2011 Ford F550. Round 3!!..

[Wingate]

I will stick up for Navistar on the old HUEI 7. 3L... . while it wasnt the most powerful engine in stock form, I believe there are more of them still running today vs. the 6. 0 and 6. 4 engines. It did have its weak spots, but overall, it was/is a good engine. Between the horsepower wars and emissions... . the Ford diesel engine platform has suffered over the last 10 years.
Speaking of plastic oil pans. . I have to take my truck in for what appears to be the pan leaking. . Its either that or the rear of the cylinder heads leaking oil...

 

[HBarlow]

I forgot to mention earlier. I travel 15 miles most days on my Goldwing to eat lunch in the small ranching community of Dickens. I travel US-82. Last Friday on my way to lunch I saw a mid-2000 Furd diesel dually with a commercial trucking magnetic sign on the doors and a loaded gooseneck flatbed trailer in tow sitting on the shoulder on the west bound side. A couple hours later, after lunch, on m way home it was still there and as I passed by I saw the driver in the cab. I crossed over at the first median cut and went back and pulled up along side of him. It was a black fellow, in his 30s, a hotshot hauler. I asked him if he needed help and he told me he blown the radiator and had called and bought one out of Abilene about 140 miles south and someone was bringing it to him. He said he had the tools and was going to change it alongside the higway. He sounded like he had his own problem solved and didn't want any help so I wished him well and headed home.

Today when I went to lunch the truck was still sitting there all alone. The trailer and driver were gone. I don't know what happened but would have helped him if I had known he was stranded.

That's the story of commercial hauling with a Furd. I've seen at least 100 of them, maybe 200, on the side of the road or on a roll back in the last several years. I've seen several along this highway.

In two years and nine months and 400,000 miles on the highways of America in all weather my Dodges with 300k and 200k miles on the odometer never once stranded me.

 

[Wingate]

Got to really stretch my truck out and see just how much fuel mileage I could get out of it over the weekend... I traveled 400+ miles one way up into the Oklahoma panhandle from E. Texas. The best I could get out of it was 8. 8mpg with the cruise set at 65 on flat roads with no wind. BTW EVERYTHING is flat in that part of the country. These were absolutely perfect conditions, it will never be any better. . Truck weight is 19325 according to the Ok DOT officer that weighed me on the side of the road, and thats the most I could squeeze out of it. Slowing down to 60 gained nothing but increasing speed to 70 dropped it about . 6

 

[HBarlow]

These 6. 7L Fords are iron... its a CGI block, (Compacted Graphite Iron) But, the heads are aluminum, the valve covers and oil pan are "composite material" A. K. A. plastic.
The Ford forums are absolutely horrible... I gave up when I ended up in a fuel mileage discussion about the C&C trucks... . Our fuel consumption is averaged over each fuel purchase, monthly, quarterly, and annually. So I can look at almost any time and see my fuel efficiency... when I attempted to share this info with the OP, other geniuses were quick to accuse me of trolling, outright lying, etc... I threw my hands up... . Its not like I purchase the fuel for this truck, I could care less what it gets, and I think the OP was genuinely wanting some real data... . but the thread went downhill so quick, he couldn't keep it under control...
I'll just stick with my TDR..... !!!

They've always been that way. I browsed their forums back in the mid-2000s when the Sick. Ohhs were dying alongside the highways all across America. A lot of their forum members were having similar problems and trying to honestly and fairly report and discuss their problems. They were called everything but members.

Apparently Furd owners don't want to hear the truth. They love their Furds regardless of how many times Furd has screwed them and prefer to believe what they want to believe.

 

[HBarlow]

Parts and service departments probably appreciate them because of the money Furd diesels put in their paychecks but the service writers and service managers who have to deal with raging owners probably don't enjoy listening to the tirades they hear all the time.

 

[HBarlow]

When I went to lunch today the red Furd Sick. Ohh was still sitting on the highway shoulder. Driver not around and trailer is gone. Sounds like bad news for the driver. Truck has been sitting there for five days now. It's extremely hard for a hotshot hauler or RV transporter to make a living with a Furd diesel.

Also saw a light gold Furd Sick. Ohh riding on a roll back wrecker within a 1/2 mile of the broke down and abandoned truck. The one on the wrecker was apparently on its way to a Furd dealer in Lubbock. Truck was too old to be in warranty.

I feel sorry for both Furd owners.

 

[rscurtis]

Parts and service departments probably appreciate them because of the money Furd diesels put in their paychecks but the service writers and service managers who have to deal with raging owners probably don't enjoy listening to the tirades they hear all the time.

The BD dealer in Lebanon PA where I bought my turbo and manifold loves the 6. 0. They keep them going during the winter. They even have a mechanic who works between their two shops working on nothing but 6-litres.

 

[HBarlow]

I guess that is one success Navistar/Furd can claim for the Sick. Ohh - full employment for lots of Furd diesel mechanics.

