hey guys im looking to upgrade my truck to a newer f250. i currently own a 1993 f250 4x4 w/ the 5.8 (i get absolutely terrible gas mileage) but rather than that i love it and it has been a good truck for me. Im looking to upgrade to a newer f250, preferably a diesel. im looking through the 2004-2008 range, hoping to spend no more than 20,000 on a 4x4 ford. i know the 7.3 was a great engine, but im not sure about any of the newer diesels, im doing my research and i am in no rush to buy, but i would love to hear all the goods and bads about fords newer model trucks, thankyall in advance.

 

you can have my 08

 

2004-2007 will be a 6.0L Power Stroke. Go to the engine forum and learn about that engine, ask questions, before you decide you want one.

2008-2010 will be a 6.4L Power Stroke. Fuel mileage dropped considerably because of pollution control devices on the engine. Again, go to the specific engine forum and learn about that engine.

I am curious as to why you think you want a diesel engine. You'd probably be surprised by the abilities of the V-8 (5.4L) or V-10 (6.8L) gas engines. 2005-201 gas engines have 3 valves per cylinder and are excellent engines.

The automatic transmission on a 2004-2010 Power Stroke (or 2005-2010 gas engine) truck will be a 5R110W, an excellent automatic transmission. They take a lot of abuse with very few failures.

 

Hopefully this won't turn into a huge debate, but IF you're on a tight budget, and IF you're buying a 6.0 diesel with no warranty it's my opinion you're just asking for trouble. As was posted before venture on over to the 6.0 or 6.4 forums and judge for yourself. Diesels make great power and torque, but it comes at a price, and I found several heart-breaking stories over there in the past week about guys who were frustrated and going broke from wounded diesels that their dealer couldn't fix or was driving them bankrupt. At least two that I read finally traded theirs in for a V10 and one guy in the 6.4 forum said he thought the V10 had more power than the 6.4. Now I know lots and lots of guys on here have racked up many miles with diesels with zero problems and I wouldn't wish truck problems on anybody. But I know with my luck I'd get the least reliable diesel Ford ever turned out, so I chose the V10. It ain't no Prius when it comes to mileage, but I drive it everyday and it starts everyday with no drama. And if it broke tomorrow, at least I could stand a fighting chance to fix it myself with some help here on the FTE.

 

Thank y'all for the suggestions, from what it sounds, and the few research I've done, the 6.0 seems to have problems like earlier stated. From what I've read the 6.4 seems to be a little bit better but the gas mileage is poor like also earlier stated. I was looking diesel because i figured more power, and better mileage. But it doesn't sound like mileage on the 6.4 is much better considering the high price of diesel, for all the guys out there with the v10's what kind of mileage are y'all getting? Once again thanks for all the replies!

 

Mine can get 15 mpg freeway, unloaded at 65 mph with the cruise on. It gets about 10 in town, and about 12-ish with a combination of both. It gets about 8mpg towing my loaded 18ft toy hauler up the twisty, steep Oregon coast, and about 11mpg towing a 4500lb loaded car trailer on the freeway. It gets mileage comparable to the gutless Suburban it replaced and has much more grunt. I haven't been sorry a bit since I bought it and I'm paying $3.89 a gallon while diesel is $4.29 so the difference in cost per mile isn't as big as you might think.

 

My '03 crew cab 4x4 5.4 with ZF 6-speed gets around 18mpg unloaded combined hwy/city. I regularly tow an 18' tandem axle with either a car or 4-6 bikes at a time with no problems, mileage drops to around 14. It lacks nothing in the power department for anything I've ever towed (heaviest thing being full size Chevy on my trailer). To top it all off, I have never had anything fail on this truck (knock on wood) in 183,000 miles. Just regular maintenance, these things seem to be super reliable. It's a 2003 so it's a 5.4 2-valve motor. I can't really speak on the 3-valves.

