My dad and i were fighting the other day about the best gas engine in a truck or f/s van. I said the Ford 5.4L, he said the Chevy 5.7L 350 (newer type) What is everyones take on that? Feel free to share your pickup diesel favorites.... Mines the 5.9 Cummins
It's hard to deny that the 5.7 350 is one phenomenal motor but if I had to pick out of the newer trucks that I've driven, it would be the GM 8.1. I drove a 2500HD with the 8100 and it was a rocketship and would pull almost as good as a diesel. Gas would kill you though.
8.1 Have 2 of them, one in our Suburban 2500 and the other in a 2500HD truck with Alison. Also have another 2500HD with Duramax. And I won't trade them in for anything, unless they come out with a engine with the same power and gets 50 mpg. When these engines wear out, we are going to put another one in and keep driving them. Black truck has 8.1, pewter truck has Duramax. See link below for pic of trucks, couldn't figure out how to attach a pic from another post.
:jawdrop gas your cheating I have a 5.9 C & love the noise! Had a 1980 Chevy diesel in a 1 ton PU SRW and it went over 250,000 last I had heard of it.
24 Valve Cummins here....a tad bit noisy. But it's a good truck.
Are we talk'n truck only gas engines? The 6.0L chevy is pretty impressive, but I haven't had any experience with a 8.1 yet.
I would say the Ford 5.4L. My dad has had a few and he buys them new drives them for 5 years and puts about 400,000kms on them and has never had any catastrophic failures. his 1997 f150 he sold about 5 years ago is still on the road today with like 600,000kms on it. The motor still runs but the truck is getting pretty ripe.
Its funny nobody has mentioned the Chrysler line of engines,must be a generational thing...That 318 (5.2) is bulletproof.Most of their older engines are very reliable.The slant six was legendary.Ron G
I had the 5.4 in a 01 f150 and it ran fine but was gutless.
+1 I can't believe the GM 2.8 Liter V6 hasn't made the list.
I agree:notworthy:usa
You must have had an S10....
Amen on the slant 6. Better than on old sewing machine!
Um my vote would have to be the Chevy 350, just on the stats it has more casting than any other gas engine made... that's saying something. And I'm not a Chevy fan by any means.
Ford 300 inline 6 toughest ford engine ever.
my jeep has a 5.2... and 325,000 mile.... and I use the dread FRAM filter ...with Rotella 15/40 year round Ford 300 ...i-6 is a tough engine....
Those were tough old engines. I had one in a '67 Merc pickup. It doubled as a mosquite fogger, using two quart of oil on a round trip to town. A quick engine job - ridge reaming, new rings, and new bearings - worked wonders for it. Overall, I would have to vote for the GM gas engines. The old small blocks - anything from a 283 to a 350 - were good. Also love the big blocks, but they are pigs on gas. Have a 6 litre now in a 3/4 ton and also like it.
I have a f-150 right now and i like it, but I didnt buy it because ford made the best motors... The sparkplugs in the aluminum head motors have a tendancy to remove themselves, and they don't have the power or milage of a gm motor. My top 3 gas motors gm's 350 or 5.7 chy's 318 gm's 6.0 vortec
I put off the tuneup on my fathers 5.4 until it started to miss for fear of a plug blowing out. It seems to happen not long after the plugs are replaced. A lot of the times the threads come out when you remove the old plug
Right there with ya Drifter. :yup My daily driver, '85 F-150, 300 inline 6, over 200,000 miles and not even about to stop. Dad bought it new, I'm the second owner. Oh, btw, use some Never Sieze on plugs boys...been doing it for years, never had an issue with it, and never had a siezed spark plug.
engines his might show my age, but back in 1964 I worked on a construction site and our work trucks had the 6 cylinder Fords, we would race to work and back, we would wind those engines out in second gear. I worked there about 2 years and we never blew these engines up, the body got so rusty the owner trashed them The other was a V10 in a 2001 Dodge ram, 2500, I only put 80,000 miles on it, when I sold the truck and camper. I never did anything to the engine, I got 15-16 hwy and around 9-10 mpg pulling the 32ft camper. Boy did this thing have power, I test drove the Ford V10 first, but the Ram got the vote.