 

[Simplysmn]

I don't feel sorry for them for breaking down I feel sorry for them because they bought the broke down Junk in the first place

 

[Wingate]

Update: So the truck has had a turbo and a new plastic inlet air line... Truck has been running normal for about a week or so, although it seems to "cleaning exhaust system" much more frequently. Yesterday I shut it down at a gas station and 5 minutes later, it won't fire up!. Spin over all day, every once awhile it stumbles for a second, but refuses to run. No CEL's, nothing. After crawling around under it checking the fuel transfer pump, checking for water in the fuel, pulled the outlet line off the fuel filter and turned the key on, plenty of fuel volume and pressure,etc... everything seems ok, but this stupid thing refuses to start. I get a wrecker coming my way (bout 3 hours away) In the mean time... I give in to my urge to give this dumb engine a snort of "liquid choke". . After about 1 1/2 cans of courage, it finally starts running although its got a CEL now and derated to about half power. I went on to location and then back home ( which is fun at 19K lbs and about half of 300 hp!!!. . ) Drove it directly to the Ford dealership and dropped it off. Dang thing is, the P. O. S. actually fired right up at the dealership!. Common consensus between myself and 3 different Ford techs is that there is something failing on the high pressure fuel system, but it was too late on a holiday Friday to dive into it... they've got it locked up in the hospital for the weekend and should hear something Tuesday.....
If it wasn't affecting my job so bad, it would be kinda funny. . but this is starting to really get me behind with my job...

 

[HBarlow]

Wingate,

Have any of the decision makers in your company like the buyer said anything yet about their decision to buy those Furd pos trucks?

The broken down Sick. Ohh Furd hotshot hauler truck on the highway on my route to lunch was finally moved after only a week. I saw large stains on the highway shoulder where it had been parked.

 

[Wingate]

Nothing as of yet... GM has quit building a 4500-5500 chassis, they will not purchase a Dodge due to the engine. I hear that we purchased an International... I have not seen it, but I hear it has its own set of issues. I believe the next option is to just give up on the diesel engine and go to a gasser. The fuel consumption cannot be any worse than we are currently getting with the Ford diesel. Maintenance costs would be MUCH cheaper, and reliability should be much better.
There is another option that is making headway... and that is a CNG vehicle.

 

[Simplysmn]

What's wrong with the Engine in the Dodge it has been proven way more then Furd has ?

 

[jgillott]

Nothing as of yet... GM has quit building a 4500-5500 chassis, they will not purchase a Dodge due to the engine. I hear that we purchased an International... I have not seen it, but I hear it has its own set of issues. I believe the next option is to just give up on the diesel engine and go to a gasser. The fuel consumption cannot be any worse than we are currently getting with the Ford diesel. Maintenance costs would be MUCH cheaper, and reliability should be much better.
There is another option that is making headway... and that is a CNG vehicle.

Any Idea what the specs are on the International? The transportation department where I work just received ~2 dozen new Internationals replacing the VT-365 powered ones they had in the past. 3 are Maxforce 7's (6. 4L) and the rest are all Maxforce DT's (DT466). They have only been in service a few weeks, but the reviews are excellent so far with the DT466 trucks. Only time will tell, but they have to be better than the 6. 0L ones they replaced.

 

[JR]

Nothing as of yet... GM has quit building a 4500-5500 chassis, they will not purchase a Dodge due to the engine. I hear that we purchased an International... I have not seen it, but I hear it has its own set of issues. I believe the next option is to just give up on the diesel engine and go to a gasser. The fuel consumption cannot be any worse than we are currently getting with the Ford diesel. Maintenance costs would be MUCH cheaper, and reliability should be much better.

There is another option that is making headway... and that is a CNG vehicle.

What is wrong with the engines in the 5500? Im assuming these are the Cummins also?

 

[Bill Stockard]

What is wrong with the engines in the 5500? Im assuming these are the Cummins also?

That is the problem... Cummins is their competition. They don't want to buy from a competitor in the off highway engine business.

Personally, I don't see why they don't buy a Cummins since Cummins doesn't compete with CAT in that size on highway truck business... but it's not my decision.

Bill

 

[rscurtis]

I agree. That's a poor basis for a buying decision. The real competition is not Cummins, it's the trucks that don't work like they're supposed to. Forget NG, it's not end-all that everyone thinks it is, espescially for a high-use vehicle. A vehicle like a 550 will spend half the time looking for fueling stations. It is also a very expensive option, more than a diesel. Why would you spend that much money to go 100-150 miles? NG might be viable for some markets if it was free.

 

[Wingate]

Our customers that are going to continue with diesles for their service trucks are moving to Dodge, the others appear to be going NG powered. Several of our customers had purchased the Fords after seeing us with new ones back in mid2010. . (our trucks are 2011 models and were some of the first C&C trucks in Texas) Anyway, those customers have already cut bait and are replacing theirs with diesel powered Dodges or are going NG.
RSCURTIS, NG is a very viable option for around here. There are more and more NG filling stations being put in weekly. . and with many in the NG industry switching their entire fleets to NG, its only going to get better. Currenty, I have to stop about every 200 miles or so to fill up my 34 gal. diesel tank... . The math doesnt come out so good on that... when you add in maintenance costs, initial purchase costs, and absence of reliability... . well... .

 

[HBarlow]

An equivalent gallon of CNG contains far less energy than a gallon of diesel fuel and also considerably less than gasoline.

I'd sure hate to be forced to drive a 20k lb. service truck around the gentle rolling hills of east TX with a CNG-fueled gasoline engine. A Furd V10 adapted to burn CNG could probably produce 100 hp and 225 ft. lbs. of torque at 4000 rpm. It would require a 10:1 rear axle to maintain 30 mph.

 

[rscurtis]

Wingate, I'll stand corrected by your comments on NG. I'm not familiar with fuel availability in your local area. But the real problem you're having is not the fuel, it's the engine. Based on the experience I had with my IH 4300, I wouldn't even look at a Terrastar. I have never seen one on the road, and I'm not that far from one of their PDI centers in PA.