[Pooods]

I am new to the board but not to Powerstrokes. Our family business has owned several since 2000. Seems like Ford just keeps going down hill since the 7.3. I loved the old engine and still have one that will not be sold anytime soon. After 2 6.0's and many problems we went to a Duramax for a while. It was an 07 bought last fall that did an awesome job. But when we saw the new 08's we traded the Cheby in for a new F450 King Ranch. After all we were just waiting for Ford to get a good engine again. It didn't happen!

The first week it blew a rear grease seal and slung grease all over the driver's side of the truck and trailer we were pulling. Afraid to pull with it, I brought my Chevy truck and pulled the trailer home. The dealership had to order the seal and it took several days to get it in.

The next trip back was excessive smoking and high idle. It didn't feel to have as much hp's either. This was my first lesson on Ultra low sulfur fuel. Plus my state doesn't list cetane ratings of fuel on the pumps and the head mechanic at the dealership told me this and that I needed cetane booster with every fill up.

Then there was the trip from TN to KY where the truck didn't get 50 miles from home and shut down. It tried to run so I unhooked the trailer and tried to limp home. After 5 miles it finally almost stopped so we waited 5 hours for Ford to save us with a wrecker. They only pay $200 towards towing a trailer home which sucks. Just pulling the trailer 50 miles would have cost that. Again I pulled it back with my little Chevy. Turns out it was a bad pin connection with one injector. At least that's what they said.

Did I mention it was getting 9.5 mpg empty? The dealership keeps telling us it will improve and that people that pay that much for a truck don't worry about mpg's! At 8k miles it has improved. A whopping 10.3 last time we checked. It does have a 430 gear, but our 7.3 with the same gears gets 14.5 mpg.

It's a bad time to buy a new diesel truck IMO. The gov. is making truck builders comply to new fuel standards but aren't making fuel stations sell it! There is only 3 stations in our small city that even has ultra low sulfur fuel. Where our business is there are no stations with the fuel. I ask the stations why they don't have it and they tell me it's not in their best interest to sell it yet. Several tell me the new fuel isn't running well in the older trucks. The dealership even told me the new fuel is breaking down old motor oil. Engine oil companies are supposed to be correcting this problem.


After the 6.0's I thought Ford would have done their homework better. I don't know too many owners that are happy with the 6.4. I don't even think it's got that much pulling power. Oh yeah, what's that horrible noise under a load while pulling? It sounds like a jet is taking off under the hood! Wished it pulled as good as it sounds!