[GRFox]

Not sure it's appropriate to post this here but I feel this is my best location to get food accurate info.

I recently purchased a 2005 Eddie Bauer Excursion. Interior is great, body is an 8 out of 10. No frame rot anywhere. Well maintained with all new suspension ect. The V10 is pushing 200k miles and I paid very little for the truck. I rather put a couple grand into this truck then spend 60k on a new f series that has the same towing specs ect.

Would ok he better off rebuilding the existing v10 when the time comes? How difficult would it be to do a navigator 5.4 swap. The early 5.4 navis seem yo run for hundreds of thousands of miles and I am thinking might get better gas mileage then the v10.

Most important thing is that is reliable as it will see cross country use.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

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[Christopher Ihara]

Honestly, if it comes to it you're better off just rebuilding the V10. The amount of wiring harness work, money, and tuning you'd need to get a 5.4L DOHC to run would be better spent just dropping in a 6.2L SOHC or other more modern engine into it.

While you're rebuilding the V10 you could have the heads ported, exhaust and intake manifolds extrude honed, and a true dual exhaust system put in. This will make more power which should help your fuel economy.

I've been eyeballing some Excursions myself. Ideally I'd like a 7.3L PowerStroke, but they are hard to find in good shape.

 

[GRFox]

Honestly, if it comes to it you're better off just rebuilding the V10. The amount of wiring harness work, money, and tuning you'd need to get a 5.4L DOHC to run would be better spent just dropping in a 6.2L SOHC or other more modern engine into it.

While you're rebuilding the V10 you could have the heads ported, exhaust and intake manifolds extrude honed, and a true dual exhaust system put in. This will make more power which should help your fuel economy.

I've been eyeballing some Excursions myself. Ideally I'd like a 7.3L PowerStroke, but they are hard to find in good shape.

The 7.3s are pushing 10 plus grand in good shape. It's crazy how they've held their value.

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[tjm73]

A well maintained V10 will last 200-300K miles. The fastest, simplest, cheapest, easiest path of least resistance is to swap a reman V10 in and roll with it. It is very hard to beat factory reliability. Once you start modifying it, you open several doors to possible failure. I see threads like this all the time. Swapping is NEVER cheaper than R&R what was there to begin with. And you won't have the same reliability.

Your 1500 miles from home (and your tools and local shop) in a 15 year old, way not stock, modified truck and you're broke down on the side of the road. Who's going to fix it? How many days will you loose to getting back on the road? Now you have a totally stock same truck. You're broke down. You pay the local Ford dealer to fix it and be on your way.

If you swap you will spend thousands getting it swapped, running right and tuned. That's on top of a ton of little details to resolve (nickle and dime you). You won't save much this way over all.

Swapping to save gas is always a funny idea to me. The thousands you spend to swap and get it running could more easily just be used for fuel.

Say you spend an extra $100/trip on fuel running the V10. And say you spend $10,000 to swap and be all up and running (you will likely spend more than that). That's 100 trips. How many trips a year do you take? How many years to break even on the money spent to swap? How much does the truck cost to own and operate and insure above and beyond the swap?

Rebuild or get a reman long block and swap them.

 

[GRFox]

A well maintained V10 will last 200-300K miles. The fastest, simplest, cheapest, easiest path of least resistance is to swap a reman V10 in and roll with it. It is very hard to beat factory reliability. Once you start modifying it, you open several doors to possible failure. I see threads like this all the time. Swapping is NEVER cheaper than R&R what was there to begin with. And you won't have the same reliability.

Your 1500 miles from home (and your tools and local shop) in a 15 year old, way not stock, modified truck and you're broke down on the side of the road. Who's going to fix it? How many days will you loose to getting back on the road? Now you have a totally stock same truck. You're broke down. You pay the local Ford dealer to fix it and be on your way.

If you swap you will spend thousands getting it swapped, running right and tuned. That's on top of a ton of little details to resolve (nickle and dime you). You won't save much this way over all.

Swapping to save gas is always a funny idea to me. The thousands you spend to swap and get it running could more easily just be used for fuel.

Say you spend an extra $100/trip on fuel running the V10. And say you spend $10,000 to swap and be all up and running (you will likely spend more than that). That's 100 trips. How many trips a year do you take? How many years to break even on the money spent to swap? How much does the truck cost to own and operate and insure above and beyond the swap?

Rebuild or get a reman long block and swap them.

I don't need anymore convincing. Your making too much sense. Thanks for talking me off the ledge lol. Seriously.

Now I need to figure out how to get better fuel economy out of it. I get 10mpg per tank of fuel, city and highway and I get 6mpg towing a 7k lb Camper.

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[GRFox]

I've got 204l on the clock. I just drove round trip from New York to Wyoming 4400 mile round trip towing a 3k lb trailer and it ram like a champ.Doesnt burn oil. Maybe I can get another 100l out if it the way it is.

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[ashleyroachclip]

5 star tuning can get you a little better fuel milage and power .
You have an automatic transmission, so better than 10 mpg is going to be difficult.
I believe 5 star tunes , also consist of some trans shift point changes , that may help .
I have a 4x4 super cab short bed f250 on 35's , with a manual trans .
Across the scales , I am close to 7k lbs .
I get 14 on the hiway , and what little I town driving I do , it drops to about 10 .
I am right close to 270k miles now , does use a little oil , but is rock solid reliable .

 

[tjm73]

I don't need anymore convincing. Your making too much sense. Thanks for talking me off the ledge lol. Seriously.

Now I need to figure out how to get better fuel economy out of it. I get 10mpg per tank of fuel, city and highway and I get 6mpg towing a 7k lb Camper.

