Tks @pirate4x4_camo loads of info there!
Yes, the cooling system will be the next one I'll tackle. Already got half of the parts on that list.
And tks for the other 2 lists, will definitely look at them! I'll keep everyone posted and add pics when possible!

 

Forgot to mention: only use OEM sensors. These trucks don’t like aftermarket ones.

 

Same can be said for many if not most of the components on these vehicles, Ford OEM parts are very high quality, you have to try hard to find a higher quality aftermarket part. Many of the so called “upgrades” people think they are making with aftermarket parts are in fact inferior parts.

Companies like riff raff , diesel o rings and ventures truck parts and of course Ford Dealers only sell the good stuff. Be cautious or simply avoid eBay and Amazon as they are full of branded knock offs and Junk parts.

Spicer and Motorcraft are both widely knocked off.

 

I don't think a blanket statement like "avoid eBay and Amazon" is accurate.

Parts and supplies made by companies like Bosch, Borg Warner, International, Motorcraft and what not can be purchased at deep discounts from online retailers such as Amazon and eBay. I fully support Clay and Bob (RiffRaff and Diesel O Rings) and God knows I have spent a lot of money on both of their sites. But, I bought some Motorcraft ZD-11 glow plugs on Amazon this past winter at about 15% cheaper than most other online retailers and 100% cheaper than you could get them at a Ford dealer for.

Sometimes aftermarket parts are just as good or better than Motorcraft. Take the Denso starter for example. Although, parts like Duralast and typical parts stores inventory should be avoided if they can be. Sometimes we have to make emergency repairs or no-notice repairs and we have to go the parts store route.

Just my .02 on the matter.

 

I've bought some Spicer stuff off of Amazon but I am cautious when buying from any on-line marketplace.

Maybe not a blanket statement, but I would say "buyer beware" when buying from any on-line marketplace. There can be good deals had but you have to do your due diligence. Some vendors are not as upstanding as others and you may not get what you think you were ordering.

I am willing to pay an additional cost for the peace of mind that I am getting the exact product I am ordering, which is why Clay and Bob have lots of my money too.

 

@pirate4x4_camo , @Sous @brian42 @ArmyLifer
I'm with you guys about being careful about where I get parts from. I'm in the motortrade here in UK for the last 10 years have a good understanding about parts quality. I like to use genuine stuff anywhere I can. And when talking about electrical stuff, I'm 100% on genuine parts.
My line of though is the following: if a part just failed, and most likely it's still original from the factory, and my car is 17 years old, that tells a lot about quality.
You get what you pay. US$50 for genuine, where it can last 15+ years, or US$30 aftermarket that will last 3 years, I'll spend US$50.
Great talking to you guys, have leaned tons in the last few months about these trucks!

 

hense the preface of "be cautious"

Ive bough enough "great deals" on name brand ebay parts that have turned out to be counterfiet that now if I want cheap I just use ebay to buy directly from china, likely from the same place place that ismanufacturing the knockoffs. so far I have gotten knock off Bilsteins, Motorcraft, Spicer, not Bosch or Hella but I am certain they are plentiful.

so like I said, be cautious.

 

This place is great for learning about things you can do to help the 7.3 and do them intelligently. I often can only wish I had my own garage to pull mine into, or a friendly local diesel gear-head shop that would be in to helping me with the idea of improving things _before_ they break, rather than get in the one week+ line with all the other already broken vehicles surrounding their shops all with owners needing immediate fixes so they can get to work every day. It is not always easy to find an experienced pro who has time to go beyond the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it that ever busier shops have to operate by.

I have put > 300K on my truck and recently learned that my state only allows you to use a license plate for ten years before you must replace it. Never experienced that on any other vehicle. Before that I drove a 2000 for someone else, moving it from 100K to 200K, then did the same thing driving a 2003. But that didn't reveal something about what life is like beyond 200K...

One thing I have learned, and seems to be routinely reinforced lately when I travel and encounter oh so many appalling stretches of pavement, even on four lane roads - is not to neglect the shocks and other miscellaneous suspension parts, like some of the support bars with little bushings at the connection points. Those seemingly won't change your daily ability to go down the road ... until the day comes when that does suddenly change.

I ignored the rear shocks for too long and I suspect this might have helped wear out the rear axle seals a little faster. If you smell gear oil around your rear tires, look for evidence of a leak out on the tire rim, and make sure the little venting tube that hangs off the bottom of the bed is all still there. (Driver side of the rear differential)

On the front, I feel the life of the hubs, ball joints, and axle shaft bearings could have been improved with more prompt changes of the front shocks.

