Diesel Vs. Gas? Looking 4 F-250

[01EB5.0]

Better yet if you want to stick with a gas engine I would opt for the 7.5L V-8 (460). We have the 5.8L in our E150 van and it is a nice engine, but if your would to go with a 3/4 ton ot 1 ton truck, I would get the most powerful engine available. if you only think you need the 5.8L (351) I would just get an F150.

 

[95EXP4.0]

Originally posted by 2k1 GT
I have a 97 F-250 work truck w/ 5.8L gas motor, they are very tough trucks, the automatic is fine in them, I would not want to shift gears when towing. As far as the diesel vs gas motor, How far do you plan on towing, for long distances I would say go with the diesel, Once diesels are started they like to run. If you are traveling an hour or less each time go with the gas, the 5.8L has plenty of tourgue to pull a boat or car. Are you looking for 2wd or 4wd?

Dan

I'm learning more towards a 4wd truck because I live in chicago I don't have too much tolerance for getting stuck in the snow. Yes, that's what I was debating on also a diesel or a 460 either way is nice hell if I had the 460 and it blew up I can always rebuild it and drop it in a mustang lol.

 

[01EB5.0]

i think a 4WD truck would definatly be the way to go in areas where it snows...2wd trucks have littel weight over the rear axle, thus causing not a lot of traction. almost all of the pickup trucks in the school parking lot has sandbags or other means of weight in the bed since it snows so much up here in Michigan. plus if you have 4WD when it comes time to sell it will be more saught after and you will get more money and it'll sell faster. That is especially true if you have the diesel.

 

[95EXP4.0]

Originally posted by 95XLT
i think a 4WD truck would definatly be the way to go in areas where it snows...2wd trucks have littel weight over the rear axle, thus causing not a lot of traction. almost all of the pickup trucks in the school parking lot has sandbags or other means of weight in the bed since it snows so much up here in Michigan. plus if you have 4WD when it comes time to sell it will be more saught after and you will get more money and it'll sell faster. That is especially true if you have the diesel.

Oh hey one more thing 95XLT I just wanted to ask you if you spoke with your dad yet about the maintenance on a diesel engine, you said he was a diesel tech?

 

[95EXP4.0]

anyone out there know what has to be done as for regular maintenance on a diesel truck?

 

[justin146]

we have two diesel work trucks. One is a 6.9? non turbo and the other is a Powerstroke. The nonturbo has lots of power but not near as much as the 'Stroke. The Powerstroke is a 6 speed while the old one is an Auto.
Get a Powerstroke or a-- dont get mad-- a Cummins Dodge. I know a guy with a Cummins. It is awesome. It sounds like an eighteen wheeler because it has straight pipes.

 

[dieselrocks]

Regarding diesel maintenance vs gas...typically the oil chg interval is greater (10-12K miles?) with diesel. I don't know what Ford recommends in the manual. It will typically take more oil per change than gas however. Make sure to use the recommended oil.

Fuel filters have to be changed more regularly than gas, especially if you burn crap fuel (it's fuel by the way, not diesel gas). Buy fuel where the truckers go and you won't have problems w/ algae or water. Better yet, buy Amoco premium diesel. It's usually not much more expensive, but it approaches European quality (cetane # etc). Don't worry so much about fuel price: remember you're gonna get maybe 5 mpg better than gas with the 7.3L.

Glow plugs usually don't have to be changed any more often than spark plugs in gas engines.

No PCV breathers to change, HD engines typically just vent to atmosphere. All in all, diesels are more reliable and last longer between rebuilds than gas engines.

 

[The Godfather]

My next truck is going to be Diesel. F-250 Super Crew shortbox 6 speed, ST on steroids. I used to hate them but I drive a ton of them at work and just came to like them. If you're serious about one, let me know. I work at about the biggest truck dealership in NY. We sell about 60 trucks/month so we have a ton of trades.

 

[Rick]

We have a 2001 Cummins. It's awesome... never needed anything besides oil changes... The truck now has 38k.

Others I know with Power Strokes and the new DuraMax have had a lot of problems...

We get 21MPG empty and 14 pulling a 7500lb trailer and a 2000+ lb slide in camper.

 

[01EB5.0]

The cummins with a 5 speed it a nice drivetrain. I must say the Duramax is a quite a bit faster though. The Duramax I drove was literally off the showroom and it had that new Allison automatic trans. That is a very powerful setup...the seat-of-the-pants feel was more then that of the dodge i drove. I've never got to drive a powerstroke yet....

