I recently bought a 1999 F350 SRW 4x4 7.3L Auto Crew Cab.
I need new front leaf springs, it currently has a total of 5 in the stack.
But I'm not sure what is factory??

I'd like to replace the battery cables also, vendor suggestions?

And I have been told it's necessary to pump the pressure pump's oil out to change it, true??

Thanks for you help guys

 

I could definitely help you out with the front leaf springs. Are you looking to go with stock replacement?

 

It is not necessary to "change" the oil in the high pressure reservoir. Engine oil is constantly circulated through there while the engine is running.

 

I am trying to go back stock. I like the ride height and I'm assuming someone has added at least 1 if not two leads to the pack.

 

If you want to drain the reservoir theres a plate on the front of it with two small bolts, but its kinda hard to get to. Or you could suck the oil out with a vacuum pump or something.

 

Removing that plate will do nothing to drain any oil. It's an access plate for the HPOP drive gear bolt, and if you remove it you'll end up having to clean off all the old sealant and resealing it. Again, it isn't necessary to change the oil in the reservoir.

 

I read a bunch of the threads on changing the HPOP oil or not. I was convinced that it was a waste of time. As you said, the oil SHOULD all circulate.
However, I discovered something interesting a few weeks ago. I had JUST done an oil change, after rebuilding the turbo. Nice fresh clean 5w40 Rotella T6. I drove about 250 miles of nearly all highway driving, and then changed the IPR valve. Not wanting to spill oil all over my valley, I used a hand vacuum pump to suck all the oil out of the HPOP reservoir first. It was BLACK. And yet, the oil in the pan (what came up on the dipstick) was still looking like fresh clean oil. Perhaps the HPOP reservoir oil doesn't circulate as quickly as some think? Or maybe "junk" and/or a little dirty oil tends to accumulate near the bottom - mixing with the new oil coming in, and it would be a good idea to occasionally suck it out and re-fill with clean oil?

I'm not sure how else to explain the obvious difference in oil color/cleanliness, especially after a very recent oil change. Definitely made me think...

 

The coating of oil on a dipstick is rather thin. If you were to pull the oil pan drain plug and put some in a clear container or test tube, I'm betting it would also look dark. That reservoir isn't the only place on the engine that holds oil when the pan is drained. Each head holds a fair amount, as does the oil cooler. If it was necessary to drain any of those, the engineers would have made it easy to do. I'm not saying don't do it; if you really feel the need to, by all means do. I'm just saying it's not necessary, and I personally don't feel it's at all worth the time.

 

The P.O. Said they pumped out, refilled, ran, and repeated the process 3 times every 2nd oil change. Made sense to me, however maybe once a year (depending on mileage) would be sufficient. Maybe not necessary, but at least you'd have that peace of mind I guess. Thanks for the input guys

 

I can say with a great amount of certainty that there is no evidence that changing the HPOP oil will in any way help, or prolong engine life. If I recall correctly, you're only able to suck about a half quart out of it anyway. Chris, (F350-6) has well over 400k miles on his original motor, and he doesn't change the HPOP oil out.

Just blip the throttle a couple times, and you've changed the oil in that reservoir several times over. Besides, the main downside to changing HPOP oil is risking buggering up the reservoir plug. Unlike the oil pan drain plug, it's not designed to be R&R'd on a regular basis.

 

We had never changed the hpop oil in 10 years until my dad found out there was oil in there and when we changed it, it was so black and disguisting looking.

Maybe the oil cooler isnt important but doesn't this oil in the reservoir go through the injectors? I dont believe it circulates that quickly either, but who knows. If this stuff does go from the reservoir straight to the injectors it would be nice for that oil to be changed

 

The oil is CONSTANTLY circulated through the reservoir. Changing it is largely pointless. It is the same oil that lubricates everything else in the engine. The high pressure hydraulic system is not a closed loop. The oil exhausted by the injectors goes directly back to the oil pan.

 

Who knows? Many here who understand how our oil systems actually work. Here's a copy and pasted post from one our FTE members, Curtis a.k.a. Pocket, who explains it very clearly:

Actually, the oil does circulate VERY quickly.

The HPOP on a 99.5-03 7.3L is a fixed-displacement pump that flows 7.2 cc's per revolution. The HPOP turns at 85% of the engine speed. If the truck is idling at 650 RPM's, that means the HPOP is turning at ~553 RPM's. That means in one minute at idle, the HPOP is pumping 3,981 cc's of oil. 1 quart is equivalent to 946 cc's. This means that at idle the HPOP is pumping just over 4 quarts per minute.

So yes, the oil in the HPOP system circulates VERY fast.

 

Yeah, ok. "By the numbers", this shouldn't be an issue. Data like what you posted above had me convinced, until I saw it with my own eyes. I'm telling you, 100%, that there was a clear difference in what came out of the HPOP vs what was on the dipstick ( thin coating or not).
Maybe everyone is right, in some way? Sure the oil is SUPPOSED to circulate at 4 quarts per minute. Maybe over time, something wears/gets clogged, that no one has figured out or noticed, that causes an issue? Here's a theory..... There is a screen/filter in the HPOP reservoir right? Over the course of many years and miles, the screen is going to do what it was meant to and screen debris/gunk,etc.. Maybe it accumulates down in the bottom, and contaminates the "fresh" oil as it circulates in? Maybe, due to the particular shape of the reservoir and/or the flow patterns inside it, "dead spots" of little or no fluid movement occur, leaving old oil to sit and "stagnate", slowly mixing in with "new"oil only at the boundaries of those pockets and/or only when the motor is shut off?

I'm just "spit-balling" here. All I know is what my own eyes told me; not some crazy guy on youtube,etc...