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755,507 miles.
This Ford F250 has truly lived up to all the rigors of what a long lasting truck represents. Mileage beyond the moon. Scuffs aplenty. Vinyl seats. Not to mention an engine and powertrain that truly stood the test of time.
Speaking of which, can you guess what engine it has?
We’ll give you a hint. It’s in plain sight. Ford offered some unconventional engines in their heavy-duty trucks back in the day. This particular engine has seen duty in more than one Ford with a truck chassis. But it’s not a common one. Not in the slightest, and I doubt that Ford will ever bring it back given the CAFE regulations of the day.
You may need to squint a bit to find this one. But it’s there in plain sight.
54 Comments on “Monday Mileage Champion: 2001 Ford F250...”
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I think I see a Triton V8 badge on the front of the quarterpanel
I bet the amount of ball joints the thing has been through would fill the bed!
Gotta be the 6.8L V10 engine. As this one would be in 2V form, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was origninal.
It wouldn’t matter if it was the V10 or 5.4 V8. They were the same engine, the difference being that the V10 had two extra cylinders. One of the most reliable engines ever made in history due to its block geometry. Makes you think again in the gas /diesel debate. Gas can be just as, if not more reliable than diesel engines. It comes down to individual design.
I agree with all this for sure. I just picked the V10 because Steve mentioned it was not all that common (the 5.4L is common as dirt).
Except that the V10 can’t touch the Powerstroke in terms of power vs. fuel economy. Did a couple of long pulls with one of these from Phoenix to Flagstaff, towing a large cargo trailer. The diesel would get about 18 mpg no matter what you did to it. The V10 got around 12 downhill, not more than 8 uphill.
Almost 800,000 miles is impressive, no matter how you stack it. Probably very lucky it got by the cash for clunkers idiocy.
Your right it is the V10, I have this truck. However not near as many miles I’ve only gotten her up to 438,000. Does it all.
That badge is a lie,
Was the 300 still around in 2001?
+1 ON THE v10.
All of the engines offered in this year Super Duty (5.4L 2v, 6.8L 2v and 7.3L diesel) had the potential to last this long.
Sadly the reliability of the powertrains in these trucks suffered greatly after 2003 with the 6.0L diesel disaster and the 3V versions of the 5.4L and 6.8L to come later.
On a better note, the new 6.2L and 6.7L diesel appear to be much better so far.
Deep down inside I’m laughing my ass off. A Ford truck with 750,000 miles. I’m thinking about all the commentators who go on about buy cheap and keep it forever, the silky smoothness of my car, the elegance of engineering of this vehicle, pick any meme you like or don’t like and run with it. A simple Ford truck went 750,000 miles BWAHAHAHA.
V10. I worked at a used car lot one summer and we got a Super Duty with 250k on it with the V10. It ran just like new. It felt like it could have gone a lot longer.
I don’t know what it is but I’ll make a guess about it’s use. This thing probably has a lot of highway miles and suspect it ran long distances. Little start/stop involved in it. I would put my money on the V8 because I doubt the V10 ever appeared in anything but a truck. That is considering their suburban types as a truck.
There isn’t enough squinting in the world for me to see that badge.
This truck has the V10, you can just barely make it out. The V10 was also available in the Excursion and E-series.
Let’s see 755,507 miles / 11 miles per gallon = 68,682 gallons of gasoline used over its lifetime to date. Multiply that by 6.073 lbs/ for each gallon, that’s 417,106 lbs. of gasoline. Using today’s typical gasoline cost of $4.00/gallon, gas to go this distance would cost $274,728. Cut that in half for historical gasoline cost and it’s still a pretty penny.
Response was meant for wstarvingteacher
When I was in the Army and assigned to an ROTC battalion we had a full size van with a V10 triton. I was so glad I did not have to pay for the fuel that thing burned. Empty of passengers and on flat Louisiana roads I was lucky to see 8 mpg.
My, how far we’ve come with engine efficiency.
That is an amazing amount of fuel. This thing may have supported a small Middle Eastern nation all on its own.
