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New to Forum & Considering F150 Powerstroke

5K views 10 replies 4 participants last post by  Stingray 
#1 ·
Hello all - Considering a 2018 F150 Lariat Powerstroke to replace my 2010 F150 Lariat 5.4 with 329,000 miles. I do a great deal of driving as a consultant and sometimes pull a 6'X10' enclosed Car-Mate trailer that weighs about 3,000 lbs. Never owned a diesel and for some unknown reason always wanted one. Love F150 ride and do not really have the need for a 250 or larger. Like the idea of higher MPG...briefly considered a Porsche Cayenne diesel that gets 20 city and 29 highway, but in my business would send the wrong image. Couple of newbie questions:

1. Having not read the owner's manual, which I do (cover to cover) how does one properly break in the motor?

2. So, DEF thing will be new to me. I have heard about "crappy" DEF and it crystalizing. Thoughts?

3. How long should I wait before I tow the trailer? Mileage wise?

4. Most importantly, what am I not asking you guys that I should know? What can shed light on for a new potential owner?

Thanks in advance for information. I am very close to purchasing, but it is a chunk of money for a new truck regardless of setup and I work too hard, as does my truck, to make a bad and uniformed decision.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
1. Drive it as you normally would. The transmission adapts to your driving, so I would just drive your normal driving habits. Those that have had many diesels may have mastered a break-in driving technique, but without that experience I am just driving mine as I would have drove my 2010 F150 with the exception of not doing jackrabbit starts from stoplights (you need to go into Sport Drive Mode to do that).

2. I have not heard of "crappy" DEF, but I have read that the fresher the DEF fluid the better. Some prefer to pump it in from a DEF pump at a truck stop for the freshest available. I have not added any DEF yet and I have just passed 4,000 mile mark with 1/4-3/8 remaining. I ordered a filler device off Amazon to have on hand to prevent overfill spillage once I do get around to adding DEF. Now that the Polar Vortex has passed, we are supposed to go from -30'sF to +40F this weekend, so a good temp for me to be adding in some DEF.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008B5WVF8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

3. I believe the Owner's Manual says to wait until 1,000 miles before towing.

4. I am coming from a similar truck as yours--my previous was a 2010 F150 King Ranch 5.4 Triton with 171,xxx miles. I loved that truck, and had confidence to take it to 300,000+ as you did with yours. My problem was that mine was rusting out all over the place, and my rocker panels were almost gone, so I decided to trade it in before I was stuck with it to the junkyard. I absolutely love my new F150 diesel. My advice to you would be to try get lucky as I did and find one on a dealers lot, because many of the custom orders seem to have been taking up to 5 months to arrive. Also, I would have them perform all the recall repairs before you drive it off the lot--especially the 18E02 EGR By-pass Valve Replacement.

If you think you may do a lift/level and larger tires, then I would go with the 3.55 gears for rear end axle ratio.

The EPA ratings of 25/20 and 22 combined mpg's are probably realistic on summer diesel after engine break-in period. So far in my first 3,706.1 miles I hand calculated 19.94 mpg running on winter blend diesel. Early on I had a half-tank fill hand calculate to 23.29 mpg. I also had an 18 mile stretch recently where the truck reported 28.6 mpg. I have 3.55 gears and trailer tow mirrors--both of which I think combined for me taking a 1.0-1.5 reduction in fuel economy over the EPA ratings which I'm suspecting were done with 3.31 gears and normal mirrors. (I absolutely love the trailer tow mirrors though, and wouldn't have bought the truck without them--that was a must have for me).

I am really looking forward to towing my Ranger boat behind this F150 diesel--especially on my trips up to NW Ontario where there are some steeper grades to pull up that my 5.4L Triton was downshifting and engine revving to 3,500+ RPM's and I think the F150 diesel will probably hold 8th gear and barely go above 2,000 RPM's in that same stretch of road (at least that is what I am expecting).

Hope the above info helps you out. You will love the F150 diesel like the rest of us here that already have it.
 
#3 ·
kdjasper - Thanks! Great information for me to consider especially having the dealer make sure that all of recalls have been handled especially the EGR bypass valve replacement. My problem has been "over analyzing" my potential purchase. I have even let the Raptor sneak into my thoughts. It is between the F150 Powerstroke or the Raptor. My challenge is that the dealers sell them everyday and I don't buy them that often. So, I am really kicking around "pros and cons" of both trucks and find myself comparing apples and oranges. My truck is running great, but I know at some point I will have to do something just trying to be prepared when the time comes.
 
