Best Diesel < $10k

[Goofy Footer 539]

I'm researching Diesel pickups / possibly vans. Curious to hear what you think are the better diesels under $10,000.

I'm marginally partial to the Ford 7.3L Powerstroke Turbo Diesel Superdutys but hear good things about the Dodge Cummins and the Allison Transmissions of the Chevy Diesels. 4x4 would be great as these are heavy trucks and Baja is sandy.

What is your experience?

[Ken S 164]

I run the Chevy 2500 HD for my work trucks. Carry a load every day pus a large glass rack.

I've had 5 all diesel's. Don't buy a 03 they need injectors every 100,00.

Never had a break down on any of them. Never done brakes u joints or anything other than tires shocks and fluids.

I usually buy used with around 100,000 on them for around $8,000. I put 300,000 miles on it then sell the thing for $4-5 grand.

I get about 16mpg loaded.

We put 80,000 miles a year on our work trucks.

With F250's I've had to do brakes every year and a tranny every other year.

With the Dodge -I've only had a 96 - had to do front brakes ever 2-3 months and a tranny every year. I hear their better now.

[Ken S 164]

I also have had a couple Chevy 2500HD's with the gas motor and they've both been bullet proof for over 250,000 miles, get 18mpg and are cheaper to buy used.

Also it cost approx. $120 for oil and filter + fuel filter-which you need to change every oil change or you'll have injector problems on the diesel.

$30 for oil change on the gas truck.

[bikeslut 1]

I had a Ford 250 for 10 years and 200,000 miles... one rebuilt transmission, one new set of brake pads... I treated that vehicle worse than I treat my bikes, and it never once complained...

one time, two weeks before I was going on a two week mountain biking trip, up mountain passes, etc, I "thought" it would crap out, and I pre-qualified for a loan... sure enough, right around Sylmar, it started making a loud racket like I hid a Harley under the bed. Nothing in the area for help so I kept driving... noise never went away, and I kept it for 60,000 more miles.

ended up giving that truck to a SDAR vet (who forgot the warning that GAS was in one of the tanks)

that being said; the cummins/Allison combo is pretty much the standard for heavy duty trucks... just offering that my Ford was great.

[Wierdrider 187]

I hear the Ford 6.0 has problems. Stay away.

[bikeslut 1]

my Ford was the 7.3... no issues

one van vs truck thing I noticed (from experience)

LEOs /Border Patrol want to look inside every van... like... "what's in the box?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLDhMU5JvMk

NSFW

[bikeslut 1]

NSFW... I know this for a fact, because the guy down the hallway just told me to turn down the sound on my computer. Lucky he works for me, and HR isn't in on weekends

[wildwood 11]

I had a Ford 250 for 10 years and 200,000 miles... one rebuilt transmission, one new set of brake pads... I treated that vehicle worse than I treat my bikes, and it never once complained...

one time, two weeks before I was going on a two week mountain biking trip, up mountain passes, etc, I "thought" it would crap out, and I pre-qualified for a loan... sure enough, right around Sylmar, it started making a loud racket like I hid a Harley under the bed. Nothing in the area for help so I kept driving... noise never went away, and I kept it for 60,000 more miles.

ended up giving that truck to a SDAR vet (who forgot the warning that GAS was in one of the tanks)

that being said; the cummins/Allison combo is pretty much the standard for heavy duty trucks... just offering that my Ford was great.

+1

I'm still running a 2001 Ford F250, 7.3L. That's the good I hear. Bought it with 63K, now at 135K. Just had the tranny checked, no metal in the magnets,new fluid, good to go. Pulls a 22' Warrior up 74 with ease.

[Uncle Champ 116]

Cummins diesel, 6 speed Borg Warner trans, Dana front and rear, 02 Dodge 3/4 ton 4x4, 160,000, did an injection pump at 96000 and a front driveshaft u-joint somewhere in there. If I was going to Mex a lot I would buy one of the older Square body Dodges, (like Carguys), no fancy computer controlled injector pump, repairable anywhere and still plenty of power. Not quite as much power but still 16 to 21 mpg and less of a theft target than a newer truck, some grampa somewhere must be selling a nice one.

