Ford 6.8L V10 Triton Engine

The Ford 6.8L V10 is a 415 cubic inch SOHC V10 from Ford's Modular family, built from 1997 to 2019 for the E-Series vans, the F-250 through F-550 Super Duty and the Excursion. We list 360 of them — 152 used engines and 208 used transmissions, which makes it the longest-running engine in our Ford E350 listings at 23 model years, ahead of the 5.4L Triton at 20. Engines run $770 to $7,931 with a median of $3,044. One character decides most of that spread, and it is not the model year.

The 8th character of the VIN splits these engines into two price bands that do not overlap at all. 138 of the 152 show an S — the 2-valve engine, 1997 to 2019, $770 to $5,234. The other 14 show a Y — the 3-valve, 2005 to 2010, $6,562 to $7,931. The dearest S-coded engine on the site is $1,328 below the cheapest Y-coded one, so there is no overlap between the two groups at all. On most engine families the VIN character tells you the version and nothing about the money. On this one it tells you both.

What the 6.8L V10 is

Ford built the V10 as the gasoline alternative to the Power Stroke diesel in the Super Duty and the E-Series. It is the 5.4L Triton architecture with two more cylinders: same 90-degree bank angle, same single overhead cam per bank, same aluminum heads over an iron block. Because a 90-degree V10 cannot be inherently balanced, it carries a balance shaft that the V8s do not.

Output ran from roughly 275 horsepower in the earliest 2-valve engines to about 362 in the 3-valve, with torque in the 410 to 457 lb-ft range. The firing order is 1-6-5-10-2-7-3-8-4-9. Cylinders 1 to 5 are bank 1 on the passenger side and 6 to 10 are bank 2 on the driver side, numbered front to back — the same convention as the Modular V8s, which is why misfire codes on these engines are so often traced to the wrong bank.

It was never a passenger-car engine. Every V10 listing on the site is a van, a Super Duty or an Excursion, and 133 of our 360 V10 listings are E-Series van parts — 88 engines and 45 transmissions.

The two versions: S-coded 2-valve and Y-coded 3-valve

8th VIN character Valvetrain Years we list Fitted to We list Price range
S SOHC 2-valve 1997–2019 E350, E450 and E550 vans, F-250 to F-550, Excursion 138 $770 – $5,234
Y SOHC 3-valve 2005–2010 F-250 and F-350 Super Duty only 14 $6,562 – $7,931
Both 2-valve and 3-valve 1997–2019 all of the above 152 $770 – $7,931

The 3V token appears on exactly 14 listings and every one of them is Y-coded, so on this engine family the two markers agree perfectly. The 3-valve arrived for 2005 and brought variable cam timing with it. The S-coded 2-valve carried on alongside it in the vans right through to 2019, which is the single most important thing to take from this page: a late model year does not mean a 3-valve engine. There are S-coded 2-valve V10s on this site from 2019, and there is no Y-coded V10 of any year in a van.

The 14 Y-coded engines divide 7 F-250 and 7 F-350. If you are shopping for a van, the Y-coded band is not your engine and the price range above it does not apply to you.

Reading the identifiers on a listing

Two tokens on these titles look like valve-count markers and are not.

  • 10-415 is the engine identifier, and 415 is the displacement in cubic inches. It appears on 95 of the 152 engines — 92 spelled with the hyphen and 3 spelled without one. Critically, 6 of those are Y-coded 3-valve F-350s from 2005 to 2009, so it cannot mean 2-valve. Anyone reading 10-415 as shorthand for the 2-valve engine will order the wrong part.
  • V-10 is also just the engine, not the head. It appears on 8 listings, all of them Y-coded. Between them, 10-415 and V-10 account for all 14 Y-coded units, which is a good illustration of the point: the same engine is described by both tokens, so neither one distinguishes anything.

The valve count is in the VIN character and nowhere else on these titles. S is the 2-valve, Y is the 3-valve. Every one of the 152 V10 engine listings on this site states its VIN character, so this check always works here.

