[aod231]

Alright I have seen a similar question on other forums and haven't found the answer I'm looking for. Or maybe I'm just looking for someone to give me some advice.

Maybe not the best place to ask about buying a diesel or not on a diesel forum but oh well.

Here is my info. I have always owned cars. I have driven trucks for work. Small and large. All my friends have trucks. And I have more mechanical knowledge then 90 percent of them. I do all my own mechanic work. I have rebuilt all sorts of motors but I have yet to mess with a diesel. Just haven't had the chance. I have installed exhaust and stuff but never did actual motor work on a diesel. I do understand how diesels work.

I'm moving to a farm this fall. I want to have a truck. My first instinct is to get a powerstroke because at work I used to drive nothing but 7.3's all day long. Love that motor!

Here is what ill be doing, lots of highway miles between madison and minneapolis, probably 2 trips back and forth a month. (500 or so miles roundtrip) Farm work, which includes pulling trailers, hay wagons, etc. Although only in the summer time. And maybe once a week or every other week. Winter I plow with the tractor so no need for that.

To the powerstroke owners out there that have owned a gas truck or still do, does owning a powerstroke cost:
-same
-Less
-Or more
As a gas truck?

And I'm talking, the cost of fuel, maintenance, parts, etc.

Example the 7.5 or the 5.4 vs the 7.3 PSD.

I'm looking at buying a f250 or f350 between 1994-1997 (I like the old body)

I have no interest in dumping a ton of money to get more horsepower. Just need the truck to work and get reasonable fuel economy. As I understand it the 7.3 turbo gets about 20 mpg highway and 15 or so city. Unloaded of course. Those numbers I can live with.

Sorry for the long post but this is a big change for me and I don't want to get stuck with the wrong truck.

 

[usnavyad]

Well a diesel is going to give u alot more torque and a 7.3l in tunes is def not getting 20 mpg I will never go back to a gas engine after owning a diesel

 

[AMSOILdealer]

Fuel will cost more but for what your are talking about doing will be no problem for a diesel truck and the gasser will probably use more fuel anyway. I get 18 mpg with my F-250 empty. As stated above diesel al the way.

 

[zillafreak]

I just bought a F250 with the 7.3. It is a crew cab short bed. My dad has a F150 with the 4.6, it is a super cab. My truck is getting better MPG than his.
The only thing his truck has better is looks (mine is an 02, his is 05) and his is quiet.

Mine has so much more space and will out tow.

So IMO, get a deisel. As far as cost, his truck has almost 250K on it, but it was bought used with a motor that had like 135k on it now. He has no issues with it. Really, they cost about the same for fluids as we change the gas motor more often.

 

[avfrog]

I also won't go back to a gas rig for my truck. Diesel is so much better. Torque is unreal and better economy than gas trucks.

 

[slowcoupe]

Have only owned one gas truck. It was an 08 ranger so im porlly not the best candidate for gas vs. diesel. I only owned it for 3 months until I realized I was way to big for that truck. I'm 6'4" 260 pds so I felt like I was riding in a clown car. And for being a 4 cyl with a manual trans it didnt get as great of gas mileage as i had expected. I purchased it because I was wanting something cheap that got good mpg to drive so I could strip down my 91 coupe mustang that was at the time my DD and to a 414 stroker and stuff I had sitting waiting for it. Needless to say that ranger was a waste of time and I wish I had gotten a diesel then instead.


Now.... I have had many friends with gas trucks as well as my parents. I am now on my 4th diesel. The maintence is a little more expensive with oil changes being 4x more oil, and fuel filters needing done every 10K. But my diesel have consistently gotten as good or better mpg than my parents 02 F150 and always better than my friends lifted titans,tundras, F-150's etc. Its also not in all instances diesel is more expensive either. My gf and I just took a vacation to california. We stayed in santa ana and there was a rebel station where diesel was 3.65 and regular 4.03.

And not to mention resale. I dont have the brightest friends when it comes to buying and selling vehicles but I will say i have honestly never lost money on a diesel even after dropping money on mods etc where they are trading up for newer tundras and just losing thousands.

To this day after either riding in my trucks or just hanging around me i have had 4 friends switch from gas to diesel and all of them say they'll never own gas again.

 

[kclough]

My 02 is my second truck and my first was an f150. I could get away with an gas but the diesel was too good of a deal to pass up. We do pull skid steers, hay and old cars from time to time but after having mine for a year and half I can never go back to a gas truck. Its nice knowing that when you need that extra power you have it and don't have to worry about. Plus it could possibly be the last truck you ever have to buy if taken care of

 

[897.3alltheway!]

Diesel all the way , the 7.3 your wanting will be good for whatever you need it for , MPG , Towing , those are the reasons i converted my 89 gasser to a PSD

 

[Tjmaxx]

Ill bite. If I were buying a 90's f series I'd definitely go with the powerstroke. But if I were buying brand new I'd have a hard time not buying a new 2014 silverado or Sierra 1500, they have a payload of over 2k pounds and a max tow capacity of 12k pounds. The new f-150 and 1500 series trucks are making serious numbers.

 

[gotta_gofast]

If you're interested in an older 7.3L truck, I strongly advise a standard transmission. The autos have a poor reputation. If you do choose the auto route, there are companies who can build these transmissions strong.

 

[897.3alltheway!]

