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Old Feb 10, 2012 | 06:36 PM
  #1  
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I'm back

After a year and a half of being out of the 7.3 world since trading for a 2009 6.4 (STUPID), I traded it back for a 7.3! I found a sweet, very clean 2003 with 6 speed manual, 4wd in the floor, extended cab. Pawpaw used this truck to pull his 5th wheel to the beach here and there and put 86k miles on it.

With this virgin beauty, I'm planning to start with basic mods (Hutch/Harpoon, 6637, MBRP 4") but want to be able to build off of them down the road. Just looking for economy right now and want to buy a tuner. There is lots and lots of DP tuner talk around here which I know very little about so I was looking for y'all to school me on what to start off with.

Also, this truck has power door locks but no key fobs to unlock the doors. I've not seen a truck without fobs since mid 90s and I'm wondering if they were just lost or did it never even have that option?? How can I tell?
 
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Old Feb 10, 2012 | 07:01 PM
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Originally Posted by tbirdage
Also, this truck has power door locks but no key fobs to unlock the doors. I've not seen a truck without fobs since mid 90s and I'm wondering if they were just lost or did it never even have that option?? How can I tell?
Buy 'em off of ebay, then program them yourself. That's the cheapest way I've found to replace mine.

Stewart
 
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Old Feb 10, 2012 | 07:37 PM
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Originally Posted by tbirdage
Also, this truck has power door locks but no key fobs to unlock the doors. I've not seen a truck without fobs since mid 90s and I'm wondering if they were just lost or did it never even have that option?? How can I tell?
Check with the PO and see if it came that way. My 2000 came that way, power door locks and no key fobs.
 
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Old Feb 10, 2012 | 09:08 PM
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Welcome back !
 
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Old Feb 10, 2012 | 10:41 PM
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Welcome back. Buy an autostart. Then they will program them for ya.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 07:20 AM
  #6  
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I just went through the same thing. You can turn your ignition key on to run position(just before crank) then off. Repeat 5 times and the last turn if your doors lock then you have the option on your truck. If you had a remote that would be the time you press the button to learn the remote into the truck, if the door locks when you press the remote it was learned. I was told if your truck doesn't have the option it will not lock the doors after turning the key 5 x. This is what I did on my 2000. I would assume its the same on all 99-03. Good luck.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 09:41 AM
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This is exactly what I was looking for! Crewcab Turbo...I referred to my manual and it actually called for 8 key cycles ending in "on" but no luck with the doors locking. So...Diesel fitter, this leads me to shopping for an auto start that will delay to allow my glowplugs to burn and I'll need to override my clutch start switch, and of course, I'll need to unlock my doors. There are millions and millions of auto starts out there and I want to put a good one up in her Can y'all suggest a good unit?
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 10:01 AM
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Originally Posted by tbirdage
I referred to my manual and it actually called for 8 key cycles ending in "on" but no luck with the doors locking.
It's worth one more try. Like Crewcab Turbo said, try just 5 OFF to ON turns stopping at ON. That is what worked for me. MY manual says that eighth turn should end at ON but that is impossibe and confusing. I ignored that statement and 5 cycles worked. Good luck.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 10:10 AM
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The manual I read said 8 also. Not sure why mine was 5. I got my remotes locally at battery's plus store. Autozone has them too. A place online sells refurb remotes for cheap also.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 10:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Crewcab Turbo
The manual I read said 8 also. Not sure why mine was 5. I got my remotes locally at battery's plus store. Autozone has them too. A place online sells refurb remotes for cheap also.
If you start at OFF and turn it to ON 5 times and counting each turn from OFF to On the fifth time you turn it to ON is actually the 9th turn. Don't know where they came up with eight. The 8th turn would leave it in the OFF position.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 11:11 AM
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Nope, no dice. Tried it from off to on 5 times and ended at on and there was no indication. I had a '02 and I'm thinking it had a little bubble looking reciever in the dash for the remote entry. This truck doesn't have that. So, hopefully there is a good aftermarket unit out there to remotely start my manual trans diesel.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 11:43 AM
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Why did you go back to a 7.3 from a 6.4? Something wrong with the 6.4?
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 12:22 PM
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The biggest problem was the payment. The truck was loaded and warranty was getting close to the end. Second problem was the lack of fuel economy. I was lucky to get 12.5 MPG. Third problem was the expense to add any type of performance upgrades.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 05:41 PM
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I would have changed the exhaust with a off road one put in some tunes and told no one and watch your MPG go up.
 
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Old Feb 11, 2012 | 06:12 PM
  #15  
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I've done some looking today on the remote start units and I think it will be quite risky to put one on a truck with a manual tranny. So...I think I'm going to just go for a remote entry system to unlock my doors. I'd really like to have a Ford unit or a Ford "looking" unit. Wonder if I could get one out of a junk yard and it plug and play?? Where would the unit be located on the donor truck?? So what's the skinny on a tuner? What will a DP do for me and what should I get from them?
 
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