TowRig.com - Diesel Discussion and Tow Tech

I read the other thread about towing with a v-10, so we don't need to go over it's towing abilities again...

let's talk maintenance, repair, upkeep, bad habits, and what you'd change about it...


I found an '01 2wd crewcab with 100k miles for $12k today, and I'm really thinking this may be my only option at a bigger truck... I gotta do something or I'm gonna be driving flintstone style without the rocks to roll on.

Fuel mileage would be my only concern. I think it's kind of small for a V10, it's only a 6ish litre. I think Dodges V10 was an 8L motor, but swallowed gas like nothing else.

It's a 5.4L V8 with two more cylinders. I hear it's a pretty good engine.

It's a 6.8L. The only problems I recall is blowing out the #5 spark plug. But that was the early modles. The guys that I know who use the V10 trucks say they get about 10-13 mpg empty and 6-8 loaded. The gasoline engines aren't as hard on trannys either.

I also remember reading an article in Motor Trend when the V10 Ford came out. They did a drag race with both trucks pulling trailers. Even though the Ford had a 1.2L disadvantage in displacment, it still ran right with the Dodge.

I have a friend with a 99 ford V10. No problems. I doesn't feel like it pulls anywhere near as hard as mine, but that could be that auto/5spd difference and I don't know what rear end it has. With 10000lbs attached it just doesn't want to keep up. My mom has a Ford V10 in a motor home and loves it, except for the gas milege.

I now a guy whos got one with over 169K on it and still running stong I have heard the engine can get upto 300K before needing a rebuild.I also havea neighbor who uses a excursion with the V10 they have run it bone dry on oil before and just beat anything they have into the ground and its still running strong.Also I have noticed all the V10 that come into where I work are leak free I have only seen one with a transmission leak when I was looking to buy my super duty.

Ford v10 with 4.30 gears behind it. Whoa, will pull every bit as hard as a diesel. Not better, but every bit as hard.waytogo

No problems with ours. Our fuel mileage seems to be about 12-13 on the highway at 80mph, and 11 or so towing around 5k. Around town it seems to be around 11mpg as well.

The 99s and 2000s were the lowest HP rating, then they were pumped up to 310 in 2001 due to some revamped heads. Anything above 01 will be a good motor. The 3V introduced in 2005 is an absolutely screamer and loves to rev. I agree with budkole that they will pull as hard as a diesel, not better, but they will do it no questions asked. You just gotta stop more for fuel. Stock for stock, I will say that the V10 equipped F250 is about the funnest pickup Ive ever driven.

thing i hate about them is the exhuast maniold studs braking off for now reason and then an exhuast leak starts, not to noticiple while running, but first sign is a squeech on startup. they just tend to shear off on there own. v10's usually do the 2 rearmost studs on the driverside, and the 5.4L usually do the 3 rear most on the pasanger side.

My wife drives a 98 v10 ford van daily. 125000 miles and going strong. We had a little trouble with tranny leaks (out of the rear seal) around 70000 miles but no trouble after that. gas mileage is an issue. 10 to 18 is the best you'll see.

As far as engine oil the only weight to use is 5-20 and nothing more. Everything else is as advised (full synthetic).
I've heard the minimum thread spark plug heads were gone by late 99 and most 2000 had the 10 thread spark plug holes.

I just cant see how folks cant use anything other than a full syn oil after buying a newer vehicle

Hopefully we'll get a chance to go look a little closer at it this weekend. Wifey's been working and hasn't had time to go back out by it.

Gas mileage? 10-18? and this is bad? heheh... I get 10 not towing in town now. I think anything will be a step up.

I really have got to get a good rig... anybody got a good credit source?

We run the Ford V-10's here at work on a wind farm ruff use 9000#+ everyday with utility boxes on them, they hold up ok low hp when compared to a diesel at least in feel but fuel mileage is around 5-8 mpg with ours lots of hills though, but they get the job done.