forget gas engines, no comparison at all to diesels. Anything a gas engine does a DIESEL will do better. The little 2.0 diesel in my wifes jetta, unbelievable performance from a little straight four with a turbo. I am looking into buying a crate model of one to put in my jeep wrangler, plus it gets better than 50 mpg.:usa
gas engine Always been a GM fan so the small block v-8 get's my overall best vote. My dad always drove Ford for his work trucks for years,240 or 300cid depending if 1/2 or 3/4 ton. and they were well used.I liked the 300.The first year Ford offered the crew-cab truck around 68 or 69 he bought one.300 six with three on the tree.They were reliable. Anyone drive the Ford 477 or 534 gas engine in a dump-truck?Had a Ford 880 tandem with the 477,and a Ford 900 ,534 powered single-axle.They seemed to be pretty tough,but lot's of tune-up's to keep them running decent.They sucked a lot of gas,around 2-4 mpg loaded. Dominion:canada
On the money! Diesel should be the only power for a truck. My vote for diesel would be duramax or cummins, duramax four shear power, and cummins for fuel economy and reliability. I think the duramax would be the best for sure if GM didn't get their greasy paws in it and just let iszuzu do it. My call on the ford diesel is - just stay away. To many people with to many problems. I just don't here about them with duramax and cummins. For fuel economy I wish I could put the 3l mercedes diesel in a half ton or 3/4 truck, not those boxy vans.
i'm a die hard ford man and i would not buy any ford diesel unless it is older then 2003 or between the years 2005-2007. The 7.3 were really bad emissions wise but they were good motors. the first two years of the 6.0 they were about worth their weight in scrap metal but for 2005 ford made upwards of 100 changes to improve the motors and injectors and turbos became less of an issue. as for the newest ford diesels they are a total waste IMO. the fuel mileage is horrible and IMO all the new diesels are way to quiet i miss the days were they sounded like what a truck should sound like. As of this winter i have really been turned onto the duramax's to. My plow truck at work is a 08' crew cab and that thing has got tons of power and very comfortable to drive. but i also really like our 06' f-550 with 12 ft dump box. if i had nothing better to do i would take an 07 f-350 and shove a cummins motor with an allison tranny and i would have the perfect truck. but for now i guess i'll just stick to fords until the 05-07 model is too old to be worth buying. P.S is it true that gm in no longer taking orders for diesel trucks? my boss mentioned when he went to buy a new truck he tried to order brand new but was told he could not get one so he got a decent deal on the 08'
I am a marine and I love america, but I am currently boycotting american vehicles because they refuse to market more diesels in our beloved country, in fact they make every excuse not to. I am not that gullable, with ultra low sulphur diesel, diesel particulate filters, and sensors all over the place and its still not clean enough? You know the answer is they are too economical! and by the way, can any body explain to me why diesel fuel is more expensive than gas? I guess the oil sheiks like telling sheeple (liberals and greenies) what to do:usa And us working men got caught in the middle.
diesel in NY is more because of taxes on the fuel. Your fuel is way cheap in NJ.
Basic cost and the gasser kills the diesel option. If someone is buying a truck for 20-25 they don't want to pay another 6 grand for the diesel. How many keep a vehicle after 100,000 miles? John Doe probably hardly ever does. On the car forum I am on (corvettefourm) the battle rages all the time in the racing section. The you have the problem of servicing or trouble shooting the diesel not that many qualified. I'll buy American to keep people working here in the US.
Got an 02 jetta tdi myself and it is a great little motor. I also average better than 50mpg and it is zippy to. It's a fun little car to drive, but it is a little car and hard to get in and out of for me. But once in it's comfortable.
I would love to buy american to keep our men working, however you have to supply what people want, I am not someone easily lead and in theory and principal as well as reality diesel is a superior product. when chrysler made available a diesel liberty they sold 12,000 in nine months with intentionally low marketing, they said they would be satisfied with 5-7000 a year, so they sold 12,000 in nine months then said cancel it,( but there was no outside influence) obviously. give us the choice of diesel power,:Banghead at least light trucks. I will be one of the first in inline to purchase a mahindra small pickup when they become available. Stand by, I will keep you posted.
