What's new
By:
Filters

2000 Ford F-550 Build

06h3 said:
I think I got it figured out, I swapped out the valve cover gasket on the driver side (since cyl 2 was failing the buzz test) and it idles 1000% better, I didnt drive it but will today. I will swap out the other side to MC gaskets. So the excessive black smoke tells me the wiring to the injector wiring was grounded out and causing it to stick open. The excessive blow by I now have tells me it was stuck closed, giving it no fuel and then driving it fucked up the rings or cylinder wall :mad3:

I plugged the tuner back in and the tunes seem to idle ok and have throttle response but haven't driven it yet.
Click to expand...

A stuck injector can potentially make a hole in the piston, that would obviously be a fuck ton of blow by.

Diesel doesn't lube the cyl walls :laughing::flipoff2:
 
YotaAtieToo said:
A stuck injector can potentially make a hole in the piston, that would obviously be a fuck ton of blow by.

Diesel doesn't lube the cyl walls :laughing::flipoff2:
Click to expand...

Or "washed" it out. It's a commercial rig with 400k, its going to have blow by.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I thought that too, but I thought that was more of a long term thing caused by the diesel diluting the oil.
Click to expand...

the oil gets squirted on the bottom of the pistons and the piston walls.
the diesel washes the film of oil off the cylinder walls.
scoring ensues.
 
hKWe1Rgl.jpg


Id say I am fucked by the looks of the glow plug in the #2 cylinder, cant get a borescope down there, my compression tester fitting is too big to fit as its tight around the glowplug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhjQn36_vc0
 
'84 Bronco II said:
Darn, looks like that cylinder got washed with fuel; that's some pretty bad blow by :frown:
Click to expand...

Same is being said on the ford truck forum. I guess I’m in repair mode. Or replace mode...

do I further inspect to see the damage, try and replace a piston if damage isn’t done to the walls or find a motor, swap all my shit over and move on.
 
06h3 said:
Same is being said on the ford truck forum. I guess I’m in repair mode. Or replace mode...

do I further inspect to see the damage, try and replace a piston if damage isn’t done to the walls or find a motor, swap all my shit over and move on.
Click to expand...

Might want to get that injector checked out as well.
 
back woods said:
Might want to get that injector checked out as well.
Click to expand...

I will do that, do you think the injector was the cause of damage or the harness? It seemed my smoking issues went away after that harness gasket swap
 
hqwnRjzl.jpg


Just picked up this truck. Well I pick it up tomorrow. It was kenworth service truck. They bought it new in 1997, 336k miles on it, It started out in Reno, then went to Utah, and spend time in Utah until the Idaho location needed the service bed for a newer 6.7. It sat for a month and he said it may take a minute to start, started right up. Did the blow by test with a ping pong ball. No blow by. no bubbles in the degas tank, no oil leaks under it which was surprising! Mine had a ton when I got mine.

So I will pull the blown motor (can I get some $ for it as a rebuilder special?) then sell the trans out of this one, keep the tcase, fuel tanks for aux tanks and move on.

What a fucking disaster, it makes me sick. I will use motorcraft everything from now on.

While I have the motor out with the weight and boost I can make with the 364.5 SXE turbo do I need head studs or any other crap? Or just swap it over and move on?

This thing is going to KOH even if it makes me broke lol

The dude was super cool, he had a ton of people lined up and people who saw it before me but I was the first to message him and he honored it. He had it listed for 2500 and still took 2k even though he had a long list behind me. He said he had a similar disaster story with a 6.0 and felt bad and since it was a company truck I doubt he cared much either lol
 
I know these things will go a long time, but buying an engine with 336k miles on it to swap in seems scetchy.
​​​​​​ Why not rebuild what you have? It may go over $2500, but at least you know it's new.

I have a mechanic buddy who got a service truck in to do an engine swap, he went through 2 "good running" 7.3s before the 3rd was actually decent.

I'm not sure that that tcase will work with what you got, totally different trans and tcase.
 
I'd bottle brush hone the bad hole and toss an ebay piston in there, used rings and all.
Fuck pulling the engine out. 7.3s just fucking hate me, I always manage to smash something

resell the OBS truck, should be able to make money on it easily enough
 
[486 said:
;n177356]I'd bottle brush hone the bad hole and toss an ebay piston in there, used rings and all.
Fuck pulling the engine out. 7.3s just fucking hate me, I always manage to smash something

resell the OBS truck, should be able to make money on it easily enough
Click to expand...

with what has happened so far, I think 7.3s will hate me as well. I’m not sure a hone will work, it appears to have some pretty bad cracks in the wall.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I know these things will go a long time, but buying an engine with 336k miles on it to swap in seems scetchy.
​​​​​​ Why not rebuild what you have? It may go over $2500, but at least you know it's new.

I have a mechanic buddy who got a service truck in to do an engine swap, he went through 2 "good running" 7.3s before the 3rd was actually decent.

