First off I would like to say hello to everyone. I think I made a big mistake last year when I bought my F250 diesel. It is a 2003 and ran good for one year even though I really didn't drive it much. I figured it was the thing to have for pulling my 11000 lb boat. It did that just fine but my turbo just died so there it sits in the shop. After reading multiple posts on this and other sites it seems to me that the turbo going bad is not a rare occurance on the 6.0ltr. Even my service advisor at Ford said "these turbo's are problematic". To bad they don't tell you that when you buy the damn thing but it's my fault for not doing the proper research. But enough of the whole Diesel thing.

I like Ford and have had three before this one. I want to buy a V-10 now and get out of the diesel. I don't think I can foot the bill for the diesel after the warranty dies. Are there any major issues with the V-10 like there is with the diesel? My dealer says he can get me into a 2006 V-10 for what I am paying now. I think that the V-10 will be a better option for someone who only drives 10-12k a year and pulls only 30-40 times a year. Thanks for your input.

 

Go for it. Opt for the 4.30 gears if you tow often in hilly areas.

 

Welcome to the board Mowhawky. My last F250 SD Supercab had the V-8 and that engine was flawless. Not a single problem. My recently purchased 03 F250 Crew Cab has the V10. I decided to go with the V10 because I don't haul nearly as much as the diesel is designed to pull and my driving habits makes having a diesel not practical. The V10 will still generate almost a comparable level of HP and ft lbs of torque so it was the better choice for me. I am happy with my decision and think it is a better option for those who won't run the engine all day and pull a "commercial"amount of miles.

 

I have a 1999 V-10 and I'm so in love with that motor that I'm going to get one to put in my living room. I've owned many many vehicles, and this is the greatest engine (stock,) that I know of.

That said, I have read about a lot of modulars blowing out spark plugs and ruining the threads. From what I gather this is partly due to the very long spark plug change intervals and fairly short threads. So the answer is, pull the plugs at 20K intervals and replace them, or if they are all good, reinstall them and make certain that they are properly torqued at all times.

 

Go for the V10. Powerful smooth efficient engine. The early ones were prone to spark plug blowout. I can't remember hearing new 3V V10 blowing a plug yet. Even when the older ones do blow a plug, the threads can be replaced with insert's without removing the cylinder head's.

 

Mowhawky, I think you just put into words the reason I backed down on the 6.0 when the time came to buy a new truck. I felt there was no way I could afford to own it after the warranty was over, and I have a habit of keeping things well beyond 100k miles. For my age, I am absolutely terrible at keeping enough funds for large repair bills. I am a pay-as-you-go type of person

 

You are all making this a "no brainer". If only I could go back in time and do it over. If anyone has anything negative to say about the V-10 let me know because right now I'm sold! Thanks again. I'll know something more on Monday as far as a possible deal goes and will post it for input. What do you guys think is a "good" price for a 2006 V-10, Super Cab 4x4, with basic options, no leather XLT?

 

The only two negatives of the V10 are both really simple perceptions and managable... there is indeed a "history" of spark plug blow outs in the early 99 to 2003 range... I have not seen a 04 to 07 report this problem...YET

I say it is a very small percent of all V10 that do this, and some one above suggested my same "cure"... I check mine once at new and every other year. On both my V10s over the last 5 years, I have not even suspected that I might blow a plug... but it is a potential problem and worth keeping an eye on. Howevewr it is not worth passing up on this motor

The second, is that most owners have a desire to try and modify the V10 thinking they can re-live the 70s, 80s and 90s by bolting on so called "better" intake or exhaust stuff and get significant power gains... it simply does not work any more, because Ford engineers screwed up and made a near perfect motor...

The V10 has the widest power band torque curve of any gas motor on the market... it builds 70-80% of it's peak torque down at 1900-2250RPM (70mph top gear cruise range) and peaks at around 3600rpm and stays at this peak all the way past 4800RPM before it starts to drop off... this means you can power this motor all the way to the top of any mountain pass in second gear 4950-5200 rpm and have the power to keep the momentum going... and because it is a solid, proved overhead cam design, you can do this day in day out and it will not hurt a thing but your wallet in fuel costs...

All V10 powered Ford Trucks regardless of configuration get around 12-14mpg empty and in the 7-9.5mpg range when loaded down and driving freeway speeds...

