America has long had a love affair with the diesel pickup truck. Even when the Big Three managed to scare their own customers off from diesel cars for decades, diesel pickup trucks not only remained in production, they gained popularity. The vast majority of those trucks have been three-quarter-ton rigs and heavier, leaving nothing for the common half-ton. Back in the 2010s, the Big Three changed that. For just four model years, you were able to buy a Ford F-150 half-ton with a Power Stroke V6 engine that was capable of scoring 30 mpg in regular driving. Even better is the fact that it’s a modern diesel known for reliability.
Diesel had a shift in the 1980s. In the past, you bought a compression ignition engine because diesel fuel was cheap and the engines got substantially better fuel economy than a gas truck. The introductions of such engines like the 1984 Cummins B Series and its competition demonstrated that diesels had more to offer to the regular consumer than just good fuel economy. Now, you could use a pickup truck with the power to haul all of your whole life through the Rockies and still get decent fuel economy doing it.
Since then, diesel truck engines have been usually fitted to bigger pickups designed for heavier hauling duties. Back in the 1990s, if you wanted a diesel from the Blue Oval, you had to buy a F-250 or better. If you wanted your diesel to look like a mini big rig, the Dodge Ram 2500 or better was your pick. Only General Motors offered a half-ton diesel and even that was killed off at the turn of the century.
The half-ton diesels of the 2010s reignited something special. For the first time in a long time, truck buyers didn’t have to spend money on a bigger truck to get a compression ignition engine. Now, this era is coming to an end and some of the players didn’t even stay in the market for very long.
Americans actually had a flurry of choices in this arena. Stellantis brands Jeep and Ram sold their half-tons with the option for the EcoDiesel V6 from 2014 to 2023. Nissan partnered up with Cummins for the diesel V8 in the Titan XD “heavy-half” from 2016 to 2019. Meanwhile, General Motors is now the only player left in this field with its 3.0-liter Duramax, which has been fitted in half-ton trucks and SUVs since 2019.
The maker of America’s favorite pickup truck line, Ford, also offered a half-ton diesel. But unlike GM and Stellantis, Ford didn’t sell its half-ton diesel for very long. Only four years of the model F-150 could be had with a diesel, of which only one year is the current generation F-150.
Ford Breaks Up With Its Diesel Friend
Most of Ford’s diesel fanatics can trace their love back to the relationship Ford had with International Harvester that started in 1981. The former wanted to get into the diesel pickup truck game while the latter wanted to provide an engine for an OEM. It was a perfect match, but Ford had demands, from my retrospective:
Of course, Ford’s goals of a do-it-all truck also weighed on development. Ford reportedly wanted an engine that could propel a truck down the highway but also haul heavy loads. Oh, and that engine had to last while also meeting emissions requirements. International Harvester subjected over 160 prototype examples of its 6.9-liter diesel V8 to over 52,000 hours and 813,000 miles of durability testing. In the early days of development, testing revealed that injectors were inadequate at producing the necessary power. IH engineers went with two orifice nozzles from another company project, but those resulted in too much soot and emissions. Ultimately, inward-opening pintle injectors were the winning ticket.
International Harvester’s V8 IDI engines became legends in their own right. Sure, they weren’t fast, but they kept running even when the rest of their trucks had been reduced to rubble. These engines were followed up with the iconic Power Stroke 7.3-liter V8, which added a heaping of power on top of the practically bulletproof reliability.
IH’s successor Navistar continued to partner with Ford on engines, resulting in successors like the hated 6.0 Power Stroke V8 and the short-lived 6.4 Power Stroke V8. The latter engine is one with such a rough reputation that our Lewin Day wrote a whole article explaining why it was “Such A Pile Of Trash.” Ouch. Unfortunately, the 6.0 and the 6.4 were such warranty claim disasters that Ford wanted Navistar to shoulder some of the burden, from Lewin’s piece:
As covered by Wards Auto at the time, Ford demanded Navistar cover its share of the warranty costs for the 6.4 engine. When Navistar refused to pay, Ford began deducting these costs from its payments to Navistar for engine shipments. A bold move, and one that escalated the situation significantly.
