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Bought our '06 three and a half years ago after reading a lot of negatives on the Internet. The one series of posts I found telling was by a retired Ford engine assembler who wrote about putting new blocks on engine stands and having silicate casting sand fall out when they were rotated to install stuff. The consensus was that the EGR, oil cooler, head bolts, coolant and whatever problems were only symptoms caused by left over silicate clogging small tubes up. Since International made hundreds of thousands of this engine for school buses that never had any problems like Ford pickups did, I felt this to be correct.
Since the truck I bought only had 29k miles on it and I got it for REAL good price, I signed the paper work and took it to a place that power flushed the coolant system. Then I added a coolant filter. It's just rolled over 49k miles with about 12 - 14k towing our Monty. Only problems have been with the AC and the vacuum generator motor (why is it that all the little odd parts cost between $150 and @200???), otherwise it's been flawless. Also put new tires on it before we took our 6k mile vacation last year - didn't trust 9 year old shoes. We're leaving in a couple of weeks on another long trip - this time to Northern CA - and the truck is the last thing I'm concerned with.
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