hi, first of all my name is jake, im a senior in highschool and my dream truck is a F-250 super duty. I know more then alota guys my age do about trucks, but not as much as i would like to so im gonna have alota questions for you all.
And so my first question is why diesels were so expensive to maintain?

 

There are lots of reasons. They take a lot more oil, filters are more expensive (oil and fuel), diesels operate at a much higher compression ratio than do gasoline engines, the fuel systems operate at very high pressure (VERY high), all newer ones have turbos, all newer ones have more emissions stuff.... the list goes on and on.

Good luck with your quest to get a diesel F250. That was my dream truck too. I got one and I totaled it in 5 months. No fun, but it can happen to anyone. I'll be back in one again, when is the question.

 

Jake,

I do not know what your plans after high school are....college, trades whatever.... I learned this the hard way and I would caution you to get established in whatever u are gonna do for living. Its one thing if you have to purchase a vehicle or if its needed for your profession or have a pocket full of money, but if you are struggling as prob most people here are, get the education while you can. It gets harder when the mortgage, family, car, & work responsibities add up.

That being said, the newer the diesel, the more money it will likely cost to maintain. In that too though, the less maintenance done on one, the more it will cost eventually.
The 7.3 psd was the last one with little emissions. The last ones were built in 03. They can be found with low mileage but usually are a premium. They are good trucks and will run a long time. You can count on working on glow plugs at some point, crank sensor, & prob transmission if auto but most everything on these trucks is oil changes and balljoints. There are the odd ***** out there that blow up early or have some obscure problem but most are like the energizer bunny.

The 6.0s can be be good but can be a nightmare. They do not like excessive idling at all or short commutes or low voltage. They have been known to have head gasket failures, egr issues, and oil cooler and egr cooler issues. Usually the last 3 were caused by excessive idling. Low voltage will usually kill the fuel injection control module. Any kind of major engine work requires cab removal.
If driven correctly and prob, they can go 200k+ with just routine maintenance. 05 & later are thought more highly of as they had a redesign of some components of the 03 and 04 models.



The 6.4 has the diesel particulate filter in it. It does not like short drives or idling either. It goes into regen and dumps fuel into the exhaust to clean the DPF for emissions. The exhaust gets really hot on these during this process and has been known on the early ones to set the floor and/or the any grass its parked on fire. Grass can be an issue but floor issue seems to have been resolved. It has also been known to add diesel fuel to the oil and cause it to wash out the engine (kill it). Some of the first ones had radiator issues but most of those have been resolved. They also seem to pack debris really easily between the radiator and condensor but does not take a lot to clean out. Fuel mileage on these is not great at stock setup.
These will go a long time and make loads of power. They have to be driven correctly and the oil level checked for fuel additive. Most all major work on engine requires cab removal.

The 2011 is a newly designed Ford engine. It makes LOADS of power at stock. It has the added emission requirement of a DEF tank. It is a special additive in a seperate tank that makes the truck burn cleaner. I have no experience other than what I have read and one test drive. It has been said that the latest flash of the computer makes it use the DEF more quickly (something like 5 gallons in 3k miles.)

For every diesel mentioned here, there is a tuner or modification to counteract some of its design/prob issues. For the 7.3, there are turbo upgrades, computer upgrades, exhaust u name it. For most any of these upgrades, it is almost a necessity to add gauges to keep from baking down the engine.

For the 6.0, there are egr delete kits which advise u to change the head studs, I think theere is a turbo upgrade, there is a computer upgrade (programmer).

Again, for the 6.4, there is a DPF delete which requires u tuner program but has been said to increase fuel mileage. Prob some more but that seems to be the most common one.

U must maintain corrosive inhibitor level in the coolant on all these trucks. Failure to do so will cause cavitation in the block which will eat it away and cause major engine failure. Does not take a lot to do this but is prob one of the most overlooked aspects of these trucks by those not familiar. The addition of a external coolant filter on the 6.o and 7.3 will also increase the life of items such as oil coolers, egr coolers,and waterpumps. Prob on 6.4 too. That filter has been added to remove the impurities out of the system and many people have removed gobs of sand looking sediment out of their engines by doing so.

I understand your desire to own one. I did too for years and finally got to a point where things fell into place with farm and finances.

Good luck..

cw

 

allright thanks for your help, i definetly won't be buying one until im outa college and gota decent job.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by carltonwebb

Jake,

I can also undertand the desire to own one. I have a 2001 F150 CrewCab 4X4 now but can prove that I wanted the Superduty for several years because I just found my collection of F250 booklets that you get from the dealer. I have 2004, 05,06,07,08,09,10 and of course 2011.

I will finally after all those years be able to put an order in this weekend for a brand new 2011 F250 CrewCab shortbox 4x4 diesel engine thing of beauty.

 

If you want to start with a cheap alternative to a SD, but start you personal Diesel knowledge quest, Find an old '85 - '94 F250-350 with the 6.9L or 7.3L IDI. No electronics or sensors, mechanical injection, and decent MPG, NO LIE!.....

There are lots you can do to them, but they will never be quite as powerful as a PSD.

You can pick one up with 4x4 for under 2k easy. I liked my '86 I had for a short time, and it was my first diesel.

 

thats a good idea, last year i found an early 90's f-150 but decided not to buy it cause i don't have a very steady job, im a bus boy, and i don't make the same amount every night so i decided to wait, just incase something were to happen to the truck i didn't want to not have enough money to pay for it.
i got another question, whats the difference between the heavy duty and the super duty

 

buy a gasser

 

Well, Superduty wears a cape and HeavyD..uty has a weight problem and sings in a Rap group.....