Anyone have some experience with this motor in an F250? Cant justify the extra $10k for the diesel & the 7.3 would pull what I’d need to. Have seen good reviews of the 7.3 so far.

Gracias!

I just bought a 2021 motor home that’s got it. Like you, the reviews I’ve seen are good. It’s replacing the V10 and folks are saying it’s better. Better performing and better mileage.

We’ve only taken one trip in it. Leaving again Monday.

Jimmy

I don't own one, but from what I've seen and read, it looks pretty danged cool. There are a couple independant testers on youtube that review it, and most like it for what it is. It looks like it will be a beast.

Been trying to find one in a long bed, just about impossible down here.

Here’s another thread on it...
https://www.thehulltruth.com/trucks-trailers/1138687-new-f250-7-3-liter.html

I think its a good motor for what it is. Seen a lot of reviews on them all positive.

I haven't even driven one, but its not a diesel and its not going to tow like one. It will do the job fine, but if your going to use the power it is going to downshift like any other N/A gas v-8 out there. The engine makes its max power at 5500 rpm and torque at 4,000. It is not goign to chug up a hill below 2000 rpm with 10,000 lbs behind it.

Totally agree that it won’t have the low end torque of a diesel, no comparison. But thinking it could be a viable option for someone that doesn’t tow heavy loads on a regular basis, but wants more than the typical 1/2 ton can do safely.

Here’s another YouTube review while towing a pretty heavy load...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=le_CdRGAmvg

We have put 2 sets of heads on 2 trucks and a engine in one truck. They still have valve issues burning a exhaust valve or dropping a valve. From what I seen so far the valve issues were running loaded and stopping and just turning the truck off never even letting it cool down for not even a minute after a heavy load.

I cant imagine a 7.3 my AT4 has a 6.2 and that dude will flat boogie...gas mileage is another story

Yeah....I'll never tow with a gasser again if I can help it. The 7.3 gasser maxes torque and horsepower at 4000 and 5500 RPM, respectively. That's insane - do you really want to be running a 7.3L gas motor at 5500 RPM? My duramax hardly gets over 2000 RPM pulling my travel trailer.

I also think the diesel add cost is overblown - you get pretty much all of that back on resale. It does cost more to maintain and more to add DEF, but you also get significantly better mpg than a heavy duty gasser truck. If I was going to go with a gasser, I'd get a half ton. If I wanted a 3/4 ton, I'd bite the bullet on a diesel. I tried really hard to convince myself to get the 6.4 hemi in a Ram 2500. I had a deal arranged on a brand new 2019 CCSB 4x4 model for $33k. When I got there and did the test drive, I backed out. They're so gutless compared to a diesel truck. It had 20 less horsepower and 40 or so less ft-lbs of torque than the ford 7.3, which is borderline unnoticeable.

For a gasser Godzilla is the best you can get.

If you are towing heavy and / or you are towing through the mountains on a regular occasion then the diesel engines are going to perform better.

I drove a 7.3 before I bought my '20 F250. It's impressive for a gas motor but when you mash the throttle on a Power Stroke there's no going back.

I’ll go back to gas eventually. If you trade in often and can afford it, diesel is great. But if you tend to keep them for awhile, these new emission parts just cost too much to repair. Yeah, delete...but then it’s a new can of worms.

I look every week on fords site for a 7.3 with the configuration that I’m after, seems to be very elusive right now. Starting to think I should just order one.

Agree. I also think the way things are going deleting will be less and less of a viable option. Many tuners are being shut down, I see the end of it coming.

I had the DPF replaced in my RAM 1500 diesel last week. Fortunately it was all covered under warranty, but the dealers cost if I was going to have to pay for it was $4,300. Gas looks better by the second.

Holy goodness.

How was that under warranty? Is emissions an 8-year warranty or something like that? Your ED is a 2015 I think?

That's a fair point regarding the emissions stuff, but there are lots of modern diesels with hundreds of thousands of miles and no emissions failures. It happens, but it's not like it's a guarantee or anything. The problem, as redchevy said, is that when it does happen, it costs a fortune to repair.

Most of the fuel system and exhaust system is covered under the AEM warranty.

Im not sure what happened, but my truck never ran a regen after I had the AEM completed. I put close to 2000 miles on it and it never did a passive regen and never got any messages. I got a CEL, and then shortly after I got the 100% DPF full message. Im pretty sure they did something to mess up the programming or something when they installed it, or thats just how big a piece of carp the AEM tune is, I have never had a regen message before as I get on the HWY daily and tow somewhat frequently on the hwy as well.

Yep, it’s a gamble no matter what. My diesel gets 12.5-13.5mpg, so going to a gas motor should be a money savings, just because the fuel cost, oil changes & fuel filters. I was told that I should get 17-19 mpg when I purchased it...