I have an 03 ford f450 with the 6.0L. Mine has 195,000 miles and no complaints. It smokes and has no power till it warms up, but other than that i cant say anything bad. It has 10 times more power than a 7.3, but not the fuel milage. However i got an 08 with the 6.4L and this truck will roast the backtires to shreds!!!! It is extremely quiet and fun to drive. Fuel milage sucks with the emissions crap on it but its worth it for me. Still nothing more reliable than the old Dodge with the cummins
For a major manufacturer the rough cut off limit for vehicle production at a profit is over 30,000 units a year. I doubt 12,000 in nine months or 16.000 per year was a profit maker for them so they probably canned it for that reason. Excursions of which I have one sold over 50K the first year but then it dropped to 30K and they canned them. As gas gains economy and power there is not much reason for them to make diesel for a light cheap truck. When we buy a work truck at 35-50+ 5 grand extra is not as big an increase as a adding 5 grand to a 20-30K truck kills it for most.
Not saying every 03-04 6.0L out there is junk or anything like that. i have just heard there was more warranty claims on those motors in those years as they had to rush the 6.0L into production in 03 even though it was not 100% tested and ready in order to stay competitive against GM with all the emissions stuff so because of that there were some bugs thad had to be worked out.
Keep NA working Its nice to keep jobs in our continent but lets face it. What would vehicles look like if they kept european and japanese and korean manufacturers out. As far as small cars go I wouldn't buy anything but japanese. The big 3 push old technology, government bailouts to keep there workers working for 65 to 75 per hour. If we paid that out in the construction business we would be toast. My top man cost in the framing business is 35 per hour and other framers gaulk at me if I tell them I pay that. The japanese pay their guys a higher wage than I do and and put the difference into R&D and Quality for the most part. Ever heard anybody say something bad about a Honda Gas engine. Wouldn't buy anything with anything else on a gas compressor or genset. Wouldn't buy anything but stihl for a chainsaw. How many north american built dirt bikes do you see. Lets thank the foreigners for the technology and innovation they bring to the table. What I beg for is full size truck with a smaller diesel engine. You don't need 600ft of torque on a 3/4 ton. Lets put a 3.5 l diesel in it and pay 2/3 for fuel. As for fuel costs - diesel is cheaper to refine and has more energy in it than gasoline, about 17% per volume. As for my votes (purchases) GM w/duramax (japanese design) , acura (japanese), yamaha dirtbike (japanese) , honda gas compressors (japanese) , perkins diesel (european). I don't think I own a truly american gas or diesel engine. Accident? no. I will say I used to own a 318 in a dodge and I couldn't kill the thing but it gets no where near the power I get out of my duramax. I've also heard that the iszusu engine in a hitachi excavator gets 50% better economy than the same John Deere excavator (the body's are the same) and similair with cat vs isuzu. The "john deere and cat feel more powerfull but no more work is getting done". I would back this up based on my experience with telehandlers. The new ford diesel is almost as powerful as GM's but as weve heard about fuel economy and bugs. Heard that engine was designed by Cat. I also heard that Kenworth dropped cat except by special order. Is this a sign that cat is going downhill?:Banghead:my2c:canada:usa
That all makes alot of sense to me!
IH got sued by Ford over the warranty claims. IH threatened to stop delivering motor and did for a while. My Ford 6.0 need a head gasket at 65.000 and my Dodge need a gasket in the front timing cover which is a 11-1200 bucks.:Banghead after 110,000
Detroit has some great engines. Detroit is now at just abut the same wage rate as Japan. The worst thing is Japan has 3% foreign market penetration from the entire auto world. There market is closed to the entire world and WTO head just stated Japan has the most closed market to trade of any industrialized nation in the world. So as far as I am concerned they can keep all their crap and stick it! US beef is no good, US rice is no good they do the same in all products. AND I'll take a 9.2 Wisconsin over any Honda to bad nobody offers them any more. So we can all sit back and watch the jobs just go! How would all the great Japanese companies be doing if the US treated them like they treat American companies? Toyoduh would be missing half it's sales and way more than half it's profits! Having no competition at home is a nice cushion to give you more money for R&D. Then throw in gov health care unlike here you see what a US company is up against Korea over 750,000 cars in here and less than 7000 to Korea from the US and we wonder why the US is going down the tubes. Buy a foreign car in Korea and it triggers and automatic audit of you finances. If we did that here how would Korean sales be? Korea has less than 4% foreign market penetration also not by accident. China the same closed market crap again! Then figure what we spend every year protecting Korea, Japan, and the entire world in blood and money. They said 54% of US budget goes to defense and homeland security. I guess the entire world expense is in there too right?