Not impressed by the V10 in these rigs, if that’s what this is. They feel completely gutless under load when compared to the diesels and get absolutely horrid fuel economy. Unlike the Powerstrokes from this time, however, they won’t cause hearing loss.
I owned a ’98 F250 XLT (the one that looked like a stealth heavy duty F150) that had a beautiful 5.4L V-8. The combination of the powertrain, massive locking differential and solid frame was amazingly powerful. Felt like I could tow the moon behind me.
A really, really good truck that was utterly reliable and very comfortable, but I hated driving it. It was a PITA to park, expensive to maintain (ball joints and tires were frightfully expensive) and regardless of how I drove it, I could never get better than 13 mpg from her. Sold that beautiful gal at 120K miles for the same money I paid for her at 80K.
I did all the zooming in I could on that badge, it’s impossible to tell if it says V10 or V8, I’m assuming V10 because it’s more write up worthy.
My only experience with the V10 was in a F250 SWB box van from Uhaul. Unloaded I thought it could really move. Felt much quicker than my family’s F150 with the 5.4 I’ve driven. It was definitely in another league from the only other Uhaul I’ve driven, an E350 box van with the early Navistar diesel. It was the slowest POS I’ve ever operated. I just kept it floored for the 70 miles of highway driving, it could barely maintain 55mph on our nonexistent Oklahoma hills…
Is the odometer accurate? I have seen plenty of sticky odometers that drag the mileage UP. Very common on old Saab 900s.
Any vehicle can get huge mileages on the highway. I worked for a courier company that ran Ford Escorts around the clock six days a week. They would last 500K+ (in 2-3 years), and those were complete turds. 750K in 9 years should be a cakewalk, but I sure would not want to ride in that stiff and bouncy horrible seat thing that much! It’s a lot of gas and a lot of maintenance too.
IIRC the odometers on those are digital, I dunno if the sensor was still hooked to the diff on those.
Your comments on the 900 reminded me the classic ones I see in the “bargain bin” of used cars. They usually have almost 400K kms and look still in good shape.
I wonder if it’s been verified that it has the original engine. I just got rid of an 06 F550 flatbed with a v10 and at 240k miles the truck was on it’s second engine and totally shot. The v10 is a great motor if you don’t need power or torque or even your spark plugs in place. Flat to the floor on an incline semis would pass me due to the truck losing speed steadily down to about 55mph. If you hit any kind of hill at less than 80 it would barely make it up. Hideous truck and engine combo. The new 6.7 F550 I just got is so far very nice other than massive turbo lag due to the 550 having a different turbo than the 350.
One word for you: downshift! There’s no excuse for being passed by semis on inclines. I used to pull a 3000lb trailer with my 140hp 1985 Astro and passed semis “like they were standing still” (slight exaggeration). And why not? My 7000lbs/140hp equated to 50lb/hp. Even at half weight 40,000lbs/500hp the semis were 80lbs/hp plus a lot more frontal area/wind resistance. My “secret”? Manually shift the 4-spd automatic to second and do about 48mph. Sure, the engine was revving but that’s how you develop hp and pass the semis.
Did someone swap in a 4.6 V8? I know they are common as dirt, but I’ve never heard of one in the F-250 of this vintage. Otherwise, perhaps this could be the early model of that generation with the bulletproof 7.3 Powerstroke?
My uncle has the V10 F250, and the thing takes every bit of abuse he dishes out.
The 7.3 is a possibility. I have a mid-2003 E350 with the 7.3… probably one of the very last ones made. Strangely, the van does not come with a Powerstroke badge.
I have an 03 van with the 7.3 and it had the badges from the factory. Both fenders have the V8 with the Powerstroke at the bottom and a badge on the rear.
Badge does not look to be correct for super duty diesel. The square bodies only had a fender badge indicating it was a diesel but the super dutys had a door badge showing diesel status.
The Mod engine family is made up of nothing but gutless boat anchors. And reliable is not a word I would use to describe these mediocre engines. Unless you consider spark plugs being shot out of the head reliable.
