Guys,

I am in the process of closing the deal on selling my 1993 mustang and have a severe itch to get a new truck. I have been driving my 1999 V10 SC 4x4 for the last 7.5 years and am ready to replace it. I have looked at f150's and the 2007 SD's. My thinking right now is the heck with the slightly better milage and get the 3v V10 with 5 sp automatic. I do some towing and hauling but nothing the f150 wouldn't handle. I just can's resist the thought of the new v10 with the 5 sp auto. I have never had a single complaint with my v10 as even the mpg is 12-13 which is very respectable. Anybody regret getting the 3v V10 with 5 sp auto? Is the new tranny that much better than the old 4r100?

Thanks for any info.

 

I don't think anyone here has regretted going from the 2-valve to the 3-valve, and in your case, it's from a '99 low-output up to the 3-valver.

I'm an SD snob, but I'm still going to say it. The 1/2 ton is a car. The 3/4 ton is a truck. So after you buy the SD, no complaining about ride quality or MPGs from you

Compared to the '99 V10, the MPGs should be pretty close. That is, if you can keep your foot out of it ...

 

I love the 4:30's I have now, would you even consider the 4:10's?

 

The new F-150s don't usually get very good gas mileage. I'd be surprised if they were much better than the new V10.

 

I'm very impressed with the Ford modular's light-throttle efficiency... I've noticed, along with others here, that re-gearing lower usually doesn't effect the MPG as much as you'd expect if at all, and if the truck gets worked usually improves the MPG.

The 4.30's give 4.8% more torque to the ground, but of course, raising the RPMs by 4.8%. The modulars seem to not really care about revving slightly higher in terms of gas mileage.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I've been drooling over the new 3v 6.8 and 5 sp auto since it came out. If it is even slightly better than my 99 I'll be very happy. One way to look at is these engines may not be available for long. Who knows? I want to get one while I can. And if you really look at the numbers, my driving style (8,000 miles per year on the truck) will not make that much difference in the gas bill.

 

So this also means the 3.73 would run at about 13.2% lower rpm than a 4.30 in the same gear? Didn't realize there was that much difference in rpm.

 

Simple division - divide 4.30 by 3.73 and whatever is past the decimal is the %'age.

4.30/3.73 = 1.1528

So, 4.30's will put down an extra 15% more torque to the ground, and raise the RPMs 15%.

That's not much in the scheme of things. Since you're running in OD at around 2000RPM w/3.73's, that means you'll be doing about 2300RPM with 4.30's. 300RPMs isn't a whole lot, and doesn't effect the MPG much if at all.

I'm going 4.30's as soon as I can afford it. I've been thinking of 4.88's, because I might like to put 35" tires on it, but that's WAY off in the future.

 

my 06 410's are just fine! handles hauling the kids mustang drag car to the track

Rich

 

For the first couple of weeks, you may not be very happy. The 3V is a little sluggish for the
first couple of thousand miles. After that, BSEG just keeps getting bigger and bigger

I was disappointed in the power at first, it seemed slightly slower than my 05 Excursion.
Once it broke in, it's a COMPLETELY different ANIMAL!

I pulled my 24' 4K enclosed trailer last week with an early 90's Chevy Caprice in it. Talk
about some weight... still got 9mpg and I'd bet I was over 8500 pounds loaded.

 

I found a 6-98 f-350 with the v-10, its lifted and has 42000 miles beautiful truck..... I know nothing about the v-10, (owned power strokes) I can get the truck for a song and a dance so if anyone knows about them figured this would be the place.... I have heard horror (aka piston slap, spark plugs blowing out ect ect) stories and praises so I figured I would ask someone here.....

thanks

 

Go for the Torqueshift & 3-valve V10. It is the sweetest powertrain on the planet , I am certain of that.

Keep your eyes open and with gas so expensive, you may get a real sweet deal on a pre owned V10. That is what I would do.

As far as comparing a wooz-wagon like the F150 to a SD...........come on !

 

zombie1243,

No piston slap issues with the '04 and up V10s that I'm aware of. In fact I have not heard of piston slap being an issue with any of the V10s.

As for the spark plug thing, that is not an issue with the redesigned heads on the '04 and up V10s either. And even on the older ones, from what I've read, the actual fix is considerably cheaper than replacing heads.

I've only owned one V10, that being my '06. All I can say is that when I went from my '93 F150 w/ 300cid, I6 to this baby, I've been a very happy 3v V10 owner. I have the same size bed in this truck as the old one. The old truck had the standard single bench cab, and a 5spd manual. I now have the CC w/ 6spd manual. I haul the same amount of seasoned oak firewood from Fredericksburg VA to PA. And this thing is unstoppable. Just downright a pleasure to haul and tow stuff with.

A guy here at work has a real nice '05 F150 Lariet, Super Cab 5.4L and auto. He gets a little bit better mileage than I do, but not by much. Another guy here has a F250 just like mine except his has the short box and the 5.4L. We both tow campers in the same weight class. His towing mileage is less than mine, again not by much, but...

The F250 is a very capable truck, bigger than the F150, but the V10 moves it around extremely well.

Everyone is right about the V10 requiring a few thousand miles or about 140hrs of break in time, before she really shines. But even before that magic number is hit, it is still a very capable truck. Act now, 'cause rumor has it the V10 may not be available come '08 and '07 is going to be a very short model year.

RustyFuryIII

 

To try to keep the rumors from flying around, and keep facts in focus:

Piston slap has been observed in V10's, especially the earlier ones. It seems to be a hit-or-miss thing, but by 2001 or so, it became pretty rare. I've been on this site since 2001, and especially in the first year or so, plenty of people were trying different oils to try to make it go away.

"Redesigned heads".

There was one upgrade to the heads on the V10, in 2000, going to the "PI" heads (performance-improved) which allowed better breathing at high RPMs. This got rid of the power-lag observed by many who towed heavy. The engine would rev-up, get to a certain point and not have enough power to rev all the way out and cause the tranny to shift, so some people would get into a dead-spot going uphill and not be able to accelerate anymore.

Another upgrade was the 3-valver in 2005.

No one here or anyone else has proven to me when the thread-count was upped. No part #'s, nothing. My unmolested 2001 V10 (manufactured 9/2000) has the higher thread count.

My 2001 has 7-8 threads in the spark plug hole, verified by me with an inspection mirror. There are pictures of a 3 to 4-thread head here:

http://fords.kilonet.org/10strokin/v10.html

I believe it's a 1999.

 

thanks for the imput, so what I am getting from this is the 99 isnt a good idea cause of early issues with the motor....btw what were the fixes for the spark plug issue, was it just loosening up or pulling the threads out?? and also on the piston slap if anyone knows....Much appreciated guys Alan