I am looking at buying a 3/4 ton truck to pull a 7000lb camper. I can get a 2000 Ford F-250 with 127,000 miles with the 7.3 Diesel engine for $11000 seems to run good or a f250 same miles with the 5.4 gas engine. Will the diesel cost more to maintain in the long run
If the diesel has not been abused it has a lot of trouble-free miles left on it.
However any work on a diesel will cost a lot more than equivalent work on a gas engine. Spark plugs last a very long time, so that traditional diesel advantage does not hold a lot of water any more.
Companies buy diesels because they drive those vehicles a lot of miles, so there is a big fuel saving,
If you only use the truck for camping rips it is not worthwhile to consider d diesel.