I've been able to do all the work myself, so I get some of the maintenance costs back as my labor price (beer) is much cheaper than a shop .

At 206K I've gone through a water pump (200K) and plugged various leaks (rubber o-rings get old and brittle). The rest is truck-related and has nothing to do with the engine.

It may be old and slow, but it's simple enough that I can whip out my shop manual and tools and get started. I don't need 14 computers along with all the emissions and control equipment. I don't have 10 TV's, a WII and a Playstation inside the cab either. It gets me to work every day, out to the dirt every weekend and hauls whatever I need whenever I need it and never blinks. I'll stick with my trusty, noisy and smelly steed.

 

You know whats really cool, is the real difference between a Diesel and a Gas engine. A Diesel Engine is also known as a constant pressure engine. A gas engine works on expanding gas pushing on the piston. When the spark plug fires, the combustion happens really fast, as the pressure pushes on the piston, the volume of space increases and the pressure on the top of the piston decreases as the piston is pushed down.

A Diesel Engine is a constant pressure engine. When the piston is at the top, fuel is injected and combustion begins. As the piston travels down the cylinder, fuel continues to be injected to continue the combustion which continues to put constant high pressure on the head of the piston all the way down to the bottom of the cylinder. This is why you see extra black smoke come out of a tractor pull diesel exhaust, its unburnt fuel left over from the injected fuel.

This is why a Diesel always has more torque and power compared to a gas engine.

 

You know what I think, i think we need a national FTE meet gassers and oilers all together having a good time talking trucks.

 

I hope you remember my postion on this subject. I was just reminding ya. Once you ajust all the totals some bottom lines are equal and some bottom lines has the diesel w/ the diesel just a couple dollars cheaper. I know how it is I forgot to adjust the equal portion ofna fuel price on a figure and I was corrected. And I hate a good point getting clouded by a missing number.
The bottom line is over a certain amount of miles a psd/v10 will cost about the same to work. Down fall to diesel is its expence to fix.

 

Oh heck yea. A truck rally. Imagion the town when 1000s of trucks start pouring in. I vote for the game where the girl bites the hot dog hanging from a string thru the moon roof. Lmao sounds like a great time.

 

(moderator hat on): Do us all a favor, and please, don't do that - it doesn't help the discussion(hat off)

 

They have more torque becuase of the turbo. The last NA 7.3 had the same amount of torque as the 5.4.
Even with the turbo they still make less power.

With the 7.3, I agree. It might even be a little ahead on cost to drive over my V10.

Looking at total cost of the 6.0 or 6.4 over 250K I still think the V10 is way ahead though.

The 6.7 should be a better puller and cost less in the long run. We will just have to wait and see when there are some with 150K+ what the cost is like to keep them running.

 

We should. When and where?

 

i guess your moderator cap musta fallen off for this one. . . .sure seemed like ball bustin to me

 

Mine is still on. That's enough.

 

I think the 6.7 is going to be MORE expensive over the long run. without getting political EPA mandates are running diesels out of exitance. Remember the 6.7 needs DEF added on top of everything else. Not sure what the amount required is yet, but I just got a new semi at work. between me and my codriver we put almost 1000 a day on the truck and it takes 5 gallons of DEF everyday. Each 2.5 gallon jug costs around $12 so these new EPA regulations are going to cost an extra $24/day and when extrapolated out over the year an extra $6000/yr. Now I know that is way more then a pickup owner is going to go through but it is going to add to the costs.

BTW in my case I haul auto parts for teh OEM's, guess who is going to get to pay for that extra $6k/yr per truck cost?

 

what the epa is doing to the new diesels is criminal. the new diesels (while the longevity of their fuel systems is still questionable) are leaps and bounds more efficient than older diesels. what this equates to is unprecedentedly low levels of fuel consuption (and "harmful" emissions). none of them will even blow smoke unless broken or is turned up quite a bit.

all that technology is crushed by two things. . .1) the EPA mandated emission equipment (mileage and motor life shoots way down), and 2) the truck manufacturing companies' ridiculous urge to make the trucks pointlessly large. uncork the emissions, shave down on the weight (im sure lil timmy wont notice if his leg and head room is decreased to a reasonable space to transport an average size person), decrease the motor displacement back to pre-emission levels (generally the motors went from big, to small, back to big. the latest increase is due to the power robbing emission equipment), and enjoy 25 (or more ) avg mpg 3/4 and 1 ton trucks, vs the 10-15 new diesel owners are enjoying. all-the-while keeping more of the black in the ground, and more of our money in our country. but, whoever said common sense and logic automatically dictated politicians, consumers, or manufacturers decisions ? ? ?

 

All good points Rob. They are making it more and more difficult for the average person to own a diesel these days. The complexity of all the additional components added to the engine just to meet the EPA requirements is driving purchase and maintenance costs through the roof. This is not a fault of the manufacturer. In the end we all pay for it, and it will effect everything we buy not just vehicles. I used to drive for a living too, including being an owner/operator. I feel sorry for anyone with a new rig on the road now. It must be getting hard to make a buck, not that it ever was....

 

Just for a comparison my old 96 7.3 used to get around 20 or so mpg empty and around 13 towing a 10k + fifth wheel. My 2009 gets around 17 empty and 9~10 towing a 12k fifth wheel.

 

Should be some place central to all. Would be neat to meet a bunch of FTEers.