ok...so I am the motor-head in my band and I am looking for a nice 14 passenger van to haul 5 dudes and a band's worth of gear...I immediately decided that a ford e series van was the way to go because I have always had good luck with Fords and the Ford e-series is a classic band van...

I am just wondering what I should look for and avoid...certain engines and transmissions....what years are bad/good....I think we are going to spend between 10,000-15,000....also, did they ever put the Diesel in the passenger van or was it only the cargo van?

I'm basically just looking for some pointers when buying a used one because we will be potentially driving this thing from Pennsylvania to Florida.

 

My band has a 1988 E-150 that runs like a top. Its a club wagon with 4 captains chairs, it came with a bench in the back but we don't use it. One of my previous bands had a 14 passenger and honestly we went with the club wagon because even with the 14 passenger we still needed a trailer, so now we put all our gear in a trailer (easier to load and unload than the van) and the back portion of the van is used for guitars and luggage mostly.

As for my experience with the E-series vans, I've had the best luck with the fuel injected models with the overdrive transmissions. We've had 5.7 and 5.0 models and don't really notice much of a difference, mostly on this current van we went with comfort in mind (hence the 4 captains chairs). Our current van has over 185,000 miles on it and doesn't leak or burn any fluids. It drives great and is super reliable. We love the E-series vans.

 

For reliability, the 4.9 straight six is almost bulletproof. I've owned two vans that had over 250K and still ran great. Built through 1996. Much more economical to maintain. Diesel engine equals CUBIC DOLLARS. If you need a diesel, the 7.3 seems to be more reliable although less power. Avoid non-turbo 7.3. Also avoid '03-'05 6.0 diesel. Plenty of power but these models had some transmission durability issues. For '06 model year, Ford detuned the lower powerband a little to reduce strain on automatic trans but this translates into annoying turbo lag. (ie, mash the throttle......wait for it...here it comes.....GO LIKE MAD....) If you are going to do your own maintenance, regardless of which engine you choose, it's a van and it's a pain in the *** to access anything in the engine compartment. That aside, these are still the best vehicles I've ever owned. I've hauled band gear in my cargo van for years. Just make the drummer do the heavy grunt work.......Good luck with your search. Kevin