Hi everyone!
Last Saturday I drove home an E99 F350 PSD. So far I really love it, and I've got a few questions.
This truck came with a TS 6 position chip, which does a really good job of waking the truck up, it also does a really good job of draining the tank fast it seems. Some of this I know for a fact is my fault, it's so freakin' addicting to romp on that skinny pedal! But I just filled it up and I promised myself that I'll be good and leave that evil little switch off. My question is, is the TS really that bad on fuel mileage? I drove it about 200 miles home and it burned almost half a tank, I think the guy had it set on 75 or 100, not sure though. I never really touched it until I got home. What is the best alternative on a budget?

Driving it home I noticed it had a pretty noticeable vibration when driving between 40 and 50 MPH, I thought this was related to the vibration caused by warped rotors, but when I put new pads and rotors on the front it didn't seem to help the cruising vibration, it did take care of the stopping vibration. What could this be? Driveshaft?

After driving it a bit, it seems to have an extra "tick" when running. It almost sounds like an exhaust leak, but you can't hear it outside, only inside when cruising or accelerating. I'm not terribly worried about it, I've read other threads about extra "ticks" and it's usually deemed as just another noise that diesels make. I just noticed it because my dad's excursion doesn't make that noise. Just curious.

So the owner told me it's an early 99, and I verified it by the build date, 7/98. What exactly is different? I think I heard that the turbo is a bit smaller but that's all I know.

I'd like to get gauges of some sort, I'm thinking pillar gauges but I like the Edge Insight. What would suit me best? I tow occasionally, not usually over 10000 pounds. I do hope to take it on some trips.

I'll upload pics later...

 

From what I've read running just about any tuner in the low to middle power levels should give it better economy than stock.

Cruising vibration, I'd start with verifying there's no bent wheel, out of round/damaged tire, then have the tires balanced. If the vibration is in the steering wheel then it's likely coming from the front, if you feel it more in your butt/feet it's probably from the rear.

 

 

Thanks for the replies! I will have the tires checked/balanced hopefully this week.

 

 

Checked the driveshaft, nothing looked out of the ordinary. The rear U-joint bearing looks fairly new, the rest still have a bit of rust on them. Is there a way to check the carrier bearing?

 

sounds like your U-joints are needing replacement most likely, I would also suggest following what others have posted, if you have the V8 in the front fender it will be the E99 truck (quickest way to tell an E99 from a late 99)

 

"The rear U-joint bearing looks fairly new"

Could be that when the U-joint was replaced they did not have the drive shaft indexed properly. Also may be one or more U-joints are bad. No play in them does not necessarily mean that they are OK.

 

old ujoints that the greased dried up can feel tight,but will start binding,squeaking,popping or cause vibration,then after a while will loosen up..

 

It doesn't have the V8 in the front fender but by the 98 build date I am assuming so?

Looks like I might be doing U-joints in the near future....
First I'll get the tires balanced and see if that takes care of the vibration and go from there.

 

Mine has a build date of 7/98 as well and it has no diesel or powerstroke badges on it at all. The front end does not appear to have been replaced either. What does yours have on it?

 

Yeah no Powerstroke badge either. It does have an aftermarket sticker on the hood
Now it works! Couldn't get the pics to work this morning for some reason...
If you look close it says Montana Edition where the powerstroke badge would be on later trucks, anybody know what that is? Thinking about peeling them off and getting some new style powerstroke badges

 

The link posted with all the early 99 covered just about everything I knew different. I know my dad's 99 F350 dually is the exact day for the cutoff for the different hubs. He had to actually call the dealer and run the VIN to see because when he was shopping for new hubs, there was different options size wise for the same generation. I thought I read somewhere that the early 99's run the OBS pedestal and turbo. A guy I work with has an early 99 and claims he has the OBS turbo and pedestal. But he also told me it had a mechanical fuel pump and then later said it was e fuel, so who knows.

