Hi,

I work for a mid size ambulance company, and we have a 2000 e-350 7.3L Ford. Problem is when this unit gets close to and oil change and the oil is really dirty the engine surges and chugs. We have been told that the oil pressure drives the injector pump. Thus causing a drop in pressure with the dirty oil. Have any of you heard of this or had this problem? We have no engine codes, or other problems. Is their an after market add on oil cleaning unit?

 

welcome to FTE, sjmedic. yes your problem is valid. this type of engine has an injection system that uses lube oil pressurized in the vicinity of 500psi at idle, to 3000 psi at full bore WOT (wide open throttle). when the oil gets dirty, yes it can cause a surging problem. just means, that it's time to change the oil. since it's an ambulance, it's driven in one of the most extreme environments, idling to WOT to idling to WOT all day in and out. i would recommend changing the oil and filter every 3,000 miles. since the oil usually wears out ( the additives) quicker in an extreme-driven truck, i would just replace the oil. when the additives wear away, you will just have oil, regardless of if it's really clean due to a by-pass system or if it's just filtered once. it will still surge.

 

Oil could be losing its anti foaming agents. What drain interval are you using and what type of oil

Welcome Brother were are you medic'ing at

Kris you know we treat our trucks like babies. (Ha Ha Ha Ha)

 

work for Gibson Area Ambulance Gibson City IL.

we are on a 3k service program. Not sure what is being used at service center, we use either Bumper to Bumper brand or Rotella, depends on which boss does the purchasing. one is cheap other is not.

 

I would bet that the one that is surging has the "bumper to bumper" brand in it.
Try to stick with the Rotella 15w40 or Delo 15w40 and see if it clears it up.
Also you could install a bypass filter but at a 3K interval the Rotella or Delo will nowhere near be "used up"

 

http://www.harvardfiltration.com/index.htm

This is the system that is on my truck
Wholesale cost for the housing is 381.70
cost for the element 51.45
The other ford truck this is on has well over 200k without changing, just adding and still honey colored oil.

It doesnt come with instructions for the engine block fittings. I used the info from this web site for specifics. http://www.oilguard.com/Ford7Install.php

Youll need to purchase at least 10ft of hose, 4 fittings and a plate of some sort to mount on the frame and mount this to the plate. Rough size of my canister is middle finger to elbow long, and wrist to elbow tall. Ill take pics later today and try and post. My part numbers, I think are the harvard 1000h 1/2 high glow housing and the 0678 filter element.

 

Thanks to both of you. We are now looking into the bybass filters.