Well, I went and did it!

I picked up a 97 F250 CC 4x4 short bed with 238K miles.

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Drove it 85 miles home without a problem. Tires were very worn out, which was my only worry during the trip. I had a set of Falken A/T put on today. Ball joints need to be replaced soon, passenger tire has a positive camber. Got the truck for $5,800. The previous owner purchased an aftermarket warranty that IS transferable, and has around 18,000 miles/1 yr left on it. Covers motor, turbo, drivetrain.

Things replaced within last year or so:
Batteries
Shocks
Glowplugs and harness
Starter
A/C completely rebuilt minus compressor. New dryer, evaporator, condenser, and lines.
3" downpipe with 4" strait pipe exhaust exiting in front of the rear passenger tire.

I did notice that the truck seems sluggish (or so I think, last diesel I had was a 6.0 a few yrs back), but I don't have another 7.3 to compare it to. So after doing some reading I have unplugged the MAP and it seemed to get a little better. The vacuum line was not clogged, so maybe the sensor is just bad. I also have unplugged the EPBV.

NOW...for the last day I have driven this truck, I have not been able to really hear the turbo. With the EBPV unplugged, I can hear it pretty distinctly...at least I think. The car that this truck replaced was a 6 spd turbo'd Volvo which had cat back exhaust, and what I hear from this truck now is comparable to what I would hear from my Volvo. My confusion lies here....some say when the EPBV is closed, you can hear a whooshing type sound, or something along those effects. I didn't ever notice that type of sound either, nor the turbo spooling up. Now, I can noticeably hear the turbo spool. So, with the MAP and EPBV both unplugged, there is a change in drive-ability, but not massively. Seems better, although on start up after sitting for 20-30 mins seems not as smooth as before. Reasons?

So, I am not completely sure on how I should react to the "get up and go" of this truck, coming from a 2006 Dodge Cummins, to a 2006 F250 6.0, to a 6 spd Turbo'd Volvo S40 T5, to now this truck. Hard to tell if it's just what I'm used to VS a truck that is 15 years old and maybe it's all in my head. Thing is, it seems like I have to have my foot really into it in order for it to get into traffic. So, school me please.

I do have a scanner from the Mac tool truck at work coming in, will read the duty cycles of various sensors while driving, so that I can correctly identify issues.

One thing I noticed, the rod coming from the EBPV is caked in oil, and there seems to be a decent amount of oil in the intake tube from the filter. The turbo veins look great, sharp edges on the fins, and I took a flat head and tried to push the shaft back and forth and it didn't budge.

On the agenda this weekend is cleaning out the fuel bowl and doing the shim mod (after checking fuel pressure first).

When I first looked at the truck, I did the poor mans back pressure test, and the cap just sat there, didn't even vibrate off after about 5 seconds.

I also did the injector oring test, and is smooth as silk from 2K-3K rpms.

I love the truck, I am glad to have something that I know is reliable, internally solid, fairly cheap to tinker on, and easily modified. I am completely in love with how this truck sounds. It sounds like...well...how all trucks outside of Kalifornia should sound. It also came with an extremely nice kenwood head unit w/remote, an amp, and 10" kicker sub.

Look forward to annoying the hell out of ya'll with questions

 

Congratulation on the new truck it looks like a nice one.

 

nice lookin truck there.

let the tinkering begin.

 

Congratulations on the new truck! Looks good! Sounds like a pretty good buy. I'm gonna guess that the truck is running ok from what you say. These things are kinda doggy in stock form, and don't really spool the turbo till over 2k.

 

Congrats.
we did a similar exh on my brothers truck.we hear the turbo.not screaming but a good wistle.
get the front end fixed...tires are too expensive.

 

Welcome to the party, Wezol! We're happy to have you here. That looks like a nice truck for sure. As for the sluggishness, you're probably just feeling the fury of that 215 stock horsepower in stock form. The turbo on these trucks doesn't really get going until about 2,000 RPM (as has already been said). Get a chip on that thing (most here will recommend a TS 6 position chip with some good custom tunes) and some stage 1 injectors and you'll have a whole different truck (and more than likely a blown transmission, lol). These old trucks are some good ones for sure. You can get a newer, more powerful truck, but to me there's just something about these old OBS trucks that seems "right".

Welcome to the OBS side of the site.

 

Thanks everyone, yeah the front end will be the first thing next month. After that, want to replace all the seals on the fuel bowl and turbo, along with an ebpv delete pedestool.

Speaking of OBS, what exactly does that stand for?

 

Good looking truck! Welcome to the forum. There are several guys in TX on the boards here (a couple of them will convince you to spend a whole lotta money modding the truck!!) so you have some resources around the state too.

 

Old Body Style

 

Congratulations on the purchase! Completely agree with what Darin and Nate have said. These trucks are dogs in stock form. A few mods and some Benjamin's and we can get you pointed in the right direction. It's refreshing to hear someone talk about getting the truck up to snuff before modding as well!

 

OBS = Old, But SEXY! Lol. You can even get the sticker from Riffraff Diesel to say so!

Here's the link to their page.
Riffraff Diesel: Riffraff Old But Sexy OBS Decal
And here is one for the fuel bowl seals you referred to above.
Riffraff Diesel: Complete OBS Fuel Bowl Oring Kit
That's a good recommendation too, you need to get to know Riffraff Diesel. They're going to be your best friend for affordable OEM quality parts for the engine. I don't know if you used them for much with the 6.0 or not, but they're one of the only places you can get some decent parts for these older 7.3's.

 

Congrats on your new Old, But Sexy powerstroke!

Your first mod (and shame on you experienced guys for skipping this!) is going to be an air filter. The stock air box sucks, or doesn't depending on how you look at it. Search the 6637 mod, that's a NAPA filter #. Or you can be a rebel like me and do an Amsoil filter, see my signature.

An air intake will definately help that thing breathe and give you some more power. I also like to gut the EBPV. That'll ever-so-slightly help on power, but mainly the turbo sounds better. I'm a little concerned that you can't hear the turbo since it has a 4" exhaust exiting in front of the rear tire.

 

Nice rig! Give the pivot bushing a look. Its probably worn out and the cause of that passenger side tire wearing excessively. Along with the other spring bushings.

 

I can hear it now that the EBPV is unplugged. Sounds magical.

 

If you can hear it better now, it may have been closing prematurely and causing some of your issues with sluggishness as well.