I have been quietly reading posts all over this forum as my 2000 F250 7.3L has experienced just about every common failure. I was feeling pretty good when I picked this up for $10K one year ago, but it's now time to dump another $10K into it to compensate for 240K miles.

So far:
$5k for the HD4R100 (big difference from the 4R100).
$1.3K for a couple of injectors and troubleshooting time for a number of problems.
$0.8k to replace/upgrade everything related to the word "brake" in the back.
$1K for the DP-tuner F6, 6 tunes, and gauge work.

To be done:
Exhaust leaks in the driver's-side manifold, new ups, and a turbo rebuild.

I'm going with the IH bellowed up-pipes, but the exhaust manifold is jamming me up. I've read the maifolds are sometimes shaved, with mixed results... and I believe the Dormans are way to "inexpensive" to count on for quality. I'm leaning toward the factory manifold from the Ford stealership for two reasons: The last one did fine for a long time and I didn't chip/gauge for performance... I'm looking for reliability and efficiency. Ceramic is overkill for my needs and I'm getting down to the tail end of my cash reserves.

By the way... I'm at the tail end of my enthusiasm and patience as well, so I will have a diesel shop do this last bit of work.

Before I set the appointment, does anybody have any words of wisdom to share? It would be greatly appreciated.

 

No words of wisdom, but I don't understand how so many members of this forum have the issues they have with the trucks. Apparently it is normal to burn oil in a diesel, yet mine doesn't. It is normal to have the oil turn black and nasty with a diesel, but mine remains clear and in the case of Rotella T5, it stayed brown the entire cycle of 6K miles. My truck starts easily and quickly every time. My transmission has 216K miles on it and it still shifts smoothly every time. My coolant is clean with no buildup in the bottle. I recently changed my fuel filter after it was in for over a year and it was barely brownish. No boost leaks, exhaust leaks or the like. Turbo fins look brand new. Truck does not smoke at all. I just don't modify anything and drive normally.

 

If you want to replace the manifolds, Riffraff Diesel sells OEM manifolds for $133 & $117 (depending on which side). Or if you want to get ceramic coated $489.

Really the amount to be spent is not all that bad considering what a new truck costs. The truck you have is going to be more reliable with the work you have done. Just keep it maintained. That will be what keeps it running forever.

 

Take a close look at your oil pan while your doing all this work to the truck, if its rusty and/or has holes in it or will soon all the things your spending your money on now may be pointless if you cant drive it because of bad holes, good luck

 

Easy explanation...It is because people post to this forum to ask for help much more than they post to the forum to say "My truck runs great".

 

Exactly! very well said my friend!

 

Exhaust manifolds suck to work on. At least I always had trouble every time I put a wrench on one, so now I let a shop handle that every time too. The IH uppies will solve any uppipe leak issues forever, and having the shop do that at the same time as the manifolds makes good sense. But I'd rather rebuild or replace the turbo myself cuz the shop charge for that would harsh my cost/benefit comfort zone. A rebuild kit or a ebay rebuilt or a GTP38R upgrade gives you a bunch of options. And with all that stuff fixed you'd have a pretty nice truck.

 

jc8825, I'm in your camp... more or less. I didn't buy my truck new because I object to buying anything for $60,000 that I can't live in or sail. This left me with buying a vehicle that I had hoped was treated well. They are usually easy to spot, but my vehicle was just treated rougher than it looks, and like woodnthings said... it's still way cheaper than going all new.

As for why I chipped: The economy tune and the tow tune will pamper my transmission in a harsh environment far more than the stock programming ever would. The decel tune goes a lot easier on the brakes with the mountains I live on and around. The warm-up tune takes some of the bite out of the winters we have. The quiet tune might seem frivolous to some, but I don't like shutting "Stinky" down at the coffee window when it's below zero. I completely agree with your attitude about modding the truck to make g-forces, smoke, and noise... but not all mods are for that purpose. Some people just have more challenging uses for their trucks than others... that's why I look for the words "superduty" and "heavy duty" when I buy stuff.

jc8825, I hope you don't take my response as an affront... you just used the words "I don't understand" and I just offered up my point of view for the sake of understanding.

woodnthings, I couldn't find that product when I was on their site... but you can bet I'll look again. Thank you for that.

John2001, is your suggestion from your personal experience, or is this a common problem that I should watch out for? I haven't read anything on this. I can say I use synthetic oil and nothing weird has come out of an oil change yet.

 

Its both. Its a common problem that I am having too. The pan itself will rust and rot out causing oil leaks, if you do a search youll be able to find many threads about it

 

I was really thinking about the same thing. I'm wrestling with the idea of having everything fixed while it's all apart, or getting the turbo rebuild kit from riffraff and doing it myself before it hits the shop.

As for the nice truck comments, this has been a great truck. My wife actually enjoys riding in it and we go on big trips with the truck, even though we have more economical options in the driveway. When it comes to driving over the mountain passes in the winter, "Stinky" is the only rig we'll take... it is so authoritive and stable. I just got hit with multiple and simultanious failures in the last six weeks, and it gobbled up my sailboat downpayment fund... causing great internal stress. At least I'm not paying interest just to keep it running.

 

So far:
$5k for the HD4R100 (big difference from the 4R100) - $4200 John Wood Automotive - Services
$1.3K for a couple of injectors - Riffraff Diesel: Stock Rebuilt Injectors

Just saved you $1100 and the John Wood trans is exponentially better than a Ford HD...

 

$4200? Installed... 34 hours after I called the dealership with a smoked transmission? Time was a factor, so BTS or JW was out of the question or I would have ordered one of those. Now we have our 3rd vehicle in the driveway and time to let the truck sit until it's fixed.

The $1.3K was for two injectors, repairing a problem with my 4WD, and troubleshooting time for myriad issues that have now been resolved (other than the exhaust). Don't worry Riffraff, I still have stuff left to buy and you, too, will get a piece of my sail boat.

John2001, I'm looking into that. Thank you.

I'm putting everybody else's kids through college and I get a nice truck out of the deal.

 

Problem for those folks who live where they use salt on the road in the winter...best to check it and deal with it early, rather than late. Early, it can be painted with POR-15 and/or bedliner paint...too late and the engine has to come out to replace the pan.

 

Click on the links in my post. That will take you right to the manifolds.

 

Excellent point!
If I started a thread every day that my truck started and ran with no problems then that would be over 3000 boring threads.