What engine do you have?

[clev]

I've had my '99 E-350 PSD for almost 9 years and have never 'seen' another van with a diesel. I live in Tejas and have towed my trailer to the east coast, all along the southern coast and through the Rockies to Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Idaho. Mostly what I've seen are Ford trucks pulling 5th wheels and a few pulling t/trailers but have seen 'very' few vans pulling anything. Of all the vans I've seen in all these travels, I've 'never' seen another PSD van. So, I'm really curious; what engine does your van have?

[Mr_Roboto]

I've owned two different 94 vans with IDI diesels.

According to Autozone, 1996 vans (I just picked a year of PSD's) 22% of them were diesels. So roughly 1 in 5.

[bork]

I saw 2 PSD vans (one silver, one maroon) at Grand National Cross Country Triton motorcycle race in Vero Bch., Fl. March 6th. I never saw anyone around them cause I was going to say "hello" & see if it was anyone from here.

[ddog]

[ QUOTE ]
So, I'm really curious; what engine does your van have?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you have a van and your posting here, technically you need to have diesel van, so everybodys van is diesel here give or take. Usually Gas engine vans can get some answers here with out being moderated out.

[ QUOTE ]
Of all the vans I've seen in all these travels, I've 'never' seen another PSD van.

[/ QUOTE ]

From Autotrader search, 1987-2006, Ford Club Wagon, Ford Econoline, Fuel Type Diesel any distance, 429 Listings

Same criteria, Gasoline Fuel Type 11,249. I would say its closer to 1 in 30 Vans.

Tried filtering it for Just E350 to get a better idea since diesel is not available in E150, and was available for a while in the E250 cargo, but if your talking observations of all vans driving the down the road, these numbers seem to support it.

Not sure what the first year for a diesel van was, I picked 87 as a guess and quit at 06, since 07 diesel van will be scare to non existant and would skew the Gas percentage higher.

I think the 1 in 5 estimate is low for all vans, maybe 1 in 5 E350 Vans if you include Cutaways and Chassis cabs.

Anyway you look at it, there's not that many!

ddog

[yaric008]

Well I've only ever seen one other diesel IDI van before on the road. I've seen one in a parking lot i think, but didn't hear it running. I've never seen a 6.9L diesel van.


I've seen several powerstroke vans, probably like.. 10. I've seen 1 6.0L powerstroke van.

And i'm always on the look out with my windows down and what not.
I'm not counting cutaways in my numbers, only E series with van bodies.

[MADVAN]

There are even less GMC vans, but i have seen a few.

Bill

[DarthSurplus]

Other than hotshotters at the truck stop, I've only seen two or three other diesel Econolines. I see a diesel Econoline hotshotter every third or fourth time I patronize my local Flying J. It may be the same guy . . . I don't know and I don't care. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Only twice has somebody given me the "goll-EEee" treatment. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] "Duz thet thar van gott uh DEEZUL moturfication???? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

I did, however, see my first real live Duramax Express van last week in the Kroger parking lot. It was in the livery of a large city plumbing service company. I asked the guy about his fuel mileage, but he didn't really track it. He knew he put more miles on between fillups than with a gasser, and that was about it. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[MikeL46]

We have a Sportsmobile camper conversion van. It has a 'Penthouse' top that raises to give plenty of headroom inside when parked. It seems most of these vans are now diesel powered. But, they don't have any markings on the outside to indicate PSD. So, unless you hear it running, you may not know it is a diesel.

Mike

[bork]

Whats a "Econoline hotshotter" lead footed, smoke blower? Or someone you envy? 7.3? hehehe

[Mr_Roboto]

A hotshotter (Freight expeditor) is someone who moves something quickly, basically a mini truck driver on overdrive. They will commonly use a cargo van to move one to three pallets of material to a factory that needs it to continue production. For really "hot" loads they will send it in a helicopter. It costs less than paying 500 autoworkers $25 / hr to twittle their thumbs.

I used to work as an expeditor, and once moved a 1' by 1.5' bin of brake lines several hundred miles to an auto plant that needed them.

As far as the "for sale" numbers, I believe that the people with the diesel vans are keeping them much longer, hence the lower sales numbers. I should have clarified my statement that 22% of "E-350 van bodies" had the diesel, since the 92+ E150 and E250 were only available with gas engines. So TOTAL numbers of Econoline diesel are far below 22%.

[MADVAN]

Over the road ford PSD vans you can tell just by looking at the big tailpipe. All the gas vans are much smaller. No need to here it.

Bill

[DarthSurplus]

Yeah, that's what I try to do, also.

It's kind of tough, because the OEM diesel van tailpipes aren't beveled like the OEM PSD truck tailpipes are.

Some of us have made the pasttime of diesel-van-spotting even easier! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Some of the gassers had two small pipes exiting side-by-side on the passenger side, so they're also a no-brainer.

And hearing isn't going to be the clincher it once was if your game is "spot the diesel GM van." They're spooky quiet. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[yaric008]

[ QUOTE ]
Over the road ford PSD vans you can tell just by looking at the big tailpipe. All the gas vans are much smaller. No need to here it.

Bill

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Aye, the IDIs tho look about the same. You can tell though from the black soot usually on the side of the van though. My van was changed though to the exhaust comes straight out the back.

[Mr_Roboto]

One of my IDI vans had the factory exhaust, it was just a large tip on a @ 2.5" pipe. The tip was maybe 3.5".

And yes it was horrible for soot on the back edge of the van.

[ddog]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, that's what I try to do, also.

It's kind of tough, because the OEM diesel van tailpipes aren't beveled like the OEM PSD truck tailpipes are.

[/ QUOTE ]

OH ye of the limited production 6.0 diesel van owner [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. The more desirable 7.3 PSD Van of yore is easily spotted by its Beveled 3.5" Tailpipe as pictured HERE behind the RG SS exhaust. The 98 I looked at in MI also had the beveled tailpipe.

[ QUOTE ]
And hearing isn't going to be the clincher it once was if your game is "spot the diesel GM van." They're spooky quiet. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

So was the 98 I looked at in relative 7.3 terms, and as I Learned later that is due to the fuel system not being dead headed. The rear end howl was louder than the motor.

While selling my van was financial based,I'm beginning to regret the sale as finding one in the sub 10K range thats decent is pretty difficult.

[ QUOTE ]
As far as the "for sale" numbers, I believe that the people with the diesel vans are keeping them much longer, hence the lower sales numbers. I should have clarified my statement that 22% of "E-350 van bodies" had the diesel, since the 92+ E150 and E250 were only available with gas engines. So TOTAL numbers of Econoline diesel are far below 22%.

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Mr. Roboto, I thought of your numbers being for E350 production which makes sense, for some reason adding E350 to the key words in the gas engine search kept giving me the same number of hits as without it, it wasn't filtering the results down (thus my notation to same). Whats for sale is still a pretty good indication of what's produced in relative terms, and most diesel vans for sale in that 429 number are over 200k miles.

ddog