[HotRod82 2]

Whatever you do stay away from the 6.0 Ford for sure. Do you really need a diesel? IMO, if you don't need to haul / tow serious weight, get a gasser. ANY diesel under $10K you are rolling the dice. A diesel repair can be thousands of dollars, most of the transmissions pre 2005 are delicate and need to be cared for. You can get a really nice 4x4 gas 1/2 or 3/4 ton for 10K. That said, I currently have a 2005 Dodge / Cummins 4x4 with 125K on it and it has been flawless. My previous 2001 Dodge went 250K with no issues other than normal maintenance. Last point to consider, my 2001 was 2wd and the Cummins motor is sooo heavy it would not go offroad at all. I got stuck on Fiesta Island with one of my front wheels still on the pavement!

[bikeslut 1]

My F250 also got stuck on fiesta!...I got pulled out...by a 4 banger Toyota...the horror!

[Bp619 104]

Take out half the seats imagine the possibilities.

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/5116933454.html

[darylhunter 1]

I was a moderator on the Ford-Trucks.com 6.0 L forum for a while.

I have an early 2003 F-250 with the 6.0 and went to the site looking for info after the dealer reflashed my truck after a recall and the power seemed to have dropped, plus it got louder. Found the site very helpful and ended up spending a lot of time there for a while.

The early 6.0 trucks use a fuel injector that is prone to sticking open, but in about November of 2003 they were replaced with a newer model. When the truck was new it used a double shot injection sequence at idle and at low speeds that helped cut down quite a bit of the clanking. You could pull up to a drive through window and order with no problems. But apparently that double shot (short shot then full shot) was what was causing the injectors to stick.

The recall was claimed to improve cold starts and general driveability but really took away the double shot injection and also detuned the motor a bit. After that the truck clanked at idle to the point where I turn it off whenever I go through a drive through to order.

Eventually in later reflashes they turned up the tuning on the truck and restored most of the power.

There were two other problems that people had with the truck. A number of people had problems with the high pressure air intake tube after the turbo blowing off under pressure at high load conditions. Towing a trailer up the hilly part of I-8 for example. Power goes to nothing and you can barely pull the truck off the road. The tube is easily reattached but care is needed not to over tighten the clamp.

The final problem, and one that I had was a blown head gasket. Mostly, this occurred to people who were running tuners, and particularly certain brands of tuners, but did sometimes occur to totally stock trucks.

The root cause of the problem was that the head bolt studs were too soft and were subject to stretching a little over time and this allowed pressure to blow out the gasket. The symptom primarily was then that the radiator overflow bottle would vent the liquid and need frequent topping off.

I used a Superchips tuner, which I had great success with and was running it in the Tow Safe mode and pulling my 30 ft Weekend Warrier trailer up a fairly steep pass toward Pine Top, AZ when I notice the temperature needle start to climb. Previously it had never moved off the normal mark even up the steepest of roads when pulling. Had to back out of the throttle a bit to get the temp to drop to normal. Upon investigation I saw the coolent was venting and knew what it was. Was able to top off the coolent and drive the truck around without the trailer normally around town, and for most of the trip home, but then the temp started climbing again when I hit the steep part of the I-8 back into San Diego.

The dealer repaired the truck under warranty, but they could tell I'd been running a tuner by the swirl patterns on the top of the pistons. Some dealers were not covering this repair if a tuner had been used, but since the service manager at my dealer was the one who recommended the tuner in the first place they went ahead and covered the repair.

With the new stud bolts in place I haven't had any more problems. I now have a motor home and don't tow a trailer any more, but I do still use the tuner. I keep it set to high-performance mode when driving around town with no load in the back.

Stock the truck ran 16 seconds flat in the 1/4 mile at Carlsbad the last weekend the track was in operation with a top speed of 84 mph. With the tuner program loaded in HP mode, it ran 14.33 s at 93 mph. 60 ft time dropped from 2.3 s to 1.8 s.

I got the tuner primarily to improve fuel mileage and driveability while towing, but it is nice to surprise people in HP mode when driving unloaded around town. HP mode gives you something like 535 HP and 720 lb-ft of torque.

