2000's 6.0 is valve ticking when it is cold. Mine would have a clicking sound when started, but would stop once it warmed a little (within 60-90 seconds)

Valve ticking? Or the GM Gen 3 piston slaparoo when cold?

[packpe89]

One small issue you might have in an early 2000's 6.0 is valve ticking when it is cold. Mine would have a clicking sound when started, but would stop once it warmed a little (within 60-90 seconds), so don't let it scare you. Only other issue with a 6.0 is it loves gas. Mine 2500HD got 12-13 unloaded on the highway.