Things got much uglier in February 2007, and the matter soon ended up in court. Navistar had halted production because, in its own words, Ford had “stopped honoring the terms of agreement under which the engines were built.” The company wasn’t afraid to air its dirty laundry, and the official press release made for bitter reading. Navistar takes the opportunity to brag about how good the 6.4-liter engine is, and how the partnership had played a role in Ford’s leading position in the truck market.
Navistar would eventually be forced to restart engine production while Ford would be forced to pay for those engines in full. The two companies never really found a positive resolution to their beef. They settled whatever court disputes they had and went their separate ways. Ford brought Power Stroke development and production in-house while Navistar kept its focus on commercial developments.
This Navistar story was important because before their relationship soured, Navistar and Ford were working on a 4.4-liter Power Stroke diesel engine that was destined to go into the F-150. Thanks in part to this dispute, it would take another decade before Americans were able to drive a diesel-powered F-150, and the engine we got was totally unexpected for something wearing a Power Stroke badge.
The Baby Truck Diesels
Something I’ve found fascinating about the smaller-scale diesel truck engines is where they’ve come from. Back in the late 2000s, Dodge was quick to announce a diesel half-ton truck with what was the then-new fourth-generation Ram. At first, there was speculation that Dodge was going to outfit its half-tons with an existing smaller Cummins. Instead, we got more Ram, less Dodge, and the half-ton diesel didn’t get a Cummins. When the EcoDiesel range launched in 2014, those 3.0-liter V6 diesel engines came from VM Motori of Italy, a brand that had been Chrysler’s longtime partner in smaller diesels.
This was also the case with the 3.0-liter Duramax straight-six currently being used by GM. It didn’t come from the same development team behind the mainline 6.6-liter Duramax V8 diesels in the bigger trucks. Instead, this advanced engine came from the Italian GM division that was more associated with European diesels.
Even Nissan had a special 5.0-liter V8 diesel developed with Cummins. Sadly, that one earned a sour reputation that didn’t really live up to the Cummins name.
Ford is no different here. Even though the 3.0-liter Power Stroke V6 has an iconic brand name, it didn’t come from Ford like the bigger F-Series Power Strokes do. Ford didn’t come back begging on Navistar’s doorstep, either. Instead, like both FCA and GM, Ford took a trip overseas.
In 1998, Ford formed a partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën, which expanded a year later. This multinational mashup was designed to pool these automakers’ resources together to create a line of common rail diesel engines that could be fitted to everything from a Peugeot and a Jaguar to even a Land Rover. The partnership first created a series of 1.4-liter, 1.6-liter, and 2.0-liter diesel engines for mass-market vehicles in Europe.
In 2003, PSA Peugeot Citroën and Ford Motor Company announced the third phase of their engine development program. Now with mass-market engines churning away and positioning these automakers as a serious force in the European diesel market, the partners wanted to launch a 2.7-liter V6 for luxury cars. This V6 line would become known as the AJD-V6 or the Lion engine.
The partnership noted that the Lion V6 wasn’t a walk in the park. A Jaguar is known for power, refinement, and driving feel. Sure, diesels had plenty of power by this time, but a Jag buyer isn’t going to want something agricultural. Ford noted:
Delivering premium level refinement was central to the design philosophy of the engine architecture. The engine features were selected and optimised for radiated noise level and noise quality using advanced analytical and measurement techniques. The cylinder block, for example, is manufactured in Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI) and coupled with a separate aluminium ladderframe to provide a lightweight, compact and very stiff bottom end of the engine. Additionally there are cross bolts that “tie” the main bearing caps into the structure and control their high frequency behaviour.
The valve train and fuel injection system of the engine are belt driven to enhance refinement. The belt covers are designed to ensure their surfaces radiate the minimum amount of noise, while special attention was paid to the operating dynamics of the belts themselves. The cam covers are manufactured from composite material and isolated from the remainder of the engine structure by use of elastomeric material, which reduces the transfer of vibration.
