Ordered a 2008 Ford F250

[the_sandman_454]

You may want to upgrade to the diesel engine. If you do, they might automatically upgrade you to one with the flamethrower option, to really impress people at traffic lights, in parking lots and so forth...

Seriously, just don't work it all that hard at first, no steady speeds, and all that jazz, and make sure you (as a minimum) stick to the proper maintenance intervals specified by the manufacturer.

From what I can see over even 10+ years, the diesels still seem to command just about the same margin over gas engines as when new. At least when I was looking around for something used to buy before I settled in for new. In the short term very little depreciation happens to the diesel trucks too (short term as in ~3-4 years), while it at least appears gas engine trucks seem to fall off faster. I'll never own another gas powered truck. I bought this one (05 RAM 3500 with the Cummins) with the intention of owning it for at least 10 years, and over that time, if the price of fuel stays reasonably the same, the mileage will at least cause it to break even with the gas in terms of cost...

 

[billfires]

I ordered an 04 F350 4x4 dually w/ V10, 6 speed and 4.30 limited slip. I broke it in per the manual and basically kept it below 50 mph for the first 500 miles. First oil change was at 1500 miles with Motocraft 5w-20 semi-synthetic. After that I went to Rotella synthetic 5w-40 at 5000 miles. I now change once/year (aprox. 3000 miles) I also considered the diesel but could not justify the $5000 upcharge. The truck is 3 1/2 years old and has 14000 miles on it (8000 miles in the first year). Gas was $1.39/gallon when it was delivered in Dec. 03. I averaged 11-12 mpg the first year with very limited towing (10K trailer with 6K NH tlb). I now use it primarily to tow the BH and avg. 8 mpg while towing (primarily local). The truck is in pristine condition and has a book value of approx. $12000 (had a list of $29000, i paid $23,400). I also tend to keep vehicles (this replaced a 91 Ranger that had 200,000 miles on it). Good luck with your new truck. Bill C

 

[mikim]

I guess I'm surprised at how few miles y'all drive. I've been considering my next truck and if I should go diesel or gas .... I currently have a 2000 F150 with the small V8 that I bought new in April 2000. Today it has 187,615 miles on it including towing my tractor 6 - 8 times a year. I've always kept up the routine maintenance on it - oil & filter every 5k and in the shop every 30k for transmission oil etc ....Never had a breakdown and it runs like a top. I plan on buying another new truck a year from now. At that time I'll have approx 215,000 miles on this one in 8 years. I guess my next one will probably be my last one. At the prices they are getting - I need it to be. BUT ...diesel or gas? .... good thing I have a year to decide - it'll take me that long.

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

I bought a 5.4 F250 in '03, wanted a diesel but didn't want to spend the extra money. I have 45K on it now and haven't had any problems. I get 12-14 MPG highway and around 10 MPG towing about 7K. If I bought another I would probably go with gas again.

 

[rback33]

I bought a 5.4 F250 in '03, wanted a diesel but didn't want to spend the extra money. I have 45K on it now and haven't had any problems. I get 12-14 MPG highway and around 10 MPG towing about 7K. If I bought another I would probably go with gas again.

Workin is nailing things on the head. I have the a CTD (obviously by the AV) and I was NOT shopping for another Diesel for EXACTLY what he is talking about. We got rid of an 94 PS with just over 170K... we only put around 12k on a year on our pickups. I was going to go with a gasser, but to effectively pull our 3 Horse slant with it's large dressing room (10K when ready for a show) we need a V10 or 8L Chevy... none were to be found any close than Fort Worth. We coulda had it delivered in two days to look at/buy but stumbled onto the Dodge first... The gassers were going to be stripped down versions manual everything Vinyl seats rubber floor (we WANTED these two). For the same money we could buy the Dodge with the Laramie and only gave u 4000 miles of engine warranty....was an easy call for us. Now got to be good at wrenching on the Ford, so I am not as scared as I used to be by the diesels....

You tech guys will have answer this though...it looks to me like the inline six should be easier to work on the the PS was. Is this true or am I just makin it obvious that I don't REALLY know what I am looking at?