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LOL!!! I went through a cost benefit analysis of a truck I use to tow my 5500 camper. I was thinking about buying a new diesel F250, when I factored in the fuel and service it would take something like 250,000 miles to recover the purchase of the diesel engine over gas engine just from expected fuel savings. That was JUST the up charge for the 6.7L engine.

The diesel was a $9500 upcharge at that point. $9500 buys A LOT of gasoline. Even at only 7-8mpg.

 

[Christopher Ihara]

I don't need anymore convincing. Your making too much sense. Thanks for talking me off the ledge lol. Seriously.

Now I need to figure out how to get better fuel economy out of it. I get 10mpg per tank of fuel, city and highway and I get 6mpg towing a 7k lb Camper.

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Perhaps the simplest thing you could do to improve mileage would be a gear swap; however, if it's 4x4 that is a fairly expensive proposition unless you do it yourself. My guess would be that you're running 4.10's which I believe was an option on those included in the tow package. You could probably drop to a 3.73, but a 3.55 would yield the most fuel mileage benefit at the expense of throttle response and towing performance.

With that many miles you may want to look at new O2 sensors, catalyst efficiency sensors, coils, plugs, fuel filter, and a K&N air filter. Perhaps a larger bore MAF sensor might help too. You may also need new injectors. Perhaps you have one or two that are leaking?

Adding "lightness" may be another option. If you aren't using the third row seat don't haul it around. If you're puttering around down consider leaving the spare tire at home. If you've got big aftermarket wheels on, trade back for stock wheels. If you're running big tires, go back to stock. See if there is an aluminum driveshaft option available. Anything you can do to reduce rotating mass will help with fuel mileage.

Personally, I believe that if you had the intake and exhaust manifolds Extrude Honed you could pick up fairly significant mileage improvements with no penalty for serviceability on the road. They're still factory parts, they just perform better. In fact, Ford had all 1999 SVT Cobra intakes Extrude Honed as part of their recall for the cars being down on power. So the process works and has precedent of the factory using it as a viable, safe, performance option. It would not add so much power as to hurt reliability of parts down stream, but would improve intake and exhaust efficiency to yield better combustion.

Media - Extrude Hone

extrudehone.com

A custom tune would probably not hurt either.

 

[87stang!!]

12-valve Cummins...would be the perfect large SUV.

 

[tjm73]

Extrudehone is hellaexpensive for the gain.

 

[bassman97]

Start with the basics, like a good tune-up (plugs, coils, O2 sensors). I would think your mileage should be better. My father had an 08 F-250 w/ the 5.4. That was way anemic, and would struggle to get 12 mpg empty, never mind hauling anything. I would tend to think the V10 though bigger, wouldn't need as much input with the right foot like a 5.4 would.

If you want to mod for mileage, your best bet would be make the truck easier to move. If you have upgraded wheels, get a set that just barely fits over the brakes. Something like 16" aluminum wheels, if it'll clear. Also, keep the tire width small, to run as small of a tire as possible. For comparison, the OBS trucks had 215X85R15 tires, or something skinny along those lines. You can also swap cams to a more truck friendly grind. Anything you can do to make torque lower, to keep the rpms lower, will help mileage. Make sure also that you don't leave the front hubs locked, as that will suck down gas. You can even take the front driveshaft off during the warmer months to save some weight. You can take it further if you don't plan on using the 4WD ever, by stripping it out. Bottom line, best you can do is make sure the wheels are easier to turn and take some weight off. If you got some money, a pair of cams to enhance low rpm torque. Other than that, the cost vs. mileage gain will not be worth it, especially when gas is once again, cheap.

 

[Thorforhelvede]

Not sure it's appropriate to post this here but I feel this is my best location to get food accurate info.

I recently purchased a 2005 Eddie Bauer Excursion. Interior is great, body is an 8 out of 10. No frame rot anywhere. Well maintained with all new suspension ect. The V10 is pushing 200k miles and I paid very little for the truck. I rather put a couple grand into this truck then spend 60k on a new f series that has the same towing specs ect.

Would ok he better off rebuilding the existing v10 when the time comes? How difficult would it be to do a navigator 5.4 swap. The early 5.4 navis seem yo run for hundreds of thousands of miles and I am thinking might get better gas mileage then the v10.

Most important thing is that is reliable as it will see cross country use.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

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you COULD pick up my supercharger kit? that would make it plenty powerful!

 

[chopperscfl]

When the time comes you'll be better off sticking with the V10. I've seen a handful of them in E250/E350 vans go over 300k miles, but when you do have to rebuild it you have a lot of potential. It already makes 10hp/70ft.lbs. more then a 4v Navigator engine. If you stay naturally aspirated it will be almost impossible to catch up in the torque category. I did have 1 friend that had a V10 F250 and it responded pretty well to modifications also. If it were me I'd do an intake, tuning, exhaust, and some long tubes while rebuilding and go for another 300k miles, but if you want to step up even more you can go with truck grind cams which will give you decent increases in the power band area you'll be in the most while towing and daily driving. I personally seen that the long tube headers alone with high flow cats made a noticeable difference. All these things would be gains on top of your current output, however if you switched to the Navigator motor you'd have to do all of those, including the cam, just to make up for the large torque loss. Also the intake, headers, and exhaust will increase your gas mileage. You seem more focused on longevity and mileage then power, but if you did want a large power increase you could put a supercharger on it also. A V10 with a Whipple supercharger and a set of long tubes would be a torque MONSTER! Stick with the V10, more power, equal reliability in the engine itself compared to the 5.4, and better reliability in having a factory setup.