Im kind of thinking about pulling the trigger on an 03 F350 7.3. Truck has 190k miles on it. A buddy was telling me that the wiring harnesses are going bad over time and are almost impossible to find. A lot of what he says makes since but I also dont know if I completely believe him. I do know after awhile wires being exposed to the elements will get brittle and lose their continuity. Any thoughts or opinions???

 

Other than an engine fire, I've never seen a harness that needed a complete replacement. Connectors, splices, re-insulating from chafe points, yes. But it really is the least of concerns.

 

Any harness can go bad, but nothing like a early to mid 90s Mercedes. They had biodegradable wires.

Basically if there are issues with these trucks it's likely to be a component, not the wires. With some notable exceptions like under the 42 pin harness or UVCH. Which are very well known.

Got a link or more info on the truck? Folks here love to pore over the pics and offer suggestions.

 

Great idea about posting the link @aawlberninf350 . The truck is a little on the pricy side but if they are as dependable as everyone says then its a hell of lot cheaper then a new one. Please feel free to pick it apart. The good the bad and the ugly...

https://www.dieselofhouston.com/inve...tails/49383762

 

I wouldn't worry about the wiring harnesses but I wouldn't pay that price for that truck either.

 

As everyone has said, short of an engine fire your harness should be fine save for some patches/splices/repairs. I've got 316K on my original harness and no issues with it overall.

Fun fact: there are no more new OEM harnesses so you will have to find one being parted out or go to a junkyard to find one (OEM).

Nice looking truck. Lots of extras. With a build date of 09/02 makes it one of the last 7.3L Superduties to roll of the line (I think they stopped production October-ish 2002 and swapped over to the 6.0L).

If it were me I would spend the ~$100 and have a mechanic that knows the 7.3L give it a once over. This will give you an idea of the shape that it's actually in under all that detailing and shine. This can also give you ammunition to bargain if there are some larger issues to resolve.

Trucks in that shape in my area are listing for that or more. I paid just over $20K for mine in 2007 but it was bone stock. A rough KBB query says ~$14K for the truck (without all the goodies) so $20K is not out of the ballpark. There is a lot of expensive aftermarket stuff that has little resale value (KBB's value for 'premium sound' is going to be nowhere near what it cost to install that home theater in the cab) which is going to be a hard point to negotiate. Lift, wheels, tires, stereo, chip, etc., don't carry any concrete industry-standard value . If you just consider full-value receipts there's way more than $6K in aftermarket stuff on that truck.

You do have an advantage that it's not a private party selling the truck. They usually have an inflated sense of value since it was theirs and expect to recoup the add-ons at face value. Even if they only do consignment (or whatever fancy term it's called in the automotive world) they understand the business and you might be able to knock it down some.

Nitpicking here:

- On the plus side it's only had 2 owners and been a Texas truck the whole time (no rust belt) according to the website.
- The passenger's seat will need to be re-upholsterd eventually (the driver's side was already done - there's no way that the driver's side will look better than the passenger's side at that mileage). I did my driver's side for about $800.
- The degas bottle looks coated. It also looks like green coolant that was used on earlier trucks (don't know when they swapped over to the red). One picture it looks like the level is a little below the cold full line and another picture it looks pretty much empty.

I had my truck checked out by a "knowledgeable" mechanic and they still missed that the ESOF had issues. One check I wish I would have done is start the truck and turn the ventilation on HI (dash/floor setting) and the clicked the ESOF switch to 4HI. If the ventilation goes to defrost there's a vacuum leak in the ESOF system. Depending on where that is you cost some $$$.

Also, to close out the rant, I would read over this if you decide to go check it (or any other 7.3L) out: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...questions.html

Bottom line is that it's worth what you are willing to pay for it. There are those that have paid more for less.

 

Man thank you so much for the information. Ive looked up a couple of diesel shops in Houston and will see if they will give it a thorough inspection. A lot of those bells and whistles on that truck dont mean anything to me so like you said thats a whole lot of extras in the inflated price that aren't what I need or want. Ill see if I can get it to a shop and go from there. Thanks again for the information and suggestions...

 

 

I'm x2 on what brian42 wrote above. Lots of extras on this truck ... which no doubt has helped drive the price up from around $15K. It can be interpreted as a sign the previous owner(s) cared about the unit and paid attention to it. If there are accessories on it you don't like/need, you can always strip them off and sell them on CL. There's a buyer for just about everything although you won't get tons of money for most of it.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the harness at this time for all of the reasons stated above in various posts. If it starts, operates as it should and has full electrical functionality now, that should be proof enough that at least in this moment, everything works as it should.

Something you can do is a quick look-see and smelling of the majority of the fluids. Are they fresh? How do they smell (burnt or foul = bad). Check the dates on the tires and batteries. These are consumables and need replacement on a regular basis. I too would find a reputable diesel shop and pay a mechanic for 1-2 hours of their time to go over the truck in detail and perform a mechanical and electrical (where they can) inspection. You can see the cosmetic stuff .. you need a qualified eye to inspect what you can't see or don't know about.

Before I'd do that inspection though, I would negotiate for a better price. Once that is agreed upon, you can then say last step is to have an independent inspection to verify what they think they're selling / you're buying is in fact what it is represented to be ... i.e. a well functioning truck with no major mechanical, electrical or running issues.

Good Luck eddienelson and let us know what you end up doing. Curious minds want to know ...