Ford CrewCabs Skinny on repairs?

[ditchrider]

Howdy folks. Well my riding family is quickly outgrowing the cab of my turbo diesel Comanche 4X4. Now is the time to look for a used Ford CC. Are there any problem areas or years to watch out for. I'm very mechanically inclined (can't spell worth a darn) so not scared of the work but would rather spend time riding. Thanks for your time. Later

 

[SLEEZ]

I've heard problems with piston slap on start up with the 99' V10 CC's.
You may want to chesk out www.ford-diesel.com and www.fordenthusiast.com both sites have tons of good info.

 

[Patman]

Had a V10 SuperDuty and it was good but Ford took it back because the clutch hydraulics kept going out. Ran well, was smoooooooth, and got about 14MPG after switching to synthetic in everything (up from 12MPG). I now have a Powerstroke and love it. Lots of talk about "cackle" but it really doesn't seem to be a deal killer to me. The International 444 is a workhorse and will easily go 300K miles with basic maintenance. Change the oil (4 gallons) and filter or put on a remote bypass that filters down to 1/10 of a micron at 98% efficency so I can easily get 10-15K between changes. The diesels also require an additive and testing of the coolant on a regular basis to avoid pitting the cyliner walls. The up side is I typically get 20MPG running 75mph and 17 pulling my flatbed with tractor on it.:)

 

[KDX220rm]

I had a 2000 Ford F250 Crewcab and a 2002 Ford F250 Crewcab, both diesels, and never had a lick of problem. The 2000 is getting around 16-18 mpg empty, and pulling a 14' enclosed trailer, it got around 14. Still breaking in the 2002.

I use Shell Rotella-T 15w40 and change the oil at 5,000 miles non-pulling and at 3,000 miles of hard pulling.

I would be scared of putting more miles than that on the oil as unburnt diesel fuel gradually leaks down and starts dilluting the oil. I have grown up around diesel engines all my life, and we have stuck to the 3,000 or 5,000 mile oil change.

 

[bsmith]

If you get a Diesel, I wouldn't get a pre "Power Stroke" from Ford.

I'm a Cummings man myself but can't come up with a bad thing to say about the Power Strokes.
If you get the 460 V8 gas version, I would assume your milage would be in the:uh:

 

[Patman]

KDX220rm the sub micronic filtration system removes fuel & water as well. You pull a 4 oz sample every 3-5K miles and send it to a lab for spectro analysis and they provide a very detailed report on any contaminants in the oil as well as the condition of the oil. Since the Powerstroke is a very popular engine they even provide trending data to let you know of possible problems before they would normally become aparent mechanically. It's pretty cool stuff and seems to work really well for the over the road trucking companies that use it as well as industrial applications and NASA. I'm too chicken to let it go beyong 15K but there a many semi's with 400K or more on the same oil with only filter changes and make oil added and a bunch of Powerstroke and Cummis pickup going 50K or better on the setup.

 

[Moteaux]

I have 2001 CC 4x4 Powerstroke. I love the truck, but wish that I could get 20 mpg out of it. The best I ever do is around 17 mpg on the highway and an average of about 14.5 mpg city/hwy driving. I am using Shell Rotella, but was thinking of using the Mobil Synthetic... any thoughts. I was doing this to try to get some additional mpg out of it, but like KDX22rm, there is something that still scares me about not performing frequent oil changes.

The system you talked about is interesting Patman but still scary to me!

 

[94ruck]

I have a 2001 CC powerstroke with the manual tranny. 22mpg when the wife drives, 19.5 whenI drive:think .
I use a 70 horsepower superchip as well. Much more power for pulling.
I have a buddy with a 93 Ford diesel, manual tranny with 392000 miles on originl clutch,motor, etc. Had to replace starter, alternator and batteries a couple of times. These things will last if taken care of!

 

[KDX220rm]

Hey Patman,

Thanks for clearing up that issue. I was unaware of what all that filter did and that you send in oil samples for analysis.

Sounds like a pretty cool system.

 

[Patman]

I think with the custom bracket (a bit over done is my style) and custom hoses (here again over done) I have about $350 including stainless hardware. With the filters going for about $15 for the primary that goes 10K miles and the submicronic one at about $25 that goes 30K it sure has knocked my costs for a oil change down since it holds 4 freakin' gallons. I still change both filters and the oil at the same time which is every 12 to 15K and the lab see's it every 5K but it's already paid for itself and my engine will last a heck of a long time to boot.