Bought a heavier duty truck today at a yard sale

[Haoleguy]

Did your wife get a finder's fee? She deserves one for pulling you out into public........Cheers, Gary

 

[medic0648]

Also if you keep it to the 160-180,000 mi mark be ready for a few big repair bills and then be good till almost 500,000 if properly maintained. The 7.3 has a few issues that tend to pop up around that time. But otherwise very reliable and strong.

 

[Soundguy]

Also if you keep it to the 160-180,000 mi mark be ready for a few big repair bills and then be good till almost 500,000 if properly maintained. The 7.3 has a few issues that tend to pop up around that time. But otherwise very reliable and strong.

what big repairs are you referring to at 180K? I'm apparently overdue...

 

[mikehaugen]

That is definitely a good deal. My BIL just bought a 2000 f-150 with like 180,000 and some rust for I think the same price, or maybe $3500.

 

[D7E]

I would wonder about the excessive rust.
I live here too (Florida)......
That much rust makes me wonder.

I'm with you on that . Mechanical problems are easy to fix but rot is another matter .

 

[Soundguy]

might have been a northern or beach truck.

 

[medic0648]

Certain time periods of the 7.3 after they added the turbo result in head gaskets, timing chains, and a few other issues that were mostly resolved when ford updated parts. If you had work done more recently that those items were replaced/repaired anyway you wouldn't notice. I made it to 180,000 before my head gasket blew and at 183,000 my timing chain decided to give up. Good engine, teething issues after some updates to it. If it is newer than about 2001 MY you should be good. If the engine has been rebuilt or replaced you're good. Just a really high failure rate that is fixable.

 

[Soundguy]

I hope you are aware that there are pretty much 3 versions of the 7.3.

the NA one.. the ats turbo that came out for a small time.. then the PSD is a completely different animal from the previous 2 engines.

soundguy

Certain time periods of the 7.3 after they added the turbo result in head gaskets, timing chains, and a few other issues that were mostly resolved when ford updated parts. If you had work done more recently that those items were replaced/repaired anyway you wouldn't notice. I made it to 180,000 before my head gasket blew and at 183,000 my timing chain decided to give up. Good engine, teething issues after some updates to it. If it is newer than about 2001 MY you should be good. If the engine has been rebuilt or replaced you're good. Just a really high failure rate that is fixable.

 

[medic0648]

I have the first version of the psd that they pretty much just slapped a turbo on at the factory and changed a few parts to accommodate. I know the 7.3 is a great engine, but some things ford did to them weren't so well thought out and took a while to fix the issues that came up. Given that the head gasket is a more common issue on the early PSD engines as well as the timing chains not lasting as long as they should I thought I would try and give the guy a heads up that for certain years these were higher rate issues in those mileage ranges and you're looking at about $1500-2000+ for a head gasket job done right.

 

[Soundguy]

I have the first version of the psd that they pretty much just slapped a turbo on at the factory and changed a few parts to accommodate. .

that is not a PSD.. it's the same old 7.3 NA engine with an ats turbo essentially. It bears little resemblemnce to the PSD.

date wise.. somewhere around 89 thru 93.5 was the NA 7.3, from 93.5 to 94.5 was the ats 7.3, and that's when the psd came out.. I believe, the early models thru 95 were 5spd only.

again.. can not compair a na 7.3 or a 7.3 ats turbo directly to a 7.3psd in terms of repairs.. they are different engine.

all were solid well built near bullet proof designs but they ARE NOT the same engine.

 

[medic0648]

The truck is a 95.5 PSD. They did make a bunch of changes between 94.5my and the 1996my but started calling it a power stroke for the 95my. A lot of the parts for the 7.3 are the same between 95 and 2000 and even after.

 

[Soundguy]

The truck is a 95.5 PSD. They did make a bunch of changes between 94.5my and the 1996my but started calling it a power stroke for the 95my. A lot of the parts for the 7.3 are the same between 95 and 2000 and even after.

however your previous message seemed to indicate they took the old 7.3na slapped a turbo on and it was a PSD.

that was my point.

 

[dodge man]

Yeah I agree, you stole it. In my area, the 7.3 psd is sought after. An great deal in my area would have been twice what you paid, and i've seen them for 3 or 4times what you paid. I'd spend the money and get the rust fixed. It would be a battle, but I think it would be worth it.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Those 7.3's will run a long time...
That truck will bring 10K all day up here in North Carolina...
Yes, you stole it...
I would check the SCA's and perhaps flush the radiator...
I flushed my 03 5 years ago and it is time to do it again...
You got a great deal...

