I have heard no complaints about the 7.3L, but the 6.0 heard alot of bad things about and havnt really heard much about the new 6.4 I am also looking to buy a diesel in about 1-2 years and am going to get an automatic 4x4. I have always driven ford wouldnt buy anything else just looking for some opinions. I will also be using it to tow bobcats at times and dont want anything thats a dog.
Thanks

 

I think the new Powerstroke and Cummin's are better than the GM Duramax.

 

The best? 7.3 stroker. My next choice for overall truck would be the Chevy Duramax and allison tranny.

 

I'm going to plan on buying one in about that same time frame. By then, the F150 will be paid off and I can look for another addition to my family... preferably a diesel.

However, I've got to recommend the 7.3l... never heard of many problems... and if there were problems, it was pretty simple to fix.

 

I have had two 7.3's, a 2000, and 2002. I had a 2000 Cummins as well and have put many miles on a couple of other 12 and 24vlv cummins. I own a 6.0L now. I will tell you that one of the 7.3's was a complete piece of crap, always broke down. The other I only had for about 40k's and it only seen limited shop time. The 2000 Cummins was ok for the most part, but it went downhill fast after an accidental full serve filling of premium gas. The rest of the truck was falling apart though at about 75k miles.
My new 6.0L has been good, been in the shop only for an exhaust backpressure sensor and an oil leak. Both minor fixes. This truck so far has 35k miles on it, keep in mind this is the first diesel I have actually taken any pride in as the others were all my work trucks which were abused to say the least.

FWIW, my dad is buying his first diesel right now, one of his highest priorities was fuel economy and reliability....I told him to hurry and try and find one of the last 5.9L 07' cummins dodges. He likes the new 6.4L Ford, but can't swallow the mileage that they are getting, and the new 6.7 cummins doesn't sound much better.

 

I know you hate the 7.3l for all of the problems it has given you... but a friend who owns one says he gets around 18 to 22 mpg around town... from the likes of what people have been mentioning around here with the new 6.4l TTD it's been between 12 to 14 mpg... not convincing enough (besides the power) to want diesel.

I did know this guy who lived down the street from me, he had a 2500 with a Cummins 5.9l I6 TD (big memeber of Turbodieselregister.com) and he got an astonishing 25 mpg on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee all highway with nothing more than a suitcase full of clothes in his bed.

 

7.3>6.4>6.ohno. If you can find a low mileage 7.3, then buy it in a hurry. If not, then I'd say stick with an 05+ 6.0, or if the budget fits, a 6.4. The 5.9 Cummins is a good motor, but the rest of the truck is mostly crapola. Buddy at work has one. Not sure what it is about it, but he gets a horrible resonating/reverb sound in it when the motor is under a load.

 

If you believe that then have I got a deal on some ocean front property in Arizona for you!!!! It always seems everyone has a friend of a friend who knows somebody that never gets below 20mpg in town towing 20k with his foot to the floor



Bottom line, no PSD has EVER gotten anything close to that mileage in town and never will. The only way any 3/4+ ton truck with a diesel will get that kind of mileage around town will be on the back of a tow truck. More realistic numbers for around town are 10-16mpg, highway MIGHT flirt with 20mpg but don't plan on it. Most seem to hang between 14-18mpg on the highway.

 

the EMD 16-645E3

 

My 01 F250 with the 7.3L has been great. It has almost 90K on it now.
Almost broke in.

We now have a larger 3 Horse aluminum with living quarters. I just put a MagnaFlow 4" turbo back on it for EGT temps. I have a IC form an 05 6;0L I plan on dropping in as well, again for EGTs. I plan on a inline tranny filter for now but everything else is good.

No it doesn't race down the road but it pulls very well.

 

We've had three 7.3's since 2000, two F350's and an Excursion. We used the F350's for business and they both had over 150K on them when we sold them. Both were used for towing and both seen their share of off road use. They had their share of worn out items (suspension, etc), but the only real problem we really had was a bad cam position sensor on one of them. Our Excursion has about ~70K miles on it and it's been mechanically sound, but we've had other issues such as two window regulators going out, the coating on rear window is flaking / peeling, coolant was leaking from a fitting at the block, and a bad alternator that drained the batteries too quickly. We've also had the replace the ball joints, but I consider that a wear item and not a problem for the type of use and miles it has. I've been very happy with the 7.3's that I've owned in terms of fuel economy (~12/13 city & ~16/19 highway), reliability, performance, ease of maintenance, etc.

 

Well hell here is the thing my preferrence would be the Cummins over the Powerstrokes and most certainly the Duramax. The Cummins unfortunatelly is stuck in a pretty crappy truck with a lame auto trans. The Cummins with the Allison trans is a match made in heaven they are used on alot of diesel pusher motorhomes good combo. Now if the Powerstroke diesel had the Allison that would be a sweet deal. And the Duramax well its foreign isnt it?

 

I have never heard of any issues with the torqueshift tranny, so what makes the allison superior?

 

Duramax = Isuzu

 

7.3L

I've heard it is very reliable and "the best engine Ford ever made", etc. The 6.0s had problems, kinda 50/50 there whether you get a good one or not. Ford did have recalls on them (so I am told), but what a hassle.

My 7.3L gets 13-16mpg city driving, 18-21 highway driving. About 14-17mpg towing a 6X12 box trailer at 45-65mph.