I've been thinking lately, with gas prices the way they are, how nice it would be to have the PSD in our '97 E-350, especially if (when) we upgrade from a popup to a travel trailer. I'm curious - does anyone have a van with the Powerstroke? Do you like it? How are gas mileage and noise levels? Seems like a van with the diesel would be a near-perfect tow vehicle for a large family, but does it work out that way?

Isaac

 

My uncles had a pre-powerstroke 7.3 in a heavy one ton van some years ago. They used it for their carpentry business. The loved it.. It had a 3 speed trans and still got 17mpg at 70ish mph.... It would also tow a small mountain....

 

Noise levels are not too bad with a 7.3. They say the new 6.0 is better with more power. A 7.3 in a van is a little hard to work on sometimes.

 

there is a guy over at vannin.com goes by the handle BoneHead... He has a 75 E van with a 99 PSD in it... he did put on a larger turbo, and exhaust, etc... It is a nice ride...

Here is a link to an article about it.
http://www.vannin.com/showvans/bonehead/index.html

 

yes,we have 03 e350 7.3turbo d,club wagon. love it! had 95, same thing before. loved it. had 180,000 on it, sold to freind. he's still running daylights out of it. 4th ford van since 78. 2 gas.78 351 windser(?), 4spd stick on floor. great van!!! 86 club, 302 v8, 302 sucked! rest of van pretty good. had some ac issues. do not buy a diesel anything for fuel milage reasons alone! diesels require entirely and extremly different mindsets. a diesel is an investment. it will repay you many times over. but you must pay attention to its very different needs. very best of luck!!

 

I bought a '97 Club Wagon 15 passenger van (E350) w/ 3.55 gears and E4OD and the 7.3 PSD. We have disability in family and so have a lift. Van is a delight. Lots of power. Sweet driving. Seats, however, are miserable and engine is very hard to get to. Engine noise is high and listening to TV/radio/cell phone is very difficult. All in all, I would not trade having owned an '81 E250 previously with gutless 351W even after performance rebuild. Hardest job is changing the fuel filter but even with the detractions I would not go back to gas. Smell is not really an issue either.

 

If the noise inside the cabin is too much, you could always line the engine cover, firewall, and front floor with "Dynamat"(sp? it's early) This stuff when used properly can take all the noise away.......

 

I had a 7.3 in my E-350 for ten years. The day it blew the rods out the sides of the block at 180,000 miles was the happiest day of my life. I have permanent hearing damage from the noise in the cab. Talking was nearly impossible and the stereo had to be so loud when at highway speed you couldn't stand it when you shut the motor off. I used to tow a 7000 pound enclosed trailer with mine and on the hills it would only go 26-27 miles per hour and wide open it would barely run 55 into a head wind. There are hills in my town I had to avoid, as it would power out and stall on the hills and I would have to back down and find another way. It didn't die; it just would not pull the load. I took out the 3.55 gears and put in 4.10's. That helped a little and only dropped the mileage from 12 to 11 mpg. Towing it only got 8 mpg. Best tank ever running empty on the highway with a tail wind down hill was 14 mpg. My annual average maintenance bills were around $2000. I had extra Caterpillar cab insulation in and under it and it was in the Ford garage about 4 times a year to keep it running. Glow plugs, batteries, starters, alternators, injectors, lift pump, filters, injection pumps, timing issues, smoking, burning oil, oil leaks, water pumps, fuel leaks, and it was hard on the front end were the main problems. It was hard to keep aligned and it ate tires. It was novel at first because it did sound pretty heavy duty but after a couple years it became a real bummer. That diesel in the van was very hard to work on as well because you could hardly get in there to work on it.

I now have a 460 in it and get 8 mpg around town and 10 on the highway towing up those same 26 mph hills now only at 65! My stereo is now at 19 on the dial instead of 32. I now have 10,000 miles on the swap and it hasn't been in the shop since and my front-end problems are all gone and I don't have my wife telling me not to yell at her anymore. We can talk normal now and even with a stout head wind I have to lift on the accelerator constantly to keep it under 75 with my trailer now. It’s like I’m running with a tail wind or down hill everywhere I go.

 

Good story, and very familiar. I too have had the gamut of Ford diesels, my last purchase was an ext length E-350 with the 6.8 liter V-10. I love it. I'm still spending for gas the $5,000 I saved with the diesel. The diesel in the van is quite a bit down on power compared to the pick-up, especially on the new baby-stroke 6.0 engine. To each his own I guess, but I love revs, I love an engine that I don't have to turn off to run through the drive through. I love $5 oil filters and 6 quarts of oil. And it jerks my travel trailer up hills like I'm going downhill. AND, like all my Fords (diesels included) I've EVER had, I get 12 mpg. Ken