The fuel word sits at the end of the title, and it is a 4.2x price decision

38 of the 152 V10 engines we list are gaseous-fuel units — 19 CNG and 19 propane — and another 7 are flex fuel (E85). All of them are E350 vans, and every one of them states its fuel as the last word or two of the title, which is exactly where a buyer scanning a list of near-identical names stops reading.

It matters more than it looks, because the relationship between gasoline and alt-fuel pricing reverses at model year 2013. Same van, same model year, same VIN character, entry price:

Model year E350 gasoline from E350 CNG or propane from Which is cheaper
2010 $4,700 $5,035 gasoline cheaper, by $335
2011 $4,700 $5,034 gasoline cheaper, by $334
2012 $4,704 $5,036 gasoline cheaper, by $332
2013 $3,237 $771 alt-fuel cheaper, by 4.20x
2014 $3,239 $770 alt-fuel cheaper, by 4.21x
2015 $3,236 $775 alt-fuel cheaper, by 4.18x
2016 $3,237 $770 alt-fuel cheaper, by 4.20x
2017 $3,237 $771 alt-fuel cheaper, by 4.20x
2018 $3,238 $772 alt-fuel cheaper, by 4.19x
2019 $3,244 $770 alt-fuel cheaper, by 4.21x

For 2010 to 2012 the alt-fuel engine is the dearer of the two. From 2013 to 2019 it is cheaper every single year, by a factor between 4.18x and 4.21x. That is 7 consecutive years running the opposite way to the 3 before them, and the only thing in the title that tells you which side of the line you are on is a three-letter word at the end.

A gaseous-fuel V10 is not a gasoline V10 with a tank bolted on. CNG and propane burn dry and hot, with no liquid fuel cooling and lubricating the valve seats, so these engines run their own valve and seat specification along with a fuel system that has nothing in common with a gasoline injector rail. Fitting one to a gasoline van, or the reverse, puts the load on the valve seats. If the price looks too good, check the last word of the title before anything else.

Two parts for one model year

Three things besides the VIN character split a single model year into separate parts on these listings, and all three are easy to miss.

Build date

4 model-year groups are split by a build date, and they do not all run the same way.

Vehicle VIN Earlier build Later build Difference
1998 E350 van S thru 1/11/98, $4,603 from 1/12/98, $2,652 later unit cheaper by $1,951
1998 E450 van S thru 1/11/98, $4,611 from 1/12/98, $2,649 later unit cheaper by $1,962
2009 F-250 Super Duty Y thru 11/30/08, $7,055 from 12/01/08, $7,928 later unit dearer by $873
2009 F-350 Super Duty Y thru 11/30/08, $7,054 from 12/01/08, $7,931 later unit dearer by $877

In 1998 the later-build engine is the cheaper of the pair, by up to $1,962. In 2009 it is the dearer, by up to $877. There is no rule to lean on here — you need the build date off the door jamb label, not an assumption about which way the price goes.

EGR valve

68 of the engine listings turn on whether the unit has an EGR valve: 34 with one and 34 without, spanning 2000 to 2006. We can pair 31 of those into with-and-without pairs for the same year and vehicle, and the gap inside a pair runs $289 to $1,477 with a median of $1,462. The version without the valve is the cheaper of the two in 23 of the 31 pairs, so this is not a reliable price rule either — it is a fitment question with a price consequence attached.

Fuel type

The 38 gaseous-fuel and 7 flex-fuel listings are all 2010 or later. Going the other way, 97 of the 152 engines state no fuel type at all, and every one of those is 2010 or earlier. On all 49 listings dated 2011 onward, all of them E350 vans, the fuel type is always stated — but on an older listing its absence tells you nothing, so do not read a missing fuel word as confirmation of gasoline.

What actually fails on these engines

None of this is work we do to a unit. It is what the V10 is known for in the trade and what to have your shop quote alongside the swap, because all of it is cheap with the engine on a stand and expensive once it is back in the vehicle.

