I am looking for an F250 7.3 L diesel. Is there any years that are better than others? What years did they make upgrades? Do they all work with a programmer? I have never owned a diesel before and don't know what to look for. Is there certain years that had problems? Any info would be great.
I was originally looking for a V10 but all the ones I have found have 180,000 miles or more. That seems like a lot for a gas engine. I have heard that the diesels will go 300,000 easy.
Thanks

Budman

 

I have owned 2, 96 and 01. No problems with the 97, 95,000 miles. Wish I had her back, loved the body style and interior layout. My 01 has only 64,000 but is a great truck as well. I did replace the auto trans at 60,000. That is the weak link in these trucks, but a quality rebuild fixes the weak areas in the trans and converter. Be patiant and look for a low milage, well maintaned 7.3. They are out there, just be ready to pounce. Good Luck and Best Wishes.

 

What is the gas milage your getting on your 01 powerstroke? Do you have a chip or programmer? If I wanted to get an ext cab it would be easy they are everywhere. But I am looking for a crew cab short box.


Budman

 

Thread moved to 7.3L PSD section.

 

The 99-00 trucks, for the most part, have forged rods in the engine, whereas the later years have PMRs. This is only an issue if you'll be pushing 400+ hp... you'd want a truck with forged rods. Otherwise you'll need to swap them out.

If you'll stay pretty mild with mods, you may as well get a newer truck with less miles, a few little updates on the truck here and there, etc. Mid-03 was the last of the 7.3s.

 

My '02 Crew Cab is teriffic. If you are wavering between a crewcab and an extra cab, get the CC. The space alone is worth the extra $$$. I bought mine a year ago after owning a '99 xtra cab. They are getting harder to find but still out there. Only major upgrade I have done was getting a BTS auto trans.

 

Yesterday I drove a 99 and an 02. The 02 was a lot quieter. Did they make changes that would make the 02 quieter or could there be somthing wrong with the 99? The 99 had a bigger exaust but the sound was from the engine compartment. Also the 99 had gauges on the pillar next to the drivers door is this a factoy option.

Budman

 

I think that they did make the 02' and newer trucks with better sound proofing. Mine is so quiet that it almost puts me to sleep on the highway, but alot of people complain about there older SD's being too loud. The gauges are aftermarket. If you plan on doing heavy towing, or running a tuner they are almost nessary to make sure that you don't over work the engine.

 

My 03 is really nice and quiet in the cab too. I almost forget I Have a 7.3 under the hood somedays!

 

01-03 7.3 have the better programming, bigger turbo and I think bigger brakes because of the late 99 year change. The 99-00 have smaller turbos and are tuned different. I have over 514,000 miles on mine. Look at my pic

 

I get 15mpg on the best day. Keeping rpm at 2000 or just below. I use my truck to pull, about 10-11mpg when she is working. Super Chips programer and yes guages to watch exhaust and trany temps. So how is the search going?

 

I really like the 99 PSD that I drove but was shocked by how loud it was. I am going to drive a couple of ext cabs with the 7.3 to see if the noise levels are the same. The 99 crew cab had a huge exhaust pipe. I'm sure its not stock. No matter what I buy I will dynamat the interior. Under the carpet and in the doors. It's hard to pick the right one when you know very little about diesels.

Budman

 

they are loud with the windows down. and some noise with them up but i like load ,people know when your commin.

 

i love my '02... best truck i have ever owned... i don't want to sell it... EVER..!!! moderate mods "wake up" the engine, sure up the tranny, and make it a blast to drive everyday without loosing "driveability"... you have to have gauges if you do any mods... you should put a shift kit in the tranny no matter what you plan to do with the truck, a big tranny cooler is a must if you plan on doing anything but the most mild towing... and an aftermarket exhaust is a HUGE help keeping the egts down... those are the basics... my recomendation is also to find an 01 or 02 7.3 with reasonably low miles, unless you want to spend the big $$$ and make 400 plus horsepower... then get an older 7.3 that already has the forged rods in it... i'll tell you truthfully though... my mule is making around 325 HP and around 700 ft lbs of torque... I don't find myself looking for more... she goes just fine, and i don't have to worry about lighting up $400 worth of tires every time i barely touch the accelerator... just my opinion though man... it will be your mule, so you get to decide how she's dressed out..!!!

 

Back her down Cowboy, Early 99 , build date up to 12-98 had the smaller hairdryers and nonskids, late 99-03 had the full size turbos and brakes. they did change code in 00 cause of the HP wars, in 01 the dreaded mechanical diode in the tranny came out, along with Powdered Metal Rods. 02 sees diode gone and more programming. 03 sees more progrmming and some interior upgrades.

now the bad parts.

Early and late 99 can have a rattly torque converter( read: loud and annoying) still pulls good runs good some were changed by dealer, some were not(mine)
sometime in 00-01 Ford decided to put double the sound deadening material in the firewall to quiet the beast down but as a cost saving measure they cut back on the wiring harness' throughout the truck.( 99's had a full wiring harness to support all options (read: buy an XL and get all the connections that a Lariat would have you just have to plug in the light bulbs and buy power mirrors)
As stated by Ryan PMR'S are good up to 400 ponies but if you are building the truck for more get forged rods.

The CC your looking at already has some of the mods we all are going to tell you to do, the exhaust is worth about 4-500 bucks, guages are 300. At least the previous owner cared enough for her to watch how she was runnin.

have fun