Management of the engine’s noise characteristics has focused particularly on the areas of mechanical noise and the combustion process. The latter has been subject to especially detailed optimization and has benefited from the painstaking work carried out on the design of the engine structure. Further control of combustion excitation is achieved through the use of next generation common-rail technology, including “multiple pilot” injection and closed loop injection control, ensuring the quality of combustion is maintained under all operating conditions.
The partners continued talking about the Lion’s Compacted Graphite Iron block, “sputter-coated” connecting rods, aluminum alloy cylinder heads, electronically actuated twin turbos, and more. The Land Rover version of this V6 went for a single turbo setup, an engine-driven cooling fan, and a larger sump with baffles. All of these changes were done in an effort to make the Lion better for off-roading and hauling. Land Rover’s model of the V6 also had ECU tuning to account for the low-quality diesel you might fuel up on if you’re somewhere remote.
Production of these V6 engines started in 2004 and a later 3.0-liter version of the V6 followed with sequential twin turbos and fuel injectors with piezo crystals. The twin turbos were clever. The first turbo was a small turbo, which spooled up quickly for low RPM operations. At higher speeds, the bigger turbo kicked in. The idea here is that you get loads of power all over the rev range and limited lag. Those piezo crystals also helped lower emissions while making the engines quieter, too.
At launch, you could find the 2.7-liter V6 diesel in the Land Rover Discovery 3 and Range Rover Sport making 188 HP, or in something like a Citroën C5 or a Jaguar XF making 201 HP. The hotter 3.0-liter model started at 241 HP and got boosted up to 302 HP specifically for two Land Rovers. According to Navistar, the Lion was also the basis for the aforementioned 4.4-liter diesel V8 it was developing with Ford for launch in the F-150 in 2010.
Instead, when Ford finally got around to making a half-ton diesel, it pinched the same team that made the Lion. Ken Pumford, a Lion engineering veteran, led the 3.0-liter Power Stroke diesel project and later worked on the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8. As Motor Trend reported in 2019, Ford greenlit a new diesel based on the latest evolution of that Lion engine. Pumford did the logical thing and got the Lion team back together. They started with the latest version of the Lion and developed from there, from Motor Trend:
For instance, though their resulting engine first appeared in a Range Rover, the duty cycle for an F-150 is very different from how a Range Rover is used. “We started at the modeling level, based on the F-150 D-cycle. First we created the new engine in CAD (computer-aided design), then in CAE (computer-aided engineering) and applied all the loads F-150 would put on it,” Pumford told us. They then made whatever changes were needed to make it durable for what Ford understands an F-150 will be used for.
During design, changes were made to common components that Ford shares with JLR’s variants of the engine. “For example, we put many updates and tweaks important to the durability of the engine into the crankshaft line. JLR also received the benefit of those updates,” Pumford told us. “Other parts of the Ford engine are entirely new, like the block, EGR system, and a different fuel system. Everything existing (in the older engine family) was modified for F-150.”
Pumford then explains that the 3.0-liter Power Stroke might have been based on an existing engine, but they treated it as if they were designing an engine from the ground up. They also subjected it to the same abuse testing that Super Duty engines had to go through. If the baby Power Stroke could survive what Super Duty trucks have to go through, then it would have no problem towing your family’s camper behind the F-150.
Some parts were carried over, including the graphite iron block and the aluminum cylinder heads. The team found that these parts reduced weight, allowed the engine to be compact, and negated the need for liners, which helped reduce cost. Yet, these materials also proved to be tough, too. The Power Stroke team then fed their small engine a forged crankshaft, a variable-geometry turbocharger, and Bosch piezoelectric injectors.
Ford says the injection system runs at 29,000 PSI and you get five injection events per combustion cycle. At the same time, the team wanted the engine to haul like a diesel, but not exactly sound like one. So, the engineers covered the loud ticking injectors with foam. Here’s Motor Trend again:
“A lot of work has gone into the injections and calibration,” Pumford said. “Power output depends on fueling, and diesel emissions are getting a lot of attention, plus attention to typical diesel NVH. Calibration and how they optimize pilot, main, and post injections have a big impact on NVH. There were several years of effort that went into calibration. I think they’ve done a good job. The department that handled the calibration of the 3.0-liter is the same that handles Super Duty; obviously they have years of experience with the Bosch fuel system, and with U.S. emissions and the expectations of U.S. customers.
