2006 F250 powerstroke

[Dargo]

I'm probably one of the biggest diesel heads on this site but the numbers don't lie. I don't let emotions overrun facts. Do the numbers and ask anyone who is knowledgeable to do the numbers. Why do you think diesel sales went to about zip and dealers couldn't keep a V10 in stock then? The facts remain that if you need a diesel, you need a diesel. To think it's cheaper to run a diesel over a gasser if you don't need a diesel is foolish thinking. Again, the numbers don't lie.

 

[Duffster]

I was always under the impression that the best diesels were cheaper to maintain and more reliable for longer mileages than the best gassers, I was also under the impression that the "best" adjective was where the rub entered into the equation. .

Chuck

Your impression is correct and any of the big three have a good diesel.

 

[JESSE1]

Routine maintenance is more expensive on a diesel. My '08 F-450 pickup with the 6.4 diesel takes 14 qts of oil. The Motorcraft oil filter is $20 at WMart. I change fuel filters once a year. A set of two filters is about $70 if I remember correctly. I can average about 12 mpg. This is with a 4.30 axle ratio. A lot of fuel is used when the DPF(diesel particulate filter) regenerates every 300 miles.

My '07 Expedition has the 5.4 V8. It takes 7 qts of oil. A motorcraft filter at WMart is less than $5. The fuel filter only has to be changed about every 20,000 miles. I can get 20 mpg interstate driving.

There's no comparison in power between the two engines. Right now the gas engine beats the diesel in overall costs. If I didn't need a heavy truck to pull big loads I would go with a gas engine.

 

[Dargo]

There's no comparison in power between the two engines. Right now the gas engine beats the diesel in overall costs. If I didn't need a heavy truck to pull big loads I would go with a gas engine.

Another "by the numbers" guy. If I recall from other posts, Jesse1 is another diesel fan like me, but the facts are the facts. If you need the torque and power of a diesel, you need it. If you don't, you most certainly are not going to save money by buying a diesel. If it ever gets back to where diesel is a buck less per gallon than gas, this may change. But now this is reality.

 

[Duffster]

Another "by the numbers" guy. If I recall from other posts, Jesse1 is another diesel fan like me, but the facts are the facts. If you need the torque and power of a diesel, you need it. If you don't, you most certainly are not going to save money by buying a diesel. If it ever gets back to where diesel is a buck less per gallon than gas, this may change. But now this is reality.

Was diesel ever a buck less than gas?

 

[jayste]

I'll jump in here and share my experience. In 1999 I bought an F250 with a 7.3PSD and 6 speed manual 2WD. Now with 235000 miles on it I've replaced one injector, one wiring harness (caused injector to fail), & clutch. Average MPG on highway, empty was 19-20. Pulling a 4 horse trailer took it to 12. I'm hanging on to mine and will rebuild the 7.3 when needed.
In 2006 I thought I needed an '03 F350 4WD flat bed for the farm. AFTER I bought the truck I found out about the problems Ford had with the first run engines in the 6.0L. I've been a little leary of the truck since then but have'nt had any problems with it. I will say once the 6.0L is WARMED UP it will carry the load when asked. In my experience with this truck when you start it up after letting the glow plugs cycle it's still not ready to run. If it's colder than 50 deg. outside you better let it warm up for 10-15 min or it's going to run real rough until it warms up. After it warms up it'll get up and go! Even being all factory tuned and having the 5 speed automatic I'm impressed. Of couse you've got to realize I'm not the kind to go putting all the aftermarket gadgets and supertuner toys on them. I will say that if I had it to do over I'd have the 7.3L and the 6 speed manual in my F350 4WD flat bed.
Chuck52, have you checked that truck and price at Kelly Blue Book? It sure sounds cheap and may be priced according to the shape it's in. Even my '03 F350 supercab 4WD with 75,000 will book out at 16,000 on the low side. I'd keep looking and let the word out to folks you know what you're looking for. Before long you might find that INDIVIDUAL that's got that well maintained, low mile truck you're looking for.

 

[Chuck52]

Did I open a can of worms or what? I'm waiting to hear from the dealer about going back for a look see after it gets serviced. I'm getting local views, too. Friends, relatives, strangers in the hall....lots of opinions. In the meantime I'm having second, third, fourth....thoughts. Do I really need a HD truck? Of course not. I've got 10 acres, no horses or other big stuff to tow. I'm already about half way through my planned garden conversion to raised beds, which was the reason I was hauling heavy loads of compost and manure and such, and I can always just pay for a dump truck load of stuff anyway, probably for less than $300. I can get a nice low mileage F150 with lots of goodies on it for less than this diesel. But wow! I could tow my house with that truck!

Chuck

 

[dmccarty]

Also check out the appropriate areas on Diesel Forum - The Diesel Stop.com and see what people are saying about the truck/engine you are interested.

I have a 2002 SRW F350 7.3L Six Speed manual crew cab with an 8 foot bed that has about 115,000 miles. I bought it new on 12/1/2001.

