hey guys/ladies

new to the forums but I'm looking for some help.

I have a 2001 E350 cube van 16 ft box with a 7.3 lt diesel and I'm having some problems that my local garage can not figure out.

in December 2009 I had to have the engine pulled to replace the oil pan, when the garage replaced the engine I had a lot of problems with a huge change in my fuel economy.

I was running 900 km per week using 150 litres of fuel, but since the work was done I've been getting 625 km to 150 litres of fuel. this is costing me an extra 60 litres per week to complete my run each week. I've been back to the garage several times in the last two months and they claim there was nothing they could have done to cause this problem and have given up trying to solve the issue.

my truck has 390,000 km on it and I baby the engine in maintenance I change the oil every 10,000 km, change the fuel filter and air filters every 20,000, change the prestone every 40,000 and change the transmission oil every 45.000 km.

I drive a little more than 45,000 km per year and carry approx 3500 lbs of cargo daily.


any one have any idea what would have cause such a drastic change in fuel economy???

 

welcome to FTE

is she low on power at all ?? do you have gauges like boost and EGT's ?? look around the back of the turbo and down on the manifolds for any kind of soot....

 

thanks for the welcome and fast reply

it was loud and sluggish when I first got the truck back but the garage found that they had forgot to clamp the exhaust line to the turbo so it was venting exhaust into the engine cavity and not providing enough to the turbo. since they fixed that leak the engine has sufficient power. unfortunately no gauges like those mentioned. I will check the manifolds tomorrow and see if there is any soot.

 

Welcome to FTE. Where are you from? Did your location happen to switch to ULSD fuel about the time you got your oil pan issue resolved? We've seen a drop of 1 - 2 mpg's when they introduced ULSD fuel in the US.

Things we commonly look for when the mileage drops off are boost leaks. Your van doesn't have an intercooler so you've got fewer places to check, but you'll want to inspect the up pipes (come off the back of the exhaust manifold and go up into the Y shaped collector on the back of the turbo. This should be really easy for you to check with your van. Any signs of soot where the pipes go into the Y collector means you've got a boost leak that can hurt your mileage.

Remove the cover inside the van and look at the back of the motor.



If you notice in that picture the black soot streaks on the pipe on the left side, that's the leak in this motor. If you've got soot streaks, you'll either need to replace the gaskets or upgrade to the bellowed up pipe set.

Also check around the front side of the turbo where the air goes from the turbo down into the intake plenums. There should be 2 rubber boots with hose clamps making those connections. Make sure the hose clamps are tight, but not too tight. The intake plenums are soft metal and will crush if you tighten them too much.


Edit: Or just do what Ron said.

 

thanks guys, I really appreciate this help. I need to cram another year out of this truck before my wife and bank will give me the ok to buy a new one. looking at upgrading to a 2009/2010 F550 with a 20 ft box so I need every cent I can bank. 60 litres per week of diesel here relates to an extra 65-70.00 per week times 52 weeks is 3500.00 + per year. being self employed sucks when the expense hit you like that.

it was bad enough that it cost me $3500.00 and 6 days of truck rental to install a 300.00 oil pan, but the added cost of the fuel is killing me.


I'll have to check about that ULSD, not sure if that has made it into Canada yet.

 

Well now that you've found FTE, let me give you some more advice. We have different sections for different motors. If you're considering buying a diesel motor on your next vehicle, do some reading in the 6.4 diesel section. I think you'll be disappointed in the mileage those guys are seeing with that motor. I'd hate to see you upgrade trucks just to find out you're getting even worse mileage than you're complaining about now.

Supposedly the new 6.7 motor for 2011 will do better, but we'll just have to wait and read what other members are seeing in the real world before we know for sure.

 

yeah I heard a lot of complaints about the 6.4 lt.


I priced out a new 2010 F650 with 20 ft box last week. WOW what a HUGE price that was. I dont need anything that big but I was told that Ford was unable to get a 20 ft on a F550. but apparently the guy I was talking to was wrong.

even after 18,500 in price incentives and dealer discounts the price with box and taxes was 88,500.00 the guy at the bank damn near laughed me out of the bank.

 

The really sad part is I've seen guys on here who are getting the same fuel economy you are now with their brand new F250 driving around empty. Loaded down would be even worse. I can't imagine spending that kind of money just to get worse fuel economy.