“Injections one and two help with diesel clatter. These pilot injections help ramp the pressure up smoothly in the combustion chamber, then you have the main injection, followed by up to two further injections, as duty-cycles and emissions control demands.
“Pilot injections are the key to NVH. Rather than injecting fuel all at once and having it go bang in a sudden pressure rise in the cylinder, you’ll have these small pre-injections that will start pressure ramping up in the cylinder slowly and smoothly. I think the net result is impressive. Many people can’t tell from inside the cabin that it is a diesel—other than the fuel economy,” Pumford concluded.
Ford also says it worked hard to make the engine good for hot, high, and heavy towing, too. The engine has its water pump integrated into the block and it cools with help from a completely mechanical fan. The engine also swirls around oil using a two-stage oil pump. The idea here is that the 3.0-liter Power Stroke V6 can tow at capacity at high altitude and high heat without leaving your truck Found On Road, Dead.
All of these changes also mean that while this engine might have had origins in Jags, Land Rovers, and Citroëns, it’s a very different mill than the architecture was in 2004.
People Love Their Small Power Strokes
The Ford F-150 3.0L V-6 Power Stroke Diesel went on sale in 2018 and quickly found fans. Here’s what Car and Driver had to say:
Forget the customary “for a diesel” qualifier, as we can say the 3.0-liter Power Stroke is just straight-up quiet. Other than a small amount of telltale diesel clatter at startup, there’s little indication that the engine within forgoes spark ignition in the process of combustion. Obviously, standing directly in front of the truck’s grille or popping the hood will reveal the engine’s true nature, but in terms of noise, vibration, and harshness at the helm, it sounds far more like a mild-mannered gasoline V-6 than a heavy hauler. Still, from the driver’s seat our sound-level meter measured the diesel’s warmed-up idle at 42 decibels, substantially higher than the Limited EcoBoost’s 35. However, both during maximum acceleration and while cruising at 70 mph, the diesel proved quieter.
Regardless of any arguments for or against the 3.0-liter Power Stroke’s financial or efficiency attributes, you’d be hard pressed to find an engine better suited for everyday-pickup duty. With all 440 lb-ft of torque on tap at a low 1750 rpm, it moves the truck out from a stop without a hint of strain. At the track, our Platinum crew cab accelerated to 60 mph in 7.7 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 16.0 seconds flat; that’s quick enough, but certainly no threat to the 5.1- and 13.7-second times put down by the recently tested 2019 F-150 Limited with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost. Still, the diesel’s effortless and drama-free personality recalls the stoic characteristics that defined Ford’s venerated 4.9-liter inline-six from decades ago. It’s ready to work and sufficiently quick for truck duty. It’s also more than a second quicker than the last Ram EcoDiesel we tested.
If you go onto forums — and there’s one dedicated just for F-150 Power Stroke owners – you’ll find lots of happy owners who seem to be immensely loyal to their trucks. It’s also great to see that while there are complaints here and there about parts that have broken, there’s nothing that I think would make you run away. One person claims to have hit 186,000 miles with the only big ticket items being a turbocharger and a wheel bearing. Another person complained of a bad starter and a bad 4×4 actuator. Another fella with 180,000 miles talks about having to do a timing belt replacement, a belt replacement for the fuel pump, and an EGR recall. His biggest complaint is about a suspension failure at 170,000 miles.
The surprising thing I’ve found in the forums is that while an occasional engine issue pops up, most of the complaints are about poor-ish quality elsewhere on the truck. There are even people bragging about getting the EPA rating of 30 mpg unloaded and still above 20 mpg with really light trailers. It was refreshing digging into this truck. Oftentimes you’ll look into the reliability of a modern diesel pickup truck and read horror stories about limp modes from failing emissions equipment. Yet, people brag about the reliability of their F-150 Power Strokes with their emissions equipment intact, which is awesome. That’s not to say people aren’t doing dirty deletes, but it appears Ford did engineer a reliable modern diesel here.
