I've searched for a while and can't come up with answers I was really looking for, so if this issue has been covered, I apologize.
We are looking for an Excursion to pull our new travel trailer. Our TT weighs in about 9,000lbs (that's with all our stuff in it). Tongue weight around 900lbs. Currenlty I'm pulling it with my 1999 F150 5.4L, 3.73, 4x4. (Don't flame me, I know it is over what that truck is rated for, but I do have to say.....it handles it very well.....the 5.4 is impressive for it's towing).
Anyway, the excursion will be my wife's daily driver. So my debate comes to hunting down a V10 versus diesel. I've always wanted to stay with a 7.3 because all the bad press of the 6.0, but searching this site it seems the 6.0 "may" not be that bad after all.
Most of our camping trips are within 100 miles and plan next year taking one long trip a year (say 1,000 miles one way).
Our family owned a Ford dealership for 50 years, so I would consider myself a proficient mechanic, not an expert. I have never worked on diesels. (admittedely I am a little intimidated by troubleshooting them). I feel pretty comfortable with gas engines.
So here are my questions:

1. As a daily drive for the wife, would you pick gas over diesel?

2. We live in SW MO and have the Ozark mountains to continually drive, I'm not real concerned about the V10's ability to tow the TT, or should I be?

3. When looking for a used excursion, what would you consider maximum miles you would be comfortable with in either the v10, 7.3, or 6.0?

4. Any "issues" with specific years, engines, trannys to look for?

I know when looking for used vehicles that the history of maintenance and use is probably the most important factor, but consider them all equal when answering the above.


Look forward to being a future Excursion owner (wife is way excited as we have 3 boys ages 6,4, and 18months with maybe another in the future). After we make a purchase I am glad to know there is a great resource for maintenance, mods, etc.

Thanks in advance.
Jon

 

First, welcome to FTE!

1. As a daily driver, especially if you have short commutes I would be more inclined to go the gasser route, but I have just that so my view could be biased. The reason of not having the engine work a good amount might just gumm up the egr/turbo more often. This could be offset by not babying it so much in town. Now if you do have a short commute the milage of a psd might not be so much better than the gasser.

2. Naw, no worry there. You may find that you will have to rev it out a little more on the gasser, which will not hurt it any. They are made to rev in the 4000 rpm range all day. The gasser with 4:30 gears might be better in this situation tho. The psd will not be an issue, as they are made to haul.

3. Max miles is kinda not the bigger issue. The maint history on the veh, I believe is more, and if taken care of should not be too big of a deal. Many have well over 200k miles and still going strong.

4. The earlier gassers had a bit of a name on them for spitting plugs. That was somewhat taken care of in the latter yrs, I think in late 02. The 7.3 in earlier yrs is known to have a diode issue in the tranny. Taken care off in 02 I think. If you can find a late 02-03 you should be good, but the premium price of those might be something to look at. The later 6.0 will be the better one to find if you go the 6.0 route. In 05 the V-10 and 6.0 got the updated front ends, lights, grill. The maint on the psd will be more than the gassers, but milage is generally better. Eg: oil in a psd is around 15 gallons compared to 5.7 for gasser.

Hopefully that helps a bit. If you have time, def spend more time here on fte reading about the different issues so you can make a better decision on what will be best for ya.

 

Thanks for the reply wallz. Honestly I am leaning toward the gasser. Most commutes are 10-15 miles to town and around town. The gasser probably fits best I just know the psd would be awesome for trips to Colorado and Florida but it's hard to justify for one trip a year .
Honestly I like the psd for the "cool" factor and the fact I've never owned one, bit the cool factor could be quickly worn away with maintenance.
About 4 times a year we travel 300 one way to visit relatives as well.
It may boil down to just what I find available that has had good maintenance and is a fair deal.

 

15 GALLONS of oil? Hope this is a misprint!!!

 

he meant 15 quarts or 3 gallons.

 

3 gallons x 4qts/gal = 12 quarts...... Mine takes just shy of 4 gallons including the filter

 

Woops.


I wanted to type liters but didn't know if ya yankies know what that is.