First

Thanks to all 217 different responses! Of those 217 data points, most came from this site..... but I got PMs, e-mails, personal interviews, and data from 4 other sites.

A vibration and steering bounce / oscillation was my focus and most of you did not report it as an issue.

I started out in one thread here back in June 2005 with a truck that had around 11,000 miles and 10 months old. She is now at 17,000 miles and 15 Months old and still smells and runs like day one. I love my King Ranch!

I was seeking confirmation that my $38,964 King Ranch 3v V10 4 door 4x4 was not just acting weird or strange. June in Texas is a serious 98-107 degree F. My MPGs were way down to 10.2 for my daily commute and getting worse. I wanted to know that my fussing with RUBICON was not a bunch of HOT air... I have concluded that the semi frequent crap fuel and the 107F day temps were to blame.

I do NOT have to deal with oxygenated fuel here but end up with it fairly frequently when I travel to Dallas, Houston or out of state to Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona.

I run a stock truck very empty.......... or very heavy.
Base weight with my lard *** is 7848lbs topped off with 38 gallons of 87 RON stuff. When heavy we are talking 22,863lbs total.

OK here is the deal:

I can not find a way to post my spread sheets other then as a picture. So what would be the point if you can not do your own sorting and "what if" playing...so I am just going to post my quick evaluations.

Overall 217 trucks with 1,672,438 miles (you lovers of the PSD or Dodge or Chevy or what ever, .....need to ponder that little piece of data for a few minuets!)
No,,,,,, seriously!!!!!!! Think about it!
Once you read the rest of this post we will see if you can do analytical thought processes!

Average miles driven at posting time was 7500miles (low was 300 and high was 23,486)

The 2005/06 trucks who posted data:

Anomalies with no clear indication of cause----
3 North West Trucks get low MPG when empty
1 Central Northern Truck is also a fuel pig
4 Trucks East of Mississippi are also in the poor MPG category
3 Mid West trucks claim 14.7MPG averages
1 West Coast 15 MPG claim
1 Eastern 16.7 MPG claim

If you remove these 13 extremes from the data then:

Fuel Efficiency:

Over all Average 11.2 MPG

Empty Average MPG is 12.7 MPG

Heavy Average MPG is 9.1 MPG
(the truth here is if you tow heavy and go real fast it is down around 7.7 mpg...but don't tell your PSD friends!)

Conclusion:
3V V10s get about 12 MPG average mixed driving and around 8-9mpg with a full load on the back.

Big deal! This statistic has not significantly changed in 5 years. Yes the truck got heavier and the HP increased. My personal thought is that the 5R110 trany was the real upgrade that made a difference. I shudder to think of a 4R100 pulling the loads and speeds I abuse this truck with.

Maintenance:

No plug blow outs
No IAC reports
No COP reports
No O2 sensor reports
Reports (5) of suspension or steering problems
Reports (17) of 5R110 auto trans problems
Reports (3) of Brake problems
Reports (7) of Integrated Trailer Brake controller problems
Reports (6) of weird start problems

Of the 217 trucks 21 had Factory Tech do a Re-flash of the PCM
Of the 21 re-flashes only 2 report the problem (low power/poor MPG) was solved.
Of the 19 other re-Flashes, further diagnostics was required.
In most cases (16 of the 19) the TPS AND Foot Throttle assy were replaced (unknown what assy was really bad)
In three of the cases the owner is not sure what the hell finally fixed the problem.

Conclusion: The Throttle Position Sender/ Stepper Motor Drive assy--- OR--- the Foot Throttle electronics are prone to have issues at a much higher rate then ECM/PCM/ABS/ computers.

Ford has a TSBs on the 5R110w Tranny, Integrated Trailer Brake (ITBC), and Steering issues

There was a early 2005 MY 5R110W problem with internal components that Ford appears to have fixed.

The ITBC is still a problem for owners with older (pre Feb 05) controllers).

The Steering issue is case by case with no clear ideas what the real cause is.

I had my entire suspension looked at by myself and three experts...they changed my Steering Wheel as per the TSB.... I still have a oscillation after heavy road bumps. I have decided to live with it. I excluded all the reports of this with the much heavier PSD motor.

The vibration and steering issue was my focus and most of you did not report it as an issue.

Please do not go looking for a problem with your steering or suspension... remember it is a BIG ASSED very Heavy truck and most of the time the tires and Shocks are more to blame then any engineering flaw. I truly believe the coil front suspension and the newer much heavier steering box are NOT the problem. I suspect it is weight distribution, Coil spring compression rates and poor factory shock absorber selection.

That is it fellow V10 owners... 217 trucks went over 1.5 million Miles and report nothing significant!

If you extrapolate the data, we know that Ford sold over 3 Million SuperDuty trucks in last 5 years and 16% are V10s. So there should be about half a million times 10 spark plugs in V10s... 5 million....that is 5,000,000 V10 spark plugs ( don't forget all the 4.6L and 5.4L ones either) hummm sort of makes the odd plug or two popping out sort of insignificant in my book...

OK that is a lie... first thing I did when I heard of the problem was check my plugs and every 30,000 miles there after!

I predict TPS, IAC, and "Fire by Wire" Foot feed are the only serious things we need to worry about on a 2005 /2006 3V V10 SuperDuty!

 

Good report. Must have taken some time

 

Wow, thats some really great information.

 

Thank you for the time you spent on this info! Very generous!