However, despite the praise, the F-150 Power Stroke had a few glaring issues. The first problem was in towing capability. The maximum tow rating for a 2018 F-150 Power Stroke is 11,400 pounds. By 2020, this reached 11,500 pounds. This was a bit of a weird stat because an F-150 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 of the same year could tow as much as 13,200 pounds. Even the gasser’s payload was a killer. The diesel had a payload of 2,020 pounds max while the EcoBoost hauled 3,270 pounds.
Then there was the price of it. If you were upgrading from the 2.7-liter EcoBoost, the diesel was a $4,000 upcharge. The hit was a little easier if you were upgrading from a 5.0-liter V8, but we’re still talking about $3,000. The 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 was, at its worst, a $1,600 upcharge.
Then there was the power proposition. A 3.0-liter Power Stroke V6 made 250 HP and 440 lb-ft of torque. At launch, diesel power offered the most torque of the entire F-150 lineup. But that’s not to say that the 3.5 EcoBoost was a slouch. It still made 365 HP and 420 lb-ft. Going against the EcoBoost was Ford’s recommendation to run it on premium gasoline, which often isn’t any cheaper than diesel, and its lower fuel economy.
So, the baby Power Stroke was a weird proposition. Buying a diesel usually means getting a mountain or torque and better hauling capabilities. But in this case, the torque wasn’t much better and the towing was actually worse. In a weird way, the 3.0 Power Stroke was like a classic diesel truck. The real reason you got it was to get the 30 mpg unloaded and still have good fuel economy while towing. The F-150 Power Stroke appears to be really great at that job.
The waters became extra muddy in 2021, when Ford launched the fourteenth generation F-150. By now, the 3.5 EcoBoost was making 450 HP and 510 lb-ft, but the diesel’s specs remained the same. So the diesel lost the tiny torque advantage it had. While no variant of the current generation F-150 gets 30 mpg on the highway, the F-150 PowerBoost V6 hybrid makes substantially more power than the diesel and gets better overall fuel economy. Thus, it’s not at all surprising that Ford quickly discontinued the F-150 diesel after 2021. By then it had no real reason to exist.
I suspect a similar fate will befall the 3.0-liter Duramax once GM gets its act together.
So, the F-150 Power Stroke is a bit of an oddball that subverts expectations at every corner. It’s a modern diesel that’s reliable but with less power than a gasser. It’s a diesel that gets great fuel economy but has worse capacity than a gasser. Yet, for a lot of seemingly happy people, the great fuel economy and reliability alone were worth it.
Ford made as many of these as people were willing to buy and they’re not hard to find for sale. It looks like you’ll be paying under $30,000 for a high-mileage example and around $40,000 for a more recent, lower-mile one.
I keep looking back at America’s experiment with smaller diesel trucks and find myself fascinated. While it appears that these automakers didn’t mean for it to be this way, these diesels were great stop-gap rigs while their automakers figured out BEV or hybrid technologies. Now, unless you’re a diesel enthusiast, you’re probably better off getting one of today’s gas engines, a hybrid, or EV. But I’m still glad the Big Three did it. These trucks are sort of oddballs and even if their sales weren’t hot, they still managed to find fans, which is great.
Images: Automakers
Top graphic image: Ford
I tow with the 3.0 Duramax, and it has been a great vehicle. Often missed in the tow ratings is that towing 10,000 with a half ton will probably breach payload, and it isn’t any fun. You really should use a 2500 for that weight. The tow ratings are really more of a hand-measuring contest at that point.
On the other hand, towing 8000 or under is a good fit.
The advantage of a diesel is thus better mileage, and a lower torque band, and I have found both to be true. Sure, lots of torque with the 3.5 ecoboost BUT dismal mileage towing. 5.0? It’s going to rev a lot, and that is wearing on long grades. Diesel is the best of both, imo.
There may be fans of the powerstroke V6, but I have seen too many horror stories on mechanic videos taking about how serviceability is a major pain (a lot of cab-off jobs).
I am a bigger fan of the 2.7 EB. Tons of those for sale with over 150K miles. They were pretty overbuilt for what they were. Yes, some of them had some valve issues in the Broncos, but overall, they seem to be the most stout of the F150 lineup.