Same here when I purchased my ‘20 3.5 ecoboost. All the reviews sold me on the towing capability & the gas mileage when not towing. Towing is great, but disappointed in the 13-15mpg around town. Thinking I might as well have the 3/4 ton capability when I need it & get almost similar mileage with the 7.3 gasser.

Yeah the 2500 trucks don't get great mpg around town, but they definitely do better on the highway. Stopping and starting 4+ tons of vehicle takes a lot of fuel, no matter what.

It's just a night/day difference between the 5.7 or 6.4 Hemi and the Duramax. The Ford 7.3 specs show it's basically the same thing as the 6.4 at any reasonable RPM, and they're just not even the same vehicle as an HD diesel.

Quit drinking the coolaid most do not need diesel trucks unless towing heavy loads.
Most keep their trucks past any warranty that’s when it gets scary. I just wish they would offer the 3.5 ecoboost in. F 250 I’d buy one.
J. D

I could not have voiced it better. Had two 3.5 Ecoboosts and think it would be awesome in a 250. Currnetly looking at Super duties with the 7.3L 90% of the folks I know that drive diesels would be equally or better served with a gas engine.

I’ve thought they might make the ecoboost base engine for at least a 250.
Diesel engines are torque monsters but with def and all related issues I’ll pass.
Not to mention don’t need one. But a 250 with the ecoboost yes sign me up .

I completely agree, I can’t figure out why they won’t make one. I don’t need to tow 15k lbs, I just need to be able to put 2k lbs in the bed of the truck every couple of days. An eco boost in a 3/4 ton would be awesome.


I guess they’d have some goober trying to haul a triple axle toy hauler with it though and then that goober would proceed to bash ford for having too small of a motor.

Grout, do they still make a heavy payload F150? I remember looking at the specs on them in the past and they had more payload than a lot of fancy F250's.

I'm with y'all I would absolutely consider a 3/4 ton ecoboost either the 3.5 or a slightly beefier/larger displacement variant. Hell there are already goobers out there trying to haul a triple axle toy hauler with an F150 and an ecoboost, just give 'em the platform to do it. Ecoboosts are power houses, they way outperform all the gas big block options of yester year in towing performance. I would love to see an inline 6 "ecoboost" in a 3/4 ton.

I hear you on the inline 6 EcoBoost. Something similar to the old 300 block, except OHC/DFI/VVT/ boosted. What a beast that'd be.

I have not read about one in existence. I remember years ago, Chevrolet had a light duty 3/4 ton, never seen anything from ford like that.

Mid to late 90s Ford built an F250 on a F150 chassis and body. The only difference was the springs and payload capacity. The F250 as we know it now became the Superduty F250. IIRC this was only done one model year.

Ford had a heavy payload option in the F150's in the 1990's and I know they still had it in 2011 when the ecoboost came out.

The 90's models ones had a 7 lug wheel, not sure about the later version.

I just checked fords site. You can still get the heavy duty payload package is what they call it.

Depending on what you get the truck configured as it has a payload rating between low 2000 and low 3000 lbs. You can get it with the 5.0 v8 or 3.5 ecoboost engines.

Very high probability you have to order a truck to get it.

Bump. Thinking about ordering a 7.3 gasser, anyone have any MPG #’s to update this thread with.


Or real world experiences, good or bad.

From Fuely, a website many use to calculate and track fuel mileage.

The overall average is just under 11 mpg. There appear to be two peaks in the data I would assume its due to either the different rear ends available or those who mainly just drive them and those who tow with them.

I was at that sight before I posted my question earlier. When I put the 7.3 into the filter, only 3 bars pop up, so some of those are probably diesel numbers. So fricking torn on this and can’t find enough real world mileage to make up my mind. There has got to be a more consistent source somewhere.


When filtered the 7.3 is averaging about 10-11mpg, the 6.7 is 14-15mpg, I wish they numbers were broken down into towing and non-towing. The diesel is $8k upgrade cost over the 7.3, but you also get a longer warranty on the diesel. Higher maintenance cost though.

Grout, there’s some YouTube guys posting MPG’s on their 7.3 gassers, but I’d sure like to talk to someone that owns one also. I’m thinking the 10-12 is pretty close, might be a little better.

I thought the 12-14 mpg was bad on my 6.2l.

My B.I.L. has a 2021 F-250 CC long bed 4x4, platinum he loves it say it's got gobs of power, and passes everything but a gas station. 10-11 mpg unloaded!

Grrr, I’ve been reading everything from 9-15mpg. I’d be happy with anything over 13mpg, but I’d be pizzed at anything under 12.

Not sure what ratio his axle is, I would guess 3.73 but could be 4.11??

From what I recall of your Ford diesel you dont get any better than low teens in it, I wouldnt expect to get the same mileage in a gas. That said If you are getting 13-14 mpg in your diesel and 10-12 in the gas, I think you would be saving money with the gas.

12 in the diesel I only bought it (diesel) originally because the service advisor said it would get 17+.

There was a thread somewhere that mentioned websites that buy vehicles, any of you guys know one? It might have been over on BBC though.

