Just wanted to say hi and tell you that I appreciate all your tech info and stuff.....I came over to the (hopefully)"right" side when I traded in my Dodge Ram for a 2003 F250 SD SC 4X4 SB 5.4 SLT.
The Dodge was a Diesel with a manual 6 speed that my newly marrried spouse had no desire to try to drive. Loved the diesel but Dodge has MANY problems with their automatics and heard GREAT things about the Fords. I only wish that I had heard about the LACK of good gas mileage with the 5.4L in these SuperDuties but all in all I LOVE this truck. Shifts really smooth but the gas mileage really SUCKS.
My question is then(and then it could just be a personal preference)---is it too late to perhaps just go ahead and trade this new truck in and get a diesel? I don't tow nor do I see a future need to do that--this is basically a go-to-work-and-back home-truck for me like the Dodge was. Thanks again and look forward to hearing from you............

 

Welcome to !!

As far as the gas mileage goes, from previous posts people see from 12 to 15 mpg. My 01 5.4 sees about 10 with the tires I run now. My 99 psd sees a lot more , but my 01 is actually my daily driver.

As far as trding it in, like you said personal prefference, you may eat a bit on the trade though.

Again welcome

 

I think that its a personnel thing. I prefere a deisel. I enjoy the clatter and the pulling power. I'm on my 2nd personal diesel and the 3rd company truck.
For my money its diesel all the way. If I had a nice truck like your discribing then I might think about it but in the long haul I'd go with the diesel. Just a thought.
Good luck with your decision.

 

When I bought my truck I got a 4x2. Kept it for about 6 months and traded for my 4x4. I took a big hit on the trade in, but I went over to the fleet sales and by buying thru them they were able to make up a lot of the difference so it wasn't to bad. Wasn't using my head quite rite when I didn't get my 4x4. So if your dealer has a fleet sales they might be able to help.

 

First, WELCOME to the site.

I'd hold off on the trade unless you are willing to take the older, noisier 7.3L diesel. The new 6.0L diesel is, IMO, still having too many issues. The die-hard diesel guys claim that the issues are "minor", but I consider oil leaks, a truck-shaking rough idle, dying at stop sign, no power on take-off and leaky injectors to be major issues. These issues (major or minor as you see fit to describe them) are showing up anywhere between the time dealer gets the truck on the lot and 4000+ miles down the road.

Regardless, the 5.4L gas engine will NEVER get anywhere close to the MPG of the Cummins diesel. It's a shame that the EPA doesn't require economy numbers for these trucks. If they did, maybe mistakes like yours could be avoided.

 

Welcome aboard

First off, I'd say you need to give the engine at least 5-600 miles to break in before you're going to see an accurate mpg figure. My truck jumped from around 7mpg to around 12mpg when it hit around 1000kms

In your case you need to carefully weigh the cost of operation of the diesel vs. the cost of the gas. There have been a lot of threads on this, do a search on diesel vs. gas, 5.4V8 vs. diesel, V10 vs. diesel, etc... and you'll get a day's worth of reading.

Your mileage may be higher, but there is higher fuel and maintenane costs associated with the diesel that can go a long way toward offsetting any gains in mpg.

In your case especially, you'd have to save one pile of money on fuel bills to make it worth while. You're going to take a serious hit on your truck if you go to trade it, and the cost of the diesel up front is also huge. I'd say you'd have to be able to realistically figure on saving $5-10,000 in fuel before you reached the break even point on trading your truck for a diesel.

Given the use you described, you bought the perfect truck IMHO. A diesel is not ideally suited to short trips and light loads, it's actually quite hard on them. As a daily driver and and for light to medium loads, I think your truck is ideal. The simple fact is that no HD truck is going to get good mileage driving around town.

Waxy

 

Welcome to

and I agree with them above!!

 

Just wanted to tell you all that I have enjoyed your responses to my queries about switching from gas to diesel. I am very happy with my new purchase and although I miss the gas savings with the diesel, you are right in that the higher costs of maintaining the diesel far outweighs the other benefits of the the gas engine. I will keep my truck as it is, I would take a very BIG hit on trading it in so I will be pleased to drive this truck!!
Thanks again for the BIG WELCOME and I look forward to hearing from you again............

Jeff

 

Their are a few mods to the 5.4 you can do to gain so more mpg. The fuel injection performance kit gave me 3 more mpg and a programmer to change your shift points are said to give some gains. Anyone who trades in a dodge for a ford gets a big welcome

 

I really agree with Waxy he made some really good points.
I also noticed the Nomo has a SD sitting behind the Little half ton. Interesting.
Angry good luck with what ever dicision you make.


God Bless our troops.

 

Not anymore. That was replaced with a lesser truck.

Matt

 

Sorry to hear about the replacement. I will pray for you and hope that things will get better, in these hard times we sometimes have to resort to driving other vehicles, such as Chebbys or Doggers. We will pray that things get better and that the gods of Ford will watch over you and take care of you.

OK, I'll shut up now.

God bless out Troops.