I have bought a 2005 F250 diesel with 90000 miles. What are in your experience in average the cost per mile. I am especially interested to know what I have to expect for maintenance and repair?

 

I have a friend with 180k on a 03 dually-changes his oil at 10k with 12 qts rotilla and 3qts of lucas - has had one injector replaced and he's showing an Egr code now, since 100 k. I have a 03 with 180k and I have replaced 5 injectors, a ficm, alternator and the oil cooler in the last 12k(about $2300 in parts). I change oil at 5k with Mobil 1. Besides good past matainence helping in the future, It's a crap shoot

 

It's individual. You are really going to have to figure out what it is for yourself. My cost per mile isn't going to be the same as yours, just like yours isn't going to be the same as jagski2. I use one type of oil, you might use another that may or may not be as costly as mine. What do you use the truck for etc.

This is along the lines of asking what mpg to expect from this vehicles. It really just depends on what your individual circumstance is with regard to truck use.

 

I know that it is individual and depending on a lot of specific conditions of the truck and the type of driving and load and, and...but I have seen a compliation of driving costs from AAA for Sedans and SUV's (around 70 cents for 15000 miles a year with maintenance costs of around 6 cents without repair). I thought that something similar would exist for Superduties as well. It is usually calculated starting with new cars but as the depriciation gets smaller with older cars, the cost of maintenance and repair increases in average also. I wanted to ask for the average of costs per mile for maintenance and repair for trucks above 100000 miles which is considered normal. Perhaps 20 cents per mile?

 

Really depends on the truck... They all run differently.

It also depends on your right foot

 

and ........... do you do the maintenance yourself (oil change, fuel filter changes, coolant flushes, tranny fluid change, etc).

 

There is probably a reason why AAA does not do one of those on the Superduty. There is so many variables to consider, Your driving habits, price of gas, price of oil, do you tow or not tow, where you live, and the list goes on. Same thing goes as to why when you buy a new superduty and it does not give you avg MPG on the window sticker. These trucks are made to be purchased for work, and so the MPG can vary alot as to how you use them and how hard you work them. IMO if you buy a superduty you better have deeper pockets to take care of it.

 

I am not interested in the MPG values and all the other ownership costs which can easily be add up. I would like to have an item in my budget for operating costs of the truck (maintenance, tires and repair) so to put some money aside for the expected (maintenance) but also not forseeable repairs which will naturally occur and increase with higher age and milage. Calculating with 20 cents and 15000 miles this would give $3000 a year for it. It would not be enough for Jagski2's truck with 12k and $2300 only for parts in a year but I would not think that this is the normal yearly rate for a F250, but maybe considered over 2 years it should be covered.

 

Best thing I can say, is go ahead and set aside as much money as you can until you establish a baseline of how the truck "acts" with your particular scenerio. Even with the known costs(such as oil changes etc) they all change based on habits. My parents will go through on some vehicles one oil change a year, while on others they will go through 3 oil changes in 2.5 months.

Just set aside as much as you can, then after a year or better if you did it for 2 and then see how much is more reasonable to set aside.

 

Fuel, fluids, filters:
.................................................. ..."price
.................................................. ..per unit"..Quantity..Units....Total cost....miles
.................................................. .................................................. ................Cost $/mile
Fuel.............................................. ..$2.75.........1.......gallon.....$2.75.......... 15.......0.183
Stanadyne.......................................$0 .33.........8........ounce....$2.60........450.... ....0.006
Oil change........................................$6.0 0........14.......quart.....$84.00.......5000..... ..0.017
Oil filter change.................................$20.00..... ..1....................$20.00......5000.......0.00 4
Fuel filters change.............................$35.00........1 ...................$35.00......10000......0.004
Tranny filter change...........................$20.00........1.. .................$20.00......30000......0.001
Tranny fluid change............................$7.00.........8. .......quart....$56.00......30000......0.002
Coolant flush - coolant.......................$12.00.......3.5.... ..gallon....$42.00.......50000.....0.001
Coolant flush - distilled water...............$1.00........25.......gallon.. ...$25.00......50000.....0.001
Coolant flush - VC-9, thermostat o-ring..$65.00.......2........bottle....$130.00..... 50000.....0.003
Brake Fluid flush - fluid........................$0.30........48...... .ounce....$14.40........50000.....0.000
Power Steering flush - fluid..................$6.00.........4.........qua rt.....$24.00......100000.....0.000
Rear Differential fluid change - fluid.......$10.00......6.9.........pint.....$69.0 0.......50000......0.001
Front Differential fluid change - fluid.......$6.50......5.8.........pint.....$37.70 .......100000.....0.000
Transfer case fluid change - fluid...........$11.00......3.........quart....$33 .00.......50000.......0.001
Windshield wiper - fluid........................$3.50........1....... ..gallon....$3.50.........5000.......0.001
Air Filter............................................ $60.00......1.......................$60.00......90 000.....0.001
Coolant Filter.....................................$10.00. ......1.....................$10.00......20000..... .0.001
ccv Filter..........................................$5 0.00.......1....................$50.00.......40000 .......0.001
Power Steering - filter.........................$20.00.......1..... ................$20.00.......20000.......0.001

