Are diesels worth it, for costs per mile?
Was at a car dealer out of town, and the dealer (name with-held to protect the guilty) was trying to warn me away from a diesel on the 3500 models he was selling, unless I had at least $15,000 a year ...
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I did look at a Ford dealer who is more than happy to sell a F-350 diesel, and the ESP should cover a number of these issues. It did get me worried about the horror stories, but when reading this forum, I read about more people happy with their diesel rigs than almost anywhere else.
The cost per mile will be more than a gasser, this goes without saying. However, I'm looking at how feasible it will be to drop the spare and jam a Powertech generator that is made for Sprinters in that space (the PT-3SV2 is 28 inches long, 15 inches high, and 23 inches wide). With the fuel ratings of 0.10 gallons/hour at half load and 0.22 gph at full tilt, I should easily have hundreds of hours of run time before the fuel level gets to 1/4 tank.
For a boondocking truck with a TC, this will make an ideal setup, because the only additional fuel that I have to worry about other than filling the truck with diesel, will be filling the 30# bottles in the truck camper. Diesel also stores well (assuming I toss a biocide additive in the tank), so if I leave my rig for a few months, I'm not having to deal with bad gas.
Other than not flashing custom tunes and EGR/DPF/DEF deletes, and following regular maintenance schedules, is there anything else I should have to watch out for, so I don't end up with a dead HPFP or other items? (The Ford guy said that he encounters problems that can't be fixed by warranty when someone wants to roll coal, and flashes a custom tune that zaps the DPF.)
The cost per mile will be more than a gasser, this goes without saying. However, I'm looking at how feasible it will be to drop the spare and jam a Powertech generator that is made for Sprinters in that space (the PT-3SV2 is 28 inches long, 15 inches high, and 23 inches wide). With the fuel ratings of 0.10 gallons/hour at half load and 0.22 gph at full tilt, I should easily have hundreds of hours of run time before the fuel level gets to 1/4 tank.
For a boondocking truck with a TC, this will make an ideal setup, because the only additional fuel that I have to worry about other than filling the truck with diesel, will be filling the 30# bottles in the truck camper. Diesel also stores well (assuming I toss a biocide additive in the tank), so if I leave my rig for a few months, I'm not having to deal with bad gas.
Other than not flashing custom tunes and EGR/DPF/DEF deletes, and following regular maintenance schedules, is there anything else I should have to watch out for, so I don't end up with a dead HPFP or other items? (The Ford guy said that he encounters problems that can't be fixed by warranty when someone wants to roll coal, and flashes a custom tune that zaps the DPF.)
