I took my fairly-new-to-me '01 F350 crew/shortbed/7.3/4R100 on a family vacation from Colorado to Michigan and back last week. Here are some observations: 3500 miles driven, mpg ranged from 13.8 to 16.8, with 15 being a typical number. Driving 75 mph or faster shaved a full mpg off any given tank. I towed a 2000# pop-up camper and had a few hundred pounds of junk in the bed, and a tonneau cover.

The engine ran flawlessly the entire time - it has 164K miles on it and burned no oil and never hiccuped. That was very cool. The turbo was nice on on-ramps and beating out brainless left-lane drivers and truckers. After using a variety of Toyota trucks (Land Cruiser/4Runner) as tow vehicles, it was nice to have a big, long truck that was immune to trailer sway and crosswinds. It's also intimidating to other weenies in traffic.

Mechanical note: the engine starter stuck in the ring gear at 'America's Largest Truck Stop' in Iowa. The truck made a horrid racket after starting, and continued cranking after I turned off the ignition - never a good sign! About the time I was lunging to disconnect the batteries, the starter disengaged on its own. After that, it engaged erratically and cranked more slowly than usual. I did get it started and got back on the road. I found a starter in stock at a Chicago Ford dealer (paid $385 - wonder what PartsGuyEd gets for it (?)), and replaced the starter with tools I brought along. Cranked/started fine after that, and the old starter (a reman) had a worn front bearing and rattled a lot when shaken. Clearly, it was shot. I returned the starter for the core charge on my way back through Chicago a few days later.

After buying diesel fuel at true 'truck stops', I'll be happy to shop at a regular gas station. You gotta love a fuel pump that accepts 9 'special trucker credit cards', but doesn't take VISA or MasterCard. I was able to purchase biodiesel blends in Iowa, but the pump said 'contains blend of 5-20% biodiesel' - without being more specific. The truck ran and sounded the same.

I saw #2 diesel sold at truck stops, but it cautioned about needing a tank preheater, etc - do any of you run #2 in a PowerStroke? What's the difference?

Just wanted to share a 'good road story' - in light of all the 'stuck and stranded' stories people share in this forum! Thanks to this forum, I did a lot of pre-trip maintenance, and that may have helped prevent a more serious roadside breakdown.

Steve

 

Forgot to add - I took temperature readings off truck with my infrared thermometer. After a long highway drive, the temps were as follows:

rear diff cover: 135F,
transmission pan: 139F,
engine oil pan: 179F.

I like those numbers!

Steve

 

Congrats on finally taking a trip with a real tow vehicle.

#2 diesel is what's considered normal diesel fuel that you get at any fuel station across America most of the time. #1 diesel is used only in winter time as it has a lower gel point. You'll get worse fuel economy if you run #1 diesel, so stick to #2 until winter comes and they start selling you the winter blend at the fuel pump.

 

Those are great #'s. Last summer my 6-speed temp and water temp both went to 230+ since my fan clutch wasn't engaging. Not sure about oil but I bet it was hot to the touch!

This year: New fan clutch, new coolant, new AC clutch! I'll test it on the same grade with the same load when the snow eventually melts up off HWY 88 east of Kirkwood ski resort at a great camping place called Blue Lakes.

I had to buy an alternator on the road once. $275 bucks or something like that new from Napa. Died a week later. Still have it...

 

Sometimes availability is more important than price (within reason).

 

Sounds like you had a great trip!

Did you get any crome while at I-80 truck stop??? It's rediculous how much crome they have.

 

Sounds like a good trip.
Even the bad starter wasn't that big of an issue.
Bolt in a new one and drive.....

 

Good to hear that the truck ran good. That's what they are built for.

 

Another F350 advantage - when you're slamming over I-80 in Illinois and the road surface barely qualifies as a road surface. At least the truck has plenty of suspension to handle the slamming and banging. At one point, there is a speed zone where you can only go 45 mph - because the road is so crummy.

The starter need wasn't a big deal - I'm just glad it wasn't a hard-failure at the truck stop, as getting it towed and 'serviced' would have been ugly - towing the truck and a camper. Oddly, the old starter had never given me even a hint of warning of its impending failure. I never let stuff like that slide, as we all know that Murphy's Law says that the starter will fail on your way to a job interview, or on a family vacation in a rainstorm.

 

I swapped out a guy's CPS in a rainstorm at a roadside RV park in Utah once. He had a PSD van conversion RV and he couldn't get it started once he shut it down after driving 11 hours through some pretty desolate areas. It just up and quit on him. Never gave him any indication of failing. You just never know.

 

Glad you had an awesome trip! Hate to say it, but these trucks WILL sway. If you like, when it's early fall, I'll take you on a drive up through Wyoming pulling my 26' trailer. 60mph winds out of the west when you're going north gets.... interesting. Even with no trailer, that kind of wind will push around even an 8,000lb truck. It's the aerodynamics of them, since when I'd drive my '96 VW Passat (diesel!) I had nowhere near the trouble.

What part of CO? I'm in Erie, Chris is in Centennial, Curtis is in Parker, BillyBob is in Elizabeth, Lisa is.... hiding from all us knuckleheads!

 

good to hear you had a great trip and way to plan ahead. a few tools and a little know how can make all the difference. lets see some pics of the truck pulling that big o pop up.

 

Hi Steve. Next time you're in CO, give a shout to us CO peeps. Here's a tip on truck stops - a lot of times, in the long long line of "trucker" pumps, they'll have one on the end that is made for "regular" trucks and will accept regular credit cards, at least in my experience. Also if you're curious about what percentage of bio they are running, the inside attendant usually knows.

That's odd that a #2 pump would warn about a tank-heater. Are you sure that wasn't on one of the biodiesel pumps?
Their "trucker accessory" isle has better selection than their soda freezer. Also its one of the only truck stops I've seen that sells Slim Jims that are bigger than my arm.

Am not! I'm in Centennial..for now.

 

Very cool....glad your trip went well and you were able to easily handle the starter problem. Getting ready to take our camper out next week - can't wait......

 

Glad to hear that your trip went well. I am getting ready to do my own famliy vacation here in a couple of weeks. Looking to head up to Montana. Can't wait. I think I have looked twice at every thing that I could think of that might need to be changed.