# Ford heavy duty and miles on them



## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

Had a '97 F-150 with a 5.4L and it was a very good truck. Nothing ever went wrong except the disc changer just stopped one day. Put 122,000 miles on it then traded it in on a '02 F-350. I love this truck. F-350, 5.4L, extended cab, 9' Royal utility bed, with a single axle. I would love a diesel but I have been very pleased with the 5.4L. I agree with most in that the 6.0L is not the best. The 7.3L is great but I have heard this new 6.4L Powerstroke dual turbo is the best money can buy. Sigh.... maybe one day......


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## Morning Wood (Jan 12, 2008)

1996 F250 ext. cab 8' bed 4wd 245,000 miles. 7.3 liter 5 speed. I like the truck, it has been pretty reliable, but i have had to put quite a bit of money into it to get it to a satisfactory point. Now the body is on it's way out thanks to mr rust. If you aren't towing trailers around I think a gas is fine. Maintenance is going to be cheaper and the engine will last if taken care of. Towing though, the diesel blows away a gas truck anyday.


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## MACEXCAVATING (Nov 24, 2008)

I currently have a 99 F-250 SD w/5.4 triton gas motor. Bought it for a very resonable price because it was plain jane 2wd. Have had a few issues with it, but over all been pretty happy with it. I lost the motor in it a year ago. It had 190 k on it. The mechanic said I was lucky to get that, but I service it very regularly. I went ahaed and put a new motor in it. 7 grand, but cheaper than new truck! I have been a FORD freak all my life, but have thoughts of trying out a GMC dirtymax with allison tranny. But for now this truck is like new, so might as well keep driving her.:thumbsup:


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## RobertCDF (Aug 18, 2005)

178,000 on my 99 F-250 Diesel 7.3 BABY! I love my truck... I expect to keep it for a very long time as it gives me very few problems. I am suprised to see someone in here that had a diesel and went back to a gasser... Once you go diesel you wont go back. 13-14 MPG is what it gets weather I am towing or blowing AC. The only thing that really seems to bring down the milage is lots of high idle and 4x4 use.


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## ALCbuilding (Apr 26, 2008)

Got an 06 F-250 ccsb 4x4 with 6.0 diesel and auto. Absolutely love it, Great truck!!! 
The 60 is awesome, I had an early 99 7.3L before it, loved it too but I prefer the 6.0. Neither ever got worse than 12, and up to 19MPG, hand calculated.
Take care of it and it will take care of you. The 05-up is better than all previous.
BTW my truck is running 430 HP at the wheels and no problems at all, and I hot rod the hell out of the truck, but I also keep up on maintenance. For some real info on these trucks, check out the forums at www.thedieselgarage.com

To the guy who was having head problems, PUT IN HEAD STUDS!!!!!


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## dougger222 (Jan 29, 2004)

I'll chime in with my Super Dutys.

2001 bought a 1999 F250 4x4 PSD auto with 40K miles. Payed $25K for her which at 22 was a lot! Put a chip in at 55K miles and at 83K miles the tranny was done. Paid $2K for a Ford rebuild and took out the chip. Keep in mind I did a lot of burn outs from 55-83K miles! At 225K miles the PCM failed and a junk yard one was had for $250 with a program on it. Again back to beating on it a lot. At 252K miles the Ford rebuild had enough. Bought another one and so far so good with 258K miles. The truck has a triple pillar pod with boost, pyro, and tranny temp. From 06-07 I used the truck to tow the very heavy dump trailer 75-90 trips to the dump. The truck also has remote start and 5 inch exhuast and bigger rims/tires. Done a water pump and alternator too. Mileage is fair at 15 in the Summer at 13 in the Winter.

In 2003 bought a 2000 Excursion 4x4 PSD auto with 104K miles for $20K. The original owner put a 100K mile warranty on it and an Oasis report showed only a head light knob being replaced under warranty. This vehicle my wife daily drives and we take on trips. Currently at 195K miles with nothing done to the motor or tranny. Again water pump and alternator done. Pretty much stock besides remote start and bigger rims/tires. Mileage is great at high teens in the Summer and mid teens in the Winter.

In 2006 bought a 1999 F350 DRW 4x4 PSD auto with 120K miles for $19K. An Oasis report showed a very clean report. This vehicle is used to pull the dump trailers 90% of the time. Current mileage 160K miles. No mods other than remote start, large tires, and air bags with on board compressor. Also has the triple pillar pod. Haven't done anything to the motor or tranny since owning. Mileage is poor no matter what it's doing. 13 would be tops in a perfect situation and 10-11 is typical towing. Bigget load across the scale last year was 28,600 lbs.

All the people I know with 6.0's have had a lot of issues. All the people I know with 7.3's love them. 

Some information about the 7.3. In 2001 Navistar/IH stopped putting forged rods in the motor. That same year Ford had an issue with a mechanical diode failure in the auto tranny. That being said the last very strong factory 7.3 is a 2000 MY. The 1999's had two version early and late ones. The early 99's although equiped with a intercooler shared a lot of parts with the 97 7.3 such as injectors and turbo. The 99.5's (late) are virtualy the same as the 2000's. Ford put the 7.3 in until 2003.25 when they switched to the 7.3.

