After selling my really nice low mileage 7.3 Excursion looking to get a cheaper version to keep and not have so much money sitting in the driveway not being used much. I'd prefer to stay with a 4x4 for resale in case I change my mind again. Looking at a 2000 Limited 4wd 130,000 miles V10 in really nice shape. Little rust on the underside but nothing visible on the paint. Recent tires, brakes, and frontend work. Leather in great shape vs a 2002 Excursion 4wd 5.4 XLT with 80,000 miles in great condition with no rust. The 2002 would be about $5000 more. I've not read a lot about gas Excursions but realize the V10 will pull 10-11,000lbs and the 5.4 probably 6-7000 lbs. Right now we only pull 4-5000lbs. Might change in the future. Does anyone have any advise about a V10 vs 5.4 comparison they want to share? Thanks, Dan

 

A 5.4 will really struggle with anything. What gearing does the v-10 have? If it has 4.30s . . . stop reading now and buy it.

 

V10 for sure I had a 5.4 in a F150 and Have the V10 now in the EX and its so much better

 

The 5.4L Excursions are so under-powered already, that towing number is really a stretch, and not including going up hills. Get the V10.

The best use case for a 5.4L Excursion is to motor swap it unless you are only putzing around on flat land.

I did see a guide online that might be a way to save a 5.4L Excursion, there is apparently a guide on one of the mustang sites that can be used to convert any 4.6L and 5.4L 2V vehicle to 3V provided you don't have stringent smog requirements.

It involves mixing and matching parts on a 3V 4.6L or 5.4L to convert it to cable driven throttle, and make it match up to the 2V PCM, i believe you also need charge motion delete plates, cam phaser lockouts, and a custom fuel rail kit, and to splice several sensors with the newer style plugs, but once thats all done, a quick retune by a dyno shop and you roll off with 320 HP and 320-340 ft lbs of torque. Not as much as a V10 but getting a lot closer, and would definitely feel like a new truck, they figured this swap out to do it on older F150s and 99-04 Mustang GTs to get 3V heads to work on them, and the parts to do that on an Excursion are all available, but its a bit of work to do it all, and requires several intake parts, and the throttle body from a GT500 i believe, to make it all work.

Here is someone elses build thread, doing a 4.6 3V into a 2V Mustang, the same rules and methods apply across, just using a 5.4L block instead of 4.6L, the heads are the same, and the manifold is just wider.
https://trackmustangsonline.com/thre...ew-edge.18087/

 

Thanks everyone for your ideas. Sounds like it is an obvious choice. I'm going to try and buy the V10 next week. Wish I had not already committed to something this weekend. Good thing is V10s are not selling really well right now.
Dan

 

Definitely get the V10 "Limited", there are a number of items that make it "nice to have" over the "XLT".
I think the hitch is the same as on our 2002, and with the larger bolts used in 2002 the 2000 will handle 1250 lbs for towing.
$5000 will also buy a few nice upgrades - both will probably benefit with adding a rear anti-roll bar and larger trans cooler for towing.
The 2000 might not have the radiator tank trans cooler, but that can be handled.

 

The 5.4 4x4 will have 4.10 gears and the 6.8 will have either 3.73s or 4.30s. Even with the 4.10s the 5.4 will be far from an ideal tow rig, the 6.8 with 3.73 (and stock sized tires) should handle your 5000lb load easily, with 4.30s you should look for a bigger trailer!

 

I've had both 5.4 and 6.8 vehicles. Loved the 5.4 in my pickup, but a 5.4 Excursion is a "Mom Mobile". It's great for hauling a bunch of kids to and from soccer practice, but it'll be a disappointment when you hook your boat or camper up to it.

 

5.4 will be a dud towing. The V10 is barely enough even with upgrades compared to modern V8 offerings.

 

if you don’t mind, how much did you get for the 7.3, my friend recently sold his for 19k in 2 days and it had roughly 150k miles

 

I sold my 2001 Black with 2019 Tires and rims, 7.3 Diesel, 4WD, 85,000 miles, No rust, southern CA Truck, XLT for $37,000 on bringatrailer.com. It had Ziebart sprayed against rust underneath and had Bullet Liner Material put on the top for protection after removing the rack.

 

Very nice 👍🏾

 

Hello, I had an 4 WD - F250 Crew Cab with the V8 and pulled a 23 foot boat from Eustis, FL to the Florida Keys for a vacation one year. The truck struggled to keep up with Highway Speeds, 70 - 80 mph on the turnpike and highways. My V10 4WD - 2002 Excuision handles the pull with the bonus of secure cargo storage with no problem.

I did Celluar Cell site work in the past, and on occassion I could drop the second row seats and transport 10 foot Antennas. Keep my tools, equipment, and supplies secure.
The gas mileage sucks, no doubt about it. Maintaining it can be expensive, for sure. But the V10 & Space keep me married to the truck.

For me, I plan to keep the Excursion until I die.

Have a great day and a better tomorrow

Jack



Driving a Camry for economy.

 

For rarity i would consider the 5.4. Not alot were built (actually the least of the three engines). Plus since the couple of decades the 5.4 have been replaced for another engine. Then you have gas milage which is a important subject going forward, according to fuelly you have the v10 average of 11mpg and 5.4 at 13.5mpg or a 20% increase.

Just some data points since i have not seen any official numbers from ford. With a data pool of 605 vehicles (all years) on fuelly only 5% were 5.4, 33% were the v10 and 62% were diesel.

I prefer cloth seats over leather. The cloth i feel is more forgiving and more comfortable to me. Leather is always sweaty, could be just me though. Plus 5k less! Thats alot of gas money!

 

The cloth seats don't to seem to wear/age out like leather, but I like the leather.
The OP said the 2002 with 5.4L & 80k miles was $5k more.