 

thanks fred.you seem to have hit the nail to the wall on mpg's and the problem i also feel is poor shocks on bumps. my mpgs are almost right in line with you figures and my best was a one time only, i have never seen it again. but i for sure have regained my old teenage v8 right foot.
NOW what do you mean "roll call final post 2000". we all know that can't happen. you would have a email box filled up like i did.

 

A most excellent 2000th post! Congrats and thanks for the information Fred!

 

Hat's off Fred... That V10 sure is looking better and better everyday...

 

Fred, your report is right on and I agree the Torqueshift is probably a bigger performance booster than the 3V upgrade. The fact that we got both upgrades in the one year made 05 and now 06 a very good year. Oh , I did not even mention that 05 was the big jump in GVWR and GVCWR and we now have a SRW pickup that has a bigger legal payload than most duallies had a few years ago.

The SD is a heavy duty pickup that is built to work and that is when it shines. Mine can ride like a Lincoln Continental on perfectly smooth roads but if the roads are rough I describe my front end as busy. The truck steers fine but you feel the front end.
I sometimes feel the V10 is too light for the Camper PKG front springs because when I have my slide in Camper on , the front end seems to handle even nicer and as I have posted before I was able to drive this truck over 800 miles in one day with that Camper on weighing 11000 pounds. I will be 55 in a month and I remember when my 1975 F250 was new and I had a little 8' camper on, it was tough to drive 400 miles a day and I was 25 years old. I don't think I am the component that is improving.
These new trucks are nothing less than incredible.

Anyway the Camper is gone, I pick up a new 32' foot Montana high profile Fiver next Thursday . This is all decked out with double pane windows and Arctic pkg so it weighs about 10000 pounds empty and it is 12'9" high so the V10 should know it's there.
I can hardly wait to see how well she tows.

Fred, you were the single biggest reason I went for the V10 and I will never forget that. Thank you again and this 05 V10 has turned out to be the best vehicle I have ever owned and 10 months has not dampened my enthusiasm for this truck.

 

right on! bravo don,
that is the truth you and fred helped bring my dream truck to reality. just wish i had listened to you both about the 4:30's. but to tell the truth this motor trans combo loves the 56's i now have, so it turns 2500 at 60 it loves them. torqe is right were i crave it. pulls like a raped brama bull. my mpg's came up .50mpg both city and highway. so it's not near a psd. i don't care.
as to the trans wish you both could drive mine after it was pulled and bullit proofed. boy the shift it now has. smooth,frim, power full when you nail it. for me it's level 10 power forever.

 

Thanks Fred:

I always look forward to your posts. I was once a Chevy only driver, but after my V-10, I don't think I would ever go back.
Also after watching you posts and others on this forum, I can't see any reason I would go with a PSD, Duramax or god forbid even the CTD.
Anytime I think there is a better way to tow my fifth wheel, I simply dial up this forum and readjust my thinking.

 

thanks for all the work and effort you put into this report, it's very informative. On top of everything else you do, I don't know how you found time, but it was cool to read.

Don (wrench), congrats on the upcoming birthday and the new fiver, man-oh-man, you will be living in the lap of luxury with that new trailer. Hopefully you have a couple little yapping dogs to camp with to complete the picture ? Yea, yea, I know, I do too. I rationalize mine by calling the dog 'protection', heh heh, like a 4 pound chihauhau is protection.

 

ken you can have one of mine. they are each 100 pounds of golden retriever. from the breeder gold rush kennals.

 

Thanks Ken , I have two dogs, a Doberman Bitch about 16 months old a Standard
Schnauzer that is 5 years old. The Shnauzer wanted a dog to play with so we got him the Dobie. She is a sweetheart and they have not really figured out their pecking order but they are hilarious to watch. The SS is 50 pounds and the Dobie is 70 pounds and now the SS is using all his muscle to wrestle with the Dobie. When she was a tiny pup he was very gentle. My wife is also German descent so I have a fondness for that nationality . Please don't tell her I am comparing her to the dogs.

I always like to hear stories of that V10 van of yours. She sounds like a real sleeper.
Nobody expects a van to haul *** but they do with a V10 in them. I have never seen a V10 Van in these parts except for the E series Class C motorhomes and there are a kajillion of those. Take care, Don

 

A SuperDuty V10 is not complete with out a dog or two to drool on the leather, and demand the window down so they can dry out their eyes and make their lips flapp at 70mph!

Our extended family is Pete the 32 Lb Boston terrior and Shadow a 89lb Tan and dark faced Boxer. Both "rescue" critters that will break our hearts when the finish this mortal coil!... Not sure if I can pony up 20,000 dollars but the reports of animal cloning make me dream of replicating both these extrodinary creatures!.... No, I am no where near as ate up as the PETA folks, but it really ticks me off to see animals abused, neglected, and not given their due.

BSEG and hope this message is taken in the light I really intend.... LIFE is good with a V10 and a good dog! (or two)

 

Dead on Fred. Humans can be the most barbarous monsters to ever have walked this earth. I avoided the term "animals" - simply because no animal is capable of the cold blooded cruelty humans can inflict. The worst is seeing the pitiful dogs used to bait pit fighters. I've friggen flipped after seeing the walking corpses of some of these abandoned animals and trying to picture what they've been through in my mind's eye.

The worst part is that any of these dogs could easily have been made to become absolute loyal and loving friends to their torturers. Cold people, just friggen cold.