I don't know much about the old early 2000s V-10s. I did drive one occasionally back in the day piloting a Econoline 15 passenger van and thought it lacked power for what a gas hog it was, but those were heavy vehicles.

Looking at some older Excursions as a fun SUV and just wondering if the V-10 should be avoided for any particular reason.

Do they suffer and know issues that would.make you pony up for a built 6.0 or the even more expensive 7.3?

Thanks,
Roger

Early ones spit plugs but the later ones were
Great.

Thirsty but they have a unique cool sound.

Thanks 1ags! Where do we draw the line on early / late, and is that problem mitigated if you actually change plugs often? Or do more often plug changes just weaken the the threads in the head and make it worse? I guess I've heard of that family of engines blowing out plugs but have never seen a picture or a good description of the actual failure mode being described so I am ignorant of what actually happens and any possible ways to prevent it.

Thanks!

My 1999 F250 had an EXCELLENT V10 that went almost 300k miles.

I also had a V10 in a 2002 excursion, that went forever till we sold it.

Both had NO issues and got better gas milage then everyone's V8 because of the weight of those vehicles... the engines worked less as a V10 than a V8 and thus got better milage despite being a bigger engine. Nobody knew it back then, but it was a no-brainer to get the V10 because you saved that upgrade cost at least 10x over with the gas savings.

Back then, the V10 option was $300.

The only issue I had with the truck late in life was replacing the coil and eventually the plug coils. No major engine work.

Roger350 said:

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Thanks 1ags! Where do we draw the line on early / late, and is that problem mitigated if you actually change plugs often? Or do more often plug changes just weaken the the threads in the head and make it worse? I guess I've heard of that family of engines blowing out plugs but have never seen a picture or a good description of the actual failure mode being described so I am ignorant of what actually happens and any possible ways to prevent it.

Thanks!

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The non PI head trucks (build dates of 98-11/00ish were the ones with issues.

Plug changes don't really make that big of a difference. It's more that Ford didn't have enough threads in the head for the plugs to get a good bite and high stress will exacerbate the issue.

I've had one blow out and was able to fix with a timesert. Held for years and sold it like that.

I'd check for broken exhaust manifold bolts. I was shopping diesels and 6.8s a few years ago. Every 6.8 I looked at had at least one broken exhaust manifold bolt, and its not the most fun job to do.

I don't know anything about the V10, but I wouldn't shy away from a 6.0. We got an 03 as the family car back in November and it's hauled us to IL, CO, and all over TX. Recently had to replace half the injectors but it's been a very good vehicle for us considering the price we got it for.

If you're someone they takes your car to the shop to replace a blinker bulb it's not for you. But if you can read the forums and turn a wrench I highly recommend it.

Hard to find a nice V10 out there these days.

coolerguy12 said:

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I don't know anything about the V10, but I wouldn't shy away from a 6.0. We got an 03 as the family car back in November and it's hauled us to IL, CO, and all over TX. Recently had to replace half the injectors but it's been a very good vehicle for us considering the price we got it for.

If you're someone they takes your car to the shop to replace a blinker bulb it's not for you. But if you can read the forums and turn a wrench I highly recommend it.

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I bought my 2 owner, old man owned, stock 6.0 nearly a decade ago. With exception of "old truck" problems, it's been reliable though I don't use it as a daily.

There's some checks you can do for coolant/oil temp deltas and cylinder balance with a scan tool that will give you a high level indicator of engine heath. I had to look at a few trucks before I found one with acceptable temp deltas. I think that's part of the reason it's been relatively trouble free.