 

$4.60 / gallon of diesel (me)
18 mpg unloaded at 60 mph with 6 people in cab, A/C on
lifted on 35" mud tires3.90 / gallon 87 octane (you)
15 mpg unloaded at 65 mph
don't know your lift/tire sizes...but stock I believe from past posts?If I were paying $4.29 a gallon for diesel, I'd be spending $86 per tank (20 gallons). That's 4.19 miles per $1 spent in fuel...not alot of difference, but still significant. I'm also getting 12-13 mpg with 100% city driving at 35-40 mph at the fastest...but actually spend alot of time at 25ish mph due to trafficIt's a wash really IMO for driving a V-10 or PSD daily when you talk $$$. The real difference between them is when you purchase one, or maintenance. I waited 10yrs to buy a PSD F-250. I would have been perfectly happy in a gasser, but it wasn't what I truly wanted. I'd suggest the OP get a gasser purely from the price aspect. The PSD isn't cheap to purchase, and they can run pretty expensive if something breaks. My truck is my daily driven toy/present to self. So I can afford downtime if I break her. Not alot of people can do that. Keep those factors in mind and mind your wallet

 

This all sounds good...however am i missing the additional $$ to purchase a diesel over gasser? You need to "crunch all the numbers". New is like $6k i would think used would be at least $2500.??

 

Check out these videos (six of them) on the various Ford diesel engines... very informative.

6.0 vs 7.3 POWERSTROKE FORD DIESEL 1 OF 6 - YouTube

 

The initial money someone spends on a PSD pretty much stays there in resale value. A PSD will command an easy almost $4-5k in price difference between it and a gasser

I'm trying to find a PSD Excursion and I'm seeing almost $10k price difference between a nice V-10 and a PSD. I'm sure in other areas of the country there is a smaller price gap

 

I agree 100% ^^

However, if your going to compare the cost of driving a diesel vs gas i believe the sticker has a lot to factor in to the comparison. If he does not plan on selling it.....well resale does not factor in. Plus he wants to spend less than $20k on a 04-08 , I'm thinking gas. My neighbor traded in a 2001 psd and got $15,500 with 121,00 miles (yes, i saw the paperwork)

All parts seem to cost more on a diesel.

 

I agree, finding a nice diesel under the 20K cap is gonna be a challenge unto itself. I recently saw a battle-scarred, beat-down '00 crew cab with a 7.3 and a zillion miles with the asking price of $15K and they got it within a week. I wouldn't have paid $8k for it myself. There's always a lot of later ones around here, but to get a diesel under $20k it seems it's always a regular cab XL with lots of miles as well.

 

I don't want to dissuade you from getting a 6.0L Power Stroke. Many owners here love their 6.0L Power Strokes. There are modifications you can perform to make the engine much more reliable.

As for the 6.4L power Stroke, there are also modifications you can do to the engine to increase fuel economy.

While the subject is hotly debated, for the most part a diesel truck will tow a load easier than a V-10. That being said, a large consideration needs to be given on your load. What are you towing and how often?

If you're over 12,000 and tow very regularly, a Power Stroke is your engine of choice.

If you tow 8000-12000 and are towing occasionally, you should probably think about a V-10.

If you're under 10,000 pounds for the load and still towing occasionally, consider a 5.4L V-8. Mine(see signature) tows an 8000 pound load 10-12 times a year without any issues.

Also, if you intend to use this truck as a daily driver (like me) you need to consider your daily commute. A 5 mile drive twice a day won't be bad for a gasoline engine, but if you do that in a diesel engine you will be facing maintenance issues. Diesel engines like heavy loads and long drives.

 

I appreciate the replies y'all are very helpful, I do tow a stock trailer full of wild pigs quite a few times a year but I don't think its that heavy, as for prices around here a 2008 pad with 100,000 miles seem to go from 18-22,000 that's with the 6.4 and all the v-10 seem to be around 13-18 honestly I would like to have a 7.3 but it's awful hard to find one that's not beat to hell around here