Looking at F250 with 7.3 powerstroke- Advice

Looking at a 99 F250 XLT extended cab, 5 speed manual 2WD with the 7.3 Powerstroke diesel. 97k miles. Not too familiar with these. It has a chip...not sure which one. Also a Banks turbo back exhaust. Pics look very good. Any major pitfalls to look out for? What are the questions I need to ask here? Price is around 12k. Will be looking at it this Sunday. (8/19)

Thanks!

Simply the best diesel engine ever put in a pickup. They are in high demand here even with 300K + miles on them. Several of my friends have assured me (FWIW) that get over 20 mpg regularly, even with a trailer.

300k on my 97 F350. Banks kit and over sized tires. Excluding tires, brakes and normal maintenance stuff, repairs total two sets of glow plugs and one glow plug relay, two fuel lift pumps, water-pump, power steering box and an auto trans at 235k. Did have to replace a couple of cam sensors (warranty) long ago til Ford got that right. I'd rather have a 7.3 than any of the newer motors.

(YMMV)

That is great to hear!! Any known weaknesses/ areas to look at on the 7.3?? Price sound in the ball park??

Im used to be a ford certified diesel tech, the only reason a 7.3L came in our shop was for services. I could almost guarantee that truck(in stock form) will last 500,000miles. Buy it and enjoy!:

Normal stuff really, ask the seller not to start it up so that you can start it from cold, try to figure out if it's been taken care of- good oil and coolant is important for these things. You could check blowby by feeling for pressure out of the oil fill cap at idle. Really, at that mileage, it would have to be flogged pretty hard to show any flaws. I've got a 99 2wd powerstroke also, with 200k, it runs fine- no smoke, no blowby, almost no oil usage.

Has one of the 7.3 for a few years. Dog of a motor behind the auto trans. It was a few years before the inter cooler and the power that motor made stock, sucked.
Auto trans always shifted too late winding out the motor till it was way out of the power band.
Took the beast down to Banks for the full package. The truck flew after that, in a doing 80MPH and step on it and it would push you back in your seat sort of way.

Transmission could not take the new power and the towing, so sold it after I put in the 4th transmission. The rest of the truck was falling apart anyway.

Yeah....the current owner told me he could get 26mpg Fwy if he took it really easy, 20-22 otherwise. Said about 16 around town. That's actually a better overall mileage than my 06 Xterra...:huh

you'll get 16 in the city and maybe 19 on the highway unloaded and babied to keep the turbo from spooling

If you want lots of info on this truck then go to this site. It will tell you EVERYTHING you need to know.

http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/

I think the guys that are telling you it's getting in the mid 20's for mpg are a bit off. There were chips and tuners you could put in the truck and the calculated mpg on the truck computer would show high numbers like this. I remember one time someone was showing me his display that read 28mpg. I asked him to hand calculate next tank and he would see that the computer is wrong. Sure enough the way he drove he was getting just over 16mpg.

I LOVED my 03 Crew Cab. Still kick myself for getting rid of it. The only issue I had up to 155k was the HPOP started leaking. It's a $4.00 O-ring and a couple hours labor to fix. The first shop told me the rear main seal was blown since all the oil was dripping down the back of the engine. Turns out when the HPOP leaks it bowls on top of the engine. When you drive forward it all drains off the back of the engine.

You can't go wrong with this truck if all the other features are what you want. I would probably take it by a mechanic and let them check out the front end ball joints and any other wearable parts.

Good luck with the purchase.

Good to know. I did a lot of research at www.powerstrokehelp.com which has a bunch of great videos regarding the pluses and potential problems with the engine. Ball joints are another thing I'll have the mechanic check. Added to the list. Thanks!!

BTW, what's an HPOP??

Also, I would think a manual transmission might help with the mileage a bit owing to less drag compared with an auto tranny.....

high pressure oil pump, it supplies high pressure motor oil to pressurize the injectors.

