Hello Guys. yesterday i bought my first Diesel truck its a 99 Crew cab Dually 7.3L. The truck has only 111K miles on it only 2 owners. But since i never owned a diesel truck before and i bought this one to haul 3 car trailer i wanne known more of what type of parts should i use?... For example what you would u recomened me change it right away? like of course i will go and do oil change,then probable air filter what else? So my question is what kind of oil should i use Fully Synthetic or regulat one plus what oil fiter are the best.Maybe there something else i should do to truck? Before i start hauling? Currently truck has all original parts under the hood i believe? I known lots of people buying aftermarker air intake? so please help me out to put this baby up to 400K with original tranny and engine... Thanks...

 

There's lots of knowledgeable people here for sure, though I am new, I've learned a lot of answers to your questions by visiting powerstrokehelp.com

Videos and tutorials about things you should know to make your truck go the distance.

 

ok thanks for the reply,will look this site now..

 

There's a section on this forum for 7.3's like yours, I bought a 00 2yrs ago and am still learning things just from reading and asking questions.

 

Moved to the 1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel forum.

 

I would change eng oil trans oil and diff oil b4 starting off. Also, it would be a good idea to upgrade transmission cooler to either 6.0 cooler or one better for the load you will carry. Gauges to monitor the egt and transmission temp at the minimum would be a good idea. By the time the idiot light for the transmission comes on, it is already causing damage.

syn vs dino. Some guys run synthetic and some run dino. I either run shell rotella or usually delo 15w40 with a motorcraft filter. I have a delo wholesale dist near me so its the most convenient but sometimes wally world will run a special on it. Up in the northern areas, they run a lighter weight oil in the winter but I have not paid attention to the weight as it does not get that cold for long here. The lighter weight oil is to help with cold starts. If the coolant is yucly looking, may be a good idea to clean it as well.

Get yourself a spare cps from either ford or intl dealer. The ones from the big box parts stores do not last or run very well. Riffraff Diesel Performance Parts | Ford 7.3 diesel | 7.3 powerstroke | Ford Powerstroke | 7.3L Powerstroke Parts or partsguyed.com has them too if you wanna give them a try. You need a 10 mm socket to change cps. Also, carry a spare fuel filter.

The trucks have been known wear out balljoints so check them before the DOT finds them. Check the high psi oil line feeding each head. They are made of rubber and run from HPOP to head and may show signs of dry rot at 13 years old.

K&N filters have been said to dust the turbo so take that into consideration. Some guys are running a napa 6637 intake kit or an AIS kit both are available at riffraff.

Those are the things i can think of off the top of my head. Its a nice looking truck.

Who makes that trailer brake controller? If its a cheap one, definitely consider upgrading it.

 

read the sticky's call riffraff diesel for great advice great parts & price he wont upsale got a lot of first class advice

 

What are the two gauges in the cab? Is that a DP Tuner switcher in the dash above the trainer brake controller? '99 didn't have the trans cooler lines in the radiator so you definately want to add a supplemental cooler (unless the previous owner did that already...)

Check the trans cooler lines for a Magnafine inline filter. If you find one, try and determine which line it is on (cooler or return). If you find one on the return line then check the transmission ID tag to see if it says "remanufactured".

Looks like a late 99 model. Nice.

 

I think that is a good site to browse but the 60/40 rule should be in effect. About 60% of the info is useful and the other 40% is mis-information at best. IMO...

 

Good eye on the gauges....I missed them all together.

 

Towing that much weight you asked great questions.

I came to this site after buying my 350 with the same questions since I was going to tow a large 5th wheel. The first and most important mods for the well being of the engine and tranny were a set of guages mainly trans temp and egt. I also went with the 6.0 trans cooler which made a huge differance on keeping trannt temps way down. I also went with the AIS intake based on info from this site.
These coupled with synthic oil. I have had no issues in the 5 years towing and all my oil samples come back great.

You can find info on all the above on this site.

Good luck

 

Thanks for all the replys..sorry i havent been here for a while,went to pick up my trailer. Most of you recomened to upgrade my transmission cooler. Thats what i wanne do next. I allready have gauges for tranny tamp... and exhaust temp... so next i want to upgrade tranny cooler... Can you tell me which one i should buy(like give me some name) and arround how much will it cost.. And you get all your upgrades out of ebay?
PS. Is anybody arround Chicagoland known some good and not that expensive powerstroke mechanic? why i am asking this because so far like oil changes,fuel filter all changes i did at Ford dilership,but when i buy tranny cooler i think they will charge me a lot to do it...
Once again THX for your help.

 

6.0 tranny cooler seems to be one of the main choices for our 7.3's. That is on my list as well. Just need to check the yards around here or more than likely just go buy a new one from ford. I think they are only in the $200 range new.

 

I just called me local ford dealer and here what they told me that 6.0 tranny cooler cost 395 but they are not sure if it will fit 7.3L. Thay told me that 6.0 cooler for 6.0L engines??? Is that correct? He told me that maybe i need to look for aftermarket one for my 7.3 powerstroke.

 

where in the chicagoland area im originally from nothern il. i can see where I can find if you are from the north? i do know alot of guys and alot of buddies that know the 7.3l as well as some ford mechanics.