ambulances/powerstrokes

[BLillquist]

I've noticed that most if not all ambulance/EMT vehicles around here.

Minneapolis area are almost exclusively Ford powered with powerstrokes. guess it must be that awesome V-8 power Oo. HA-HA

don't see many dead on the side of the road. anyone ever seen a cummins powered ambulance?? guess ford has this market all to itself, also the police cruiser market with the crown vic police interceptor.

guess the must be satisfied with the 6. oh no.

 

[DWeiler]

Not a hell of a lot of power from my 01-7. 3 company bread truck i drive. Throw about 5000lbs worth of weight in my Ford cube and it falls flat on its face,even unloaded it is sluggish,most of the time in the city i drive with the overdrive off cause the transmission is always downshifting on the SLIGHTIST hill. I'v logged over 400000 miles of city driving in these pigs thats why i have a CUMMINS at home. I seem to know what is good and bad about them(lots of 7. 3 ambulances around still) if you want to know,i may not be an ambulance but i have spent plenty of time on the side of the road because of motor problems. -- 7. 3 is no better than the 6. 0---My bitter 2 cents---after spending 14+ hours today working and driving one ---DW

 

[Mhannink]

yopu know you all bash ford and the psd but my dad has a f450 and yeah its a little lacking in power compared to the cummins but its reliable after 130000 miles no major problems and never really on dead on the side of the road i know cummins is better but if i had to choose between dmax and psd it would be a psd(would compare to cummins but its out of the psd's league) just my . 02

 

[DWeiler]

Around here when it gets cold,better have a plug in for them cuse if it gets to 10-15 below celcius,its not going anywhere.

Did not mean to bash Ford i can list good thing as well as bad about them----GOOD--- to date, never had to replace anything in reguards to fuel pumps,turbos,injectors on all 10 of our fords(7. 3s)--All still original,---BAD----computer problems,glowplugs don't last long,compresser,cold weather starts,most sensors replaced. IMHO ford should of worked to inprove the 7. 3 rather than rush the 6. 0 out to compete with the duramax and 3rd genner Dodges. When the 7. 3 gets up in milage 200000+ they tend to tire quickly,only kept one for just over 300000 miles but it was on its last legs.

 

[mroodzant]

I drive a powerstroke aid car for the fire dept. They are always in the shop. They top out at about 45 or 50 MPH climbing the hills in my city. They accelerate quicker than my Dodge, but they are less powered over all.

 

[BLillquist]

That's about the only advantage the powerjoke has over the cummins. they do accelerate fast from a standstill. I guess that would be a desirable trait for an ambulance.

would hate to work on them with all the clutter under that big hood!!!

 

[Msilbernagel]

My daughter drives them - she is a Paramedic here. She has yet to see one where the transmission lasts 10,000 miles without breaking down.



They also seem to have a fair amount of turbo problems.



My guess is that F**d was the lowest bidder...



Mark

-

I've noticed that most if not all ambulance/EMT vehicles around here.

Minneapolis area are almost exclusively Ford powered with powerstrokes. guess it must be that awesome V-8 power Oo. HA-HA

don't see many dead on the side of the road. anyone ever seen a cummins powered ambulance?? guess ford has this market all to itself, also the police cruiser market with the crown vic police interceptor.

guess the must be satisfied with the 6. oh no.

 

[TConnolly]

It's the frame under the Fords not the power plant, most ambulance's are Ford Van chassis.

 

[WDaniels]

We just upgraded our old "E-ONE" ambulance which was on a Chevy frame with a 454 to a 01 or 02 ambulace which is on a Ford frame with a 7. 3. The last year for the 7. 3 in the ambulances. One big thing that the Chevy's took a hit for was the E-ONE box. Nothing but electrical problems which of course put everyone off of them. To expensive to fix all the time. The 6. 0 in the newer ambulances are nothing but problems. While they are always in the shop, my 7. 3 keeps on going. If I can't have the cummins, I'll stick with the 7. 3. (in the ambulance that is )

WD

 

[JSienkowski]

Unfortunaly, the four letter "F" word is the largest manufacturer of chassis approved for ambulances, I've not seen to many others, and you have to have a diesel to meet federal regulations. .