Ill bite. If I were buying a 90's f series I'd definitely go with the powerstroke. But if I were buying brand new I'd have a hard time not buying a new 2014 silverado or Sierra 1500, they have a payload of over 2k pounds and a max tow capacity of 12k pounds. The new f-150 and 1500 series trucks are making serious numbers.

:hehe::hehe:

 

[[email protected]]

Since your going to be pulling a lot and your on a budget. A 7.3 is great, but stay away from the automatics unless you want to spent $4500 for a BTS to have reliable pulling. That being said, get a handshaker.

When running well, 18 mpg highway is easy to achieve. At the very least open up the airways (intake/exhaust). If your budget is really tight, and I don't normally recommend this, but a superchips or hypertech programmer will help with MPGs. Most of us on here get custom tunes though.


Fwiw, if injectors go bad, pony up about $1500.00. Engine parts are rather salty for the Powerstrokes.

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[alaskan155]

i recommend a 300i6 or 460 for that gen if you go with gas, but ive had the 5.4 and 7.3 now....


my old 5.4(99 f150) got 15-16mpg on the highway, my f250, (02) got between 18-20 empty last trip running(65mph) , my bronco about 12-15(65-75mph) with the 5.0


cost on my 7.3l vs gas biggest so far has been oil changes, 4 gallons add up of oil, and the injector cups.(but then again had to rebuild the head on my 5.4) cost of running has been about the same, the f150 had a 25 gallon tank and got around 300ish to it, the f250 i have probally could get up into the 500 range(have 400ish on it now, and still above 1/4), but its the bigger 38 gallon, and i never run it below a quarter tank

but i have only had my diesel a few months now, the crew cab long bed is defenitly nicer than my ext cab short bed f150

 

[scagmanf350]

Sounds like you know gas engines well so stick with that. If you've driven plenty of 7.3s and aren't convinced by now than stick with what you know. If your concerned with the bottom line diesels flat out last longer and require less regular maintenance, but in the end it's about the same cost wise. Main difference is the performance but you already know that. I would only recommend a 7.3 if the body is excellent shape otherwise look for something newer. People can go on and on about the engines durability but the bodies just don't hold up. If you think about it the newest 7.3 you can possibly get is already 10 years old. If our concerned with the almoghty dollar buy the newest you can afford (gas or diesel). I personally, like many other people on this site will probably never drive a gas pick up again. To me pickups are meant to be diesel, just makes sense. That's my 2 cents. Good luck.

 

[frizzen]

Can you even find a decent 90's model? In that part of the country seems like cancer from the salt on the road will eat up the body before the power train gets worn out.

 

[Fordtrucktexan]

Don't even consider fuel cost, that's hardly the most expensive part of owning a diesel. If I was to measure fuel cost alone, owning my 06 F250 6.0 has been cheaper than the 01' F150 5.4 supercrew 4x4 I traded in.

It's when stuff goes wrong, that's when a diesel starts to hit hard. There's less to go wrong, but the parts do typically cost more. On the plus side, you said you're handy with a wrench, which is good. That's often the most expensive part of owning a diesel, paying someone to fix it when it breaks. Take that out of the equation and just factor in cost of parts and its not bad at all to own one. You'll find working on a diesel to be fairly easy.

I also built a few gas engines prior to buying my truck, but had never even touched a diesel truck. If something was to happen and my current truck get stolen or totalled, I'd buy another one just like it.

 

[Lilfarmrboy]

Diesel cost more but my 05 CC 6.0 would run circles around my 04 Ext Cab 5.4 SD in the fuel economy race. I will say for the generation you are talking about that straight 300 is a hard motor to beat. I know someone who ran their out of oil, tried to blow the dang thing up just so they could swap in a V8, the motor refused to die. Finally the guy just put oil back in it and continued to run it.

Edit: If I had a choice though I would go with the 7.3 any day. I know lots of farmers who have 500k miles on them and they are still running.

 

[aod231]

Thanks!!!!

Thanks to all of you!

I'm convinced. Diesel is the way.

Like I said in the original post maybe I shouldn't have asked whether or not to buy a diesel on a diesel forum. I was leaning on the side of diesel before I posted anyways! :nod:

I ran a cost analysis of a 1997 f250 ext cab auto vs 2001 Chevy 1500 5.3 ext cab auto on a year to year basis. I picked the chevy because my brother owns one. And If I were to go gas I might pick that over a ford 5.4.

With the assumption the owner puts on 2K miles per month or 24K per year.

I used average mpg numbers. I believe, and don't quote me on this, the 5.3 I had an average of 13 mpg and the 7.3 I had 16.

Fuel cost for diesel was 3.80 since that seems to be the average to hit everywhere. Its 3.89 in MN right now. Gas I set to 3.29, I think that's on the low side but I wanted to give the gasser a chance.

I budgeted maintenance cost, oil changes, fuel filter changes, the works. About everything you can think of. The diesel was budgeted about $1500 per year in misc maintenance costs plus the cost of oil changes every 5K miles. Fuel Filters every 10K.

The Gasser was budgeted $800 per year in misc maintenance plus oil changes every 4K miles.

Final results put the gasser ahead about $300 a year less to run vs the diesel. Well that answered my question instantly. If you were to increase the average fuel economy of the diesel 1 mpg, it basically made it even.

Now to open a new thread about the diesel I'm looking at buying. Ill be posting shortly.

 

[powerstrokeshellback]

i have owned a mix of gas and diesel... ill take a diesel over a gasser any day.