#4 ·
Get the Raptor if you want to go fast and look cool. I have had both, I will tell you a normal F150 drives and handles much better on the highway/normal driving than a Raptor does. Raptor has crazy bump steer.
I traded my Raptor in when the Ecoboost decided it wanted to sound like a Massey Ferguson tractor starting up every morning and Ford dealer told me a week to even look at it.
Raptor got 14MPG. F150 Diesel is averaging 20MPG+ for me now. And its not near broken in.
It is certainly not as fast, but I can tell this is a well built tight motor.

Yes we need to get thru the EGR recall and such, but I think it will all be alright. Remember this is the first year of the Diesel F150. Like us all I wish they would have got it right and avoided the EGR recall, but it is what it is. Now that it is an official recall you cannot drive one off the lot until they fix it.

The DEF and DPF is something to worry about long term, but if you dont mine tinkering, these things can already be fully deleted. Do that and you probably have a 500k mile truck.
 
#5 ·
wreedsvt - Thanks for the comments! I drove the Raptor this morning and had it for about an hour and half. It does appear a little more "squirrelly" on the highway. At 55, no matter what I do, I will not "look cool"...so, I am thinking that the Raptor is "no-go" for me and I am seriously considering the Powerstroke even more now. I understand the DEF thing, but I Googled the DPF (diesel particulate filter). I am in Virginia and in an area that does not require exhaust testing. I guess delete on both is something to consider after the factory warranty runs out.

What about engine heating related to cold weather? We get some cold nights in Virginia, but I also do some consulting work in the Northeast (PA & NJ). Out of town in hotel, how the **** does one plug one in? Or am I overthinking this?

I'll sit back and wait for the comments/advice.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I'm 53, and in my younger days I may have opted for a Raptor myself, but my buying brand new every ~9 years my last new truck (before the 3.0) was a March 2010 before the Raptor was released. Back then at age 44 I had thought about waiting for the Raptor to come out, but my son just turned 16 and I handed him down my 2002 Tacoma 4x4 so that I could buy a 2010 F150 King Ranch. My experience with my 2010 KR with a short bed told me my next truck needed a long bed, and that along with my age scratched the Raptor off the list.

On my answer above to #2 about DEF, please see my posts in the "Def" thread that I made since that post above.

As far as concerns about cold weather starts, I left mine outside all night at -14F and it started up instantly as if it were parked in my +32F garage all night. I don't have the record, however, someone else has posted a successful outdoor start outside all night at -32F in Wisconsin when the Polar Vortex went through.

I know wreedsvt is planning on deleting his truck when he turns over 10,000 miles. I may delete mine sooner then later as well, as there is no emissions testing requirements in Minnesota. I did talk to the aftermarket guy at my Ford dealer about deleting, and he said keep all your removed parts, because he knows of a guy that traded in a deleted RAM 2500 to them that took an $8K hit on his trade in value for the cost to the dealer to purchase and put back in the emissions parts.

@AUTiger438 - you're not overthinking this, funny thing is that you and I are similar in this. I joined this forum April 2018 and bought my truck last week November, and I researched and researched and researched and test drove for a couple months until my woman told me not to come home that day unless I brought home a new truck, and oh by the way it has to have those massaging seats she said--no problem there as I wanted the King Ranch anyway. Her parents live ~5 hours away from us, and dontchaknow that she is running that massaging seat continuously the whole drive (reactivates with a button on the side of the seat after it times out every 20 minutes--I still have to reconfigure that setting in FORScan to up the timeout on her passenger seat to 60 minutes). Also, if you don't know about FORScan there is some more for you to learn about--it empowers you to make your F150 Power Stroke even better!

There is only so much research and test driving one can do before it is time to pull the trigger. Then, through being a member of this forum you can learn even more about your truck and share your experiences and learnings with others and learn from them as well.

One more thing, you are also coming from a 2010 to a 2018/2019. The features, especially safety wise and cameras everywhere are incredible. Test driving is one thing, owning is another! Once I drove 200-300 miles in my new truck "Turbo" my old truck "Wilbur" was fading fast "in the rear view mirror". I have no regrets of trading in my 2010 for this 2018, and know that in any situation I am getting 4-5 mpgs more than before and with better towing capabilities. Another surprise is that my insurance on the truck with the same coverages only went up ~$25/month, which I expected it to be much more.
 
#7 ·
@kdjasper - Many thanks for the words of encouragement. I showed my wife the Raptor and she actually liked it. When we saw each other that evening, she asked if I bought it and I told no and why. I am a little frustrated with Ford and their website pricing requirements. Pinged a dealer on a Powerstroke with a 502A package and pretty much everything else. Website price was $56,222. So I told him send me a quote out the door....well, I did not know that freight had to be added back in (plus $1,495) then he quoted a cash price less the rebates plus tax, tag, title and a processing fee ($599). So, cash price of $61,212.75. If I go with 0% Ford, I lose the rebates and the price goes to $63,556.13. My big hang up is Ford jerking the rebates. I guess I thought I could be slick and finance at 0% and then pay it off 6 months down the road. This is truck for my business, so it is "write-off" for me, but just trying to leverage my money. I am not in rush to buy one, but I am getting itchy and my wife will get to the same point, because she hates hearing me talk about it. Making trip next week to PA and going to take a round about way from Richmond, VA through Winchester, VA they have a couple Powerstrokes in the Magma Red, I like that along with the Magnetic.