I am actually pretty happy with the 6.0. The only real problem I had was potentially brought on by my use of the tuner, but it's worked fine ever since.

Still, if I were to get another 6.0, I would look for a 2005 model. The bugs were worked out by then and that's when they went to coil springs up front and the turning radius was improved considerable. My 2003 turns like a super tanker - U-turns at intersections need to be planned out in advance to avoid having to back up to finish the turn.

[ADV Bum 205]

Take out half the seats imagine the possibilities.

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/5116933454.html

I called on this vehicle. It was sold. That vehicle for that price was a fantastic deal.

I love my 2005 dodge 4x4 6spd manual.

[Bp619 104]

Yeah it looked like great deal for a adventure van platform

[bikeslut 1]

And it had a stripper pole inside!

[isde97 29]

I have a 97 PSD E350, 265 000 miles, I ordered it new. One vacuum pump (I should have had it replaced under warranty, I am a dumbass), 2 crank position sensors, one covered under warranty, one covered under recall. I think that is it for the engine. Haven't had an issue with the trans (E40D), just whatever service the dealership does every 30K. I think I am on my 4th set of tires. The diesel in a van presents some challenges to work on, which is why I usually just take it to the dealer and let someone who works on them all the time deal with it. I have been dealing with a low power issue, I hope I have it IDed and fixed, I will report back. 17 mpg, which I am OK with.

This is basically an industrial work truck that has spent its life occasionally hauling dirt bikes in the back, and has been really understressed. I have recently been dealing with old vehicle issues, e.g., peeling paint on the roof, I have to get the seats reupholstered, but nothing that makes me want to replace it, yet.

[poboyblues 0]

I have an 04 Dodge Ram Cummins with 143k on it. Bought it new and has seen the shop 2 times for recalls. It's been very good to our family. Only brakes and services done. Water pump replaced at the 100k service and I replaced belt and hoses too. It's never left us stranded although I was a nervous wreck driving it out of palm desert last Saturday when it was 117 degrees. It was fully loaded with our gear and all seats filled. It never missed a beat. The 03-07 Ram trucks with the Cummins are hard to beat. They may be still above 10k though. You could look for the Gen 2 Cummins Ram truck up to 2002. The later Gen 2 had a 24 valve

Cummins which is what mine is. Also great trucks. Probably right at the price you're looking for.

[KTMrad 508]

My '98 FORD F150 4.6 Triton V8 has 370,000+ miles on original motor, 5 speed manual original tranny.

Colin and his team at at Top Value Tire have been maintaining it for me for all it's life.

[Spaugh 1]

I will add to the list of happy dodge ram owners. Manual transmission so you won't be fixing a burnt mush box.

Diesel 2.59$ a gallon, thats a bargain.

[Vacman 0]

I paid $3.15 for gas at Costco yesterday. Tough to justify the premium price for a diesel unless you need the towing capacity, IMO.

[bikeslut 1]

In my limited experience; diesel prices don't fluctuate at the same time as gas. Sometimes it's cheaper, sometimes not. MY diesel rarely needed repairs...damn thing was bulletproof. But; repair of the diesel stuff cost more to fix

[Goofy Footer 539]

A riding buddy just bought a 1996 F250 extended cab long bed diesel. The truck is pretty badass and feels like a Truck with the old metal door handles etc. It sure was nice to close the tail gate with both bikes inside and not have to move them around.

What is everybody's experience with Long Bed vs Regular Bed trucks?

[Bp619 104]

Last truck was chevy diesel ext cab 8' bed love it 3 bikes in with gear and tailgate closed. New truck 4 door with 5.5' bed 1 bike sideways with gear tailgate closed 2 bikes with gear tailgate do down abd cramped. But i wouldnt go back to the 2500 with ext cab and long bed a bitch to park fit places. Short bed does it all for me. Last 3 trucks were 8' bed and i wont go back

[bikeslut 1]

I've had both...it all depends on parking; if parking is not an issue, long beds are great. a mall parking lot, downtown, work lots, etc...fuGgitaboutit.