Honestly, the only modern engine Ford ever sold that is worth buying is the 7.3. The rest are garbage.
The 4.6 in the later grand marquis is a very solid engine. Not much power but decent fuel economy and after 130k of very hard driving my total repair bill was for one alternator. Then a deer totaled the car.
86SN2001: You’re clueless about modular engines. They are among the most reliable engines produced in history. With a simple cam swap, an old two valve V8 will make 360 horsepower out of 4.6 liters.
No, I’m not clueless. I have seat time behind EVERY mod engine. They are gutless turds. The 4.6 is the most reliable of the three, but that’s like saying the best STD is crabs.
The 5.4 spit up spark plugs, then when Ford went to 3V heads, the spark plugs would get cemented to the head resulting in a $700 spark plug job.
The V10 is a gutless wonder. The only time a V10 is woken up is when you have 4.50+ gears in the rear end. Anything less and it’s a turd. And a thirsty one at that.
86SN2001: Your reply is further proof that you are truly clueless about these engines. These engines are extremely reliable, all of them, and have been the lowest cost to any manufacturer as measured by warranty expenditures. That is a fact.
It’s also a fact that a simple cam and exhaust swap will increase output to over 350 horsepower. A heads and cam swap, in the 2 valve, will put out 400 horsepower. Heads and cam swaps in the 3v and 4v iterations will make between 400 and 500 horsepower. Supercharged/turbocharged modular motors make well past 2,000 horsepower.
You need to get your facts straight.
Wrong again. Again, unless you consider spark plugs shooting out of the head a novelty, these are not reliable engines. Sure, some may have been, but then, some 6.0 PSDs were reliable too.
I will give you one thing though. These engines were such boat anchors that major engine modifications were required to make any sort of decent power.
Ford’s new engines are marginally better than these boat anchors, but they still have a very long way to go before they can touch the power of the HEMI or Toyota’s 5.7 or the legendary reliability of GMs small blocks.
86SN2001: You are absolutely clueless.
1,000 horsepower 5.4 turbo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuAZJ2uV50k
360+ horsepower 2v Crown Victoria
Turbocharged V-10 Excursion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7oObDUkY-A
So much for the modular motors being “gutless”. Not to mention the 600+ horsepower Shelby GT500, or the 800 horsepower 4.6 V8 used in the 241 mile per hour Koenigsegg CCR. But you knew that already, troll.
My brothers stock ’04 Mach 4.6 “boat anchor” stays right with my ’06 GTO. I guess mid 13’s in the 1/4 is “gutless turd” territory. Check Ward’s 10 best engines, the mod motors and new 5.0 are listed. The new 5.0 has the best volumetric efficiency of any mass produced, n/a emissions legal V8.
Another new user name for Silvy but the same worn out “Ford sucks” crap. Just like a jilted high school girl.
Bring it back? I am not positive, but my understanding from looking at the medium-duty trucks last month is that you could still get the V-10 in the almost-a-big-rig category (think delivery trucks and some of the bigger U-hauls.) I might be wrong.
You have not been able to purchase the v-10. In the. 250 or 350 since the introduction of the new 6.2
I’d say CNG powering one of the standard engines for this chassis.
It is indeed the much maligned Ford V10. An engine that I wondered for the longest why Ford even bothered… until a decade later when I see these things out-dieseling most Ford diesels.
It went for $1000 plus the auction fee (appx. $115). The mileage was indeed original. As to whether the engine was original as well… I had to pick up my wife from the airport so I didn’t get a chance to stick around to find that out.
Man, now that’s an honest truck. I would have gladly paid $1,000 for it just for the privilege of shepherding the thing to the 1,000,000 mark. Any idea if the buyer is going to flip it?
Don’t I get a free Manheim or Adesa hat or something?
No way this thing lived up north, those Fords are eaten alive by rust over the rear wheels and the cab corners.