Working off-pavement a whole lot, I (or a deer) so routinely crushed the front steering stabilizer sometimes called the "shimmy shock" (3x; I checked on the 250s that came along with the post 7.3 engines - Ford finally moved that thing up a fair bit higher), that I didn't replace one for a very long time. Seemed fine, until the day came that the the 2 pieces of the main steering bar came apart, and could not be replaced - because the threads supposed to hold them together were too completely worn down to hold any more.

Twice I have had battery terminals literally come apart on their casting/molding/welding/whatever lines from manufacturing, probably due to the inherent vibration of a diesel engine + the weight of the front end + bad roads. I don't know if "performance" battery terminals are available, but I now routinely tug on all four battery terminals whenever I open the hood as they can vibrate themselves loose/apart but still pass a glancing visual inspection. Never had that problem with a gas engine.

One time, the cable going from driver side battery to the passenger side battery broke apart, and the end came to rest on the metal tray supporting the passenger side battery. This wire was basically 12v hot, and now in vibratory sparking contact with that metal tray and I'm not sure how many other parts of the engine and/or frame.This then proceeded to ignite the rubber housing of the cable, which was just beginning to scorch the plastic casing of the battery itself when I pulled over and turned the truck off.

When I bought my truck, I did not know that someone had neglected to replace the little rubber wedge that snugs up the driver side battery on the metal tray it rests on. This was allowing excessive amounts of battery acid to leak out the caps, cause excessive corrosion on the terminals, and generally shorten the life of that battery.

Some of these exciting vibration gremlins can be masked by how smooth this truck can ride on a good stretch of pavement, and how towing can be almost effortlessly invisible to the driver. More than a few times I have found something like my water bottle or a screw driver or something sitting on the bumper or a bed rail, 50 miles away from where my space cadet brain left it there.

 

Great sharing @jackstraw

 

IF you haven't already done the H&H mod by now, given the age of your truck, it would be wise to buy a new fuel pick-up foot to go in the tank. When in contact with fuel and oil, plastics and rubber degrade with age, regardless of miles. That just means that yours is past due at this point unless it's been done before by the previous owner.

 

stopped by to mention what I have been learning about something I now wish I had done long ago: cleaning out the exhaust back pressure tube.

since I had never done this, I decided to just replace it. $50-ish from Ford, figured would be more for a twisty little tube. but this deep into the game, I figure that little pipe is packed solid.

my shade tree neighbor ran some codes through something on his tablet that did more than identify the code - it listed likely symptoms that would have been noticed.

for the one related to the EBP sensor, symptoms included being slow to warm up - yupp, this is the case now, though I otherwise take good care of the cooling system.

while watching a video on technique for cleaning out the tube, that mechanic mentioned a carboned up tube would be reflected in operation of the transmission, too - yupp, torque converter depends on the engine reaching a certain operating temperature, and I have been wondering about how that has been going lately on cold mornings.

cleaning the tube, and even the sensor some, carefully, would have been simple.

 

Tks @F250_ and @jackstraw , work added to the list! Will keep me busy and out of trouble for a while! lol

 

The tube itself is easily cleaned and re-installed if it is in good shape. Some of the fellas in the north have had to replace the tube due to it melting away thanks to the salt and chemicals on the roads.

I used brake cleaner and a flexible throttle cable from a lawn mower. The cable (which I still have and have used a couple of other times for odd tasks) looks like the one below, but without the bracket and cable going through it. It is rigid enough to push soot and debris out of the tube, but flexible enough to get around the bends of the tube.

As for the sensor, some of the time they can be cleaned, but most of the time they need to be replaced. The EBPS on my truck was so caked with soot that even after cleaning it very well, it was beyond repair. I bought a new one from RiffRaff and all was well with the EBPS and it's readings. I noticed a slightly smoother idle and a slight MPG increase. I have a ZF6, so any of the other stuff that relates to the 4R100 was not applicable.

 

The first time I just replaced my tube. After that I used plastic weedwacker line and my cordless drill to clean the tube out.

With dual alternators the tube was laborious to replace. Apparently the OEM one now is a newer design which allows for tube replacement with the lower alternator bracket in place.

 

As it turns out, that EBP sensor now had an output diameter quite a bit smaller than the International engineer decided on way back in the 1990s.

The tube might have still been clean-able, oh well. I would think re-doing really old injector seals would help keep that sensor happier too, but lets not burn too many Benjamins all at once now, OK?

The new sensor and a new CPS (both had stored a code), got rid of the once/20 minute brief stutter I suddenly started experiencing last week.

No way to know how much ‘placebo effect’ I was experiencing today, especially with brand new tires and a few rattling front end parts shussed too, but the transmission did seem ... smoother. Will need a cold morning to really think on this, but the shores of Superior or the peaks of the (WV) Alleghenies just might supply one, even in July.