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Old 09-06-2011, 08:50 AM   #1
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Re: Lifespan of ford e-350 shuttle bus + advice

The conventional wisdom is that the Ford 7.3L diesel has a 300,000 MILE service life, but a well maintained motor can go far past that. The bolt-ons, including the tranny, of course need replacement sooner. Your 300,000K engines still have a lot of life left in them.

As far as gas mileage goes, 10 - 15 is about as good as it gets.

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Old 09-06-2011, 11:17 AM   #2
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Re: Lifespan of ford e-350 shuttle bus + advice

Figure on 10 mpg even for the short bus. The 4.10 gears kill ya.
IIf you read some of the Ford truck forums, you'd find that even 300k miles isn't anything to worry about if maintained well. Theres one guy on dieselstop.com van section that bought a 16 passenger van from a school district in Nebraska with 704k on it thats needed no engine work. The trans are more of a weak link with the Fords.
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Old 09-06-2011, 05:10 PM   #3
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Re: Lifespan of ford e-350 shuttle bus + advice

Quote:
Originally Posted by dukedebuke
Hi everyone,

Around Montreal I see a lot of these white shuttle/handicap buses (diesel ford e-350 or e-450, 7.3 l) for sale around 2500-3500 cdn $...
Hi there, I'm on south shore!! Where are you from? I'm not a skoolie yet thou; I have other projects going on, including a kid in the oven.
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Old 09-09-2011, 03:50 PM   #4
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Re: Lifespan of ford e-350 shuttle bus + advice

Ya, there's a bunch of fullsize buses w/Cummins or DT466 and a bunch of 7.3l shortbuses on Kijiji and Lespac.com but it seems there's no in between.

I think most "mid-size" buses around Montreal are bought by the farmers to haul their Mexicans to and from the fields (and to the strippers on thursday nights ;) ).
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Old 09-09-2011, 03:56 PM   #5
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Re: Lifespan of ford e-350 shuttle bus + advice

welcome aboard!

I would say aslong as the mileage is not too high it should be okay but it really really REALLY depends on the condition of the bus you are buying. could have 120k on it but be a large POS. look for one that shows signs of care and maintenance!
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