How many miles on your Powerstroke?

[HGM]

I'm looking at a 99 F250 PSD 4x4 (automatic). It looks well cared for and has 175,000 on the clock. How many more miles can i expect out of this truck? It will be my daily transportation, as well as occaisionally towing a 7000GVW open car trailer, hauling my firewood home, and perhaps occaisionally towing a 7000GVW dump trailer. Anything i want to look out for?

First off I would like to thank John for the good words.. Although I dont curently turn wrenches and certainly dont know it all, I would be happy to give my recomendations.

If your looking to buy the truck(or any Ford diesel) I would either have it taken to a local dealer to have their diesel tech check it out(should be less than $100, much cheaper than an engine with problems ).. On the 7.3L, it is easy to check the engine condition durring a road test by monitoring the Manifold Gauge Pressure(boost).. If it achieves 17psi(or real close to it), the engine is in good shape and should last you quite a long time.. I would also like to rspectfully disagree with BillC about the aircleaner.. Although I am not all that familiar with the unit he is talking about, it would be hard to beat the factory upgrade unit.. The air filter is probably the most important portion of diesel longevity.. Te aftermarket "performance" filters couldnt care less about longevity, just "performance".. If you cannot take it to the dealer, removing the intake hose from the turbo(not quite as easy as it sounds) and inspecting the turbo fins for dusting(sandblasting look).. If the fins look bad, DO NOT BUY IT..Personally, without a professional inspecting it, I wouldnt recomend buying one with an aftermarket filter at all.. You just dont know what has gone through that engine..

The fuel pump on the '99< 7.3L's were electric and typicaly only give trouble when the fuel pump pick-ups become clogged..

Good luck with the purchase, you may be able to speak to your local dealer tech and ask him to inspect it at the trucks location if the owner is unwilling to take it in.. Just make sure he does a boost pressure test, he'll know what to do.. Let me know if I can give you any more help(opinions )..

 

[Bill_C]

First off I would like to thank John for the good words.. Although I dont curently turn wrenches and certainly dont know it all, I would be happy to give my recomendations.

If your looking to buy the truck(or any Ford diesel) I would either have it taken to a local dealer to have their diesel tech check it out(should be less than $100, much cheaper than an engine with problems ).. On the 7.3L, it is easy to check the engine condition durring a road test by monitoring the Manifold Gauge Pressure(boost).. If it achieves 17psi(or real close to it), the engine is in good shape and should last you quite a long time.. I would also like to rspectfully disagree with BillC about the aircleaner.. Although I am not all that familiar with the unit he is talking about, it would be hard to beat the factory upgrade unit.. The air filter is probably the most important portion of diesel longevity.. Te aftermarket "performance" filters couldnt care less about longevity, just "performance".. If you cannot take it to the dealer, removing the intake hose from the turbo(not quite as easy as it sounds) and inspecting the turbo fins for dusting(sandblasting look).. If the fins look bad, DO NOT BUY IT..Personally, without a professional inspecting it, I wouldnt recomend buying one with an aftermarket filter at all.. You just dont know what has gone through that engine..

The fuel pump on the '99< 7.3L's were electric and typicaly only give trouble when the fuel pump pick-ups become clogged..

Good luck with the purchase, you may be able to speak to your local dealer tech and ask him to inspect it at the trucks location if the owner is unwilling to take it in.. Just make sure he does a boost pressure test, he'll know what to do.. Let me know if I can give you any more help(opinions )..

The Ford air cleaner assemblies on the early models (mine particular) were JUNK, Ford had a "silent recall" to upgrade them. The plastic bolts and wimpy lid didn't seal worth a hoot; the later models (or the upgrade) were better I've heard.

I certainly agree that some aftermarket filters (oil-impregnated gauze, particularly) are no better (or are indeed worse) than the Ford OEM, but the Tymar intake and filter is a vast improvement over OEM. It consists of a big Donaldson paper filter with a short inlet tube that clamps directly to the turbo inlet tube--not only does it offer better flow than the Ford unit, the design of the intake offers much better sealing. (What good is a filter if dirty air can leak past it?) I've read many good things about the Tymar, it's extremely popular among the serious diesel performance folks--and these are people who want more horsepower without compromising engine life. They've written of lower EGT's and faster turbo spool-up while still maintaining excellent air filtration; though I don't have a pyrometer yet to measure my EGT's while towing, I can notice an improvement in turbo response. (I'm not affiliated with Tymar in any way, but I've been pleased with it myself).

p.s. Here's a link to one thread with a few comments about the Tymar, somewhere in there is another link to a picture of it. TheDieselStop.Com Forums: Newbie Intake Question

 

[machmeter62]

Well, that does sound like a problem with your mechanical pump, I assume you checked for a clogged screen in the fuel pressure regulator. Fortunately for the trucks, the mechanical pump is pretty easy to replace and it's less than $100 at a parts place. I could see it might be a problem changing one in a van, though.

For those unfamiliar with the 7.3 Powerstroke, the fuel system is real simple, the pump on the engine is a 2 stage pump (there isn't a pump in the fuel tank). Fuel is drawn from the tank, pressurized to a few PSI, then goes through the fuel filter, then back to the pump for the higher pressure which I believe is around 50 psi (controlled by the FPR). The injectors are driven by the high-pressure oil pump, not by the fuel pressure. The engine will not run if there isn't oil pressure at the HPOP.

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I've tried to pick up info by working on mine myself and spending hours reading the posts and links on the Dieselstop forum. (There is a very good link on there to a site by Steve Baz with tons of tips, modifications, and general info.) So far everything I've read on Dieselstop has been spot-on and it's saved me thousands of dollars (maintaining and modifying the truck myself, versus taking it to a dealer or just blindly buying performance parts on the basis of advertisements). For example, there's even links to do-it-yourself injector rebuild kits, someone could have high-performance injectors for only a few hundred bucks!!

Thanx for the additional info on the fuel system. No, I didn't check the FPR, since the engine runs normal under all parameters once it is started; but if future problems start, I will check there first! I was unaware of a secondary screen, and thought the fuel filter did all the filtering?

 

[Bill_C]

Thanx for the additional info on the fuel system. No, I didn't check the FPR, since the engine runs normal under all parameters once it is started; but if future problems start, I will check there first! I was unaware of a secondary screen, and thought the fuel filter did all the filtering?

It's in the fuel regulator, here's a write-up with pictures.

TheDieselStop.Com - www.thedieselstop.com

Hope this helps!

 

[machmeter62]

Without looking at my boost gauge on my Banks Turbo on my 92' Ford F-250 Diesel, I think the scale is from 1" to 10 inches of Manifold Pressure? I think those numbers start after you exceed normal atmospheric pressure with the throttle, is that correct? I also have a pyrometer that limits my boost to 1100 degrees F., because of piston melt!!? Which has forced me to downshift with heavy loads for additional cooling? Does the 99' Power Stroke have limits also? If not, that means the Power Stroke has an additional 7" of boost; does it have intercoolers to prevent extreme temperatures?

 

[Bill_C]

I would think boost should be in the range of 0 to 30 psi (gauge, meaning it's in excess of atmospheric pressure), I'm not familiar with the Banks gauges. 1100 to 1200 degrees seems to be the recommended limits for pre-turbo EGT's (post-turbo pyrometers are much less accurate so the limits would be way lower). I'm not sure exactky what year the later models offered intercooling (99 I think), but here is a link to some very extensive Ford-authored articles, free for downloading:

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-06-08.ph

The "94-97" guide thoroughly explains the Powerstroke engine and systems, and I mean thoroughly! It's well worth the wait to download all 38 mb of it!! The Turbo guide is good too. Probably the other guides mention the addition of the intercooler on later models.

One day I plan to install an intercooler on mine. It doesn't directly yield more power, but it lowers the EGT's... which means you can increase the injectors and run a hotter chip without exceeding recommended EGT's.


And last but not least, here is a thread with a detailed write-up on fuel pump replacement!

TheDieselStop.Com Forums: Changing Fuel Pump

I'm tellin' ya, that Dieselstop site rocks! For anybody thinking of a Ford diesel, any year, it's the best thing on the Internet.

 

[HGM]

Motorcraft offers a Donaldson upgrade as well, thats the one I was refering to.. Apparently this one youre talking about it similar and not one of the ones I was recomending against.

EGT's need to be monitored at the manifold,as close to the cyl as possible..1100*F are correct at that location.

On the '94.5-'97 there is a screen in the regulator housing. It and the regulator are known for collecting debris and effecting pressure..

On the '99-'03 there are screens in the pick-up that will collect trash and reduce fuel pressure causing driveability issues and pump failure(I forget off hand if the earlier models had these screens, but I dont believe they did)

The '99-'03 had innercoolers to reduce intake air temps before entering the cylinders.. There were also turbo changes in '00, so '99 is a bit unique(not particularly a bad thing)

 

[Dargo]

My neighbor has a '99 that has been trashed, thrashed, beaten, flogged and generally worked to death. He consistantly hauls a tri-axle 30' trailer loaded to the gills with pallets hundreds of miles. Other than murdering several transmissions (Ford refused to honor their own warranty due to "abuse") he has only had injector or other relatively minor issues. The last time I spoke with him he had about 350k miles on his truck; the last 150k or so with an ATS Stage V transmission.

I've always had the ole Cummins vs International diesel wars (very friendly though) with him and we've run our trucks several times. Everytime someone comes out with a supposedly more powerful chip, he gets it. Yes, I can outrun him rather easily with my Cummins powered Dodge, but I'm not exactly stock. But, with his abuse, he's made a believer out of me for the 7.3 liter. He bought one of the first 6.0 liters that came out and had nothing but trouble out of it. He'd gone through at least 2 engines under warranty before he traded it on another 7.3 truck. He's wanting to see if he can top the old Dodge sitting about a mile from us. It has 1.1 million miles on it and still runs fine. But, and that's a big but, I doubt the million mile Cummins has had the abuse his truck has.

 

[machmeter62]

I would think boost should be in the range of 0 to 30 psi (gauge, meaning it's in excess of atmospheric pressure), I'm not familiar with the Banks gauges. 1100 to 1200 degrees seems to be the recommended limits for pre-turbo EGT's (post-turbo pyrometers are much less accurate so the limits would be way lower). I'm not sure exactky what year the later models offered intercooling (99 I think), but here is a link to some very extensive Ford-authored articles, free for downloading:

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-06-08.ph

The "94-97" guide thoroughly explains the Powerstroke engine and systems, and I mean thoroughly! It's well worth the wait to download all 38 mb of it!! The Turbo guide is good too. Probably the other guides mention the addition of the intercooler on later models.

One day I plan to install an intercooler on mine. It doesn't directly yield more power, but it lowers the EGT's... which means you can increase the injectors and run a hotter chip without exceeding recommended EGT's.


And last but not least, here is a thread with a detailed write-up on fuel pump replacement!

TheDieselStop.Com Forums: Changing Fuel Pump

I'm tellin' ya, that Dieselstop site rocks! For anybody thinking of a Ford diesel, any year, it's the best thing on the Internet.

Bill: Once again thanks for the fuel pump info. I have a fuel pressure gauge that I plan to install on the van. What has slowed the process, is the route of the pressure line to the gauge; I don't want to drill through the firewall, and with freezing weather, I will delay crawling under it! I am convinced I am getting reverse fuel flowing after shut-down, which empties the mechanical fuel pump or close to it? I would also like to install a one-way check valve up-stream of the mechanical pump. Does that FPR screen apply to my 89' vintage?? From what I have read, it is for the later models 96'+?? Or maybe I'm confused?------------LEE

 

[machmeter62]

My neighbor has a '99 that has been trashed, thrashed, beaten, flogged and generally worked to death. He consistantly hauls a tri-axle 30' trailer loaded to the gills with pallets hundreds of miles. Other than murdering several transmissions (Ford refused to honor their own warranty due to "abuse") he has only had injector or other relatively minor issues. The last time I spoke with him he had about 350k miles on his truck; the last 150k or so with an ATS Stage V transmission.

I've always had the ole Cummins vs International diesel wars (very friendly though) with him and we've run our trucks several times. Everytime someone comes out with a supposedly more powerful chip, he gets it. Yes, I can outrun him rather easily with my Cummins powered Dodge, but I'm not exactly stock. But, with his abuse, he's made a believer out of me for the 7.3 liter. He bought one of the first 6.0 liters that came out and had nothing but trouble out of it. He'd gone through at least 2 engines under warranty before he traded it on another 7.3 truck. He's wanting to see if he can top the old Dodge sitting about a mile from us. It has 1.1 million miles on it and still runs fine. But, and that's a big but, I doubt the million mile Cummins has had the abuse his truck has.

Dargo: Your stories always add "good humor" to this forum!! Is this the same guy that beats his tractor also? I have a similar neighbor with his "rolling stock," but he is beginning to self destruct too!