Anyways, my 2001 F350 CCSB 4x4 auto I recently bought has 200K miles on it and has a super chips of some sort. With it on the setting I have it on, I'm getting roughly around 275 ish miles on a tank. I fill up right when it's at 1/4 of a tank. I've gotten a little less than this as well. I've only filled it about 7 times though. I'm sure it needs the injectors rebuilt as they are the originals.
One thing I have noticed is I too have a ticking. O had a 97 F250 with a 7.3 and my dad has a 99 F350 with a 7.3, as well as friends with 7.3's and none of them have it. I have read it could be anything from lifters, to pushrods, to injectors (specifically the #8 long lead injector) or that it's normal. On mine it sounds similar to the noise it makes through the intake when you have a bent pushrod (I bent a pushrod on my 97). So could be loose rocker(s) perhaps, or injectors for me. It bothers me but my truck seems to have good power. I probably only get about 13MPG though. Leveling kit with 285's but my dad gets the same with his 4" lifted CC dually with 315's. Same miles. I haven't had the truck long enough to get seriously into it though.

Vibration could be wheels/tires. Easy enough to take it in and have them balanced and checked for cracks. If that doesn't solve it, then you can at least check it off the list.

As far as gauges go, the 2 sets I see most frequently on here is Glowshift and Autometer. Glowshift is about half the price as Autometer. I believe you can get the Glowshift triple pod with gauges and wiring for around $250 on Amazon. Might be a little more or less, can't remember how much I paid. But I ran the triple gauge setup on my 97 and currently on my 2001 and I'm a huge fan. I also bought the Aeroforce scan gauge but have yet to wire that up. I don't know about the Autometer sets but lots of people run them. I personally like the way the Glowshift gauges look a little better anyways. For sure you will want EGT, TRANS(if it's auto), and BOOST. If you get a 4th go with fuel. I ran EGT, BOOST, and FUEL on my 97 because it was manual but I'm running the trans gauge in stead on my 2001.

I only have experience with DP tunes as that's what I had on my 97. I had stage 1 injectors from Rosewood diesel as well. That truck hauled *** for what it was. ECLB 4x4 6" lift and ZF5. It towed pretty well too. TS is pretty good. Better than the super chips I'm running.

How many miles are on it? From what I have learned over the last 2 years owning 7.3's is the consensus seems to be that between 180K-220k miles is the average range for when injectors need to be rebuilt. Obviously it could go sooner or later and examples of both are out there. But the most common seem to fall in that range. A huge thing with these trucks is the UVCH (under valve cover harness) and the CPS (camshaft position sensor). Both easy to change and not very expensive cut can leave you stranded. Lots of of people carry spares just in case. The UVCH harness can wind up leaving you with a glowplug and/or an injector problem. I've also read that if your UVCH is messed up, it can lead to IDM failure.

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Interesting about the tick, mine has plenty of power, I pulled approx. 10k about 60 miles and it loved pulling it. I need to drive it more and see what gets the best fuel mileage. Watched a video on youtube and apparently some guy got 18 on the 75hp setting of the TS 6 position, so maybe it was just my lead foot.

Hmm, it might not be a bad idea to get a UVCH and CPS. If I was to change out the harness, is there anything I should be looking for while I'm in there?


Another question, so my V10 steers like a car, I mean super easy. This thing is a bit harder to steer. Are all 7.3's just like that or is the PS pump going out? I haven't had a chance to check the fluid but I'll give that a look when I can. I do know it needs a steering gear soon, super sloppy steering and it ain't the front end, that's nice and tight.

 

A lot of people use TS here too. I see DP and TS both used a lot. I simply went with DP because my buddy did and it was familiar. But TS from what I have read is great. I may even use it on this new truck.

Well the UVCH is under the valve cover, obviously. Under there is the harness/gasket, glow plugs, injectors, pushrods/rocker arms, and the wiring to the glowplugs/injectors. Everybody will have different advice I'm sure but personally, if the truck is running fine, I'd leave it be. If you think or want to have the injectors done, I'd do the glowplugs along with them.

I don't know much about the steering. Mine seems fine, and that's about all I could compare to. I do know that just about every Ford has noisy power steering early on.