Autoblog

Diesel returning to full-size Ford vans

Chris Shunk — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:30:00 EST

The new Ford Transit cargo van promises improved fuel economy compared to the outgoing E-Series, in part because it will be powered by the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6. But that's not the only mill that will be powering the Transit. Ford announced that the fresh take on cargo vans will also boast a diesel powerplant option when it makes it to production in 2013.

Ford hasn't yet delved into any specifics about the diesel powerplant, but The Blue Oval is confident that buyers will experience some serious fuel savings. The automaker says the choice of a turbo-six or an oil burner plus over 300 pounds in weight savings versus the Econoline should combine for 25 percent better fuel economy. That could lead to serious savings at the pump for the independent contractor and large fleets should save some major cash as well.

In fact, Ford is so confident that the new Kansas City-built Transit and its other products will deliver big fuel economy benefits that it's developed a tool to show fleets just how much fuel and CO2 can be saved. The Vehicle Emissions and Fuel Cost Calculator utilizes a wide range of data like vehicle type and traffic conditions to evaluate overall fuel costs and carbon emissions. Hit the jump to read over the Ford press release.

Continue reading Diesel returning to full-size Ford vans

Diesel returning to full-size Ford vans originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Ford 6.7-liter PowerStroke gets 800 lb-ft as of next week, upgrades available

Jonathon Ramsey — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:01:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Work, Ford, GM, Diesel

2011 Ford Super Duty pickup - Click above for high-res image gallery

Ford has made it official: beginning with next week's production, the 6.7-liter PowerStroke turbo diesel in the 2011 Ford Super Duty pickup will be upgraded to 400 horsepower and 800 pound-feet of torque. That's a bump of 10 hp and a jump of 65 lb-ft, enough to leapfrog General Motors' 6.6-liter Duramax by 3 hp and 35 lb-ft. Or, to put more bluntly, enough to run over the Duramax on its way to the top of the heavy duty engine heap.

Further, at the end of August, the Super Duty's frame will be strengthened, upping its payload rating by 550 pounds (to 7,070), which will also increase its fifth-wheel tow rating by 1,000 pounds to 22,600.

Although not much can be done for your tow rating if you bought a Super Duty as soon as it hit the showroom, you can get the power upgrade from your suddenly feeble 635 torques. For one year starting on August 31, 2010, will be able to take their pickups into Ford dealers and get their engines tweaked to the new standard. Since there's no hardware involved, Ford says it should take just 20 minutes to get the reflash job done - learn more with the official press release after the jump.

Gallery: First Drive: 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty

Photos by Rex Roy / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Sources: Ford, Detroit News]

Continue reading Official: Ford 6.7-liter PowerStroke gets 800 lb-ft as of next week, upgrades available

Official: Ford 6.7-liter PowerStroke gets 800 lb-ft as of next week, upgrades available originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford Gets An Earful: Five best and worst ideas from consumers

Zach Bowman — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:58:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Ford, Humor

Click above to peek inside the suggestion box

Ford has officially stirred up a mess of snakes by inviting consumers to submit their ideas on how to improve the company's vehicles to its website at TheFordStory.com. We've spent the better part of a day sifting through what the world has to say to Ford, and though we expected bucket loads of the web's own brand of vitriol, so far the comments were largely constructive.

We say "largely" because, as you know, the internet is still the home of LOL Cats and Chocolate Rain, and for every common sense suggestion on the site, there's one telling the company to offer an automatic pet feeder as an option. We wish we were kidding.

Ford has split its internet suggestion box into six categories ranging from performance and driving dynamics to safety, and while we dig ideas like trimming weight through the use of structural adhesives and the implementation of rear fog lights, a few themes rose above the rest to grab our attention. We've cataloged five we think Ford could do well to listen to, along with another five the company could skip all together.

Follow the jump to peek inside the suggestion box.

Continue reading Ford Gets An Earful: Five best and worst ideas from consumers

Ford Gets An Earful: Five best and worst ideas from consumers originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumormill: Ford's Power Stroke diesel getting power increase to beat GM Duramax

Chris Shunk — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:02:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Rumormill

2011 Ford Super Duty - Click above for high-res image gallery

Volatile gas prices and increasingly stiff emissions standards were supposed to kill the auto industry's horsepower wars, or so we ~~thought~~ feared. Recent news out of the General Motors and Ford camps appears to prove otherwise. The second act in the battle for power supremacy took a turn for the better last November when The Blue Oval announced that the 2011 Mustang would receive a 305-horsepower 3.7-liter V6 powertrain; a hair more punch than the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro V6's 304-hp output. But what's one extra horse between neighbors, right?

The General struck back a couple weeks ago when it announced power figures for the 6.6-liter Duramax diesel available in the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy duty pickups. The new Duramax pumps out 397 hp and 765 lb-ft of torque, besting Ford's 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel that was announced just a few weeks earlier by seven hp and 30 lb-ft. Ford likely isn't going to take this Super Duty setback lying down, and sources tell our friends over at PickupTrucks.com that the company Henry built is looking to regain the power lead within a year.

