Tuesday, Sep 02, 2008 at 00:06
Pulling the boat & trailer at 100 kph I get 5
miles to the gallon!
Truck weighs about 4.2 tonnes - the boat & trailer about 4 tonnes and i figure another 2 tonnes of "gear fuel and
water etc..
If we weren't close to 9 tonnes all up I'd go he!
Reliability can be an issue with these trucks - don't let anyone fool you - and LOTS of
places up north in WA at least there are no Ford dealers - even if you do have a warranty.
It ended up taking 5 months and over 5 K to find what seemed to be a electrical wire short, but eventually led to a new IGM (Injector Drive Module) to rectify.
My advice after all this experience would be - NOT to leave a major city with an Eff Truck (7.3) unless you have a laptop and a Auto Enginuity software program / connctor to the vehicle - to be able to diagnose problems along the way.
These trucks are TOO complex for the avaerage auto sparky and deisel fitter to work on, they require a computer to get the fault codes to tell you whats wrong and what parts etc you will need.
This software and connector is around Aus$ 650, a trip on a tilt tray truck to the repairers (40kms) = $350, theres agrand out of pocket thats NOT covered under warranty before you even get started.
IF you read any of the US forums of F trucks - you'll see that they have quite afew COMMON electrical faults problems with Cam Position Sensors (recall issue in the USA - FordAust never bothered to tell anyone - EVERY F trck 7.3 owner should have a spare CPS in the console - you WILL need it one day.
In my case - the faulty wire is a common high voltage wire in the loom that feeds the injectors on each bank..
In my case the common earth return to the IDM was shorting somewhere (on the firewall) and it took 4 injectors offfline making the big V8 into an instand 4 cylinder.
I saw HEAPS of F trucks in the Northwest in the time welived there - most were tourists passing thru - and a few owners who hadn't yet had the common problems - but once i went to the diesel fitters in
Karratha - I saw them LINED UP in their yard -no one knew how to fix them...they were getting advice over the phone from Ford in
perth or F trucks in
Perth and didn't even have the proper diagnostic computer program etc.
In the end - to get my truck fixed I ended up buying the software prorgam myself & diagnosing the fault - then posting the list of fault codes on the internet in the USA and getting ford techs from USA to post the ford repair manual appropriate sections (from their DC rom disc from Ford) then printing it all out and taking the solution to the disel fitters - who would then know what to do and how to do it.
Cost of a new IDM computer?.......$1500 odd
Anyone who unkowingly takes an F truck into remote country is asking for some BIG bills when things inevitably go wrong.
Had I been driving a cruiser I could have dropped it at the local toyota dealer.
Ford have very bad dealer service representation in remote areas, that is something I learned the hard way.
Ford USA lost something like 89 BILLION in the last Fiscal year - prior to that, they were forced by their bankers to mortgage their factorys , manufacturing plant and land it stands on to cover their massive debts - for the very first time since Henry Ford built the first Model T.
At the rate they are losing $ they COULD be broke before this next fiscal year is out!
Ford has taken its diesel engine supplier Navistar (International harvester) who buld the 7.3 andlater 6.4 and 6.0 liter disels to court, over supply issues and Navistar has likewise counter sued Ford for failure to pay for engines delvered.
Ford claim the engines are so unreliable that the warranty costs are sending them broke - so they started deucting repair costs deemed to be as a result of poor cnstruction or design from the paymenst due to navistar for new engines supplied.
Navistar closed down one whole Factory laying off 600 sstaff and stopped supplying Ford any engines until they paid up in full.
The court ordered both parties to go back to supplying engines and paying for them. Since then Ford has started to built it's own diesel engine manufacturing plant - and plans a new FORD built engine in 2010.
Thats in breach of it's agreement to buy Navistar built engines till 2012...so back to court they go.
Ford Australia stopped inporting the F 250's in 2006 year and have no plans to re commence- as a result Ford dealers have little committement to F 250 parts inventory etc - you end up having to wait on parts from USA.
The trusks are renowned for chewing up auto transmissions in as little as 20,000 km's and a new one will set you back about 15K minimum.
If you add a performance chip, and tow heavy weights you can be guaranteed to chew up the transmission.
The engines mechanically are built like tanks and will go 1/2 to 1 million
miles no worries if you look after them with regular oil changes, clean fuel and air.
Sadly the electronics and computers etc that run these engines are a fricken disaster looking for some where and some sucker to happen too.
The electronics are NOT
well engineered for anything but bitumen roads. If you take them on Gravel and thru
water - theyWILL fail you when you can least afford it.
Yes they are BIG V 8's and will pull more than a cruiser.......
Luckily - because the F trucks are in short supply and SOME sectors of the community like earth works contracters NEED the ability to pull diggers etc weighing more than the usual 3.5 tonnes - they command aBIG price approaching $100K by the time you add GST...
If / when I cam sell
mine I'll be getting the new 200 series twin turbo cruiser- similar stock HP to the F truck from a 4.2 rather than 7.3 and dealers everywhere when something goes wrong.
Thats been my experience for what it's worth.
Cheers
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