Problems have been few. I have had with it is the CPS which is common. So common that I bought a replacement from International before I put 50 miles on the truck. Somewhere around 60,000 miles the CPS started acting up so I replaced the origional with the one from International. I bought a new CPS for the glove box. CPS failure can leave you on the side of the road but it can be changed pretty quickly. Quicker than a tow is likely to get there. Ford finally had a recall on the CPS issue so I'm either going to let them change my current one since its starting to act up or I'll just have them give me the part.

The only other problem is the hydraulic clutch went out. At least it did not leave me on the side of the road like my 95 Chevy did two or three times. Pretty easy fix, just gots to be careful removing the spring on the clutch pedal. It pops back at your face and could easily take out some teeth, break a jaw or nose.

Most of my drive for the last few years is 72ish miles round trip of rural 55 mph roads. During warm weather the truck gets 20.5ish most of the time with a high water of 21.2mph. The tank right now might go above 20.5.

How much a diesel will cost you depends on the truck/car and how YOU drive as well as the roads you drive. We had to buy a "new" car and we considerted a 2003 Excursion with the V10 engine. The X was too big for the wifey to drive so we got an Sequoia. We compared the X with the V10 and the 7.3L diesel. For the type of driving she does a gasser would be cheaper.

We just took the Seqouia to Disney. We got 16-17mpg on the trip. Traffic was either stop and roll for HOURS or 65-75. The F350 at 70-75 gets 17ish mph. With current prices the truck would have been a bit more expensive to drive I think.

I plan on keeping my F350 for a long long long time. I'm sure it will need a clutch in the next 5,000-55,000 miles. Maybe a water pump in the same time frame. But the truck 8.5 years old and still going strong. Best vehicle I have ever owned. The engine is supposed to be good for 300-500K. I might find out.

The problem with Ford trucks was the auto tranny's prior to the new one in 2003/2004? Seems like if you ran them hot you killed the tranny. Backing up, especially up hill was supposed to be very bad since it caused the tranny to overheat. At least that was the theory on the website at the time. There are a couple of auto tranny builders, one called BTS(Brians Tranny Service?) in TN that people swore by. The only bad thing I heard about BTS was that he had some much work he was hard to get on the phone.

People complained about the 7.3 back in the day. I think the owners of the 6.0L and the 6.4L have better reasons to complain. The younger 6.0L engines were supposed to be OK. The 6.4 seems to get really bad MPG compared to the 7.3s. This seems to be because of the pollution control stuff.

If I had to buy a truck to day I'm not sure I would get a diesel. Not sure if the money makes sense anymore with the higher priced and more complicated engines getting less mpg. The gassers seems to have improved mpg wise and my needs have somewhat changed.

Hopefully my F350 will around for a long long long time.

Later,
Dan

 

[tallyho8]

In MY situation, I have found it much cheaper to run my diesel on the road than my gassers. I have made many trips to my land in the Ozark mountains from south Louisiana over the years and kept good mileage records.

Unloaded:
My 1978 Ford F100 with a 302 got 16 mpg.
My 1982 Bronco with a 6 cylinder got 16 mpg.
My 1988 Ranger Supercab with a 2.9l got 16 mpg.
My 1990 F150 Supercab with a 302 got 16 mpg.
My 2001 F150 Supercab with 6 cylinder got 16 mpg.
My 1995 F250 Supercab with 7.3 diesel got 24 mpg.

With a 3000# load of rocks the diesel got 23 mpg.

Pulling my loaded 2 horse trailer,
My 1990 F150 got 9 mpg.
My 1995 F250 got 15 mpg.

Pulling my loaded 3 horse trailer my 1995 got 13 mpg.

I have repeated all these runs many times with the same results. All 7.3 diesels might not get the same mileage that I get but I love mine and I have 100,000 miles on it now and have never had a problem except for replacing the glow plug relay twice, the front brake pads, the vacuum pump and the alternator and am planning on keeping it 10 more years.

 

[Dargo]

As an interesting note for the few who still believe that running diesel is cheaper than running gas; Ford just made an announcement today concerning the planned new F150 diesel that was to have a 4.4 liter diesel engine. According to Ford, since very few people would be willing to pay the premium price for the diesel engine with higher operating costs to go along with the more expensive engine, the new 4.4 liter V-8 diesel F150 has been shelved until at least 2013. It will be reviewed at that point and, if gasoline still costs less than diesel fuel, the diesel F150 project will be scrapped. Rumors are that GM has likewise shelved plans for a light duty diesel pickup as has Chrysler. The Jeep Liberty diesel is no longer being produced due to poor sales. A direct quote is the diesel F150 "will likely be canceled outright unless diesel prices fall substantially below gasoline for a prolonged period making it economically feasible to own a light duty diesel pickup".

As I've said before, I'm a big diesel nut and have owned many diesel trucks. I have a 550 gallon diesel tank in my barn. I have about a dozen diesel powered pieces of equipment right now. However, unless you need a diesel pickup for it's torque advantage over a gasoline engine, you're definitely fooling yourself to think it's cheaper to own a diesel as compared to a similar gas powered pickup. If you need a diesel, go for it. If you want a diesel, go for it. If you're buying a diesel because you think it will be less expensive, you're making a big mistake even according to the factory.