I'm not sure that that tcase will work with what you got, totally different trans and tcase.
Click to expand...


my thought process behind this was strictly based on 7.3s running forever. it’s the same mindset of LS’s.... “I picked up a 350k mile LS, slapped 2 turbos on it and been beating it like a red headed step child for years.”

or 7.3’s “my cousins best friend had 750k on his 7.3 before it let go, he threw in a 500k 7.3 and it’s been in there for 5 years now.”

maybe it’s all false and those stories are just folklore bullshit. I’ve been looking for trucks or motors locally and that was the best one I could find that wasn’t short of a clean 2003 truck for 10-15k. A lot of these trucks in my area are still on the road today. I found some 60k mile 7.3s on the east coast but they were pulled by someone else and I never heard it run.

remans are expensive and I don’t trust them. I don’t trust any of the typical reman houses like jasper and all that crap. I’ve seen people have too many issues. I’ve lost trust in local engine and transmission builders. Anytime I brought something to a local shop it ends up fucked and I have to learn how to do it myself and costs me more time and money in the long run.

I’ve never rebuilt an engine before. If this was my rock crawler I’d consider taking a stab at a rebuild. It’s more of a fun vehicle that is moderately sized and can be towed home. This thing is supposed to get me home.

All options are on the table, that’s just my thought process.

I do find it cool to see the differing thought processes between the 2 last posts. 1 is a full rebuild, 1 is hone the extremely fucked cylinder wall in the truck, throw a piston in it and run it.

cant get any more differing options but that’s what’s good about forums. I will say though, the hone and piston deal is something I’d probably hear on some story of a guy who did that and had success for 200k more miles. Not saying it’s right just the stories you hear
 
06h3 said:
my thought process behind this was strictly based on 7.3s running forever. it’s the same mindset of LS’s.... “I picked up a 350k mile LS, slapped 2 turbos on it and been beating it like a red headed step child for years.”

or 7.3’s “my cousins best friend had 750k on his 7.3 before it let go, he threw in a 500k 7.3 and it’s been in there for 5 years now.”

maybe it’s all false and those stories are just folklore bullshit. I’ve been looking for trucks or motors locally and that was the best one I could find that wasn’t short of a clean 2003 truck for 10-15k. A lot of these trucks in my area are still on the road today. I found some 60k mile 7.3s on the east coast but they were pulled by someone else and I never heard it run.

remans are expensive and I don’t trust them. I don’t trust any of the typical reman houses like jasper and all that crap. I’ve seen people have too many issues. I’ve lost trust in local engine and transmission builders. Anytime I brought something to a local shop it ends up fucked and I have to learn how to do it myself and costs me more time and money in the long run.

I’ve never rebuilt an engine before. If this was my rock crawler I’d consider taking a stab at a rebuild. It’s more of a fun vehicle that is moderately sized and can be towed home. This thing is supposed to get me home.

All options are on the table, that’s just my thought process.

I do find it cool to see the differing thought processes between the 2 last posts. 1 is a full rebuild, 1 is hone the extremely fucked cylinder wall in the truck, throw a piston in it and run it.

cant get any more differing options but that’s what’s good about forums. I will say though, the hone and piston deal is something I’d probably hear on some story of a guy who did that and had success for 200k more miles. Not saying it’s right just the stories you hear
Click to expand...

It's the same as "muh Tacoma runs forever" or "muh Strap On tools never break" bullshit. People spend stupid money to get these things and then whenever they fail they do mental gymnastics to ignore it. Fame rusts out, ball joints pop, timing set eats itself and the owners all blame deferred maintenance because nobody wants to feel ripped off. People break their Strap On tools and it's "well I shouldn't have done that" because once again, nobody wants to feel like they paid for more than they got. The 7.3 diesel crowd and the LS crowd are no different.
 
06h3 said:
my thought process behind this was strictly based on 7.3s running forever. it’s the same mindset of LS’s.... “I picked up a 350k mile LS, slapped 2 turbos on it and been beating it like a red headed step child for years.”

or 7.3’s “my cousins best friend had 750k on his 7.3 before it let go, he threw in a 500k 7.3 and it’s been in there for 5 years now.”

maybe it’s all false and those stories are just folklore bullshit. I’ve been looking for trucks or motors locally and that was the best one I could find that wasn’t short of a clean 2003 truck for 10-15k. A lot of these trucks in my area are still on the road today. I found some 60k mile 7.3s on the east coast but they were pulled by someone else and I never heard it run.

remans are expensive and I don’t trust them. I don’t trust any of the typical reman houses like jasper and all that crap. I’ve seen people have too many issues. I’ve lost trust in local engine and transmission builders. Anytime I brought something to a local shop it ends up fucked and I have to learn how to do it myself and costs me more time and money in the long run.

I’ve never rebuilt an engine before. If this was my rock crawler I’d consider taking a stab at a rebuild. It’s more of a fun vehicle that is moderately sized and can be towed home. This thing is supposed to get me home.

All options are on the table, that’s just my thought process.

I do find it cool to see the differing thought processes between the 2 last posts. 1 is a full rebuild, 1 is hone the extremely fucked cylinder wall in the truck, throw a piston in it and run it.

cant get any more differing options but that’s what’s good about forums. I will say though, the hone and piston deal is something I’d probably hear on some story of a guy who did that and had success for 200k more miles. Not saying it’s right just the stories you hear
Click to expand...

