7.3L powerstroke

[JOG724]

i have a 97 with manual trany 330000 still going regular maintance

[mowerbrad]

Well, I stopped by my mechanic's shop today and talked to a couple of the guys there. One of them used to work at a Ford dealer, so he has more experience with the 7.3 than any of the other guys there. He said that as long as the truck I buy was maintained as it should be, I will be fine. He said the 7.3's are a great engine and are pretty easily worked on. So I now just need to find a good 7.3 and hopefully get it. I feel much better about the 7.3 now, than I did before....it just keeps looking like a better and better engine and one that should serve me very well.

[petroskie]

Originally Posted by Gravel Rat

Any diesel engine is expensive to fix doesn't matter which brand. I never did like the idea of aluminum heads on a diesel like the duramax has they seem to work but

Chevy trucks can be a maintenance pig when it comes to the front suspension sure the A arm system rides nice but your dealing with a h*ll of alot more moving parts. The older Fords even the newer Fords like the 05 and newer are simple aswell.

Chevs you have 8 A arm bushings you have 4 ball joints and something like 5 tie rod ends all waiting to cost you big money.

I prefer Fords myself its all I will own because the trucks themselves are better built and for myself the Ford dealer is the best to deal with when you need OEM parts.

I own a 6.0 I also prefer the 6.0 over the 7.3 I have had a 7.3 yes it was a decent engine but its no where near the power a 6.0 has. I have had good luck with my 03 6.0 I bought a 06 6.0 and its been good so far.

Where I live and what your putting your truck through everyday a 7.3 PSD life span is MAX 350,000 kms (218,000 miles) anything after that be lucky your not into a engine rebuild. There are a few around with 400,000kms (249,000 miles) but like I said a few.

The 6.5 diesels around here usually have a lifespan of 250,000kms (156,000 miles) and 5.9 Cummins 12 valves last about the same as a 7.3 PSD your not going to get much more than 400,000 kilometers out of a 12 valve.

So anyhow yes the 7.3 is good just make sure you buy a truck has has been looked after and the oil changed at the right intervals.

you must beat the crapout of the trucks, i worked at GM for 4 years and had a several customers that drove all 3 types of diesels, had a guy with a 97 cummins, 430k miles and the compression was still good and he pulls a 5th wheel most the year, another with a PSD 7.3 280k miles no problems, a duramax with 612kmiles, he was a repo man no major issues, what did all 3 have in common? all 3 had normal maintaence parts go bad, its just part of owning a working truck, but all 3 maintained there trucks to the highest, they never skipped a service and if somthing was bad they got it fixed, but i have also had the opposite with all 3 brands were everything went bad and there trucks were just daily drivers, theres no guarentee with any truck, but get a good warentee with what ever you get

[Moto52]

Originally Posted by TXNSLighting

Youre wrong AGAIN. They have always worked the same since 03. My 04 had the same downshift. thats what the torqshift is known for.

show me where it shows the 03 and 04 do that? my friend have an 04 f350 fully loaded and it does not do that? and my neighbor has and 06 and his does it????

[Gravel Rat]

Originally Posted by Moto52

show me where it shows the 03 and 04 do that? my friend have an 04 f350 fully loaded and it does not do that? and my neighbor has and 06 and his does it????

The gasser trucks used the 4R100 transmission till 2004 the V-10 trucks from 99 to 2004 had the 3 spd overdrive. The 6.0s right from 2003 to 2007 had the 5R100.

[TXNSLighting]

Originally Posted by Moto52

show me where it shows the 03 and 04 do that? my friend have an 04 f350 fully loaded and it does not do that? and my neighbor has and 06 and his does it????

Well then he must be doing something wrong then. I had a 04! Ive driven many 03's. I worked at a ford dealer when the 6.0 came out and got to experience all its little wonders. One was the down shifting ability!! come on man. I know what im talking about here. The Torqshift has not changed. Its been a beast of a tranny.

[Moto52]

Originally Posted by Gravel Rat

The gasser trucks used the 4R100 transmission till 2004 the V-10 trucks from 99 to 2004 had the 3 spd overdrive. The 6.0s right from 2003 to 2007 had the 5R100.

ah yea i knew i read it somewhere that the 5r110 came out in 05 i guess i was reading about the v10...

[Moto52]

Originally Posted by TXNSLighting

Well then he must be doing something wrong then. I had a 04! Ive driven many 03's. I worked at a ford dealer when the 6.0 came out and got to experience all its little wonders. One was the down shifting ability!! come on man. I know what im talking about here. The Torqshift has not changed. Its been a beast of a tranny.

well i'm just going by my friends 04 cause his does not to that down shifting like the 06s that i have been in.

[TXNSLighting]

Originally Posted by Moto52

well i'm just going by my friends 04 cause his does not to that down shifting like the 06s that i have been in.

Youre killin me man. His is capable of it as well. Unless somethings messed up with the tranny. I had a 04, and it did it superbly.

[AtoZ]

My '03 drives the exact same as my '05. I think you guys are missing the boat - we're not debating that these engines can go the distance, they can. It's the fact that you will have major components to replace every 100,000 to 150,000 miles or sooner. I feel sorry for the guys that have to replace their injection systems on their 7.3, 6.6 and 5.9's. My 7.3 ate water pumps for breakfast. Unless you guys are Harvard Business Graduates and you've figured out how to outsmart the bean counters and Ford and GM - doubtful, it just doesn't make business sense to fix old pickups... You guys must not care about downtime and lost revenue, not to mention higher operating expenses with older vehicles. I can see if you use older vehicle for a backup but not a primary road worthy vehicle for everyday use.

It just doesn't make sense... I choose to run late model trucks for a reason. It makes financial sense!!!