I used to have a manual transmission 4x4 powerstroke, I could almost get 20 mpg with that on the highway. With my current 2wd (with a full service body) auto, and all in town driving, I'm averaging 13.

ford about that time had a fire wall issue were the clutch master cyl. mounted it would crack and flex this would cause loss of slave cyl. movement check for a problem or the repair to have been completed. drive train is bullet proof other wise

that's the second best diesel in a pickup behind a 12v Cummins.
don't get me wrong, a low miles 7.3 in a late model body is super desirable.

pretty well established, two best diesel pickups are 12v Cummins and 7.3 with late model body.

low mileage examples are getting harder and harder to come by. typical selling price for super low mileage 12v Cummins and 7.3 are easily same as much newer models.

took me almost 3 years to find my 96 12v Cummins, extra cab, 5sp, 4x4 with 67k miles. Paid $13k and felt like I stole it.

popped on Craigslist .. called the seller and said I'll take it... on my way. jumped in my truck and drove for outside Telequah, about 65 miles away.

called the seller half-way there .. told him I'm almost there. He said someone had beat me there.... OHHHHHHH shit!!!!

pitched a bitch .. and told I said I'll take it earlier and was on my way before the other person. He agreed and said he would wait and I had first dibs.

drove up and truck looked like NEW (always garaged) ... Said I'll take it... he said don't you want to drive it? said OK,,, as I saw the other buyer going back and fort in front of the house.

test drove it and put down a sizable deposit.... 96 12 Cummins with 67k miles was mine!!!
came back next day with balance, went to tag office and got it transferred right then. Drove it home and got 27 mpg ... whoaaaa.. that's not normal, caught a tailwind home. normal mileage is 20-22 in town, slight higher on the road.

can you tell .. I LOVE my truck!!! best truck I've ever got .... about 5 years later, truck now has 107k miles.. dead reliable... oil/fuel filter is it ... did put a ceramic clutch in 3 years ago. 12v Cummins is lightly bumped to about 375HP. don't want any more HP.. be tearing up my tranny.

I have an '02 crew cab, short bed, 4WD, AT and hope it lasts till I don't need a big truck anymore. I don't use it for a DD, only pulling horse trailers, a 7X14 enclosed moto trailer and some equipment trailers (biggest is 12T deck over for skid loader and attachments). It is completely stock, have never tried a chip. I get 10 - 12 mpg pulling pretty much anything and run 70-75 - a lot of my trips are SW Florida to western NC. 70 - 75 is just over 2000 rpm, I don't think I've ever done a long trip without pulling something. Rotella oil changes every 5000 and tranny fluid and coolant at 50,000 - has been in the shop once for a speed control factory recall. Still original brake pads, bought new ones last year figuring they needed replacing but they were still better than 50%. An exhaust brake would be nice in the mountains... Just turned 90K, runs like new! I love this truck. Left FL this morning and just got to NC via Chattanooga this evening, it makes the trip a breeze.

Did I mention I really like this truck?

PMR

Damn, I had an 85 F-250 that did that. Killed 2 bellhousings with that before getting a new truck.

word.

Has a Banks 4" turbo back exhaust and manual tranny. I would assume this might help a bit...

STILL in the ballpark of my Xterra.....

Meeting with the guy tomorrow. Turns out he's a mechanic. Will post some pics.

I have an 02 Excursion with the 7.3. Bought it with 140k miles and it now has 245k on it.

There is a Cam Position Sensor that, while it doesn't happen often, goes out and will sideline you. As in, will not start and there's no work around. Truck just dies.

Good news is, the sensor is not that expensive, nor is it hard to install on the side of the road. Many people carry a spare sensor and the tools to change it with. You can be back on the road inside of 15 minutes.


The other very common problem with these trucks is the stock airbox. They have a nasty habit of developing cracks under the filter so that the turbo can suck in unfiltered air. That's bad. Generally the fix is to remove the whole airbox and install a Napa 6637 air filter. It's a giant paper filter that replaces the whole airbox. Kinda like those ricer kids with their cold air intakes, but the 6637 is physically bigger than a whole honda engine. (not really, but almost)

After that, just drive the damn thing. I know a guy that runs a limo service that has just shy of a million miles on a stretch excursion. He probably has a million hours of idling time on it too since they never shut off the engine when they are on a job. He hasn't done anything inside this motor, ever. It does have a lot of blowby and needs a rebuild, but he's waiting until it rolls the odometer to see if ford will give him anything for it!

To get max economy out of it keep the RPM under 2000. On my 2wd Excursion I am doing 68 mph at just a tick under 2000 rpm. I'll get about 17 mpg there. If I drop it down to 65 mph I can get around 18.5 to 19 mpg. I think the pickups do a little better than my Ex. I've got over 8000 pounds to haul around when fully fueled with my junk in the back.