I see that a lot of people like the V10, but I am wondering why many of you opt for the V10 over the diesel? I have the old 460 gas motor, and would much prefer a diesel for the fuel economy, because I haul loads every day. I'm just curious if there is something I am missing in the V10.

 

Hey if your hauling loads everyday diesel is a must. I was in your position never had a diesel before. Lookin for V-10. This 7.3 came up for sale and I bought it. Oh I love this truck especially ther diesel portion. Power to burn and great fuel economy. The V-10 is good but a gas hog while towing. Get the diesel youll love it. I wouldnt think of a gasser now.

 

The actual test for V10 vs Diesel is how many miles per year you will be putting on the truck!! Anything less than 15,000 miles a year the gasser will be more cost affective!! 15,000 to 30,000 it will be a toss up. But if you use the truck more than 30,000 miles a year the smoker will kill the gasser on overall cost!!!

 

150ford is right. But just remember the extra purchase cost plus the high cost of service and maintaince on the diesel. Wouldn't want you to have a "Stroke" when you pay $85 for an oil change every 3000 miles or $300 for a single injector or the electric to keep it warm in the winter so it will start or the two batteries that run $100 each or... well you get the idea. There are pros and cons to everything. My self I don't tow much. I didn't want to pay $5000 extra for the same truck with a diesel. I didn't want to listen to it rattle. I didn't want to smell the exhaust. I didn't want to smell the fuel. I didn't want to pay the afore mentioned expenses.

My 10 uses more fuel and it isn't quite as powerful as the PSD. It was $5000 less. The fuel is cheaper. I can get fuel anywhere. It is quiet. It doesn't smell. It starts in any temperature without being pluged in. It only costs $20 to have the oil changed. I only have one battery at $60 each. And so far 90K and still going strong with only regular maintaince.

I have two friends with '04 6.0 250's. I've driven them both. One is a 6 SPD the other a torque shift. They both run great. Typical turbo lag on take off but after a couple seconds they go like the devil. Both have had to be reflashed three times and both have had exhaust leaks resulting in fumes in the cab. So I guess you have to make the call. They are all great trucks!

 

I have both diesel and gas motors in our company trucks. My personal truck is V10 simply because it is easier to maintain, quieter, less cost up front, and plenty powerful to haul my two Harleys, 4 adults, dog, and 26' TT. I used a 7.3 PSD for years as my personal truck and we had a 01 V10 that my wife used. I found my self driving the Platinum more and more because I liked it better. There are a few days when I miss my 7.3 but that is because over the years I pretty much doubled the HP on it with all the mods and chip. I don't miss the wait to start, wait to warm up some, wait to cool the turbo, or the cackle, the turbo whine, the smell, or the tinkering and maintenance (still got my CPS in the tool box ;>}). But i do freely admit I miss the massive black smoke and suprised look of ricers when my 8000lb truck left tham at the light wondering what the hell just happened. My V10 has extrodinary performance, but I keep the exhaust system quiet so when I smoke a Hemi or ricer it is not an attention getting event.

Since I have the 6.0L PSD trucks and my drivers need to ZOOM down the road, I know that the high mileage reports are sometimes inmflated. My ground truth (experiance hauling at decent freeway speeds) is that the diesels get between 13-15mpg. Yes we can back them off to under 2000rpm, down about 63-67mph and increase by 1-2mpg but that will get you run down on Texas highways and in my opinion is not any safer.

Don't get me wrong, the diesels have their place, but you asked, so I will state that the V10 415Cubic Inch 3 valve is one very stout motor and the mpg is not terrible. I haul some very heavy camping loads a long way from centeral Texas over to our vacation place in Arizona, up and down tall mountains. I like to go fairly fast down I10 up about 70-75mph. My V10 is the best of both worlds even if it does cost me a few mpg more. I can get 9-11mpg on the flat segments of the trips and 7mpg when I am climbing a steep mountain and down shift to keep the RPM between 3600-4800.

I did similar trips in the Pacific North West years ago with a couple of Fords with 390 and 460 motors. Up in the power band, climbing steep mountain passes, I was at or below 5mpg. Loved the power of my big blocks, but both of them were very thirsty motors. I did own a fuel injected 460 for a while, and it was a little easier on the gas but not that much. I think the V10 has more torque and HP for less total fuel usage.

As you can tell I am very impressed with Fords efforts getting us more power and better handling trucks. I also want to add that the TorqueShift trans 5R110 behind the PSD or the V10 is a great towing package and they are the best auto trans I ever owned. I previously was a very vocal hand shaker purest, but Ford has changed my mind with this trans. I liked the 4R100 Ok but I really like the 5R110 much better!

