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7.3 thread continued?

bdkw1 said:
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There is a guy on youtube with one on a 7.3. Looks like a killer setup. Just $$$$$.

Rods, like most things Ford parts related, they used whatever they had on hand. There will be no clear cut cross over date. My 2000 has forged rods. A buddies late 99 did not. Guessing it took almost a year to get the new line up to speed to completely change over.


Click to expand...


Gotta love the stupid tiny transfer tank to make room for the stack :homer::laughing:

I'm guessing it's mounted on a t4 up pipe kit?

The turbo it's self is actually slightly cheaper than the kc and exhaust brake. But the rest of the parts to make it work probably add up.
 
Well, I may have finally hurt my trusty 7.3.

First time in 9 years it's ever over heated. Even after pulling the Lewiston grade in 100* weather in 2nd gear. :laughing:

Got a call from a friend of a friend who broke down about 6 hours away. I grabbed my tilt trailer and headed out of town. Just south of town there is a mild grade. I did most of in 5th, then down shifted to 4th at the top to get around a big rig. Right after that I noticed the "engine temp" light was on and Guage was pegged, wtf!

Coasted for a while and pulled over. When it was safe I pulled the rad cap off and it was pretty nasty oily looking.....

Limped home and it seemed to run fine. Once I got it full of water it didn't overheat again. :confused:

I wasn't watching my egt gauge on the grade, but it's short and the trailer was empty, so I can't imagine it got that out of hand.

I read something about the water pump could cause this type of issue?

Injector cup?

Head gasket?

Oil cooler?
 
Doubt it's the water pump. Oil cooler seems most likely failure (they never get serviced) or an injector cup. Any water in the oil? Or just oil in the radiator?
 
1Sinner said:
Doubt it's the water pump. Oil cooler seems most likely failure (they never get serviced) or an injector cup. Any water in the oil? Or just oil in the radiator?
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I re sealed the oil cooler a few years ago. It was leaking oil externally. Not saying I didn't mess it up, but its not original.

Also, why would that cause the over heat?

No water in the oil that I can tell.
 
1Sinner said:
If the cooling system isn't maintaining pressure, the coolant/water mixture boils at a much lower temp. Once it starts boiling it doesn't stop, especially under load
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Yes, but I'm not seeing coolant in the oil or an external leak, yet, so where would the pressure be escaping?
 
Watching this thread as a relatively new 7.3 owner.

2002 F350 dually. Grandpa one owner. 180,000 on the clock. Bone stock. All services records from the dealer.

Looking for a mild tune for MPG improvement.
Light towing but will mostly have a full size camper on it.

Been reading many forums about mods but I don’t want crazy. Just simple efficiency mods to improve maintenance and MPG. Figured I’m better off listening to you fawkers for some real poop
 
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Ok so Question...
What are you guys using for replacement radiators for towpig duty?
And with china NOT being an answer I am hoping there is a clear winner in this category.
being in the prk I doubt I can find a Real rad shop to boil and rod mine out:confused:.
 
Clb said:
Ok so Question...
What are you guys using for replacement radiators for towpig duty?
And with china NOT being an answer I am hoping there is a clear winner in this category.
being in the prk I doubt I can find a Real rad shop to boil and rod mine out:confused:.
Click to expand...
:shaking:

$100 Spectra-China-whatever will either start leaking immediately and get warrantied out or last a decade or two without issues.

Wanna be stupid? Expect a few hundred percent stupid tax.

There's a reason nobody makes radiators other than China stuff with plastic tanks or $$$ full aluminum replacements. The Chinese stuff is good enough for 99.9% of people. Your tow rig isn't special.
 
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True
Now the 3 plastic\alum I put in the v30 in 14 months time beg to differ.
The all tin one still working 20 years later!
Back to "what are you using"?
How do you justify having the first sentence of your reply happen with the wife in the rig, on vacation, and things to do that don't include swapping a rad in the ditch?
cuz limping home sux!:flipoff2:
 
Drove the truck a bunch yesterday, no issues with over heating and I didn't see coolant leaking anywhere.

So maybe it is just the oil cooler leaking a little oil into the coolant?
 
History from the idi days, tells us as the bundle ages, the orings seep.
So I would change a guess and say yes.
It's a pits job, not a killer but pissy.
Yea I don't own a stroke no I don't know firsthand.
And I hope it's a breeze for ya!:beer:
 
Clb said:
History from the idi days, tells us as the bundle ages, the orings seep.
So I would change a guess and say yes.
It's a pits job, not a killer but pissy.
Yea I don't own a stroke no I don't know firsthand.
And I hope it's a breeze for ya!:beer:
Click to expand...
So replace the whole thing?

