Rick,
What kind of Fuel mileage do you get on the diesel? There is one near me, nearly identical to yours, but with a manual.
I would like another full size truck with a manual, but my last one had a 300 and got around 18 mpg. I hear a lot of good things about the 7.3, but I'm not going to daily a truck that get 10 mpg.
First, let me say the only time I ever checked it was on long trips: ATL to Dallas, ATL to NYC. On those trips, 900-1,000 miles, usually late afternoon to early morning to avoid traffic in the cities inbetween, I got 19-20. BUTTT, that’s riding with cruise on and maybe 3-4 short distance stops for food, fuel and/or rest stop. Probably at the top of what they can do, standard on cruise should get 1-2mpg more.
But that’s not day to day reality. I’m pretty sure it’s around 15-16 around town & remember diesel is more expensive cause of all the taxes. My truck is completely stock, maybe some wind resistance from the light bars, and I go 75-80 on the interstate all the time. I also have 285/75-16 mild mud terrain tires. I don’t think they’re significantly different diameter than the stock tires, but they’re wider.
I don’t have to work with mine like a lot of you guys do, and I have joked, but this truck has literally been pampered. It was dealer maintained for the first 20 years, at a dealership where I was personal friends with the owner. And I’m meticulous about the routine maintenance.
When I am not using it, I always keep it on a smart trickle charger that helps clean the plates in the batteries. The second I think the batteries might be getting tired, I put in a new set, and I’ll use the used batteries in my town cars or whatever. I buy my filters and routine parts through rock auto or eBay and always keep spares. I can find the fuel filters for five or six dollars online if you can wait a couple weeks to get them, and they’re $30-$50 locally. It’s a no brainer to keep one or two on the shelf.
I’ve always had a full-size truck, and of course I like this one because of the prestige that goes with it, but remember I’m a three-piece suit guy. I got my automotive juices from my different cars.
I think you have to consider what you really need it for, versus how much you want it because it’s cool. The diesel is definitely less maintenance than a gas engine. Forget about going fast off the line, it’s just not what it was made for. If you soup it up to go faster, you will kill your power, you might kill the longevity, and you’ll certainly kill your mileage. One thing nice about the mileage is it is pretty much the same whether you’re empty or if you have another F250 in the back of it. The torque pulls without much more fuel almost regardless of the load.
If you keep it clean with Seabreeze and you do the routine maintenance, there isn’t much trouble starting it down to 20-25° When I visit my kids up north, I put a little gasoline in a spray bottle and I use it like ether, always starts, but of course carrying that around is a little dangerous, I keep it in a thermos.
& mine is the true HD, bought it new at the end of 95. It’s my understanding there were three different F250s in 95/96/97, gray area. There was the 95 carryover, and then apparently there are a handful of light F250s that were made with the flared out 96/97 F150 body line, but they just didn’t sell. That’s when they came up with the HD with the 95 body but it was a 96, but it was a much heavier duty truck. That’s what I have. You can figure out which one it is by the engine code in the VIN, but I don’t know it off hand.
Not sure what else to say, but I’m happy to answer questions, but I don’t think it’s a truck you would get purely for mileage. It will do much more, pull bigger trailers, etc. It’s a much more rugged truck. People will argue with that, but I’ve had them all personally or in my companies. It’s just a workhorse, it doesn’t get unreasonable mileage, but it’s far from economical.
Does that make any sense? I hope it helps!
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