PickupTrucks.com reports that the new 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel engine is an all-new architecture that likely has plenty of room for more punch, while the 6.6-liter Duramax is an older engine with less room for improvement, so the seesaw battle may not last too long. And sources say Ford engineers could crank the mill beyond 400 ponies and 775 lb-ft; or enough power to tow Florida closer to Texas.

But for now GM's new fullsize pickups hold the power figure crown while Ford engineers look on with malice in their micrometers. At least Ford has that one pony lead over the Camaro, right? Rumor has it that the Bowtie brand is working on that one, too.

Gallery: First Drive: 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty

[Source: PickupTrucks]

Rumormill: Ford's Power Stroke diesel getting power increase to beat GM Duramax originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beware the Scorpion! 2011 Ford Super Duty gets all-new 6.7-liter diesel V8

Sam Abuelsamid — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:01:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Work, Ford, Diesel

2011 Ford "Scorpion" Power-Stroke 6.7-liter diesel V8 - Click above for high-res image gallery

Ford's issues with its long-time heavy duty diesel engine supplier Navistar will soon be coming to an end. The 2011 edition of the Ford Super Duty pickup will get an all-new diesel V8 designed in-house code-named Scorpion. So now, if Ford has any durability issues with its big diesels, it will have no one to blame but itself.

Officially the Scorpion retains the Power Stroke badge, but that and eight cylinders in a V-configuration are all that is carried over. The Scorpion engine picks up a variety of technologies that have been appearing on other recent engines, both gas- and diesel-fueled, as well as adding a few new tricks, particularly the turbocharger. The biggest change for the architecture is the move to an inside-out layout. Since the early days of the V-engine configuration, most examples have had the intake system mounted in the valley between the banks with the exhaust on the outside. Like BMW's new turbocharged gas V8 and GM's current on-the-shelf Duramax 4500, the Scorpion switches this around. Read on after the jump to learn more.

Gallery: 2011 Ford Power-Stroke 6.7L diesel V8

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Beware the Scorpion! 2011 Ford Super Duty gets all-new 6.7-liter diesel V8

Beware the Scorpion! 2011 Ford Super Duty gets all-new 6.7-liter diesel V8 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spy Shots: Ford F-150's 4.4L diesel exposed

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:02:00 EST

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Spy Photos, Truck, Green, Ford

The Internet got a sneak peek at the new 4.4L Ford diesel engine last April when somebody snapped a pic of the complete package sitting on the floor at Ford's national dealer conference. Now, thanks to some eagle-eyed sharp shooters, we can see the new oil-burning mill in its natural habitat under the hood of a Ford F-150. Sure, there's lots of black plastic covering all the good stuff, but we can get a glimpse of all the assorted plumbing that will make this engine squeaky clean. We can also have a good shot of the intercooler, peaking out between the grille and the radiator.

This engine is labeled as a Power Stroke, Ford's long-running moniker for the diesels equipped in its Super Duty trucks. For years, those mills have been made by Navistar, but after the fallout between the automaker and the supplier, Ford is now using a derivative of the diesel from Land Rover in Europe, though the 4.4L iteration will be made in Mexico for the North American market. Offering 20-percent more fuel economy than the 5.4L gas-powered Triton, along with a considerable bump in power, this could be one very important addition for the Ford Motor Company and will likely make its official debut at next year's Chicago Auto Show.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Spy Shots: Ford F-150's 4.4L diesel exposed originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford Super Duty beast now belches fire; is recalled

Chris Tutor — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:28:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Recalls, Ford

Ford is telling its dealers to put on ice sales of some 2008 F-Series Super Duty diesels because of -- gulp -- reports of flames shooting from the tailpipes. Ouch.

Luckily, only about 8,400 of the trucks had been sold, with the remaining 29,000 still on dealer lots. So far, only three owners have reported the fiery problem and no one was injured. Ford says the issue stems from leaking fuel injectors in one case and a cracked turbocharger shaft in another. In both cases, Ford says the leaking fuel ignited in the diesel particulate filter near the tailpipe.

Apparently, according to Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis, the problem can be fixed with a control module upgrade that will "power down the engine" when extreme temperatures in the trucks' diesel particulate filter are detected.

[Source: AP via Yahoo]

Ford Super Duty beast now belches fire; is recalled originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford begins production of twin-turbo diesel V8

Stuart Waterman — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 08:03:00 EST

Filed under: Europe, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford

Ford Motor's new top-of-the-line diesel (photo at right) starting rolling off the production line Friday at the company's Dagenham Diesel Centre in Britain. The new powerplant is a twin-turbo 3.6-liter V8 that puts out about 265 hp (270 ps) and 472 ft-lb. of torque (640 Nm). Up to 25,000 of the new V8s will be produced annually.

Ford says it will announce vehicle applications for the new engine later this year.

Ford's Dagenham operation builds half of all Ford diesels worldwide.

[Source: Ford]

Ford begins production of twin-turbo diesel V8 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 08 Apr 2006 08:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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