My '20 model F250 with the 10sp trans get 20-21 on the highway, 15ish around town, and 12-13 towing my bay boat over 70mph. That's 2-3mpg's better then my '13 F250 did.

With my truck luck, I would be the guy that gets 13-14 and cursing the truck.

You even reported low teens mpg out of your 5.9 cummins didn't you?

I don't know what it is about your use that is different than so many others, but I've been around here a long time as have you and I always remember you posting up some pretty low fuel mileage numbers. My dad has a late model cummins, he averages over 20 mpg commuting and 14-15 towing a 5000 pound 24-foot center console. Do you idle a lot? Floorboard it at every stop? Loaded all the time? Do you routinely check your fuel mileage?

A little higher then normal but this was leaving South Padre Island a few weeks ago. Running at sea level on flat ground for close to 100 miles after filling up.

I told you, my truck luck! My Cummins was a 5.9 2wd and it got something like 15-16mpg (can’t recall the exact number now, that was like 9 years ago)

Don’t idle, don’t hot rod (my wife says I drive like a grandpa), hand calc on every tank. I always have a toolbox on the back and have wondered about that stealing mpg’s. I have 500-700lbs of tools pretty consistently. Telling ya’ man, I’m that dude that wants good fuel mileage and ends up getting screwed on every truck. I will say that Boerne has become horrible with sitting in traffic & red lights, but even when I go down on straight hwy trips, like to Rockport, my mileage sucks.

When my F-350 was new, it got about 15mpg, then ford had to do a emission update and it went to hell. Not gonna go though the delete hassle, I’m sure it would help though. I almost think it’s running regen too much.

Now I do have a f150 that gets fantastic mileage, but it’s almost worthless for work due to the short bed.

No interest in the heavy payload F150?

Not particularly, I don’t think it will handle the loads that I haul in the bed very well. I’m back to just keeping what I have. Started reading some 7.3 pages on FB and some comments will just about scare a person. I want a new truck, but just don’t like the potential problems with parts now a days. For example, my wife has a 2020 Explorer that has been at the body shop for 7 months because Ford couldn’t provide a plastic piece that goes under the grill, the part finally arrived last week. 7 months of lost warranty

Keep in mind that the 7.3L Gasser will have a higher gear ratio to support the towing capacity... as compared to the Powerstroke.

If you're in the high elevations, you'll need the boosted configuration of the power stroke or Eco boost. There is talk of a boosted 7.3L... that should be fun.

It's not just a Ford issue. Parts from all the manufacturers are scarce and in short supply.

Finally got the Explorer back, took 8 months to get the radiator support. Ford was nice, after all our complaints and threw in an extended warranty that gave us an extra 2 years or 75k miles.

Something isn’t right. Around town I can get 19. Hwy and town 21.

Forgot to mention 4WD on mine which affects mileage. But I didn’t think it would be that much.

I averaged 17mpg around town in my 2013 3.5l. I get 13mpg out of my 6.2l. You wouldn't be getting about the same mileage.

I’ve put just over 20,000 miles on my F250 4x4 long Ed with the 7.3. I consistently average right at 14 mpg. It is my work truck so some towing, lots of in town driving, occasional 100 mile trips. I think it has plants of power but definitely not on the diesel level. My bother has the diesel and it is a race car compared to my truck but he spends $10-15 more per tank of gas and $75 more every oil change, plus def, and fuel filters. In the end we get the exact same thing done in the same time. I never put over 120,000 mile on a truck so I just couldn’t justify spending more on a truck and maintenance.

It could always be worse.

You going down hill to get that much

Both ways.

Is that your Tundra? What does it average pulling your Skeeter?

I have a new fleet truck here at the shop with the 7.3 Ford gas. Its a one ton cab and chassis with a steel flat bed, 4:30 rear end. It stays connected to a 30 foot gooseneck, we are hauling steel to construction sites here in Central Texas. Non CDL, we only tap out around 11,000 on the bed of the trailers to keep all our fleet under 26,000 pounds gross.

So far, so good. Computer is calculating 8 mpg average, that's with the trailer 100% of the time. Just a couple thousand miles on it now, but my drivers say it pulls just fine. We do not make long runs, I'm only 20 miles or so to downtown Austin or Tesla, which is where most my steel has been going. No complaints yet. It took a year to get it and just in time as one of the Power strokes just went back to the shop with emission issues and I'm sure that one of the Cummins will be in the shop shortly for something.

Between 9 and 10.

Cooling issues as well ?

dang

Dang my ram ecodiesel got 20 mpg pulling my boat

This is lately. Summer fuel blend and windy driving. Pulling the boat 4 days a week.

It CAN get worse.

Better than what my Raptor got towing my bay boat. It would get between 7-9 depending on wind direction. Without the boat I was lucky to get 15-16 with a tailwind.

Average city/hiway. Towing 21' boat 16-16.5, towing 4Runner on trailer on hiway 15-15.5.