Spark plugs eject from the 2-valve head

This is the fault the V10 is best known for. The aluminum head holds the plug with only about four threads, and under combustion pressure a plug can strip them and blow out of the head. The symptom is sudden, loud and unmistakable: a noise like an exhaust leak under load and a dead cylinder. It is repaired with a thread insert such as a Time-Sert rather than a new head, and a properly installed insert is a sound repair rather than a defect. Ford revised the head later in the 2-valve run, so the risk is concentrated in the earlier years. Ask any seller whether any cylinder already carries an insert.

Spark plugs break off in the 3-valve head

The 3-valve went to a two-piece plug. Carbon builds up around the lower electrode shell, the plug snaps during removal and leaves the shell behind in the head. A dedicated extractor gets it out and most experienced Ford shops own one. Ten cylinders means ten chances of it happening, so budget the labor accordingly — and change them while the engine is out of the vehicle, where access is far better.

Cam phasers on the 3-valve

The 3-valve has variable cam timing, and the phasers wear. The result is a rattle that is loudest on a cold start and quietens as oil pressure comes up, often alongside a tired timing chain tensioner. Because it is loudest cold, a cold start is the single most informative thing you can ask about on a Y-coded engine. Ask any seller what it sounded like the last time it was started from cold, and if nobody can tell you, treat the phasers as unknown and price the job in.

Exhaust manifold studs

Common to both versions and to the Modular V8s generally. The studs corrode and snap, usually at the back of the head where they are hardest to reach, and the result is an exhaust leak that ticks on a cold engine. Replacing them with the engine on a stand costs a fraction of what it costs in the vehicle, so have them quoted as part of the swap whether or not any are broken yet.

Taken together, the plugs, the phasers on a 3-valve and the manifold studs are the whole V10 risk list, and all three are head and accessory work rather than bottom-end work. Price them in before you order and a used V10 is a sound buy. Leave them out of the quote and the engine will look like the problem when the fitting did.

The transmissions behind the V10

We list 208 used transmissions against this engine, 2000 to 2023, $1,409 to $6,957 with a median of $2,404. All 208 are automatics. Three families cover the run:

Family Years we list We list Price range
4R100 2000–2004 64 $1,409 – $4,088
5R110W TorqShift 2005–2015 119 $1,608 – $6,957
6R140 TorqShift 2016 3 $1,612 – $1,615
family not stated on the listing 2000–2005 and 2023 22 $1,409 – $5,762

The 22 listings that do not name a family are early Excursion and Super Duty units plus the 4 newest ones. Note that the transmission run reaches 2023 while the engines stop at 2019, with nothing listed for 2017 to 2022 — so a late Super Duty transmission enquiry may be answerable when an engine enquiry for the same truck is not.

Four things narrow a V10 transmission beyond the year and the family, and a listing may state any or all of them:

  • Drive type. 68 are 4x4 and 95 are 4x2, with 45 not stating it. 4x4 units start at $1,409 and 4x2 at $1,607.
  • Wheelbase. 95 listings state one, across 8 values — 137, 138, 142, 156, 158, 165, 172 and 176 inches. On the vans especially this changes the tailshaft and the crossmember, so it is a fitment figure rather than a trim detail.
  • Power take-off. 141 listings mention PTO: 32 with the provision and 109 without. A work truck specified for PTO needs the case that has it.
  • Assembly ID code. 98 listings carry one, across 27 distinct codes. Where your tag is legible the ID code settles the question outright and is worth more than any other detail in the title.

Which vehicle is yours

All 360 V10 listings, by vehicle. Prices are the lowest listed figure for the group, which is its highest-mileage option.

Vehicle Engine years Engines Transmission years Transmissions
Ford E350 van 1997–2019 72 from $770 2000–2016 45 from $1,513
Ford F-250 Super Duty 1999–2010 16 from $2,650 2000–2023 75 from $1,411
Ford F-350 Super Duty 1999–2010 18 from $2,460 2006–2023 34 from $1,608
Ford Excursion 2000–2005 12 from $2,650 2000–2005 18 from $1,409
Ford F-450 Super Duty 1999–2003 9 from $2,650 2000–2003 18 from $1,410
Ford F-550 Super Duty 1999–2003 9 from $2,647 2000–2003 18 from $1,409
Ford E450 van 1997–2003 12 from $2,159 n/a none
Ford E550 van 2002–2003 4 from $3,040 n/a none
Total 1997–2019 152 2000–2023 208

The E350 van is the heart of it at 72 engines and 45 transmissions, and it is also where the 2013 fuel flip lives — which is why the E350 engine floor is $770 while every other vehicle here starts well above two thousand dollars. The Excursion, F-450 and F-550 rows have no vehicle-specific collection to link, so they are counted here but sit inside the wider Ford used engines and Ford used transmissions listings.

