Ford V-10 questions

Farmer John · Mar 16, 2005

Anyone have real experience with these motors?
Now that my 94 C2500 diesel has cleared 500k, I am looking at late model used trucks. I have found a '02 F350 crew cab 2wd with a V-10 & a 5 speed.

Does this set up have any reliability issues?
What is real world, but not towing, milage?

Tod · Mar 16, 2005

My 1999 E350 Super -Duty w/ V10 and automatic gets between 8.5 and 10 mpg towing. I don't think I have ever ran through a tank of gas without towing. My guess is about 11mpg. So far (50K) no troubles at all except one spark plug coil failure.

High Lord Gomer · Mar 16, 2005

Got about 60K miles on the 2000 motorhome with a V-10. Run with my foot on the floor most of the time it gets 6 mpg. No engine problems.

Michelle's 02 4WD Excursion w/V10 (4 speed auto) gets a little over 13 on the highway at 80 and 7 at 75/80 pulling an 8x16 fuly loaded enclosed trailer (7 bikes + 4 wheeler). No engine problems.

Patman · Mar 16, 2005

I had an F250 5 speed that consistantly got 11-12mpg empty and 8-10 if the bed was full of rock or dirt or a flatbed trailer with something on it was stuck to the back of it. Synthetic oil in the engine & trans made a big difference in ease of shifting and about 1mpg improvement. I have my Powerstroke because that truck couldn't keep the clutch functioning for more than 10K miles at a time. They tried everything from replacing the hydraulic system 3 times to the clutch assy AND hyd system the 4th and final time. After the 4th try Ford took it back, gave me $5K in Ford monopoly money, gave me retail on my trade and sold me my current truck for wholesale. Current truck is a F250 Powerstroke 6spd. It's going to cost more to get but if you rack up alot of miles and/or want to keep it a long time I'd really suggest the oil burner 6spd over the V10 5spd.

RACINRAY · Mar 16, 2005

i also have the v 10 in my 98 citaion motor home E350 chassis and love it it just pulls and pulls never a problem gas milage could be better but what can you expect from a 300 hp v 10 :cool:

Broken Spoke · Mar 16, 2005

I guess I am a little biased because I also drive a diesel, but if you have gotten 500K miles out of a diesel, why not get another diesel. You know they last from experience.

Farmer John · Mar 16, 2005

Broken Spoke said:
I guess I am a little biased because I also drive a diesel, but if you have gotten 500K miles out of a diesel, why not get another diesel. You know they last from experience.

Because my buddy is a repo man & I can get it for 9k w/ 32k miles. :nod:

I would prefer a Powerstroke, or Duramax......................

Jaybird · Mar 17, 2005

John,
You aren't going to be happy with the gasser. The pumps are already going crazy as it is.

Buy it and resell it. You know you love the smell of #2 in the morin'. :)

mtk · Mar 17, 2005

What Jaybird said. But I'd go negotiate a deal on a Diesel BEFORE you buy the V10, because with gas prices where they are right now you might have trouble unloading the V10.

CRTAILLIGHT · Mar 17, 2005

I have a 2000 Excursion that has 110,000 and have changed the oil every 5,000 miles. No problems and it gets 12 around town and as high as 15 (with me driving). My wife has her foot on one pedal or the other so she is good for mid 13's. It is a 4 X 4 and blows away my F-150 with a 5.4 pulling a trialer. Over all it is a great motor. I don't like the ride but my wife drives and loves it.

Vic · Mar 17, 2005

I read some reports of spark plugs blowing out.