 

[Rick]

Paul Bredehoft has a Duramax with 9000 miles. It has had a new turbo and two new trannys already! He know other Duramax owners with the same problems.

If you want more power either chip the current Cummins or wait for the '03 which will have 305HP and 555ft lbs. My Cummins with the chip (or actually module) has about 300hp and nearly 600ft lbs! It still gets the mileage I stated above.

 

[01EB5.0]

Was that Duramax upgraded with a chip? Not that thats any excuse, but there have been some lawsuites as a result of the chip overstressing the drivetrain and blowing trannies or other components. Chips in gas engines arn;t as bad because they only add like 10 HP, but in the diesel world, those chips add crazy amounds of HP and torque. Then the owner of the truck takes his truck with a blown tranny into Dodge or Chevy or Ford and expects a new tranny under warentee.....if they get denied a new tranny they get mad and one guy has a lawsuit against one of the chip companies because of the costs.

 

[Rick]

Paul's is 100% stock. Mine has had a module since less than 10k and no problems. The Cummins is the most overbuilt engine ever to be put into a light truck and people have pumped them up to more than 1000lbs of torque as daily drivers.

I added a new valve body to my transmission at the same time I did the module, for exactly the reasons you gave. With the Dana 80 rear end I have a hell of a strong drivetrain.

You can't go and add massive power without taking the tranny into consideration, but the upgrades are easy.

 

[FROADER]

I'm bringing this from the dead. I have the same question, but wasn't really satisfied with the answers. I'm looking at F-250s with crew cab short bed from '96-2000. I really like the 92-97 body style.

I want to hear comparisons between the 460 and the 7.3L diesel.
Maintenance (genereal and particular problems with both), mileage and towing capabilities. It will be used to tow my explorer maybe once a month (not a daily driver either) and the mileage will be maybe 150-300 miles one way for towing. It will see the occasional 1000-1500 mile tow but that would be very, very seldom.

I know with the thought of towing, I automatically thought diesel, but since I won't be towing that much really do I need a diesel?

Thanks,

Talk amongst yourselves.

 

[justin146]

I will ALWAYS pick diesel over gasoline. The diesel will get good mileage while not towing, while the gas truck will always suck down fuel. The maintenance on the diesel will be more per service, but about the same in the long run. My 15,000 mile service on my '06 powerstroke was like $730- only because I needed a new air filter.

The diesel will downshift less while towing because the powerband is lower in RPMs. And the noise takes some getting used to...I love the turbo sound, the knock can get annoying sometimes.

and besides, diesels are JUST COOL.

 

[90ranajo]

For more diesel info go over to http://www.thedieselstop.com/

 

[RockRanger]

With diesel running 30 cents a gallon more around here that kind of takes the fuel milage advantage away. I think for the small about you use it the gas motor would be fine. Dont forget the diesel will cost more to buy initailly. We used a f350 crewcab v10 towing a 24 ft enclosed trailer filled with a bunch of crap here to mississippi and got around 10mpg. It had plenty of power and never had a problem of holding atleast 65.

I think you should get a long bed duelly with a diesel though. Cause you know next year you will want a slide in camper

 

[leenjen]

the avg price for diesel here is about $1.169
that's a big difference

wow if only we could go back to 2002

 

[FROADER]

Matt, that's exactly what I was thinking about the gas since it won't be used much really. I also thought about the gas prices since it's more like 40-50 cents more even 2 hours north of you. The initial buy would be more but the gas mileage was going to even that out but I'm not really sure about that right now with the prices the way they are.

Then the mileage that's actually on the engine is another concern. I know with regular maintenance a diesel will go almost forever. A gas v8 will go for what... 170k with towing all that weight around?

 

[justin146]

I also want to add.... I used to have a 99 F250 6.8 v10 Extended cab 4x4. On long trips unloaded it would average 13 miles to the gallon. Now my new diesel truck(4x4 extended cab) gets over 20 miles to a gallon on trips with mud tires.

When we got rid of the gas truck, it had 197,000 miles and the only problem was that the tranny was slipping in OD. The 4wd was replaced too, but only from lack of being maintained. In daily driving the V10 seems to have MORE power, plus no turbo lag.