 

[RoMad]

My son and I took the bed off last night. We cut the heads off of the bolts that hold it on, took out the tail lights, filler neck, and aux fuel tank.
After we had everything disconnected my other two sons helped us roll it off the frame onto the ground. It was easier than I thought.
The good news is that the rust damage was about what I suspected. It is mostly scale that comes off of the frame easily. The spare tire lifting mechanism is shot but that is no big deal. It also has new brake lines on the rear end. He told me that he had all new brakes put on it before he put it up for sale.
Looking under the truck the rust from the front to the rear is much different. At about the rear of the cab you can still see the color of the frame and the farther forward you go, the less rust there is.
Both rear bottom corners of the bed have rust damage that I will get fixed before I put a new bed on it.
Mechanically I think he took pretty good care of the truck. He told me he changed the oil every 5k. He gave me part of a galln of of shell oil and said that was all that had ever been in it. He also gave me two bottle of diesel additive and told me he always put it in when he filled it up.
He also told me when he had the transmission fluid changed but I don't remember what he said. I think I will go back and ask him about the transmission and when, if ever he had the radiator flushed. If he hasn't I will flush it and follow the above recommendations.
My son says I should have the muffler taken out and just run straight exhaust like he has on his truck. Would I gain anything if I do that? Thanks again for all of the help

 

[Dmace]

Good deal!

Now that the bed's off it's a good time to check the gas tank straps (prone to rot and break), change the rear diff fluid (easy access), the rear shocks and mounts (might as well replace the shocks), the leaf spring shackles (prone to rot and cracking), and exhaust. A straight pipe vs the muffler won't add a ton of power or even be very noticeable unless you replace the entire turbo back exhaust with a larger 3". Here in NH the turbo counts as a muffler so you don't need a muffler for state inspection. Your state may allow that as well.

 

[foreman Etexas]

that is not a PSD.. it's the same old 7.3 NA engine with an ats turbo essentially. It bears little resemblemnce to the PSD.

date wise.. somewhere around 89 thru 93.5 was the NA 7.3, from 93.5 to 94.5 was the ats 7.3, and that's when the psd came out.. I believe, the early models thru 95 were 5spd only.

again.. can not compair a na 7.3 or a 7.3 ats turbo directly to a 7.3psd in terms of repairs.. they are different engine.

all were solid well built near bullet proof designs but they ARE NOT the same engine.

At 140,000miles my 99 f350(6speed)7.3stroke gave out. The injection cups went out allowing antifreeze to get into my fuel system and $3500 later,its still not done...I called mechanic and told him I was done with the ford that I will come get it and take to salvage yard.

You got a very good deal on your pickup:thumbsup:

 

[RoMad]

Good deal!

Now that the bed's off it's a good time to check the gas tank straps (prone to rot and break), change the rear diff fluid (easy access), the rear shocks and mounts (might as well replace the shocks), the leaf spring shackles (prone to rot and cracking), and exhaust. A straight pipe vs the muffler won't add a ton of power or even be very noticeable unless you replace the entire turbo back exhaust with a larger 3". Here in NH the turbo counts as a muffler so you don't need a muffler for state inspection. Your state may allow that as well.

Thanks Dmace. I don't think I am worried about adding power, although I would take it. I would be more interested in adding fuel economy. I don't think I will be driving this enough to justify spending a lot on the exhaust. There is a good muffler shop near me. I will stop by one day and get some prices.

Like you said about the other items now is a good time to look at the exhaust while the bed is off. I am going to meet my wife at the tag agency tomorrow and put plates on it so I can start driving it around as I work on it.

 

[JJZ 109]

when, if ever he had the radiator flushed. If he hasn't I will flush it and follow the above recommendations.

If you're going to do a flush, take a look at the link I posted earlier and do a flush of everything. It's a nice step by step and also flushes the block.
As far as the exhaust, I don't know. How loud do you want it to be? My 7.3 is 3 model years behind you, so I don't know if all my mods would apply to you, perhaps Soundguy could contribute there. Not sure about your downpipe from the turbo, but for a few years they were squished almost flat. Guys called them a cobra head. A lot of us have replaced those with 3 or 4 inch wide open downpipes and then replaced the factory intake with what many call a Tymar type. Personally, I bought a K&N kit. But after a little research I decided to keep the K&N hardware and replace their filter element with a Donaldson paper filter. But I would say that the downpipe and intake are among the most common mods that people make to start out with.
Probably the best thing to do is to tow what you're normally going to tow with it in it's current configuration. Then decide from there if you need more power or performance from it before you start throwing money at mods you may not need.

 

[RoMad]

JJZ 109, I will definately follow the link you posted for the flush. Even if I don't flush it right now I am going to save the information in my truck file for later.
Exhaust info is intersting, I will look into it. First thing is to make sure everything else is in good working order.