We had one DuraMax Allison and one 8.1L gas Allison for three months. We got when we absorbed another company into ours. I drove both for a month and they are very comfortable, soft sprung, and the gasser was the fuel hog every body reports. Neither had the power of the Fords and I was not impressed with the tranny either. We sold them after my partner was done with his month of evaluation.

As stated above the real reason to deliberatly choose the 7.3 or 6.0L diesel over the V10 is direct miles per year hauling loads. The Powerstroke will definately pay foir itself in the long haul (pun intended) and they are great power packages. Just not my preference in a pleasure truck.

 

To clarify, the oil change interval on the '03 and newer PSD is 7,500 miles for normal service and 5,000 miles for severe service.

Per Ford, occasional towing or hauling does not put you in to the severe service catagory so most people who pull a TT or similar load now and again can still use the 7,500 mile service interval.

Daryl

 

Thanks Daryl Hunter for the info! Of course the 3000 mile interval I quoted is the severe duty recommendation. I only quoted that because most people I know don't let it go to the 5000 miles that Ford quotes for normal duty. Everyone I know with diesels don't let it go 7500 miles either. I've been wrenching for over 30 years and my dad was the service manager for the local Ford dealership for over 35 years and we never let maintaince run to the maximum recommended intervals. But that is neither here nor there. My point is the maintaince and repair costs are quite a bit higher on a diesel vs. gas and even using your preferences (7500mi for the diesel and 5000 for the gas for normal service) the diesel is more than double the cost of a gas for for oil changes over the same amount of miles.

 

There have got to be literally thousands of posts, in hundreds of threads, on this website addressing this subject. EVERY one of them has become some sort of SNIPsing contest between those who prefer and advocate one or the other.

Already I see the whole maintenance arguement coming along nicely. It won't be long before this escalates into much more if not kept in check now. The simplest thing to do, is to simply address the original poster's question of wheather he's missing out on something special or unusual with the V10.

It really is simple. What you miss by buying a V10 is - a 5000.00 savings in initial cost. Everyone knows the whole resale value point of the diesel. For some, money saved now is better than money saved later.

Those who buy diesel simply want them. No more no less - and no better no worse.

Either engine can be made to serve as well as the other in any capacity.
This will cost money but it can be done. Both engines have a good reputation
and will serve equally well. Both have characteristic advantages, but are very close in capability.

Arguing it makes no sense - it's like arguing chocolate or vanilla. If I like vanilla, you can argue chocolate all you like - when we stop arguing in front of the Dairy queen and it's my turn to order, I'm still ordering a vanilla cone .

 

I see that a lot of people like the V10, but I am wondering why many of you opt for the V10 over the diesel?
Was exactly what was asked and I told him why I opted for the 10. I believe A fully agreed that the diesel has its place and so does the gasser. I never said one was better than the other and I haven't seen where anyone in this post has. Daryl stated the facts as did I . The guy wanted to know peoples reasoning for choosing the V10 and I simply told him mine. Sorry if you or anyone else was offended by my difference of opinion. GEEZ!

 

I didn't change the oil in mobey for 87,000 miles!! I did change the filter and added to the full line!! Don't change it but every 10,000 miles now!! Cost of maint. on a smoker is less than a gasser!! If you put a lot of miles like I do, the smoker will pay for the extra cost in 2 years!!

BTW you paid an extra $2,000 over the standard 5.4, so don't talk any trash about extra cost for a Smoker!!

Batterys are $80.00 Starter was $340.00 installed!! That is the only thing that has needed to be replaced on my 01! Mobey now has 192,000 miles on him!! That's about 56,000 miles a year!!

 

Speaking of smoker, what have you been smoking? The 5.4 to 6.8 cost difference is $800.00

 

When I bought My 01 in 01 the stickers differances, on the ones I looked at it was over $2,000!! for the packages I was looking at.

They was trying to sell me hard on the gasser but I wouldn't have been driving oil burners too long!!

 

Actually my 2000 was only $500 more. Guess I care a little more for my truck and the hard earned money it took to get it!

 

its $600.00 now, i have to agree its how many miles a year and what you like. with a diesel the more miles the better they pay for them selfs and do have a higher resale,the 5.4 is just not enough motor for towing. but the v10 is. i'm not a diesel man because i have to work on them every day , my new 250 will have a v10 in it only because i'm a wrench and could not aford the extra 100 per month for the diesel. its surely a matter of your choice gas or diesel.
not changing oil thats something i would never do 5k max, 3k around town.

 

As I've gotten older, and my brain more ossified, I tolerate inconveniences less and less. So I'm abandoning the stick shift on the new truck. I'll also forgo the noise and smell of the PSD for the civility of the
v10. (civil as a berserker )