A tuner can't give you any more air at altitude, and the thinner air is the cause for less power. Forced induction is the only way to actually maintain your power.

That said, although I'm personally pretty partial to diesels, I'm sure the V10 pulls well. In the end, you should drive a few and go with what you enjoy the most, you'll be spending allot of time in it. If it were me and I was planning on pulling a good sized load through the mountains a good bit, I'd definitely want a turbo diesel under the hood. But you know what they say about opinions...

 

Like many of these threads I am sure all aspects are covered between all three motors.


I would like to add just one thing that I have realized over the years between all of the motors besides that they would all get the job done.

The big difference I see now between all the motors is how much effort it will take to fix when they break down.

The way I see it is if the v10 or 6.0 break down you are pretty much calling a tow truck because nothing on either of these motors is an easy road side fix.

If a 7.3 breaks down lots of times it is something simple and can be changed on the side of the road with minimal tools and it is a good chance most auto stores will have the part in stock if you already don't have the part in your tool box. Along the same lines any breakdown on the 7.3 (motor wise not trans) can normally be fixed fast at any garage and you can be on your way fast, sometimes within the same day.

When a 6.0 or V10 breaks down many times it is weeks or more to get it fixed.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

I sat down and did some figuring on fuel costs between a V10 and a 7.3L.

I used the following mileage numbers:
V10 (loaded): 7
V10 (city, empty): 9
V10 (highway, empty): 14
7.3L (loaded): 11
7.3L (city, empty): 13
7.3L (highway, empty): 19

I drive 10000 empty mi/year and 8000 loaded mi/yr. These are probably both on the low side for me because I like to go places.

When empty, 90% of the miles will be highway.

As of 11/10/2014, the national average price for a gallon of gas is $2.93 and diesel is $3.67. (US DOE figures)

With these numbers, the fuel cost for a V10 is $5,557.70 per year. The diesel cost is $4,689.82. That's a difference of $867.88.

KBB tells me the difference between two similarly equipped excursions, one with a V10 and the other with a 7.3L, is about $4k in my area.

So the diesel will pay for itself sometime in year 5. The more miles I drive and the more expensive fuel becomes, the closer that break-even point gets to today.

I did not factor in the difference in maintenance costs between the two.

I'm new to these trucks and even I don't believe that.

 

Looks like with your mileage, the fuel cost justifies it well. I guarantee even proper general maintenance won't even come close to an $860 difference.

 

Of course, that 4k difference is only blue book. If I find a decent 2000-2003 7.3 Excursion limited with 150k miles, the seller is invariably asking $8k over blue book.

 

I've been offered 32k for mine, I have no idea what book is. I have a captain that I employ that asks me every week or so to sell him my EX. I just reply NO, I know his bank will only loan him 18k on it but he has the rest in cash ready to go. NO

I'm sure you will be happy with a 7.3, however you just can't beat a well built bulletproofed 6.0 it just cost a lot more to make it what Ford and international fell short doing.

 

Good point.

I'm guessing he's referring to the type of failures. I've only had three things go wrong that prevented me from driving either of my 7.3's. An idler pulley bearing failed, an alternator failed, and the power steering line ruptured.

The idler made an awful noise, but let me drive to a parts store. They had it in stock, and it took me 15 minutes to change. I had two fully charged batteries, so I easily got to the parts store when the alternator went. They had it in stock also, and it took me about 20 minutes to change. Same general story with the powersteering lines. I added fluid and got to the parts store, the lines were in stock, so ~$50 and a half hour later I was back on my way.

No doubt there are many similar experiences with the 6.0 and 6.8. With the 6.0 however, if you have not yet gone through it and updated the needed components, you are more likely to have issues with the high pressure oil system (on older models). All these failures are well documented and easily fixed given the parts, but they aren't likely to be carried by any local stores, and it's much more involved to change them than what I've dealt with on the 7.3. With the 6.8, I'm not familiar with many of its failure modes. I've read briefly about spark plugs pulling their threads in early models with improperly torqued plugs, but that's basically the extent of my knowledge on those motors. If that did happen while driving, no doubt the side of the road wouldn't be the ideal place to cut new threads. That's not to say the 7.3's don't have more complex issues on the road that require a more complex repair.

To sum up, I think all he meant was given all three options, if each did break down on the road, the 7.3 would be the most likely to have a simple, quick repair. With due diligence, I think all would be a reliable option. Just don't forget the due diligence thing...

 

Yeah like that.

 

Snow, Not trying to be an pain but what sort of V-10 failures have you been seeing? I'm not a mechanic and my 6.8 experience is limited to my 37k miles, mostly towing that I have logged on mine. The only issue I've had at all was a fuel pump failure, my repair took a few days due to buying the part off the internet vs locally (it was available locally) then getting the wrong part and having to play that game, so much for saving a buck buying online. The blown plug (too few threads in the head) issue was sorted out by '03 and even a blown plug or failed COP shouldn't leave you stranded on the shoulder. And broken exhaust studs are an almost certain failure, but they go slowly over time and shouldn't leave you stuck someplace. I am just curious as to what else I should maybe be thinking about as I drag my trailer around the country.
I am NOT trying to discount what you are saying here, I am certain that you spend waaayyy more under hood time than I ever will and I would like to take whatever precautions I can to avoid getting stranded on the road.
And for the record, even this big V-10 fan thinks that the OP's needs would be best served with a deezle vs a V-10 (the 5.4 would be too awesome for his needs, right Apoc. ) Mostly due to his high altitude towing needs. Our Eastern mountains aren't high enough to steal too much of my power, so the V-10 works very well for me and my 12k TT, big Western mountains may be another story though. I just think that his numbers might be a little off that were used in his comparisons, I get 8.5 to 9.25 MPG towing (gears, headers, tunes) High Cetane reports 9 MPG pulling a heavy boat and 1 Ex camper sees 8.3 MPG pulling his 9200lb TT, so the the OP's projected towing mileage of 7 may be a little weak. I don't know how close his 7.3 estimates are to real world results but I see that Forest is getting 9.5 MPG pulling an 11k TT with his bullet proofed 6.0.
If you are buying an EX to tow you really should set it up for towing, gas or diesel all are made better by the right mods, so I think it is fair to compare modded gassers to modded oil burners.

 

Sorry Tom, can we count gas station stops as break down time?

I was really only thinking of the plug failure with the v10. I will agree they are reliable motors, just thirsty.

 

My wife has her coffee intake and my towing MPG pretty well calibrated, we both need pit stops around the same time, so those stop are gonna happen either gas or deezle, it just takes a little longer to fill up than to drain.
Yes they are thirsty, no denying that!

 

You can do a plug repair road side if need be, also you can unplug the injector on that cylinder and drive it home with a miss. Not a debilitating type of deal people make it out to be.

65k miles on 3 different V10's and never a debilitating issue, did have an alternator go on a road trip but made it home without issue.

 

You can do any repair roadside

Sent from my mind thanks to the Internet and an app.

 

True, but this is honestly something you could have done in 30ish mins.

 

The whole point is that repairing things Inc the size of the road is silly

Sent from my mind thanks to the Internet and an app.