I am looking to buy my first diesel truck, I've test driven all the recent diesels 7.3, 6.0 and the 6.4.
I am not to thrilled about what I've heard about the 6.4 for economy. I know very little about the 6.0 other than the fact that the truck I drove was really quite impressive.
The 7.3 is the engine I am leaning on because I have heard nothing but good things about them.

Can you guys give me some input on what would be the best decision. I do use my trucks a little hard so reliability, power and economy are what I really would like more info on.

Thanks

 

If you are worried about fuel mileage, you should be looking at a car. The difference between 12 mpg and 17 mpg is not that great based on 15,000 miles per year.

 

The 7.3 is the most reliable with just a few small problems that are easy to deal with such as the cam shaft sensor that goes out. The truck will just die but its a $25 sensor and take 3 minutes to replace. Trucks have gone forever with out replacing and some have faulty ones from the start. The 6.0 blow head gaskets, egr cooler, turbos, etc and every time its around $5000 to fix, but if you find one that has the engine rebuilt with head studs and a aftermarket egr or a delete along with the coolant conversion they are just as bullet proof as the 7.3. Id stick with the 7.3 for the cost to reliability ratio. If it is all stock just add a few things like 4" turbo back exhaust, guages, DP tuner and that thing will run like a bat outta hell. Even better get john woods or suncoast to build the tranny then you fixed the weakest link.

 

as far as MPG ive seen 20 empty and 15-17 towing with the 7.3.

 

thanks guys. I am leaning on the 7.3 because of reliability. As for a car good luck pulling 18,000lbs. I've done it with my 88 F150, it only gets 10mpg. If I'm going to spend 20k i want some improvement.

 

Stop and go driving kills fuel mileage. The heavier the truck the worse the affects. If you are out on open road most of the time that is where you will realize the best mileage possible.

That having been said, the range I've been in with my 6.4L is 14-17.5mpg. When accelerating I go easy on the petal as much as possible. The times I have had to "move quick" bomb the fuel mileage, avoid it at all costs!

18,000lbs with a 1/2 ton? I hope you weren't going far or fast. Thats flat out dangerous.

The earlier 6.0's (before 2005) were notorious for issues. Some people have reported fixing/replacing a few things and they've run trouble free for years now. I wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot pole myself. I used to drive a 2005 F350 DRW CC 2wd with the 6.0L for work hauling cars (2 car gooseneck hauler) and I never saw a problem with it. I spent a year doing that and by the time I was done the truck had 150-160,000 miles (not all mine). The truck was a very strong truck and thats what really turned me on to diesels - I could get better fuel mileage in that rig at 20,000lbs than I could in my 1/2 ton chevy at 10,000lbs.

I have never run a 7.3 but have heard the 6.0's and 6.4's pull harder. My 6.4L has 3.55's so it isn't the best pulling combo (and I didn't intend for it to be as it is a daily driver), better gearing for pulling heavy would be 4.10's although 3.73's are what most 350's come with (until you hit 2011 - the 6.7L engine has so much torque the 3.55's are about what the 3.73's used to be).