 

[Marcussen]

I guess I'm surprised at how few miles y'all drive. I've been considering my next truck and if I should go diesel or gas .... I currently have a 2000 F150 with the small V8 that I bought new in April 2000. Today it has 187,615 miles on it including towing my tractor 6 - 8 times a year. I've always kept up the routine maintenance on it - oil & filter every 5k and in the shop every 30k for transmission oil etc ....Never had a breakdown and it runs like a top. I plan on buying another new truck a year from now. At that time I'll have approx 215,000 miles on this one in 8 years. I guess my next one will probably be my last one. At the prices they are getting - I need it to be. BUT ...diesel or gas? .... good thing I have a year to decide - it'll take me that long.

It's not that I don't drive a lot of miles, I drive a car to work 60 miles round trip a day. My wife drives the truck 5 miles a day round trip to work, We a also use the car for any trips that does not include towing or hauling a load.
So the car gets 25K to 30K a year and the truck get's maybe 10K (the car gets 28MPG).
Come to think about I bought my wife a new truck , (I believe I have been tricked) No wonder she was so easy to convince.

 

[Kendall69]

...diesel prices are higher than gas,

Not around here is So. Cal. Diesel a few weeks ago was for months, 2.75. and Gas was 3.25.

 

[workinallthetime]

You tech guys will have answer this though...it looks to me like the inline six should be easier to work on the the PS was. Is this true or am I just makin it obvious that I don't REALLY know what I am looking at?[/quote]

its all relative, ya you got more room on each side but less in the front and back. so some things are easier to get to and some worse. what few i have worked on i was amazed at how they burried things that should have been easy to get to. its kind of like taking something that was designed for a big rig style opening and stuffing it in a pickup. of corse the cat and 7.8 in the new gm medium duty trucks suck to work on also because they to are stuffed under the fire wall

gas diesel gas diesl gas diesel
i swear every week this topic comes up or a thread turns into gas vs diesel,lol
funny thing is, its usually some diesel owner who pipes in
"i get 45 mpg, can tow 100,000 lbs, and got a 0-60 of 3.9 seconds
only paid $65,000 for it"
lol
wasnt this a thread about "break in advice" ?

 

[rback33]

gas diesel gas diesl gas diesel
i swear every week this topic comes up or a thread turns into gas vs diesel,lol
funny thing is, its usually some diesel owner who pipes in
"i get 45 mpg, can tow 100,000 lbs, and got a 0-60 of 3.9 seconds
only paid $65,000 for it"
lol
wasnt this a thread about "break in advice" ?

... the thing is MPG varies truck to truck... I knew of two farmers.. each bought a new pick up at roughly the same time. identical except for color...each used as a regular farm truck... IIRC one got about 13 mpg the other 17 or 18... so they thought maybe it's the driver.... they traded pickups for about a week. they got the same MPG no matter who the driver was... I don't care about people MPG rantings... sure I wish mine were bette, but each vehicle is different... mine pulls my trailer nicely (will tomorrow if mother nature is kind) and that's what matters to me.

As far as break in drive and change the fluids early the first time... never had a new vehicle myself, but I doubt you can hurt them TOO much these days.

 

[the_sandman_454]

You tech guys will have answer this though...it looks to me like the inline six should be easier to work on the the PS was. Is this true or am I just makin it obvious that I don't REALLY know what I am looking at?

The Cummins should be considerably easier to work on than the Ford, where the actual procedure for getting to some things is rumored to be "raise up the cab"...

At least on the Cummins the turbo, high pressure common rail, injectors and fuel pump are readily accessable, and the fuel filter isn't too horribly bad, although could be up a little higher and a little further forward to expedite access. I have yet to adjust the valves however, so I can't tell you how that'll go.

Just go to the Ford or GM dealership, pop the hood on one of the diesels, and try to even see the engine. It's hard to find in there with all the crap they have on top of it. The latest edition of the Cummins is a bit more cluttered with this 07 emissions crap on there, but still looks to be the easiest of the 3 to work on, if ever it becomes necessary.