Mine has 40,000 miles on it with no problems

cr250can · Mar 17, 2005

Farmer john, I now this dicussion well. I worked for Cummins/Dodge from 2000-2004 in their technical support for the cummins trucks. Now I work for Ford in their tech support for the heavy duty (F250-F550) trucks. Let me ask what are you using the truck for? If you want a Gasser the ford 6.8 V-10 is a fair motor. They are fairly reliable, the only real concerns are that they begin to burn oil about 150k. They are dogs to pull with. The MPG that I mostly see with technicians is arount 11-12 empty and 8-9 towing. If you are loyal to Ford stay away from the 6.0 diesel like the plague! :yikes: Get a 7.3 diesel if you go ford. The last 7.3 really only got about 14-15 mpg empty and 10-12 pulling.
If you can live with a Dodge chassis (not my personal favorite) the cummins in my opinion is the best diesel to get. The only years I would whatch out for is 98-02. these trucks had injection pump issues. If you get one of these trucks make sure the injection pump has been changed and always change you fuel filter and if you know how check the lift pump volume occasionally ( these lift pumps are the reason these trucks have injection pump problems) If you get an 03-05 cummins make sure you always get good fuel and don't idle the truck any more that for cool down on the turbo.

As for the duramax it has head problems and injector failures.

My opinion look at the cost of gas in your area because in all reality your going to get the same gas mileage with a big gasser as a diesel. Factor in how much you tow, because the v-10 will not tow as good as a diesel, but if you only tow occasionally it works great.
This is just what I have observed as I have worked for both Ford and Dodge :aj:

Patman · Mar 17, 2005

The spark plugs blowing out were on the early engines, they have supposidly resolved that.

At $9K it would be hard to pass on that deal even if you decided to resell or trade it off later.

XRpredator · Mar 17, 2005

mtk said:
What Jaybird said. But I'd go negotiate a deal on a Diesel BEFORE you buy the V10, because with gas prices where they are right now you might have trouble unloading the V10.

years past, I'd have said go diesel. I don't know about the rest of the country, but around here diesel is running at LEAST 50 cents more than gasoline. Now, for starters you got the big jingle just to get into a diesel, and I'm not convinced they get that much better mileage to alleviate the bigger dollars for fuel.

On top of that, I keep hearing rumors of diesel fuel production decreasing due to some kind of upgrades or something at the refineries. I don't understand all I know about that, but it's another strike against.

As for resale, I got second (or fifth) hand info that a local dealer had a sweet, loaded (we're talking LOA-OA-OA-OA-DE-DE-DE-DED) F350 with low mileage on it that they couldn't sell, so they took it to the wholesaler and ended up getting $7500 out of what booked out to $30,000!! Again, take that for what its worth, bein's I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another you been messin' around (sorry, got off on a REO Speedwagon riff there).

Anyhoo . . . Not sure if it's a Northwest or West coast thing, but a guy is probably ahead with a gasser over a deeser.

bsmith · Mar 17, 2005

Yesterday Gas $2.02 Diesel $2.68. Justbought 600 Gallons of Farm Diesel at $2.23.

I agree with Pred, the Local paper is full of V-10's for nothing compared to the Diesels. That's for the Dodge and the Fords.

I'll claim 18mpg on the Dodge Diesel, thus you can figure 10mpg on the V10 and pencil out how long it will take to Justify the Diesel. It's nice when traveling to go almost 600 miles on a tank compered to thinking of Toping off the gasser at 200. Especially in the winter!

bsmith · Mar 17, 2005

So if you went 500 miles and used the numbers above
500m/18mpg=27.7Gallons x 2.68 = $74.40
500m/10mpg=50 Gallons x 2.02 = $101
The Diesel saves you about $26.6 per 500 miles

Lets say the Gasser gets 14pmpg
500m/14mpg =35.7G's x 2.02 = $72.1

At this it's a wash, if you use Super Unleaded or premium then you go in the hole again.

Diesel motor will also last much longer :cool: Besides BioDiesel will soon be viable, I hope!

cr250can · Mar 17, 2005

bsmith said:
I'll claim 18mpg on the Dodge Diesel

What year of cummins?
Be ware of bio diesel in modern diesels! :yikes:
For a cummins in the years 98-05 if you run bio diesel more than 10% it will hurt the fuel system.

The diesel will out perform the gasser though, no doubt :nod: , but if you don't need the performance why pay the extra?

dirt bike dave · Mar 17, 2005

FJ - That price is awfully attractive.