If you either are looking at truck with chips or want to put a chip in there a few things you should know or do. First is to open the exhaust by installing a larger diameter system. Four inch is good, five inch may be a tad overkill. Gauges to monitor temps are good too. Ford makes a very good AIS system for the air intake. The DRW has one and it works good. There are tons that sell aftermarket air intake systems but stay away from K&N they let too much dust through with diesels don't like.

Nothing gets me more excited than shopping for a used 7.3!!! Good luck and if and when you buy post some pics.


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## WoodenGrassMan (Oct 1, 2010)

Mike Finley said:


> How many miles do you have on your Ford super duty truck, be it a 250 or 350, please list if it's gas or diesel, stick or auto. :thumbsup:


Mike, 

I bought an automatic 1999 gas f350 4x4 w/ 130K miles for $6K about 6 months from a friend in neighboring NJ. I'm in NEPA. I feel like I stole it and should give it back but I ain't - friend or no friend. Mechanically this f350 is flawless. The body is good except for rear gate - pretty dented up and shuts hard. One of these days I'll replace it. Replacement day will be when the gate won't shut and stay shut and I lose valuable cargo. Maybe that will motivated me to fix it ASAP. Probably not.

I love my 350. It is no econo truck. But it will pull anything hitched for less than a small fortune as long as I picture an egg between my foot and the gas pedal. Forget the egg and it pulls anything any weight faster than a top fueler. Easier to measure fuel consumption in gallons per mile too.


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## Aframe (Mar 24, 2008)

I know this thread is from the way back, but, Angus please take care of this.

Thank you.



angus242 said:


> Even he admits to it. He's now looking for a Ford after spending time in mine.


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## MAD Renovations (Nov 18, 2007)

2008 350 SD deisel auto - 50,000kms:thumbsup:


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## Bill Z (Dec 10, 2006)

96 F-350 Powerstroke, 85,000 miles, 14' aluminum bed.


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## kyle_dmr (Mar 17, 2009)

04 F350 SRW KingRanch package. 
200k km. I bought it used. Had a head gasket go with 40k on it (orgional owner did at least).
Since I have owned it, had a FICM die (pretty common) and needs an injector or two. Starting to smoke a bit when I get on it hard.


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## buildenterprise (Dec 4, 2007)

'04 E350 with the 5.4 gasser. 123k miles. Still runs great, but I do notice a bit of smoke right at startup when it's cold.


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## Curb Guy (Oct 23, 2008)

2002 F-350 crew cab, long bed, 4x4. 189,000 miles, 7.3 L diesel. Needed high pressure oil pump gasket replaced, and new heater core. 12-14 mpg, 9 mpg towing 32' 13,000 lb toyhauler. Blackstone labs checks the oil, recommends oil changes every 15,000 miles. Runs great.


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## T&S contracting (Nov 9, 2009)

i got a 2002 f-250 with 201,000 hard miles on it and no problems yet its an auto 4wd with the 7.3 in it there is mostly diesel trucks around here and ive rarely heard of any problems with them


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## Mike's Plumbing (Jul 19, 2010)

2002 E-350 gas with 60,000 miles. Smooth as a singer sewing machine!

Mike


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## s. donato (Jan 23, 2008)

E250 - 2003, 5.4L gas, auto, 136,000 miles, 2 extra leaf springs in the rear.

gets about 8-12MPG depending on whats in it. on average it weights about 8K and never has any problem moving the weight - i just have to decide what kind of mileage i want to get when pushing the pedal. lots of stop and go city traffic where i live and work. it sees the highway about once a month. 

dumped about $3k in the engine recently - rebuilt top half and erg flapper thingy was replaced - hows that for being technical ;-) previously it was a fleet truck and they did not maintain it according to my mechanic. he swears i should have no more issues till 200k.


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## galla35 (Feb 27, 2009)

i have a 2000 f350 7.3 cclb thats lifted gets a little extra fuel and air smokes like a twin stack mack but all in all its a great truck at 145k miles and i beat on it more times than not.. just get guages and watch your temperatures if your gonna get into diesel performance


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## Holman (Sep 28, 2010)

Mike Finley said:


> Keep em coming, you're all getting me all tingly!


Thats what she said.


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## Mitchell Const. (Jan 25, 2009)

Had an '03 f-350 cc lb dually 6.0 diesel traded it at 140,000 pulled like a friggin freight train, loved that truck. Now I have an '06 f-350 cc sb V10 hate the shortbox but got a good deal last Nov it only had 14k on it. The V10 leaves a lot to be desired after having the PSD but a decision was made to go for the gasser after careful thought on maintenance costs and how long I plan to keep the truck the gasser was IMO the better choice!


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## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

biggest thing with the damn 5.4l motors is plugs blowing out, baad coils and oil starvation on the bottom end from using too thick of oil.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

TBFGhost said:


> biggest thing with the damn 5.4l motors is plugs blowing out,


What about the "update" and then you can't get the plugs out of the heads at all arty:


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