I recently bought an early 1999 f250 XLT 7.3. this is my first diesel so I'm new to them. It runs great and seems to have plenty of power under acceleration. I calculated the mileage running stock size tires, and I'm only getting 8-9 mpg without towing anything. The previous owner has a 50hp tune on it from a tuner. Here are all of my syntoms that appear to be off.
-Plenty of blueish smoke on a cold startup for the first minute or less. It starts right away though with no hesitation
-intermittent slight but definitely noticable vibration at idle with a slight jump in rpm's when it vibrates
-if I rev it in park when it's warm, blue smoke will come out but this only happens when I'm in park. If I floor it when I'm moving, coal will come out as usual.
Any help would be great.
Thanks.
It shouldn't do that, unless there's a tune still on it. You may have a problem with the turbocharger.
If it has a vibration or stumble with rpm change, it's likely got a problem. A scan tool should come up with codes. Be sure to use a PSD capable scan tool - most auto parts stores won't be able to pull up the codes.
There's 250,000 miles on the truck. Tonight I realized that the truck uses oil like mad. I drove it less than 600 miles so far and the oil reading on the dipstick is barely above the "add' mark now. When I got the truck it was at the "full" marking. I'm thinking about having a diesel mechanic or Ford take a look at it, so I can be sure of the problem before I go invest money into it. Not exactly sure though.
Yes it has a 50hp tune on it, anyways that what the previous owner told me. I'm going to inspect the fuel filter soon to see how it looks. And where can I get one of those scanners? Possibly Ford or definitely a diesel mechanic would have one on hand.
I almost forgot to add, I smelt the oil that I had drained since the level was too high when I first got it (I drained 2 quarts) then it read in the proper range. The oil has a diesel smell to it. This is the biggest of my concerns right now because I believe it's resulting in the other problems as well. I keep finding more and more wrong about the truck and I don't have the money to mess around with it until I get paid. I'll drive my other car around until I get it figured out .
The first diesel can sadly include a pretty expensive learning curve.
Good idea to have a Diesel Mechanic give it a thorough inspection before you start sinking money into it.
Good Luck.
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