I had a customer bring his 2001 F-250 S/D in for me the change the oil cooler o-rings. He also wanted a complete service. When I tryed to drain the oil, I had take a screwdriver and work it out. The truck has 365000 miles. The trans fluid was black. The air filter weighted about ten pounds. It has no blow by and runs great. These engines a tough as hell. JUST MY .02

 

Just think about how a properly-maintained one will last!

Pop

 

Pop >> Most of the 7.3s I get are not. None of them are this bad. I had one with 187000 on it. I did the cat & muffler delete. Installed a 6637 and worked on the waste gate. The guy said it has never ran like it does now. He parked his other truck and drives this one. I have got six more customers off that one truck. They can do what I did and save the money. Glad they dont

 

They certainly can take a lot -of we had several of ours missing piston cooling jets. We did pull the engines to fix'em but none of them came apart on us before we replaced them. We also have 1 truck that had a hole punched in the oil pan that is still going strong 100k after it was replaced. That one dumped all the oil after hitting debris while going 55 on route 8 (local hwy). Our rescue squad ambulances see pretty rough duty and the engines are fine but the rest of the units are their showing age. Interiors are pretty tired. We're replacing the 00-01's squads with new 6.7 F450's. The new trucks are nice but I miss the 7.3's we had.

 

Yeah, real tough.

 

That isn't a pretty picture !! Did it lock up when it cut loose ? And how fast were you going ? That and was there a car behind you when it cut loose ??
And actually if I am not mistaken you can blame it to "powder rods" didn't they start to use powder rods instead of forged in 2001. That and I am sure you were hot rodding it in 120hp. Come on you can be honest with us.

 

Honestly, I think highly of the 7.3 they are good engines. But odds are my next daily driver will have a 12 valve cummins, I like their simplicity.

 

WOW Well now I feel bad for you that it just cut loose like that. Out of the blue... That just isn't fair. Sorry
I'm an old dude and over the years I have broke or blow up ALOT of stuff. And 99% of the time is because I was beating the living crap out of it. And the picture you posted made me think of a '70 Firebird I had with a 455sd that put 2 rods out the side of block and pan. I think I even p*** my pants it scared the crap out out of me. Oh yea I was going 120+ mph. And I had no one to blame but myself. So sorry for thinking you were hot rodding.

 

Don't worry about it, I've accepted the fact that life isn't fair. I would say I actually used my truck for what it was intended for. I'm a farmer and the truck has certainly pulled its weight. Fortunately no one was hurt in the incident, that's the biggest thing.

I found a used engine on craiglsist for $1,000 and it had fewer miles than the motor that blew up. I did the engine swap in my garage and have about $1,300 and several hours total into the replacement. I couldn't imagine what a shop would have charged me. I have just about 8,000 miles on the "new" engine and it has been flawless.

I've said it before and I'll say it again I think they are great motors, I've seen a lot of them doing way more than they were designed to do and hold up perfectly. I just have a bad taste in my mouth and am looking to go a different direction.

My dad got a 6.7 ford over the summer and it seems to be great truck, maybe in a few years when that motor has proven itself I'll go that direction. But for now I'm seriously considering building a cummins powered superduty.

 

How many miles on it when it went?

Just curious. We've got a couple approaching the 1/4 million mile mark. They are both doing fine although the same can't be said for the rest of the truck. Folks that have 00-01's that still look pretty good are lucky - ours are getting pretty rough.

 

I would go a junk yard and get a body. LOL

 

We have - one of our 7.3's was transplanted into an 05 350 that had a 6.0 let go on the orig owner. We basically stripped the cab from the 00 and put it all into the 05 since it had already been parted out - what we bought was really just a frame w/axles and the cab+bed. We had to transfer nearly everything else over. Had to even go buy calipers and wheels for it since those got taken off 1st.

It was a nice "winter" project a few years back. What's hilarious is to see folk's heads turn when we start it up in town - has the 6.0 badging on it but underneath it's a pure 7.3.

 

I like that and it didn't cost $65000. I know, I am just a 7.3 nut.LOL

 

We're currently searching for another 05ish F350 to do another "heart transplant" on. My 00 F250's cab and bed are pretty well shot but the engine/trans only has 116K on it. Someone needs to get into the biz of making "kit" trucks that all you need is an engine, trans and axles for like the they do for OTR trucks.
The engines can go a lot longer than the rest of these trucks can. Besides I like the fact the 7.3 doesn't have all the extra emissions stuff tacked onto it.

 

dagreen, my blown motor had 169,xxx on it the replacement came from a van with 122,xxx.

I do like the limited emissions on the 7.3 my dads 6.7 would be a bear to work on.

I agree nice bodied 7.3s in the rust belt are getting hard to come by.