 

I think Mark has you covered on fluid changes.

 

Have one for typical repair parts (installed yourself). This is just one option w/ some pretty high quality parts (and a few "guesses" at prices):

........................................"price
.......................................per unit".....Quantity...Units...Total cost..........miles.....Cost $/mile
Serpentine belt....................$40.00...........1........ ...........$40.00.............100000.....0.000
Tires.................................$350.00..... .....4...................$1,400.00..........60000. .....0.023
Batteries............................$100.00...... ....2....................$200.00...........80000.. ....0.003
Ball joints ...........................$400.00..........1..... ..............$400.00............80000......0.005
Brakes - pads......................$275.00..........1...... .............$275.00...........100000.....0.003
Tensioner pulley...................$100.00 ..........1...................$100.00...........10 0000.....0.001
Idler pulley.........................$100.00...........1 ...................$100.00...........100000.....0. 001
Alternator - high output........$600.00...........1................. ..$600.00...........100000.....0.006
EGR Valve..........................$250.00...........1 ....................$250.00...........100000.....0 .003
Replace Coolant hoses...........$50.00...........2................ ....$100.00...........100000.....0.001
Front and rear shocks............$85.00...........4.............. ......$340.00...........100000.....0.001

Others:
Pull EGR valve and clean........................free.......every 20k miles
"Batteries:
Individually charge, load test, charge"......free.......every 20k miles
Grease Front Axle Shaft U-Joint...............free......every 20k miles
Rotate tires.........................................free ......every 10k miles

 

Summary

Fuel and additive cost - 19 cents per mile

Fluids and filter cost - 3.7 cents per mile

Some "routine" parts replacement = 4.3 cents per mile
(out of the cost above, tires alone are 2.3 cents per mile)

Oh yeah - depreciation on your truck (assuming 350k miles) - 15-20 cents per mile depending on price
(and a lot of that happening the first year or two).

To complete the exercise, you can look up posts on major engine repairs (turbo, injectors, FICM, EGR/Oil coolers, head studs, high pressure oil system repairs, etc). Decide for yourself on the chance of experiencing these failures, but understand it really does pay to do all of the "necessary" routine maintenance to avoid these!

 

I use a product called 'Gas Cubby' on my iPhone where I have recorded every repair and tank of fuel since I purchased it. I bought the truck in May '05 and currently have 98,648 miles on it. Other than warranty work, I do all my own maintenance and repairs.

Since new I have spent $4,714.74 on maintenance and repair. I have spent $10,507.00 on Fuel. I have spent $340.00 on fuel additives (DieselKleen). That is a total of $15,561.74. Dividing $15,561.74 by 98,648 miles gives me a cost of $0.16 per mile to drive. If I add in approximately $40,000 for the price of the truck, plus the maintenance, plus the consumed fuel, it cost me about $0.56 per mile to drive.

 

Wow - if you averaged 15 mpg, that means you have spent an AVERAGE of $1.60 per gallon of diesel. Even if you averaged 20 mpg, it would still come out to an average fuel price of $2.00 per gallon. Pretty darn cheap for a 4-5 year average. Folks won't be getting these kind of costs unless something drastic happens w/ oil and fuel prices.

Also - have you added the dieselkleen EVERY fill up, and at the recommended dose?