I’ve heard of no unusual cab-off jobs except for maybe the thermostat. And I’m not even sure if that requires a cab-off.
Most proficient mechanics can pull a cab off an F-Series truck in about 1 – 2 hours by the way.
I actually drove one of these at work right before they launched, I really liked it. It drove really nicely and I remember it being quieter than any of the gas F-150s of the time.
Cost is what killed this IMO. Like you mentioned, it’s a tough sell to pay 4k for the diesel when you could pay a little under 2k at most for the 3.5 which towed more, made more horsepower, and almost as much torque. Plus with diesel being more expensive than gas, you’d have to really keep this truck for a long time for the fuel economy savings to really show. It worked out for some but most people don’t keep vehicles long enough for it to pay off.
As a side note, the 4.4 you mentioned wasn’t even the first cancelled F-150 diesel engine. I was told by someone who would have been in the know back then that the 4.5 that eventually found its way into the Low Cab Forward was originally developed for the F-150.
I always considered the powerstoke v6 kinda like the truck equipped of the gm 350 diesels in the late 70s early 80s. If you walked in there and got it fully loaded you got the diesel. 1/2 ton diesels are a weird space in US. They never really seem to take. Alot of people buying that Nissan XD almost wanted a 3/4 ton but didn’t want to buy from the big 3. But it wasn’t too good of engine especially when it was ringing it’s guts out towing heavy loads. The Colorado diesel you see every once in awhile the ranger diesels in overseas markets have well I’m not sure if they are still available though. With those it’s more about efficiency then tow rating. I will say the 6.0 is ok once it’s been bullet proofed. They are all old enough with enough miles now to be ok. It was at about 60k they needed head studs. There is no defending the 6.4 though could the be the worst diesel ever made.
Didn’t help that Ford at first only offered the diesel in the higher priced trims and only in double cab short box configuration.
The reality is down near the end. The hybrid F-150 killed the diesel. Far easier to meet emissions, cheaper fuel, no hassles with DEF or limp modes for every little emission issue.
Outside of HD truck pulling heavy loads on the highway diesel simply doesn’t make economic sense anymore. They will make even less sense after CARB 2024 / EPA 2027
It would have been nice to see them both offered. The hybrid is a very powerful engine, but the one I got as a rental car never got more than 18 or 19 mpg empty in the 900 miles I drove it.
I happen to own an F-150 diesel. I only have 108,000 miles on it, but in my area, diesel is cheaper than regular unleaded and I have yet to have a single emissions issue or limp mode.
The truck only gets about 25 mpg though with my heavy foot. The only ones that get 30 mpg are 2WD units and only those running 5W30 oil. There is no doubt that the 3.0 Duramax is a better engine, but the aluminum body of the 3.0 Powerstroke is a better overall package.
You are lucky if diesel is less than regular in your location. I haven’t seen that in the multiple states I’ve lived since ULSD became a thing back in the 00’s. Right now I’m paying $3.50 for regular and $3.89 for diesel.
I don’t suggest you have an emission related issue far from home. I have an Express 4500 with the Duramax and it took me 5 visits to Chevy dealerships and 10 days to get from Missouri back to Oregon and that doesn’t count leaving it at a dealer in Denver and flying home while they ordered parts. Limp mode every 500 miles like clockwork. My Express will be the last diesel I own.
The friends who tow with the 1/2 ton trucks and the VAG diesel SUVs all adore them for the fuel mileage.
I’m curious to see how the EREV market changes things, will we see diesel powered EREVs in the truck market, or will they all go gas.
as the issues with DI motors of all kinds have reared their heads with the particulate emissions.. I do wonder if we’ll end up with more and more port injected EREV Generators.
Diesel seems like a pretty good application for an EREV in some respects – slow ramp-up to a constant speed means virtually no soot, you can tune intake/exhaust for narrow RPM ranges if you like, and you can use long run cycles to reduce time spent in warm-up. But they are heavy.
I’ve wondered that as well. It seems like they are using gas for the 3/4 ton and under. But it seems like a small diesel generator like they are doing with the class 8 trucks makes a lot of sense. Especially in the way scout has their engine over the rear axle.