I wish Ford would offer a form of forced induction ie a turbo or super charger and intercooler set up on the triton engines,GM has it or has had it in the past,I feel they would make up more of the lack or say of lack of power in the engines.Also if done properly you could obtain much much higher fuel economy with such a set up or just drop the fuel economy and come up with sick power.

I wish Ford would offer a form of forced induction ie a turbo or super charger and intercooler set up on the triton engines,GM has it or has had it in the past,I feel they would make up more of the lack or say of lack of power in the engines.Also if done properly you could obtain much much higher fuel economy with such a set up or just drop the fuel economy and come up with sick power.

GM never offered a forced induction gas engine in a truck.

yea to solve your problem would be to trade in that pos v-10 an v-8 those gas motors suck at pullin i build cell phone towers an we have a couple ford f 450 3 of them are the v-10s an the rest are the new 6.0 diesel the v-10 doesnt hold up at all to the diesel lack of power. We've had 1 of our v-10s blow up the main bearing went out. I would just trade them in an get a new diesel plus they get better gas mileage.

GM never offered a forced induction gas engine in a truck.
I could have sworn a few years ago GM had a supercharger on a small block,sorry my bad.

From what I have heard some of the 08 V10's will be supercharged. I dont know if this is true but I have a pretty good source. I know for sure the 08 Harley Super Duty V10's are supercharged. If you go with at least an 03 V10 youll be good, but try your best to go for an 05 and up, they've got 360-ish HP.waytogo

I think the Joe Gibbs Silverado was Super Charged.

V10 supercharged will be great

I love my V-10 its a crew cab lariat 3v 2006 with 4x4 4.10LS gears. Pulls my 2004 29 outlaw with twins on a triple axel trailer great weighs in at 9500lbs. I know its got more power then the older v10 but they are all great motors....john

My neighbor had a V-10 Excursion, fast for a 4-5 ton rig...

yes!! a supercharged V-10 would be f***ing sweet!!!

except in MPG, can we say STATION HOPPER!!

In all honesty it should get better mileage with the supercharger.

yeh it actually should. more power means less throttle to make it go. so yeh it would probly get better.

If you go with at least an 03 V10 youll be good, but try your best to go for an 05 and up, they've got 360-ish HP.waytogo

That's what I got and it runs great. Tows great as well. Towing my car hauler loaded with a car, tools, spares and the bed full of parts to Ohio and back for the NASA Nationals, I got 9 mpg.
If you get a V10, I recommend the 3v for sure. 50k miles with zero problems.

I am at 47K no issues yet so the 5.4 Triton I must say are much more dependable than the 6.0 Power Strokes:doah:

hahaha, yeah your right

yep

Regarding the Supercharged engine getting better fuel mileage.... if you are using a Roots style supercharger/blower you will not get an increase in mpg. A Roots supercharger/blower is the typical blower that sits on top of the engine and is driven by a belt via the crank pulley. This setup causes parasitic drag on the engine thus decreasing fuel mileage.

If you use a centrifugal supercharger like a paxton unit, you may see some benefit as it takes less effort to turn the impeller but it's still belt driven from the engine itself, which causes parasitic drag still decreasing mileage.

A turbo is pretty much the only compression style power adder that does not cause parasitic drag, as it only requires exhaust gasses to produce the needed Hp & Tq.

I recently watched an interview with Gale Banks where he was reviewing the benefits of turbos over Roots superchargers. He demonstrated that a roots supercharger installed on a 2000~ hp Supercharged Mopar dragrace engine required about 300~ hp just to run the supercharger but the end result for that application was beneficial for drag racing (wide-open throttle) but certainly not for a daily driver due to the parasitic drag.

Yes the new Roush supercharger for the 5.4,featured on Truck's,is very well engineered with a intercooler mounted in the intake valley. Now you would lose some effeciany due to the parasitic drag but I think it could be overcome by the amount of power being delivered. I am just wondering if they can flash one for a F250.

That would be sweet to have a supercharged 5.4 F-250 but it would most likely get even worst fuel mileage than the normally aspirated engine but it will certainly make more Hp & Tq.