I can think of 3 people off the top of my head with V10s. No mechanical problems. Nobody likes the fuel mileage and at least 2 would have preferred the diesel, but they all like the performance of their V10s. And the $5,000+ price difference for the diesel is tough to swallow sometimes.

My guess is you can get that particular truck for approx. $13,000 less than you would expect to pay for a similar truck with a diesel.

Of course there is more to it than fuel costs (resale, maintenance, etc...), but $1 saved in fuel 5 years from now is not worth as much as $1 saved on upfront costs today.

Using bsmith's fuel costs above ($26.6 savings per 500 miles with the diesel), you would need to keep the diesel for 244,360 miles to justify paying $13,000 more for a comparable diesel today.

Studboy · Mar 17, 2005

XRpredator said:
years past, I'd have said go diesel. I don't know about the rest of the country, but around here diesel is running at LEAST 50 cents more than gasoline. Now, for starters you got the big jingle just to get into a diesel, and I'm not convinced they get that much better mileage to alleviate the bigger dollars for fuel.

On top of that, I keep hearing rumors of diesel fuel production decreasing due to some kind of upgrades or something at the refineries. I don't understand all I know about that, but it's another strike against.

As for resale, I got second (or fifth) hand info that a local dealer had a sweet, loaded (we're talking LOA-OA-OA-OA-DE-DE-DE-DED) F350 with low mileage on it that they couldn't sell, so they took it to the wholesaler and ended up getting $7500 out of what booked out to $30,000!! Again, take that for what its worth, bein's I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another you been messin' around (sorry, got off on a REO Speedwagon riff there).

Anyhoo . . . Not sure if it's a Northwest or West coast thing, but a guy is probably ahead with a gasser over a deeser.

LOL things are going the same way here.

People are always making a fuss about how their diesel gets 3 mpg better than the gasser... well right now they are LOSING money here.

Gas is 1.83 and diesel is 2.35!!! Plus you add in how much it costs to change the oil, fuel filters, dual batteries, etc. The only upside that I can see is that the power is still a little bit better.

Now for the biased part... I'm glad that I don't have to smell or listen to that stinky noisy rattly diesel pig in the morning!!!

I don't think that anyone can tell the difference between a powerstroke with a 4" exhaust and a garbage truck coming down the road until they see it! They both sound and smell the same. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I love it when chipped diesels are trying to race you..... can you say "Holy smokescreen Batman!" ?
:laugh:

nowazzu · Mar 17, 2005

128,000 miles on my 2000 F-250 4X4, LB, CC, V10. I pull a 40ft toy hauler around without problems. Sure, gas mileage sucks, but it's a 7000 lb truck with mucho HP!

bsmith · Mar 17, 2005

I don't think that anyone can tell the difference between a powerstroke with a 4" exhaust and a garbage truck coming down the road until they see it! They both sound and smell the same.

Ya, you gotta love that sound and smell :aj:

Okiewan · Mar 17, 2005

Will the gasser/diesel feud never end? It's like the 2-t / 4-t thing, but worse!

cr250can · Mar 17, 2005

Okiewan said:
Will the gasser/diesel fued never end? It's like the 2-t / 4-t thing, but worse!

I sensing no on that one Okie :bang:

mtk · Mar 17, 2005

Diesel costs, at most, 25% more than gasoline right now (assuming you can run it on the bottom grade of unleaded). My truck get at least 33% better mileage than a compable V10. I know it because my boss has a V10, but he no longer tracks mileage. Hook a trailer behind it, and the differential goes to more like 50% better mileage. Plus it tows better.

Remember, "3-4mpg" is 25-33% when you're talking about 11mpg for a V10.

Fuel costs are the single largest expense in running a truck, at least according to my records (and they are extensive; I can tell you to the hundreth of a gallon how much fuel went in that truck). The rest is chump change.

XRpredator · Mar 17, 2005

Don't you know Diesels are WAAAAAY more expensive to maintain and repair than a gasser?

just like a 4 stroke vs. a 2 stroke.

sillies. :rotfl:

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