I'm looking to get rid of my 02 F-150 and get either a new diesel F-250 or another F-150. I travel alot, with alot of towing, and so I'll put on 20k a year no problem. I'm looking at the diesels because the better fuel economy, and more power, eventhough my boat rig only weighs about 3-4k lbs. I know the oil changes are more expensive, but what other expenses do you guys have? How much is the 30k tune up? What are your tune up intervels and what do they run? Sorry if these are dumb questions, but I have never owned a diesel before, only gas trucks. Thanks.

 

I have no idea what a 30k tune up is. I have 120k+ and I have only changed oil ever 5k, change fuel filter eveer 15k, I have an airforce 1 filter, so I clean it once a year or so. then thre is the changing of the transmission (manual for me) and coolant if you are not using gold. You would get a better idea of the maintenance over at .thedieselstop.com.

runnert.

 

Oil change at 3 every 5000mi, fuel filter at 15k, trans service at 20k (if towing heavy alot) 30k otherwise, transfer case oil at the same time as the transmission, coolant (if its not the gold coolant) must be maintained with SCA (supplemental coolant addatives) to prevent caviation in the system. Thats about all that needs to be done really. Oil changes for me run about $50. It takes 14 qts of oil and a $15 filter plus a $10 bypass oil filter (I added that). This lets me extend oil changes to 10k+ based on my oil analysis. I would also reccommend adding a transmission bypass filter. This will help increase the life of the fluid as well as provide better protection incase something fails. That costs about $100 for the premade kit. I made my own kit and I didn't save too much going that route. Diesels take alot more maintenace and care than a gas engine (warming up at startup and cooling down after running) but if you're willing to put up with it.

 

out of 7 gas stations i drove by today- diesel was .25$ more a gallon than regular unleaded!

 

Welcome to the winter heating season



Around here diesel has gone from $1.9x to $2.21 in a few weeks. This time of year crude is being diverted from diesel production to heating oil production to be reading for heating season. Also its fall harvest and prices are also inflated due to that. Theres other things going on that affect it (one being politics right now), but those are 2 of the somewhat larger reasons beind the price hikes.