I love my V-10 it will hang with Stock diesels all day long and the mileage isn't as bad as a the diesel heads keep screaming .
My old Boss had an Identical truck to mine only his had a 7.3 ( otherwise completely identical ) and pulling our t-300 bobcat my truck actually got better mileage than his
Oh and mine had twice the miles on the truck and had no problems he replaced the Cam Sensor 3 times and the turbo once in 60,000 miles

except in MPG, can we say STATION HOPPER!!




Mine gets 15-17 MPG empty and 8-12 towing

Us gassers dont really have it as bad as folks think we do.

Hey fellas, thinkin about gettin a crew cab V-10 with a manual soon as my current ride is paid for. So far I havent read or heard much that I dislike about it. Anyone out there with an 06 or 07 have any input? How are they treating you? Hows the mileage anyway? Not that it really matters anymore....

With the price of diesel here laely its been cheaper to drive my V-10 (not to mention its more comfortable) I'd consider buying the new 3-valve V-10 my father in law has one and he has 71,000 on so far with no problems can't say that about his 6.0 powerstroke which has spent more time in the shop than on the road it seems lol .

Seriously though I just turned 150,000 on mine with no trobles at all (well other than brakes man this truck eats them up)

if you don't mind a little less power and a little less mileage (which is almost void because of the more expensive fuel) then you'll be happy with a V-10 I've been !!

For all of you who need a little more performance from your V10 Powered F250's or F350's, just check this out.

The Ford V10 Powered Trucks are crazy fast when you add a Whipple Charger (Supercharged) !!! http://youtube.com/watch?v=eqWh0nQkHwA

Super Charger + Ford V10 = Sex on wheels:pimp:

its a throw away block due to the design. once its time for a rebuild its time for a new block most of the time. no space to bore due to the fact it was a 5.4L block with extra holes in it.

its a throw away block due to the design. once its time for a rebuild its time for a new block most of the time. no space to bore due to the fact it was a 5.4L block with extra holes in it.


This is probaly true but I have a 160,000 plus on mine and it doesn't use any oil between changes
I mean thats pretty good when you think about it whats the service life on these engines???

You can go 300K with a V10 or V8 Triton according to my instructors in auto tech. I have seen some with over 300K and some with 250K with no leaks at all due to the fact of synthetic oil from day one, some with 30K leaking "Oh I just want the cheap stuff" or "Oils oil" pretty much cheap idiots.
Service life depends on type of oil/quality, oil change intervals, and regular maintence, tune up, ect. You can work an engine to death or work the heck out of an engine and give it good maintance which one do you think will get you farther?????

You can go 300K with a V10 or V8 Triton according to my instructors in auto tech. I have seen some with over 300K and some with 250K with no leaks at all due to the fact of synthetic oil from day one, some with 30K leaking "Oh I just want the cheap stuff" or "Oils oil" pretty much cheap idiots.
Service life depends on type of oil/quality, oil change intervals, and regular maintence, tune up, ect. You can work an engine to death or work the heck out of an engine and give it good maintance which one do you think will get you farther?????

i thought that was with EVERY engine... :stir:
i didnt say the V10 was a bad engine, i just said once it IS time for a rebuild, then its time for a new engine. in MY eyes its a bad engine because its a nightmare at the pump.

I don't know why people say that my truck gets 14-16 mpg average I've gotten as good as 17 on the highway MY worst tank ever was 9.5 I have freinds with exact same truck but with Power strokes 7.3's and 6.0's that get about the same plus with diesel being 25 to 30 cents a gallon Higher its cheaper to Drive my gas rig .


Fuel econmy in diesel is really no longer a selling point if your buying a diesel these days its for the Power and longeveity and since most poeple don't put more than 100000 on there vehicles it just comes down to power

With the 6.4 I hear even older carbed 460's are getting better mileage.

LOL I have a fuel injected 460 in a f-350 and it gets 8 mpg loaded or unloaded no matter how I drive it

I'm envoius mine only got 4 to 6 mpg.