Ed Newman

How about a seperate thread category for tow vehicles?

Who else has a 08 F450? What kind of gas mileage are you getting. I am having a tough time getting more than 10 mpg unloaded. Towing my boat (15k) at 70mph, I am getting about 7 mpg, drops to 6 with some around town driving. I only have 1200 miles so it may not really be broken in yet. BTW, I have the 24,500# towing package with the 4.30 gears which does not help.

todinlaw

I am looking at tow vehicles. I like Fords. Do you have the powerstroke diesel?

Ed Newman

Last count, I have 39 of them, E's and F's from Excursions and 350's to 650's. The 7.3l's were the best, had a lot of problems with the 6.0's. The new 450 pickup is our first 6.4l So far so good except for the crappy gas mileage. We've definitely had problems with the Ford's, but they still seem to hold up a lot better than the GMC's and Chevy's we have had. Not much experiece with Dodge's

ltc

Never owned a 450, but with respect to the 6.4L, IIRC there is a F/W update which affects mileage.
Also, ULSD gets lower mileage than standard diesel (blended diesel gets lower mileage as well in the colder climates).
In addition, using a cetane booster will help a bit as well (and prevent stuck EGR valves followed by the Check Engine Light)

smlporsche

Ed-
You have a few more than me although we don't have any of the new 6.4's yet.
My understanding is that the new engine gets between 2 and 3 MPG less than it's predecessor. That coupled with the winter blend and your 450's towing setup and your mileage is probably expected.
As you know your engine will take about 10K miles to fully break in so I would expect your mileage to improve slightly over the next several months.

What I don't understand is that our Mack dumptrucks get around 6 MPG fully loaded so you would think that a pick up half the weight would get alot better MPG but it doesn't...

VERBOTN

Ed:
MY08 350 reporting and with 14,000 on clock I get 11-12mpg in relatively flat florida. A buddy of mine just got a 450 4x4 and reports mpg in the 8's. I really like the truck but the mpg is how do I say not so good.

2000gt3cup

Hi Ed... just got my 08 450 with the 4.88 dif... and the best average is 10.5 empty with only 1700 miles on it.... BUT what a great vehicle.... it will pull houses down... I love it.. my son who lives near Sonoma has an 08 250 same engine etc is only getting 13's... it a better climate... I think there will be some improvement with more miles but not much

Carroll

2000gt3cup

Hi Ed... just got my 08 450 with the 4.88 dif... and the best average is 10.5 empty with only 1700 miles on it.... BUT what a great vehicle.... it will pull houses down... I love it.. my son who lives near Sonoma has an 08 250 same engine etc is only getting 13's... it a better climate... I think there will be some improvement with more miles but not much......Carroll

Jarez Mifkin

I have an 08 450 with 4.88 with 10,500 miles on it. Best I've gotten is 10.3 calculated average is 9.3 and towing my 28' tag enclosed trailer is 7mpg. I use Shell ULSD and fill up at the same pump.

race911

Guess I should keep my '03 6.0 around? Out of warranty in a month....ack! Not that I've had too many problems. Probably only got driven 3K miles last year.

ltc

You can purchase a Ford ESP warranty for up to 4yr/48K additional. I just did for my wife's 05 6.0L Excursion at 45K miles.

race911

What's the cost on that now? Something rings a bell now that I missed the boat time-wise, and it was almost $4K?

jrgordonsenior

FWIW.... I have an 06' F350, 4 x 4, CC dually, 4.10 gears, and 11k miles. I get 15 mpg on the open highway at 75mph without my trailer. Towing my loaded 28 ft. Pace at similar speeds l get 9-10 depending on terrain....

Ed Newman

I stand corrected, I have the 4.88's. I'll have to look into the firmware update. I'd be happy with 11 or 12 empty. My best comparison is our F450's and F550's with a variety of service and dump bodies. They average in the 8-12 mpg range and they weigh probably 20-100% more depending on loads so I would expect the new F450 to get the higher end of that.

spare tire

I have a 2000 F450 with the 7.3 and it came only with the 4.88 rear end then.
Two years later they came out with the 4.30. My truck has 90,000 miles and gets 12 to 12.5 MPG. When I am towing I pull a 46' gooseneck with two cars. Then milage drops to a putrid 7 - 8 Mpg. It has been a totally solid haul vehicle though. When I drove with a different flatbed trailor to Florida hauling one car only and the hills in Kentucky and Georgia slowed me to 45 in some places.
On flat ground holding 75 with the big trailer is no problem. I wish I had the 4.30 rear end because I think it would help Mpg and exhaust temperature.
I am chipped and have to use a pyro so as to not blow my motor. I try to keep the exhaust at 1250 or below. Aluminum starts melting at 13??