There is a dealer in the southern part of the state that has a Magma Red King Ranch...did know about the massagers, my wife might like that as well. I think sticker was around $71K and and their internet sale price is $63.9K. Might have to go look at that one as well.

Funny, my 2010 is named Eleanor and she has been very strong through this process, but I am starting to replace things, such as fan motor yesterday. However, I think "she" is jealous....I was looking at truck last week and wound up closing the door on my thumb and now it has turned all shades of blue and purple. I am going to keep looking and researching. Again, I really appreciate all the help, guidance and encouragement.
 
#8 ·
@AUTiger438 how you are describing things is very similar to my path into the new truck. I wasn't willing to pay them $2500 up front for the 0% financing, so the best they would give me was 7.9% for 48 months (and the sales manager said my credit rating was the highest he has ever seen). I had to make 1 payment to Ford credit before I was able to refinance it with my credit union at 2.49% for 36 months (had to wait for the title to arrive in mailbox), and I am looking to pay it off in 15 months (so I'll save about $1000 over the 0% financing offer), after which I will probably have ~25,000 miles on it and do a full delete and for this reason I still have not yet bought an extended warranty. (You can buy the extended warranty in the first 3 years and if I delete it within that period I won't buy the extended warranty). I am looking forward to seeing what wreedsvt's experience is with the delete as he is planning to do it at 10,000 miles.

The Magma Red King Ranch would be a sweet ride, and your wife will love the massaging seats (exists in King Ranch and Platinum trim levels). A Magnetic Lariat or Platinum would be sweet too. I wish the King Ranch had more color options than it does, as my ideal color would be Ignot Silver but not offered in King Ranch and I had to have another King Ranch so I ended up in White Platinum Metallic with Stone Gray rocker accent.
 
#9 ·
Hi, This is my first diesel purchase. I just went from 3 Toyota Tacoma’s, my most recent being a 2011 Tacoma with 250k to the 2018 F-150 Lariat Powerstroke 4x4 crew cab. I’ve logged 2,600 since 12/26/18 and it continues to amaze me very day. Like many others, I did my due dilligence before purchasing. I, too, was not impressed by Ford’s bait and switch tactics with the zero % financing only if you give up the factory rebates. But so far that has been my only gripe. I work construction and am all over the place. I needed a full size truck that got great MPG (why I used to drive Tacomas). I was going to stick with Toyota and switch up to a Tundra, but the Tundras were greatly lacking in features and for horrible MPG’s for the category. I am getting grey MPG’s from the new F-150 and the 4x4, heated seats, heated steering wheel and remote start have come in very handy in this harsh winter we’ve been experiencing. Never had a problem with it starting in the extreme cold, yet. I have a 4,5000 pound camper that I will pull in the summer and can’t wait to see how the 3.0 handles it with ease. I have pulled one double axel 20’ flatbed trailer loaded with trash and I loved how the truck just purred down the highway at 60 mph at 1,500 rpm. It was so quiet and mileage with the trailer was great. Toss in all the new features, creature comforts and safety features (half of which I didn’t even kno it had until owing it) and this truck is a real winner. I was filling up the old tank every 3-4 days, now I’m easily going 10 days before a fill up - so much time saved stopping for gas over the old Toyota. Should still look great in 10 years with the aluminum body that won’t rust. I may very well keep it that long, too!

I did have a 2019 F-150 6cyl gasser as a loaner for 2 days when they were spraying in my bed liner. I won’t lie, it is a peppier motor right off the line, but it also burnt through the fuel quickly and the motor was nosier as it had to rev higher to achieve the same torque as the desieil.

As a first time diesel owner, I have been very impressed so far. These trucks may not be for everyone, but they suit my needs perfectly. If you want to whine about DEF and get lower MPG’s than this truck isn’t for you.
 
#10 ·
@Stingray great post! Thanks for sharing your story as it is a good one!
 
#11 ·
Thanks! Sorry about all the auto corrects and typos. I typed the message out quickly on my phone and didn't proof read it. I'm sure you all get the drift. I am curious about adding a Stealth Performance module to achieve even better gas mileage. The manufacture claims that they don't leave a "footprint", but I've read that Ford still has ways of detecting any tinkering if they want to dig deep enough. This could result in Ford denying warranty work, etc. Any insight would be helpful.
 
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