If the hole is fucked then a re-piston job is doomed. It will be 100% better then what you have but not ever right.
If the hole is not fucked lets say then a re-piston would be a no brainer from the position you are in versus a engine swap.
Is there just aluminum on the cylinder walls or real "cracks".

edit: And $2K for that OBS sounds like a win/win.
 
Last edited:
CarterKraft said:
If the hole is fucked then a re-piston job is doomed. It will be 100% better then what you have but not ever right.
If the hole is not fucked lets say then a re-piston would be a no brainer from the position you are in versus a engine swap.
Is there just aluminum on the cylinder walls or real "cracks".

edit: And $2K for that OBS sounds like a win/win.
Click to expand...

I should reword "cracks" to something else, it is more like a sliver was sliced out of the wall. Pic is in post #166. right side of the wall.
 
Is that missing iron from the cylinder or a coating of aluminum not covering that area? Maybe take a wire wheel to it to get it cleaned up.
 
06h3 said:
my thought process behind this was strictly based on 7.3s running forever. it’s the same mindset of LS’s.... “I picked up a 350k mile LS, slapped 2 turbos on it and been beating it like a red headed step child for years.”

or 7.3’s “my cousins best friend had 750k on his 7.3 before it let go, he threw in a 500k 7.3 and it’s been in there for 5 years now.”
Click to expand...

They're definitely out there, but some have failed at ~150k too, milage is only a small factor in the condition of the engine imo.

The flip side of them "running forever" is that it could be fucked up and still running fine.
 
I got these pictures almost a week ago and never posted them up. I took a break from the truck, I have been working on my 4x4 a little bit to fit some 43's. 40s were easy...43s are requiring lots of sawzall.

Another shot of the wall that I didnt get in the first pics

2UXmBZdl.jpg


The head...

OMoLZDgl.jpg


Some videos of the new truck...been driving it daily to see how it runs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G6pD3XOgiU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Q1LUHDz5o

For some inspiration to continue....I follow this guy on Instagram. He is a hot shotter with a 7.3 that primarily stays in the Northeast but a few times a year he goes across country. He is taking this load that weighs in 38,680 lbs gross from Boston to Washington State!!! Full of fuel and ready to go its over 38k!!! He is running the same mods as I plan to but with a 366SXE turbo. Truck and trailer empty is 16.5k. The load is another 22k. the first truck is a duramax work truck with a heavy flat bed and lift gate, then a lifted duramax and a 2500 diesel van.

I saw a video of him running 2800 rpm pulling 38k...that has to be hell on that poor 7.3


oE1nopgl.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51oieZ_KCXg&feature=youtu.be
 
06h3 said:
I saw a video of him running 2800 rpm pulling 38k...that has to be hell on that poor 7.3
Click to expand...
waaaaay better than pulling the same shit at 2200
Thing about heavily loaded light duty engines is that you want them on their governor at freeway speed, because you're sure as fuck gonna be in third or second on any hill anyways.
May as well make the heat in the rear end rather than the trans.

there's all sorts of other reasons like the water pump is gonna be moving more coolant, the converter will slip less, oil pressure comes up (especially if you've got a ragged out 300k mile whore in there), cooling fan's moving more air, less torque (tq is cylinder pressure, think about all the bits that will be acting on) for the same power output

yeah that cylinder is fucked if that notch is missing
the pitting all around it is actually of minimal concern to me, my current IDI is worse, and the perfectly running motor I just parted out was like that in about 4 different places in two cylinders, fully around the cylinder wherever the rings would stop, had moderate blowby but not nearly enough that you'd get droplets of oil blown out the dipstick tube
what it is is pinholes in the cyl wall letting a tiny bit of coolant get in there, rust happens
 
[486 said:
;n188262]
waaaaay better than pulling the same shit at 2200
Thing about heavily loaded light duty engines is that you want them on their governor at freeway speed, because you're sure as fuck gonna be in third or second on any hill anyways.
May as well make the heat in the rear end rather than the trans.

there's all sorts of other reasons like the water pump is gonna be moving more coolant, the converter will slip less, oil pressure comes up (especially if you've got a ragged out 300k mile whore in there), cooling fan's moving more air, less torque (tq is cylinder pressure, think about all the bits that will be acting on) for the same power output

yeah that cylinder is fucked if that notch is missing
the pitting all around it is actually of minimal concern to me, my current IDI is worse, and the perfectly running motor I just parted out was like that in about 4 different places in two cylinders, fully around the cylinder wherever the rings would stop, had moderate blowby but not nearly enough that you'd get droplets of oil blown out the dipstick tube
what it is is pinholes in the cyl wall letting a tiny bit of coolant get in there, rust happens
Click to expand...

Yes, but I don't think op will be anywhere near 38k lbs. Would suck to be at 2800 going 65 mph :laughing: having had a 7.3 with a 5 spd and 4.10s, it gets old. I switched the 3.54s and it's actually better for most everything. I think 3.73s would be about perfect, but I'll probably go back to 4.10s with 35-37s at some point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh