If Only One mod/thing To Increase Longevity

[TooCoolTwo]

For new or even more "seasoned" owners on a limited budget of the best truck Ford has ever built , what would be the one only thing you could do to it, based on your personal experience, that has increased its longevity.

I start this thread in hopes it will help some new owners who might not have had the benefit of being on our great forum for many years or have time to do extensive research.

So I will go first. My one favorite upgrade/mod has been the Ford Severe Duty Air Intake System.

Mike

[01f25073]

This one is easy. Follow a strict maintenance schedule outlined by Ford including fluids AND MOTORCRAFT filters. If you feel that the original question meant only 1 thing and I have stated more than 1, then changing the engine oil and filter every 5,000 miles is the most important of all.

[Phil A. Bowl]

The cheapest is a new degas cap for sure. The stock one don't usually hold much pressure

[robertth]

I agree with picking the AIS air intake system which gets you the bigger, longer lasting, filter.

Now that I have put in the 203 degree thermostat I might make that a close contender because the truck seems to have a smoother idle and is getting an extra 1/2 mpg.

I'm interested in what others pick, in addition, of course, to changing the fluids on a regular recommended schedule (e.g, power steering fluid, brake fluid, differential oil, transmission fluid, coolant, oil, etc.)

It is a good truck. Didn't know it was the best Ford had ever sold.

[Jay Brunson]

I have an afe air intake. Oil analysis at every 100k shows no airborne contaminants. Intake tubes are white glove clean. 330k miles and still going very strong. Pulls 30k plus during hay season. I agree best truck Ford ever made.

Gauges are a must! Egt and trans at least, boost tells me when my filter is dirty, straight piping or an exhaust To lower egt's seems to have helped.

Rotella and a MC 1995 filter as needed would be a second tip.

Using only as much motor as necessary would be third.

Happy new year.
Jay

[ReefBlue]

Treat the accelerator as if there were an egg underneath it.

[Oneof6]

Longevity is very hard to quantify, longevity of a particular part or the unit as a whole and highly subjective to personal opinion. If I had to go back 10 years, knowing what I know now, and pick out three "mods" to do just for longevity.

1. Ford AIS

2. Dahl 100 Fuel and Water Seperator

3. Coolant Filtration

[TooCoolTwo]

All of the above will surely help and are great responses. Thanks so much!

I am trying to keep the recommendations to just one item you have done you feel has helped with your longevity of your truck.

My intent was to help a new owner who might be on a limited budget. Perhaps I did not make that clear in my original post. Please forgive me.

My wife and I have used our truck for mostly towing our travel trailer. We are approaching happy 180K miles on it. At our age, it will probably be the last truck we own. Gracious, these 1999-2003 7.3L models are durable trucks!

[butchcassidy1]

As mentioned: maintenance is a big factor on these trucks.
Also, don't abuse them with overloading, heavy mods, or using them as a race car.

Get familiar with the workings of your truck, if your're mechanically inclined, start with the simple stuff before moving into more complex items (IE: engine rebuild, tranny tear down)

Bottom line: common sense will give you the maximum life out of your truck.

I don't baby mine, but I make sure I don't push the truck beyond its' towing and hauling rated capacity.

Hopes this helps,

Butch Cassidy1

[stumper]

One big thing if you are in a salt area. UNDERCOAT THE OIL PAN....
Over 2000 dollar repair if it rust out. and mine went really fast. looked great at one oil change. was leaking before the next. Ford knows its a problem. they just don't tell you unless you say something at a service. then they have a coating of their own to use on it. But, they only use it if its requested.

[ToddT]

I have 300,000 miles with 225,000 of them running cooking oil as fuel. Unfortunately, a coolant hose burst and I didn't notice the temperature gauge in time so I currently have the heads off to be rebuilt. The machine shop (building racing engines, primarily) couldn't believe those heads had 300k on the clock! The insides of the valve covers were spotless.

I use regular Rotella but added an Amsoil bypass filtration system. I change oil at 5,000 miles and with the sub micron filtration, it's hard to read the oil level on the dip stick.

I'm a believer in filtration. I have an Afe air filter, coolant filter and extra transmission filter (from Bob Riley). I also run the 203 degree thermostat and Evans coolant.

[MrTommy]

I'm basically one year off, but I'll add my 2 cents anyway.

I change oil once a year, or every 5k miles, whichever comes first. Liken another poster, we only use our truck to tow our travel trailer. We recently upgraded our trailer to a 16 year newer one ( meaning a brand new one...), and that required some spendy Banks upgrading.

Now I really watch my egt's and tranny temp. Like another poster mentioned, I'm months away from retirement and this is most likely our last truck (97 F350 crew cab with utility bed). I'm babying it like crazy! We even promised our truck we'd never take her 'serious' off-roading ever again, and instead, off load our ATV's and beat the crap out of THEM.

[SmokeyWren]

If limited to only one item, then it has to be change the oil as indicated by oil analysis. My oil change interval (OCI) per oil analysis was 5,500 miles, so at around 5,000 miles I began thinking about doing the oil change. Most 7.3L owners can go a lot more than 5,500 miles between oil changes, but they don't live in the dust of the west Texas desert and tow heavy most of the miles on the pickup.

But this is a complicated machine, and there is a lot more than one thing to keep it working for around a half-million miles.

1] Severe Duty AIS is one.

2] Replace the restrictive muffler with a free-flowing muffler, or replace the entire exhaust system with a performance 4" turbo-back exhaust system.

3] After market gauges are required if you tow more than a row boat. EGT, boost, and tranny temp. Install the EGT sender pre-turbo and never allow more than 1,250° pre-turbo EGT. Never allow more than 25 PSI boost with a stock turbo. Never allow more than 225° tranny temp.

4] Diesels love to work - they need to work. So work it hard regularly, but don't allow it to get too hot. Your 7.3L diesel has an excellent cooling system, so if you keep the coolant maintained, then you won't need more than the stock coolant temp gauge to be sure it doesn't get too hot.

5] Hot rodding the engine with a good tune won't reduce the longevity of the engine, provided you drive by the gauges and never allow the EGT, boost, or tranny temp to exceed the limits. I towed over 100,000 miles with a DP-Tuner 60-tow tune with no adverse effects, and the more powerful towing machine was a pleasure to drive.

6] Never allow a cold engine to idle at normal idle RPM. Get in and drive, although baby it until it warms up enough for the tranny to shift into OD and the torque converter to lock.

7] Always allow a hot engine to cool off to 300° F. EGT before you kill the engine. If that's a PITA for you, then install a Turbo Temp Monitor that will automagically keep the engine running until the EGT falls to 300°, then lets the engine die.
ISSPRO R4130 Turbo Temp Monitor at DieselManor

8] If you do all that, then plan on a big celebration for when the truck reaches the half-million mile mark. Yeah, I know, the big boys normally get about a million miles before the first major overhaul in their 10L to 13L engines. But their driving conditions are much different than that of a pickup owner. If you get a half-million miles out of your 7.3L, then pat yourself on the back.

[EJs2KSD]

I agree with SmokeyWren, a truck designed to work and boy does it ever. I have 275k miles on my 2000 f350 4x4 CC LB SRW and towed a heavy load a time or two...I'll say that I've been very fortunate for how well my truck has treated me but then again I've treated her well. My latest tow was 25k lbs from Monterey CA, that climb in Wyoming had me crawling at 15mph and the RPM at 3100. Mt tranny temps were pegged for over an hour at 5* at midnight on the original tranny and no overhaul...yet!

Maintain the fluids, realize its a truck and no one helping of magic snake oil will keep her going. Unfortunate reality is the are made by man and there are always imperfections. Enjoy her but get her regular check ups according to the maintenance plan and reward her for a job well done

E


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[widman]

My 6.0 came with that air system. I've put it in the PowerCore format with the extra air turbines on the front as a precleaner on all of my pickups and a few hundred others.

What I wish I had done earlier:
1. Filters on the air intakes of the diesel tanks. Their are no filters, so every gallon of diesel you consume draws a gallon of dust from under the wheels. When I found the problem with filters and the HPOP, I added a hose to up under the frame, and a Donaldson TRAP filter on the end.

2. Better diesel filtration. 5% of our roads are paved. Our diesel is 21/19/17 cleanliness when it should be 14/13/11 in ISO code. Finally I added a Donaldson P568666 that is designed for the service stations, with 4 micron filtration at 99.95% (beta 2000). That means I'm actually putting 14/13/11 fuel into the stock filters.