Right now, I'm not putting a lot of miles on the Ex. Mainly around town errands. I am getting 13.5-14 average. I did a trip to Santa Barbara in January. ~150 mi one-way, and just one pit-stop for the missus on the way. I went up into the mountains past Cachuma Lake to Santa Ynez Valley, some other trips from the hotel in Carpinteria back and forth to SB. 440 miles total for the weekend, and I filled up before I left and when I got back. The L-O-M was telling me 19.2. I did the hand calcs and got 17.11. For an 8000 lb vehicle with aerodynamics of a refrigerator, I am more than happy! I haven't towed with it yet, but if I get 12-13, that's way better than the 8.5-9 I get pulling the TT with my F-150!!

 

How heavy is your TT? Don't get your hopes up, you probably will not get better than 11 on the high side and I have been as low as 7 with a head wind! I am towing an 11k toy box..... My old TT weighed 6500 and I got 9-10mpg........sometimes, rarely 11

 

Scottman .... I consistantly get 11-12 with my rig ... I think the lifted truck helps be with the wind resistance while towing ..... hurts me a little when the trailer is off ....

 

The trailer is ~5500 lbs. fully loaded with water, propane, etc. I could feel it behind the F-150 well enough, but it still pulled it at 65 mph without too much trouble. Going up good sized hills on the freeway it would drop to 40-45, tho.

 

WOW guys, i'm sorry to hear about the Diesel gas prices ..

i just towed my trailer and race car up to it's new owner last week (400 miles 1 way) around 4500lbs weight.. my V10 got me 11.9mpg towing at 70mph avg.. on the way back empty at a avg speed of 80mph i got 14.8mpg.. i really wanted a diesel, but i know those 20+mpg statements were a lies.. i hope those gas prices come down for you guys soon..

 

New to the forum. My wife and I have 5 kids and so need a larger vehicle to transport our clan. We have an 8 passenger minivan that is going off lease (gets around 18-20mpg), and I was thinking of going with an Excursion with the powerstroke diesel.

I also have a VW Jetta diesel that I am converting to run on veggie oil with a company called Greasecar. The company also has a kit for the powerstroke in the Excursion.

We don't haul or tow anything except the family and some light camping gear once a a year.

I have some questions about the powerstroke 7.3 Excursion I was hoping some of you might be able to answer:

1. What is the lowest (highest?) rear end gear ratio available for the Excursion, can you get a 2.73 rear gear? Presumably this would help mileage by lowering RPM at speed.

2. Of the power chips out there, which is the best? With the "Economy" setting or chip choice, how much improvement can be seen in MPG, and how much does it effect power? Are there any chip comparison tests that list real world numbers on power and MPG between the different chips available for the Excursion 7.3L powerstroke?

3. Does anyone know of anybody running a 7.3 powerstroke Excursion on veggie oil? I imagine you can run a powerchip with it as I know people with a diesel jetta running on veggie oil that is also chipped.

4. How many passengers can it seat with 3rd row seating? And how accessible is the third row if there are kids in it, i.e. can you easily walk around the center row to get to the back row (i.e. to help kids buckle in car seat, get them out of car seat, etc.)


With gas/diesel and grocery prices going through the roof, just trying to find an economical way to transport my family around. Any information or assistance will be appreciated, especially with information on what aftermarket rear end gears are available for the Excursion with the 7.3L powerstroke.

 

To run WVO Vegistroke is probably the best kit out there for a 7.3 PSD. At least shop around way more than you think you need to as there a many conversion kits on the market. Viscosity is your enemy with oil so you need to get it, most say, around 160 degrees F to flow through your fuel system. High performance guys tell me cooler fuel is better for atomization but if it won't even flow, you have to do something.

The only major downfall I can think of with running WVO on a chipped engine is that most chips advance engine timing for better throttle response and fuel economy. Advancing the timing will increase NOx. Retarding the timing will reduce NOx. WVO and biodiesel tend to raise NOx as is. Running water/methanol injection will reduce NOx while increasing timing and boost, a modification I highly recommended.

The fuel will combust differently with WVO than SVO than B100 than B20 than #2 than ULSD, etc. And every engine is different. Buy the best kit you can and you will still do a lot of experimenting.

To my knowledge, Jody Tipton is still the best custom chip guy for the 7.3 PSD. He will program a chip to meet any tuning needs, like for alternative fuels. For gears, I think 3.73:1 was the standard ring and pinion for Excursions with a diesel engine. You might find aftermarket gears for your axles.

You'll need to know which axles you have before buying, a Dana 50 or Dana 60 in the front, probably a Sterling 10.25 in the rear. You will likely be able to find gears like 3.55, which would be higher gears, numerically lower and vice versa.

Taller tires will change your effective gear ratio as well, but sticking with small tires and higher gears will be more effective for fuel economy as there is less rolling mass that would increase resistance.

The 3rd row seat is narrower than the 2nd. It is easier to access than in a Suburban because the middle row slides forward a good distance in addition to tilting forward. It will be very awkward to take baby seats in and out from the last row. I know the second row bench has child seats attachment points. I didn't like the front seats in my Excursion so I swapped in a pair out of a Chevy.

The truck is supposed to be a 9 passenger vehicle and has that many seat belts. I've squeezed 4 in the middle row and 3 in the back but that is very squished. Still room for a couple dogs or kids in the very back though : ) You've got a great plan. I love the Excursion as a beginning platform but there are lots of little things that will likely need to be addressed along the way.

 

If I towed a race car trailer that weighed 4500 I'd probably get 16mpgs! Throw a 12k widebody toy hauler behind your V-10 and then see what mpgs you get! I run 9-10 towing my toy box running 72 mph. My buddies V-10 Excursion gets 6 towing his 11.5k toy hauler up the same hills. But all these posts have so many variables, head winds, terrain, temps etc... Were you running up several 6% grades like I do every time I tow? What do you get when your not towing? I run 16.3-17.1 mpgs in town and 18.6 - 20.1 on the highway.

 

I'm running E rated stock size tires. I run about 55 psi front and about 75 psi rear when I'm not towing. I get about 17 mpg running at 75 - 80 mph. I don't do nearly as well in town, usually 10 - 14 mpg. I've also noticed a drop of about 2 mpg on both of my 7.3 PowerStrokes since the new USLD diesel fuel came out.

 

I know that this is a 7.3 thread but FWIW I just finished up a +-800 mile trip that had both flat and mountains. Tehachapi and the grades around Mammoth for example were the hills I was climbling. I averaged 17.1 hand calculated there and 17.85 on the way back. I had a slight headwind on the way there. Both were @ 72.5-75mph. I am not complaining. I drove from Fresno to Bakersfield over to 395 up to Bishop on less than half a tank. Meanwhile my brother in law in his 05 F-150 had "topped" off his tank 3 times at around the 3/4 mark in the same distance. It cost me $90 to get to Bishop and him $120. I will still take my Ex @ $4.50/gal over what I had (05 F-150 12.5MPG) any day of the week.

 

You are right on! People like to point out that diesel is soooo much more expensive, but when you figure the actual cost per mile the diesel always seem to cost less per mile to operate than the gasser! Getting 18 mpgs in a diesel more than makes up for the higher diesel price when you are getting 13-14 in a gasser!! It costs me less to drive per mile in my diesel Ex than in a V-10 Ex even though I pay .50 cents more per gallon. I can drive 700 miles per tank of diesel and a V-10 can run 450 miles per tank on a good day. Do the math and the diesel always wins out!!.....even when you include the slightly higher $90 dollar oil changes every 5k miles!