I am the proud owner of of a shiny, new-to-me 2000 F250 diesel. It has 156,000 miles on it(I have actually had it since Feb). I am new to the rumbling whistling world but love it here so far. I only drive the truck on weekends sometimes and when I need my black smoke fix. I got the truck at a deal as I was having to give up my '89 f150 to be my sons first truck. I am an ex-mechanic but haven't got any diesel experience at all. I do 99% of my own work so am fairly mechanically capable. I am very religious about maintenance. I have 175k mi on the f150, 330k mi on a Nissan pu I normally drive, and have gotten over 200k mi on all my wife's cars through the years with no engine, transmission, or differential replacements. I did have to put bearings in the Nissan tranny at 270k mi(pfffff! Imports!). Sorry to be so long winded but I wanted to give some background.
The F250 has a Banks Ottomind computer, wastegate actuator, inter cooler, exhaust system, trans module and EGT & boost gauges. All of these have been on there since the truck was almost new. I added oil temp and tranny temp gauges and an extra tranny cooler. Everything seems to be great on the truck as I haven't had any problems thus far. It has plenty of power and gets 17.5 mpg on the road if I drive sanely.
I am interested in what mods I need to do to make this truck as bulletproof as possible. I have been here wadding through all the mods here and there are just too many for me to decipher which ones increase dependability. Suggestions?

Ryan

 

Dependable wise these truck are great. I have 245,000 miles on mine with no problems besides a tranny. I would recommend fuel filters every 15 to 20k, oil changes every 4 to 5k depending on what you do with the truck. Definatly do what every needs to be done to keep the tranny cool. If you want you could do arp head studs for security. Beside the normal maintence take care of her and enjoy the truck

 

I plan on the Oil changes at 5k intervals and the fuel separator on top of the engine at 10k intervals. 70% of my miles are highway to the hunt club or trips etc. A few quick trips 3-10 miles.

Ryan

 

Do the 7.3L's need the head studs like 6.0's?

Ryan

 

The 7.3 is waay more bulletproof than the 6.0. I haven't seen head studs get talked about here much, but if you go for more power... they are good security like Firefighter 1406 said.

Transmissions go out. BTS, John Wood, and the HD 4R100 are popular here, with BTS being the top contender. Torque converter and the valve body are a big difference, but I'm not a transmission guy.

Air gets in the fuel after a while, the Hutch mod fixes this. Riffraff Diesel FRx (or unit like it) is great for eliminating the air deadhead that is a problem with the 7.3L.

Oil bypass filter is a great way to extend the life of your oil and engine.

I'm on a quest for more durability and better MPGs, as well as a few others here. Click the links in my signature to find some things that are working so far.

 

That's why I said if you wanted security you could do them. These engines take a lot of abuse before they give up the goat.

 

Woops! I missed Firefighter 1406's suggestion and went straight to answering Punisher29073's question. That came across as disrepectful, which was far from how I wanted it to come out. My post was edited to fit the reality. Sorry.

 

Ok Firefighter, i just wanted to make sure i wasnt missing something. Thanks.

Ryan

 

Says who ???

 

Is there anything i can do to help prolong the life of my tranny. I have added a cooler and the temp on it now stays around 150-175. 175 being on those 110 degree days here is SC. I also have an external canister filter i was contemplating putting on the tranny lines. Any word good or bad on that?

Ryan

 

It has plenty of power and gets 17.5 mpg on the road if I drive sanely.

If this is the case, just drive it and change the fluids. Also read this forum and learn about the 50 cent mod, and insulating the PS hose and wiring harnesses against chafing. Do the Hutch mod. Then, just drive it.

 

Install a 6.0 tranny cooler, they are better than any aftermarket unit and its almost a direct swap.

 

Change the fluid at recommended intervals, that is the single best thing you can do to maintain the health of your transmission. If you aren't having your fluid tested at a lab, then changing trans fluid every 30k miles is good practice. I run mine 45k-50k between changes but the fluid is sampled every 15k-16k so I can see how it's doing.

The 7.3 is quite reliable on it's own and doesn't need any modifications to keep it from failing. There are some issues that appear to pop up more often than others so we've assembled a list to address those items.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...on-thread.html

The most common thing that I am seeing lately are leaking soft parts on top of the engine and failing HPOP hoses. For around $550, you can get all the parts you need to replace all the soft parts up top....HPOP o-rings and non-serviceable plug, new HPOP hoses, turbo pedestal o-rings, EBPV rebuild kit, fuel bowl rebuild, FPR rebuild, up-pipe gaskets (I prefer the Ford gaskets vs the Fel-Pro units..). It will take the majority of a Saturday to take it all apart, replace everything and put it back together. You may want to plan for a full weekend if it's your first time diving into these engines.

 

I haven't gone crazy with the mods like some of the guys here have, but of the ones that I have done, the John Wood valve body in the transmission made the biggest difference for me. I waited a year to do it, I wish I would have done it the day I bought the truck. I guess it kinda depends on how yours is shifting.

At the same time, I installed a 6.0 cooler, but it sounds like you have supplemental tranny cooling covered.

Make sure you check the cam position sensor, you'll want the latest revision of that. Cheap part, easy swap. Ford actually had a recall for this.

 

Statistics... nothing more. Nobody plays cards with me because I track stuff in my head.