 

[GOTSOOT]

A good friend has 3 -`04 -6. 0 powerstrokes, all theses trucks see only one driver , and all three have literally "blown up". dealer has already agreed to buy back two of the three. these trucks had no more than 40,000 miles. go figure????

 

[Firehunter]

I drive a 450 powerstroke Ambulance, the low end is great ,sometimes too much. you will tend to toss the guys in the back once in a while. we are equipped with a air ride systems also, so its smooth sailing. The rig was made by Horton. The transmission is still good and we all tend to lay into it when responding to calls The only problems we have had is the electrical is terrible and is a little slow on accelerating on cold starts, and every once in a while you will hear a strange noise from under the hood. This is the second one we have had here. I think next time i will be pushing for the cummins. Oo.

 

[CTD 600]

I drive a 99' F450 7. 3l with a utility bed for work (fire) and again, nothing but problems. We have 3 of those trucks at the station. #1 Truck has had 2 replacement motors, 3 turbo's, 2 transmission replacements! #2 Truck has 1 motor replacement, 1 transmission replacement. # 3 2 Transmission replacements, 1 turbo replacement.



We don't treat these trucks very nicely, (no warm up, fast acceleration) when responding to emergency calls. Yes, they have broken down while enroute to a emergency. #@$%!



The guys I work with have 7. 3l for their own personal trucks and they have never had a problem. I am thinking that like said above, Ford was the lowest bidder and the trucks came from a plant where they were having problems during the time it was built.



We have 2 2002 Dodge Cummins 2500 4x4 Auto Trans for offroad work and THEY HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM! They have appx. 40,000 miles on them. Just goes to show which is more reliable for this type of service!

 

[Signal73]

Some slightly Biased oppinions here. AMR the countrys largest ambulance service relys soley on the Powerstroke in thier ambulances and usually retire them around 250,000 miles. This is of course after hundreds of hours of idle time while units are posting for calls in all climates. If dodge got thier head out of thier butt crack, maybe someday you'll see a cummins in an ambulance, but my suspicions are you'll see an MB diesel in a dodge before that happens... .

 

[DBogo]

arouns here most of the ambulances are 7. 3's there are some freightliner FL50s with 5. 9 cummins in em and even a few GM 6. 5's still kickin there way around

 

[amsoilman]

Some slightly Biased oppinions here. AMR the countrys largest ambulance service relys soley on the Powerstroke in thier ambulances and usually retire them around 250,000 miles. This is of course after hundreds of hours of idle time while units are posting for calls in all climates. If dodge got thier head out of thier butt crack, maybe someday you'll see a cummins in an ambulance, but my suspicions are you'll see an MB diesel in a dodge before that happens... .

I have seen an ambulance built on a one ton DODGE chassis. It did have a cummins engine. BIggest complaint from the users said they DID NOT LIKE THE BRAKES! The truck was 2000 model, based in my city.



I think the Fords are based on the van chassis, where Dodge does not have a van with the Cummins option.



Wayne

amsoilman

 

[Mhannink]

Unfortunaly, the four letter "F" word is the largest manufacturer of chassis approved for ambulances, I've not seen to many others, and you have to have a diesel to meet federal regulations. .

why do they have to have a diesel seems like w/ all the government regs that a diesel would be a bad thing to them

 

[KCJackson]

why do they have to have a diesel seems like w/ all the government regs that a diesel would be a bad thing to them

Diesel is a far less volatile fuel than gasoline... with all the electrical and electronic equipment in most current ambulances, you can't afford to have a wayward spark blow the thing up.



A lot of the VACs in north NJ are switching to class 5 mediums, like International and Freightliner. The initial price is twice as much, but they get an honest 10 years of life, as opposed to 3-4 from the Fords.

 

[JSienkowski]

The biggest problem I have with a class 5 chassis is fitting it in older trailer parks, or most older driveways, plus the ride in the bigger "Busses" suck even with air ride, I'm all fo "Bigger is Better" especially with brakes, but you reach a point where you get counter productive.

 

[JLitton]

The county here uses all Ford Van Chassis Ambulances and have for as long as I can remember. Charleston Fire Department uses all GMC Duramax box ambulances.