Of those 3/4 million miles, I wonder how many were spent towing or hauling? It’s amazing how many miles are put on these gas guzzlers.
These engines were great, sure if you are driving boats down to Florida for snow birds every day or towing at the limit over the rockies daily. Buy a diesel, otherwise this was the best buy for day to day work.. That’s what’s an f250 is for. This engine was a $695 option vs $7000 for the corn binder, plus the fuel is 40 cents a gallon cheaper. Once you factor in the fact the parts for this engine were 60% cheaper and a rebuild was $4000 less it all makes sense. That’s why they have been reintroduced in the f550 and above, and they run great on lpg or natural gas.
It’s true, they’re industrial engines. They’re also used to this day as industrial generators.
Diesel’s main advantage used to be low end torque production, which was mis=attributed to the fuel itself. Despite diesel having slightly more energy per gallon than gasoline, the increased low end torque production was mostly due to diesel engines being turbocharged from the factory, and having a large displacement. If you look at gasoline engines like the ecoboost, you can see that low end torque isn’t unique to diesels, but to turbocharged engines.
Diesel is losing its edge with the increased cost of emissions compliance and, consequently, an absolute nightmare to maintain. Figure a new set of injectors every 100k miles, with labor, will run in the thousands, and you can’t do the work yourself. The total cost of diesel ownership is unjustifiably high, even for people who tow – because with proper care, a gasoline engine should last just as long, or longer (see Irv Gordon).
Agreed, I have also heard of Ford kicking around the idea of building larger ecoboost engines in 5.0 an 6.2 displacement. Further negating any advantage diesels have, this would mean horsepower in the 500-600 range and torque in the 600-800+. Now keep in mind I live down the street from the ecoboost factory, but Ford has a hit on there hands with the ecoboost in the 150 range why not keep that momentum going and put them where they can best be used.
You hit it on the head in your second paragraph. Emmissions regulations and controls are killing the diesel advantage and preventing the consumer from getting light duty diesels from other markets.
With particulate filers, regeneration, reductant systems, and complicated EGR systems, fuel economy has taken a huge hit as has reliability and cost to own. Maintaining a modern diesel will eat any fuel cost savings and then some. Not to mention the up front cost, usually ~ $8-10,000.
Having worked extensively with modern light duty diesels over the past few years, I typcially steer people shopping for a truck toward a gas motor.
The conversation usually goes something like this, “So you’re looking for a 3/4 ton or bigger truck? How big is your trailer?”
If they say;
“What trailer?” = V6 or base V8 1/2 ton.
“Less than 10,000lbs or 30 feet” = 5.7L HEMI, 6.0L GM/LS or 6.2L mod.
“More than 10,000lbs or 30 feet” Ford 6.8 V10, 8.1L BBC, 7.3L Power Stroke, maybe a 5.9 Cummins of the right year.
“I MUST HAVE DIESEL NOISES” = VW TDI for you
A diesel would have been gummed up by our new low sulfur fuel by now. The most common GM and Ford V8s will run forever.
I’m surprised that’s the original tranny, if you tow, you’ll go through one every 200-300k miles.
I just traded a 2001 F250 4-wheel drive with the V10 and 140,000 miles, and I was happy to see it go. I averaged about 10 mpg in suburban driving and once got close to 12 on the highway (unladen). The front suspension was shot when I got it a couple of years ago. Repairing it added $3,000 to the price. It was also getting ready for some more big-time repairs. I think it might have been able to go another hundred thousand miles, but I shudder to think what the cost would have been. I might consider accepting this truck if you gave me $1000 and I didn’t have to drive it home.
Yup, they got 10-12 mpg no matter what, buddy has one of them for his roofing biz. It fits all six of them their gear and tools and tows the 12k dump trailer and the end of the day. With the properly geared 4 speed automatic I don’t think think you could stress this engine no matter what you did.
The engine actually gave me no problems. It didn’t use oil and showed no signs of problems. But I can’t say the same for the rest of the truck.
Yeah if ya sorry out the front end with Moog and Timken parts it helps a lot.