If you missed it, I re sealed it a few years back.
 
Ok

How much h20\coolant did it drink?
Oil in rad can be residual from some time ago, (did you de grease the cooling system ).
Stranger things have happened than an oil cooler bundle seeping oil and not water...
These run big oil pressure right?
Figure +-16# h2o pressure and +100# oil who wins?
The fact ih stuffed the cooler under the exhaust manifold don't help.

Overheating, how is the rad inside?
Have you drained it down and put eyes inside as far as possible?
Mine has sub 60k and somehow needs to be tanked \ rodded out ...
Is the fan statt working at spec?
Any chance you forgot to burp the air after a coolant change recently?
Hopefully this sparks an aha moment...
 
Clb said:
Ok

How much h20\coolant did it drink?
Oil in rad can be residual from some time ago, (did you de grease the cooling system ).
Stranger things have happened than an oil cooler bundle seeping oil and not water...
These run big oil pressure right?
Figure +-16# h2o pressure and +100# oil who wins?
The fact ih stuffed the cooler under the exhaust manifold don't help.

Overheating, how is the rad inside?
Have you drained it down and put eyes inside as far as possible?
Mine has sub 60k and somehow needs to be tanked \ rodded out ...
Is the fan statt working at spec?
Any chance you forgot to burp the air after a coolant change recently?
Hopefully this sparks an aha moment...
Click to expand...

I think it puked everything out, took a lot to refill.

I drove it quite a bit yesterday and today, been running 100% normal.

I haven't touched the coolant since I did the oil cooler probably 3-4 years ago.

Maybe I'll just flush the water out and see if more oil shows up?
 
Curious why it puked...
If the statt is getting sticky and hung up less than wide open maybe.
Fingers crossed it was a freak occurrence.
There are several cleaners for oil in the coolant, cus it does slow the transfer of heat to the coolant.
Can't hurt to flush it out and add the proper coolant and toss in a fresh stat.
 
I’ll venture to say you didn’t hurt it. I should post up the Aftermath video of my dumbass pulling a grade at just under 20k gross as a test run but forgot to put the fan clutch back on!!!

Oil temps hit 285, so coolant was probably near there. Shot the cap off....I bet the head studs were the only thing that saved the head gaskets. It was so hot it wouldn’t start for a minute due to lack of HPOP pressure. I think the oil was so thin it wasn’t building pressure.

went home, did an oil change, added coolant, towed 28k gross a week later with no issues.

since it’s driving fine now I’d just find out what caused it to prevent it from happening again but it’s probably ok
 
Well, I may have a blown HG after all. Been driving it since I posted about it with no issues. Today I go to leave my site and it tries to turn over but won't. Really sounds hydro locked to me......
 
So I guess my next step is to get the glow plugs out and see what actually is in the cylinders. I'm kinda crossing my fingers that it may be injector related, but not holding my breath.

Seems odd that it was running fine for a week or so then decided to just lock up solid after sitting for ~5 hours.

My fear is that if the heads come off for gaskets that the 340k mile engine may not be worth sinking money into. I do know of a ~200k mile parts truck, so I guess that's the back up plan.
 
I have a core engine, if that helps any.
It ran when I pulled it, but it needs gone through.
 
Well I went and jockied it around to get it on a trailer. When I went to coast down the hill, I figured, why not try the key..... Fired right up, and ran normal. :homer:

I think I'm out of my league here on diagnosis. I just need to find a shop that actually knows 7.3s.
 
Do you have any gauges to tell you hpop pressure, fuel pressure, etc?
 
How’s the blow by?

I’ll do head gaskets with arp studs (or something that’s proven for 7.3s) as a preventative maintenance. And everything else get inspected & resealed while the top end is all out of truck.

but only if the blow by is acceptable.
 
TrailTamer said:
How’s the blow by?

I’ll do head gaskets with arp studs (or something that’s proven for 7.3s) as a preventative maintenance. And everything else get inspected & resealed while the top end is all out of truck.

but only if the blow by is acceptable.
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Good call, hadn't even thought to check :homer:

I'm certainly not much of an engine guy. I do agree, I don't mind doing the maintenance/upgrades if it's worth it.
 
have you barred it over by hand to verify its indeed locked? If it water, might be worth buying the shit to do a coolant pressure test
 
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