Diesel owners , do we have any on board ?

A friend of mine is the original owner of a '99 F-350 4x4 dually crew cab with the 7.3 Powerstroke. Great guy, but has no concept of 'maintenance'. He has over 800k on the odometer. That's miles, not kilometers, by the way.

I've got a 2001 F-250 Supercab we use to move sea containers. Bought it used with a bit over 200k on the clock. We've put 50k on it the last three years. It only moves when it has a load behind it. So far it's been a great rig. We've hauled sea containers 300 miles with it before, in Texas summer heat.

Our fire department has an '06 F-450 Supercab brush truck with the 6.0 in it. So far we haven't had an issue with the engine, other than blowing the flex elbow off the turbo a few times.
 
Around here a '99 would look like a Fred Flintstone mobile. No floor boards, rockers or fenders. Heck a lot of '09's are that bad.
Joe
 
My opinions are based on the day to day operations of a Ford dealership general manager.
Yes the 7.3 is a no frills under powered run forever diesel.
In 2003 Ford brought in the proven 6.0 engine. I say proven because it was a very dependable, durable engine until they added the EGR system, EGR cooler and all the other emission related components that were poorly engineered.
In 2004, Ford realized they had a big problem. They came up with all kinds of de-tuning programming, mechanical patches to retrofit the 2003 motor etc.
Someone mentioned the, Bulletproof brand components, these products are what Ford engineers should have used.
In 2008 Ford came out with the 6.4 which had it’s own problems but was considerably better imho. It was a stop gap until the 6.7 was ready. I understand Ford put millions of miles Testing it to make sure the 6.7 was going to be the engine that would bring back the Ford brand.
In 2011 Ford introduced the Ford manufactured 6.7.
The 6.7 has been an incredible motor.
The dealership is in Ford country. This is a farming community and 85% of the trucks on the road are Ford diesels.
 
Janderso said:
My opinions are based on the day to day operations of a Ford dealership general manager.
Yes the 7.3 is a no frills under powered run forever diesel.
In 2003 Ford brought in the proven 6.0 engine. I say proven because it was a very dependable, durable engine until they added the EGR system, EGR cooler and all the other emission related components that were poorly engineered.
In 2004, Ford realized they had a big problem. They came up with all kinds of de-tuning programming, mechanical patches to retrofit the 2003 motor etc.
Someone mentioned the, Bulletproof brand components, these products are what Ford engineers should have used.
In 2008 Ford came out with the 6.4 which had it’s own problems but was considerably better imho. It was a stop gap until the 6.7 was ready. I understand Ford put millions of miles Testing it to make sure the 6.7 was going to be the engine that would bring back the Ford brand.
In 2011 Ford introduced the Ford manufactured 6.7.
The 6.7 has been an incredible motor.
The dealership is in Ford country. This is a farming community and 85% of the trucks on the road are Ford diesels.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, the 7.3 is not very powerful even with a pretty aggressive tune (Five Star 80hp tune at the moment). That said, it doesn't even notice when towing or with a load in the back. I put my surface grinder in the bed full of hydro fluid, and it was like it wasn't there! I towed my lathe (about 5k lbs), and if it wasn't for mirrors I wouldn't have known it was there.

I even towed a stuck mail truck (not a delivery one, the big box cab ones) out of the mud/ditch at one point and it just kept trucking :)

That said my buddy's 6.0 will definitely accel much more aggressively.
 
mmcmdl said:
I'm on the other forum and the Edge CTS was advised . Any input on this piece ?
Click to expand...
I’m running the Edge CTS on my dodge, I like it it’ll tell you anything the computer monitors and EGT.
 
I operated this 7.3L several times before it came to live with me.
Hauled 10-15K no problem all day long. Even brought out a skid steer in a 12K dump trailer from a location in the back woods, down a mile long muddy road trail. Took awhile but we got it out.
Wish the tranny hadn't given out when I got it. :(
The acquaintance whose business went bust had a handful of diesels and unfortunately he didn't do any real maintenance on them.
Rule #1 - diesels like maintenance. @vocatexas' friend withstanding.
He asked me to store the trucks here on our property until disposal. Well... we still have a F450 XLT Crew Cab Flatbed 2WD sitting here.
It has had two rebuilds on the 6.0L. Enjoyable truck to drive OTR, very comfortable and quick.
I should have gone for it instead, if I had but known...
 
middle.road said:
I operated this 7.3L several times before it came to live with me.
Hauled 10-15K no problem all day long. Even brought out a skid steer in a 12K dump trailer from a location in the back woods, down a mile long muddy road trail. Took awhile but we got it out.
Wish the tranny hadn't given out when I got it. :(
The acquaintance whose business went bust had a handful of diesels and unfortunately he didn't do any real maintenance on them.
Rule #1 - diesels like maintenance. @vocatexas' friend withstanding.
He asked me to store the trucks here on our property until disposal. Well... we still have a F450 XLT Crew Cab Flatbed 2WD sitting here.
It has had two rebuilds on the 6.0L. Enjoyable truck to drive OTR, very comfortable and quick.
I should have gone for it instead, if I had but known...
Click to expand...
A rebuilt transmission for that is only like $1800 apparently! Plus an afternoon to install (plus the 6 pack afterwards :)).

Any idea what is wrong with it? It might be repairable.
 
We’ve talked about the programmers before.
I don’t like them because they cause damage to engines and transmission then im the one who has to make a decision to charge the customer or embezzle from Ford.
These engineers design these powertrains to meet emission requirements, provide good performance and last hundreds of thousands of dependable miles.
 
Yep, I've gotten estimates of $1800-$3000 if I pull it and bring it in. And I just don't have the 'oomph' to drop it and reinstall.
Now if I had a lift, a trans hoist, then maybe. . .

I read on one forum about (3) bolts up under the first valve body that come loose.
Though there are others that say that isn't the problem.

We were coming home in it one night after our first long drive in it and went through an intersection that was washboard from heavy truck traffic.
This beast has a very stiff suspension and we rather bounced a lot through the intersection.
It immediately started to rev out in 'D' as if it had been put into neutral. I coasted into a gas station and got it to move in 2nd.
Nursed it home. Next day tried topping off the fluid, nogo in 'D' but was still somewhat functional in 2nd.
Took it for a run down the road and 2nd started to fail. Crawled home in 1st.
By the time I parked it where it sits today, only 'R' and 1st were working.
Dropped the pan a couple of weeks later and the fluid was very clean, no debris in the pan at all.
Was hoping that maybe the filter had failed - nope.
And that it where it has been at for two years now. . . :(
 
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