Then see what Japan did with there cash for clunkers by excluding US made autos after toyoduh takes more money than anyone in the US taxpayer funded cash for clunkers.
i have a 2001 chevy 2500 hd with a 6.0 gasser. fantastic motor. powerful, reliable, kinda thirsty but the truck is always heavy.
That's not true. They're getting about $28 an hour in the paycheck, ($14 for new hires) even with all the benefits it's nowhere near $65/hr.
Itold you guys, I would love to buy AMERICAN, just produce me a DIESEL! hEY Q-BALL I thought you had my back, brother.:usa
I heard that the head bolts stretched on those engines, which led to blown head gaskets. And on the more recent diesel pickups of all brands, the emissions stuff has hurt the fuel mileage from mid-07 on. Too bad! There goes one of the two reasons to own a diesel in a pickup. I'll stick with my gas GMC for now, especially since we live in fairly flat country.
Up to 07 i will only buy ford now after running the 08 d-max plowing at work after 08 would be GMC for me. The newer style gm's are very nice. oh well newest i'll be affording would be 05-07 f-350. looking for one right now but i'm taking my time and exploring importing the truck from the states because even with exchange rate and possibly shipping it still looks like it might be a good deal
I thought this was supposed to be a post about gasoline engines...... No one has mentioned any of the International gas engines that powered many trucks in the 60's & 70's. I had a scout with a 345 which you couldn't kill. I gotta say my favorite was the RD450 inline 6. I worked for a contractor when i was 19 that has a 67 IH R210 with a RD450 in it, i hated driving that truck(no power steering) but the engine allways ran strong...plenty of power!
but why talk about gas when there is diesel?? lol sorry back on topic
JBSSU, I'll agree on those old IH V8s, you couldn't kill one if you tried. I drove a one ton pickup at a construction company that just ran and ran and ran. The truck rotted away around the engine, it still ran great! The old in line 6s were no slouch either. A few of the smaller truck manufacturers like FWD used them in their trucks.
I agree with excav8tor, for me gas engines do not exist, period.
Have you looked at one of those? I mean put your hands on one and sat in the drivers seat? If they bring the same ones to the 'States they are making for the rest of the world, I wouldn't be to quick to get in line - think 1940's era Willis on a Mahindra tractor frame.
the 8.1 is junk, breaks pistons all the time. If i had to say a gas motor it would be the Ford 300-6 for sure.
I just learned something this week. I am waiting for delivery of my 5.9 c and so i got a fuel tank and filled it with clear diesel (as opposed to coloured, which can only be used off road). I paid .792/l for the clear, .679 for the coloured, around a buck for gas, and pump diesel at the gas station (same as clear diesel) .945! That was a shocker. So just having my own fuel tank will go a long way to pay for the truck. Tell me the fuel industry isn't a racket!
my all time top 5: 1. Original SBC 283 - This is what started it all!! 2. Flat Head Ford 3. Old school hemi's 4. Any GM LS series 5. Cummins 5.9 6. GM 8.1 Ok...I know there are six there...but I couldn't leave out what I drive
Truck engines 1. 391 2. 390 car engines 1. 347 2. 289 3. S54B32 4. 2JZ-GE
Doing a bit of fooling around with 2011 heavy-duty pickup specs for a story on the new entries in the class to come in the SEP issue, and the most powerful standard gasoline engine in a 250/2500-size pickup is the Ford 6.2-L V8 with 385 hp and 405 lb.-ft. of torque. The Ram's 5.7-L V8 follows very closely with 383 hp and 400 lb.-ft. But comparing the trucks in crew-cab, long-bed, four-wheel-drive configuration, the F-250 is rated to tow 12,500 pounds on a ball hitch and the Ram will only pull 10,500 pounds. Ram 250 HD payload just edges out Ford F-250 Super Duty's: 2,450 lbs vs Ford's 2,210 lbs. Chevy/GMC with a 6-L V8 makes 360 hp and 380 lb-ft torque. Totes a whopping 3,375 lbs in the bed (GM made some really impressive frame and undercarriage upgrades to its 2011 heavies). The GM 2500 HDs are rated to tow 13,000 lbs. I know performance specs are far from the only criteria in pickup truck choices. But I thought this was an interesting way to look at what the Big 3 are offering in the most-populous work-truck category. L
Larry...I have to ask...Sept issue of what ??