What ships with every unit

A complete engine assembly: block, heads, pistons, crankshaft, camshafts, timing components, valve covers and oil pan. Intake manifold and accessories are included where present at no extra charge but are not covered by the warranty. You will normally move across from your old engine the alternator, power steering pump, A/C compressor, flexplate, sensors and the vehicle-specific brackets.

Every unit we list is listed as tested and ready to install, and fitment is matched to your VIN before the order goes out. Each listing is offered at several mileage options priced separately, so the lowest figure quoted on this page is that unit's highest-mileage option. The written warranty is 3 months on 1997 to 2000 units and 6 months on 2001 and newer, extendable to 3 years — parts only, labor is not included unless you buy a separate labor agreement. Returns run to 7 days with free return shipping, and freight is free to any address in the lower 48. Full terms: engine warranty policy · shipping policy · returns.

Call with your VIN and we will tell you whether your van or truck takes the S-coded 2-valve or the Y-coded 3-valve, and which fuel type, before you order.

Call +1 (361) 470-5276 Ford E350 used engines

Frequently asked questions

How do I tell if a used Ford 6.8L V10 is a 2-valve or a 3-valve?

Read the 8th character of the VIN. An S is the 2-valve engine and a Y is the 3-valve. Across the 152 V10 engines we list the split is 138 S-coded against 14 Y-coded, and the Y-coded engines are all F-250 and F-350 Super Duty, 2005 to 2010. The two are not interchangeable: different heads, different intake and different engine management. The price follows the same line, because S-coded engines run $770 to $5,234 and Y-coded ones $6,562 to $7,931, with nothing in between.

Why are some used Ford 6.8L V10 engines $770 when others are $7,931?

Because the cheap ones are CNG or propane engines rather than gasoline ones. From model year 2013 onward the alt-fuel E350 listings run about $770 to $775 while the gasoline ones for the same van and year run about $3,236 to $3,244 — roughly 4.2 times the price. It was the other way round before that: in 2010 to 2012 the alt-fuel units were the dearer of the two. A gaseous-fuel V10 is not a gasoline V10 with a tank added, so match the fuel type to the van rather than buying on the number.

What does 10-415 mean on a Ford 6.8L V10 listing?

It is the engine identifier, and 415 is the displacement in cubic inches. It is not a valve-count marker. The token appears on 95 of the 152 engines we list, and 6 of those are Y-coded 3-valve F-350s from 2005 to 2009, so reading it as shorthand for the 2-valve engine will send you to the wrong part. The other identifier used on these listings, V-10, appears on 8 units and is likewise about the engine rather than the heads. Use the VIN character for the valve count.

Is the Ford 6.8L V10 a reliable engine?

It has a good reputation for bottom-end durability and a well-known weakness in the cylinder heads. On the 2-valve engines the spark plugs can strip their threads and eject from the aluminum head, which is repaired with a thread insert rather than a new head. On the 3-valve engines the two-piece plugs tend to break off during removal and need an extractor. The 3-valve also has variable cam timing, and worn phasers rattle on a cold start. Exhaust manifold studs snapping is common across both. None of these is a bottom-end fault, and all of them are cheapest to deal with while the engine is out.

How much is a used Ford 6.8L V10 engine?

Across the 152 V10 engines we list, prices run from $770 to $7,931 with a median of $3,044. The 2-valve S-coded engines are $770 to $5,234 and the 3-valve Y-coded ones $6,562 to $7,931. Transmissions run $1,409 to $6,957 with a median of $2,404. Each listing is offered at several mileage options priced separately, so the lowest figure for a given unit is its highest-mileage option.

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