Hello, I've been searching for an oil leak on my 7.3 turbo diesel, After reading some posts I was confident it was the HPOP seals, But after a good cleaning and looking a little closer I've narrowed it down to the oil cooler.

My question is, Is it possible to remove the oil filter housing and cooler without removing the front housing?
I saw a video on Utube that showed the hosing and cooler being removed and reinstalled without removing the front hosing and seems like that would be easer, And save a lot of time.

Has anyone ever been able to replace the seals like this before?

I would appreciate any advice I can get before I tear in to it.

Thanks

 

Moving thread to 7.3L Power Stroke engine forum.

 

Here is a good write up for ya.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post8856800

Not sure what happened to the pics here??
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...e-of-year.html

 

It takes enough force to push the pieces back together that I'm not sure that it would be easy to do. Also, you're much better off going ahead and replacing the gasket on the front head at the same time you do the orings and rear head gasket just to make sure that you're not having to dig back into it again in the near future.

Like I've said about this before... better one big mess than two!

 

I just got finished doing this job....If the front gasket is not leaking I would not take it off. Having said that, you must ensure that no dirt gets onto the cooler when you re install. If you do decide to remove the front header move the PS bracket out of the way. It makes life SO much easier to get to that top bolt. Trust me.

I used engine assembly lube on the orings. They were well coated. Get some fine emery paper to polish the oil cooler and headers.

1824736c1 ring $6.53 qty 2
1824735c1 ring $4.17 qty2
1858192c1 gasket $25.19 qty 1
1831665c1 gasket $26.08 qty 1

These are IH part numbers...I pushed the ends back together by hand and assembly lube of course!
Good luck!

 

I came at it from the fender well and a lllaawwwnnng socket extension. You can see the bolt from above the front driver-side tire.

I wouldn't leave the front header in there, you'll make a mess of the whole thing while trying to assemble it in place, and the parts don't always want to go back together - even when oiled up real good. The gasket there could be bad as well.

 

To me it's a no-brainer - remove the PS bracket as jetdoc suggested and you have access to remove both headers and clean up all the surfaces. You can use a simple bar clamp to pull the sections together. Dirty job but not bad and you save yourself a nice chunk of money. Go for it.

 

Take both positive cables of the batts...Loosen serpentine belt...Three bolts hold the alternator, remove them slide alt out of the way. Five bolts hold the PS bracket in place. Remove them and top bolt appears! Very easy to get to.

 

I think when I did mine I just loosened the bolt on the bracket and slid it forward to get to the bolts on the front head.

I would pull the front head just for the piece of mind that you got the oring in there right.

 

Thank you everyone for the help, I will go ahead and remove the complete assembly, I defiantly don't want to have to do this twice.

 

Front header gasket leaking on mine in this cold weather....I KNEW I shouldn't have messed with it...

 

The front gasket leaked after you changed it?

I have not done mine yet, I bought the gaskets, seals, Oil, Oil filter, and anti freeze but I haven't had the free time to work on the truck yet.
I have been seriously considering trying to pull it apart without messing with the front housing, Worst case scenario, I can still pull the front housing if I need to.

Did you have much oil in the anti freeze after doing the cooler?

 

I watched that same vid you talk about tom & it really had me thinking about trying it that way but IDK & with my luck I believe I'll just take the 2 bolts out of the front & do both gaskets & 4 o-rings. I'll put up with the little oil leak for a little while longer & do the job when the weather is a little warmer lol

 

I would like to wait for warmer weather to, But my cooling system needs flushed, (heater core clogged)And I'm past due for an oil change so I am going to have to devote a weekend as soon as I can.

As for the oil cooler, I will play it by ear and see how it looks wen I tear into it, As far as doing both gaskets or not.

 

Let us know how you make out