OT Ford V-10 engine

Does anyone have first hand experience with this engine? As in it's a good engine, but expensive to service, or run away as fast as you can from it! I am looking at a '06 Super Duty that happens to have this engine, and one never gets the straight story from a dealer, so was hoping for some non biased facts?

This would be a work truck, not a commuter truck. Would maybe get 10,000 miles a year, so mileage is not #1 requirement. Although I have heard that one can get 16-18 mpg on long trips which is better than the '88 3/4 ton I drive now!

Dale Nelson

My dad has one in his Excursion. Pretty good motor with some nice torque with low upkeep costs... If you arent pulling stuff a lot or anything heavy it will suit you perfectly..

11.4 mpg

I have an Excursion 4 X 4 with 186K on the V10. I have had it since new; knock wood but no engine issues. Last month I had the serpentine belt and all hoses changed, mechanic said that it was unusual for them to last that long. As for mileage day in and day out 11.4 mpg, on long trips it will creep up a little but not a lot. When I tow a 5-6,000 lb boat the mileage drops to 5-6 mpg. I always thought the transmission was the weak part of the truck.

Good luck

Mike

The 4.6L, 5.4L and 6.8L are all the same basic engine. They share the same architecture, parts and accessories with only minor differences between them. Fundamentally they are the same exact engine. Normal service life on this family of engines has proven to be upwards of 300k before any major work is required.

As with this thread - I have seen/heard considerable differences in milage as well.

I went with a chumm sledding to Wyoming a few yrs ago. ... I don't know - lets say 900 miles one way... Had a heavy 4 place enclosed on back of his 3/4 ton SRW long bed crew cab V10 4x4. We ran about 70 and pulled it in 4th gear. (His truck - he said run OD)

It came and went a bit, but not nearly as bad as I would have expected.

Every time we filled it was nigh 11mpg. About the same as my Cummins would have gotten in like conditions.

I would like to have ran a tank through in 3rd to see ...

I would never have towed that in 4th, but he was doo to replace the truck soon enyway I guess. ??? And it was still under warrenty, so ...

Then I know a guy that has an '09 3/4 ton 4wd that only gits the 11 when empty. But then I have a real good idea of how he drives too.

Also - another that has a Duelly that even driven easy is thirsty?

Maybe it boils down to if you drive it like you stole it - or like a white man.

Maybe it's all in the gear set? The dually would Shirley have shorter gears. Not sure what to say aboot the diff in 3/4's?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

You can tow in OD on the 4R100, you just have to use some sense. My 2002 is factory equipped with the trans temp gauge in the dash. It had 50k on it when I bought it in 06/07, it also had a gooseneck hitch. I've put 60k on it in 3yrs, with probably 8k in towing. The original trans is happy and I just follow some simple protocols, don't gun the damn thing while towing. I run 62mph towing in OD, that's around 2000rpm with 4.10:1 gears. I'll tow up to 8k with the 60hp tune, above that I'll derate to the "tow (40hp)" tune. The truck gets around 13-14mpg in "tow tune" hauling around 6k with the gooseneck, 15-16mpg in "60hp tune".

That said, my truck is a 7.3TDI, the 6.8l is definitely more peppy out of the gate, but falls short on torque for heavy towing. The stock 7.3 makes 400lb/ft at 1800rpm, only the 6.4l has finally approached the original 7.3 in towing power.

If you take care of the 6.8, it'll last a long time. The early 4.6l and 5.4l engines had problems, but for different reasons. The 6.8 in an '06 is well refined and should go 300k. I don't think the rest of the truck will quite be worn out by 300k though, at least my dually doesn't look it. I'm looking at ball joints and stuff, but the tranny is still good. The '06 had the torqshift 5R110, which I've never heard anything bad about.

I have been happy with the reliablity of the 5.4, the V10, the 4R100 and the 5R110's. The mileage is fairly consistant, below 15 MPG no matter what it seams. The triton engines are the newest gas engines I've really delved into the electrical side of and I like them. They are easy to troubleshoot, common sense built systems.

My dad has a 02(?) F250 with the 6.8L v10. He gets around 12.5 normally and 9 IIFC with a 12,00LB enclosed car trailer behind it, almost never sees anything but the highway. While towing that trailer it will out accelerate my 01 Ram with the 5.7 v8 empty. I think it's got somewhere in the area of 40,000 miles on it and never needed any major work done.

We used to have a van with the same motor, I think it was a 95. That started dropping coil packs, I can't remember the mileage but it was pretty high. But we beat the tar outta that van, routinely towed way over the rating and such.

Thanks everyone for your info on the V-10. The pickup I am looking at has a 6 speed manual transmission, I believe it is a ZF(abbreviation for the german company that makes it). Sorry MIlicron, but I am in the small minority that believes a pickup needs a manual! lol. I dunno if the second overdrive gear is lower engine rpm than the auto overdrive?

But anyway, I feel a bit more confident if I pull the trigger on the deal knowing there are no expensive quirks in this engine!

Dale

I also have a gear in my truck. From my experience - if your gunna tow - you should have agear.

Also - from my experience - if your gunna have a rattler (diesel) you should have a gear.

(Has everything to doo with trq convertors not likeing the rattle.)


Got juice in the 'Burbans and that's fine...


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

By 06 Ford solved the problem with spark plugs blowing out.

We have an 01 motorhome with the 6.8 liter V10 and a 4R100 transmission. So far it has over 75,000 miles without any trouble. Mileage isn't as good in the motorhome as you should expect in a pickup truck. We average only about 8 mpg (using gas that's up to 10% ethanol), but thats hauling 20,000 lbs of coach and pulling another 3,700 lb jeep.

I also have an Expedition with the smaller 5.4 liter V8 version of the modular engine. It has over 100,00 miles and is still going strong. Being 4wd it gets about 15 mpg in town and about 18 mpg on the highway during the warmer months. During the cold winter months in Wisconsin it gets about 2 mpg less for both city and highway driving. I suppose most of the lower winter mileage can be attributed to leaving it in 4wd about 50% of the time.

The last year for the short sparkplug threads in the heads was 1999. In 2000 the V10 hp went from 275 to 310. In 2005 they introduced the 3 valve version and increased the HP to 362.

swellwelder said:

Thanks everyone for your info on the V-10. The pickup I am looking at has a 6 speed manual transmission, I believe it is a ZF(abbreviation for the german company that makes it). Sorry MIlicron, but I am in the small minority that believes a pickup needs a manual! lol. I dunno if the second overdrive gear is lower engine rpm than the auto overdrive?

But anyway, I feel a bit more confident if I pull the trigger on the deal knowing there are no expensive quirks in this engine!

Dale

Click to expand...

The truck has the ZF S6-650 or newer variant. Finest manual offered in pickup IMO. They shift OK, better than the other 6 speeds, have an actual oil pump, a cooler circuit, pressure pocket bearing lube, don't run on $12/qt fluid and hold up well. I haven't driven one behind a gas engine, but have put several behind healthy 5.9 Cummins engines in Fords with no issue in lots of miles.

I would have one in every truck I own, but they are bigger than most trannies and will only fit under the floorboards of a superduty Ford unless you do some surgery under the seat.

My brother has one.......All good except he probably has replaced 6 or 7 coil paks...

On the subject of coil packs, it was recommended to us to replace all of them at once. The mechanic said that replacing one would disturb the ones next to it and cause them to fail soon after. He's a family friend and only diagnosed the problem for us knowing we would fix it ourselves, so i doubt he was trying to pump us for money.