They are cheaper to buy into
They are usually cheaper to insure
They require less costly scheduled maintenance
They are very reliable
They are quieter
They do not stink

The PSD performs slightly better at high altitude
The PSD will usually re-sell faster.... this is really because:

Most folks want the PSD MACHO factor... and Folks think the V10 is a gas guzzler high performance racing motor...and most folks think a 120,000 diesel motor is in better shape then a 120,000 gas motor....

You know know that "most folks" are wrong because of "perceptions" not facts

 

The V10 has one negative characteristic. Even though you have other smaller vehicles in the family that are much better on fuel, it is hard not to use the V10 simply because these engines are so much fun to drive. Mine is so smooth and so quiet it sometimes feels like an electric motor is powering my truck. That is when I am keeping my foot out out of it. Then you hit tow/haul and put the hammer down and the revs come on so fast and smooth , you might think it is a big gas rotary engine.

The V10 spoils you and it will make most other vehicles you drive feel rough and uncouth. In the family we have an 02 Honda Accord, 02 Toyota Corolla, a 94 Corolla.
At work I get to drive fairly new F150s , Chev pickups ( yuck! ) and all these vehicles feel so unrefined after my V10.

No, the V10 is too much fun to drive and now here in Canada gas and good wine are about the same price so it is very easy to waste money by taking the V10 instead of one of the ricers. I have to go down town in a couple hours. Two miles , I should take
the car, but I haven't driven the truck for 2 days and I need a V10 fix.
Gas is now 4.44 a US gal. 1.17 per litre x 3.8 litres . I will take the truck and just think of the extra gas I burn as fun fuel. I don't have a boat, quads, or other gas wasting toys so why can't I waste a little fuel with my favorite toy, my fantastic V10.

 

Well said Wrenchtraveller, I can't agree more!!!

 

Well, one drawback is that silly smirk on your face aka BSEG!

 

I like that. Mind if I keep that for future use? LOL.......... I own 5 cars and a motorcycle and I constantly tell my wife that I am only driving ONE of them at a time. Now I have a better reason for driving the SD. Plus, if I was hauling something, it would be burning more gas, so in reality I am SAVING gas too!!!

 

I think most people still try to shoot for close to invoice minus any rebates available. Try carsdirect.com to price a truck with the options you are interested in. I hear that they are fairly accurate on Ford's current pricing. Though the truck you find may have been ordered at a lower price level. Ford will change price levels several times in certain years. You could potentially be off several hundred dollars.

Another option would be to use http://www9.forddirect.fordvehicles....=HomePageFlash If it does not load up showing "X Plan Customer, welcome to Forddirect", try refreshing the page several times. Now, if you don't qualify for X Plan pricing, you won't likely get it. But, X Plan on a Super Duty is not all that far off from invoice. And that should put you in the neighborhood. Try searching the local dealer inventory from that site and see what you can find. You are getting pretty late in the year, so a V10 might not be an easy thing to find.

After you figure out where you need to be on pricing, you need to figure out what your current truck is worth. Use kbb.com or edmunds.com and figure out trade in. And be honest in choosing your vehicle's condition. Once you have that number, you will know pretty much where you stand in bottom line price. But be aware that if you are asking for near-invoice price, expect the lower end of the scale on trade-in. One dealer might offer more for your trade, but price the new vehicle higher. There is just no point in dealing with inflated numbers on either end. But that doesn't mean there's no wiggle room.

And just a word of advice. I think the most important thing is not to play the payment thing. If you go in saying "I need my payment to be the same as it is now," you are going to loose out...guaranteed. Go from the raw numbers on the two trucks, then start talking about how you plan to pay for this.

Edit: I just did a quick search and a dealer near you has 3 4x4 SC V10's listed. If these are the ones you are considering, they sticker in the low 38k range and X Plan minus rebate is like $31,100-$31,500-ish. There is another $1000 in FMCC cash, but that is obviously for trucks financed through FMCC. Now X Plan is going to be under invoice. If I had to take a stab at it, I'd say invoice is a $2-300 higher.

 

Mine's an 03 and I am still perfectly pleased with it. I have 3.73s but I don't tow a real heavy trailer and mine handles 7000lbs easily and if I'm not in real hilly areas I even leave it OD.

Take a look a torque graph for the 310HP/425lb-ft 2V 2000-2004 type V10. How many gas truck engines make 94% of their respective peak torque at only 1900rpm like this engine? That's a characteristic of a real truck engine that you just don't see much these days.

My wife has a 2005 F150 S-Crew 5.4L. Both of our pickups are top quality and we would buy both of them over again. If you can swing a suitable deal go for it-you'll wonder why you ever wanted a diesel!