So I have a 2002 Ford F-350 SD, SRW, with a 6.8 Liter motor. As crazy as it may sound I have almost 645000 miles on her without any motor or drive train repairs. She is even running the entire cooling system without a repair. To say the least I love this truck. She recently developed a major oil pan leak and has dripped bad enough to destroy the pivot point bushings so I have decided to rebuild her. I will also be replacing the radiator, overflow tank, and AC system. While the motor is out I will completely rework the steering and suspension plus repair some damage from an accident years back.

I am looking for suggestions on parts for her and where to buy them. I am thinking OEM based on the current results. The truck starts and runs without issues (except the oil leak) so I am thinking I will not need to have much machining done. Any suggestions for my little project would be greatly appreciated.

 

That is amazing! Can you share some more details on the truck and use? Have you owned since new and what were your service intervals and what oil did you use? When you say pivot point bushings do you mean for the clutch fork? I just went through a rebuild on my 6.8 as the PO had not taken care of it all. I didnt even get a thousand miles out of it and she only had 160k on the clock. On tear down it was obvious she hadnt seen much in the way of service which considering it came from a company fleet was disappointing. Mine required a bore and oversized bearings. I used a sealed power kit for the short block, fel pro headgasket/upper gasket set and cloyes timing set. I have about 10k since rebuild and its been flawless so far. Mine is a 99 so it got a PI head swap at the same time. I also used 99 pistons to up the CR, installed thorley long tubes, EV14 injectors, K&N intake and had a 5 star custom tune.
The one advice I have is about the rebuild kit itself. I got 10 pistons and rings but 8 of everything else and had to reorder parts as the seller could of cared less, was very frustrating since I had to reorder parts and have the delay. When you tear it down it would be great to see some pics of the internals.
I also rebuilt my front end in the last month and swapped an F550 dana 60. I used dana/spicer parts for axle/ball joints, motorcraft steering links and a blue top steering gear. Could not be happier with the results.

 

645,000 miles?? Holy canoli. What kind of oil do you put in that thing?

 

WOW! That's amazing! I'll be happy if I get 1/2 of that on mine!!

 

I am rapidly approaching the 300k mile mark on my 99 6.8
I use strictly Motorcraft or Valvoline synthetic blend oil and a ford oil filter .

 

I bought this truck second hand. When I purchased it had 125K miles on the original motor, was well maintained, and had been repaired from an accident on the left front end. The previous owner had failed to maintain insurance on the truck so he let the finance company repo it rather than pay for the repairs. I used the truck for several years while I went to school as a Hot Shot driver. I took the original bed off it and put a flatbed on instead with a pipe rack. I regularly placed 3k on the bed, 2k on the rack, and pulled a trailer that weighed 10k with the load. My girl never failed me or stranded me. Not even a battery failure. I do not know if this was by the grace of God or if Ford messed up and built something indestructible. I have put the original bed back on her now.

Maintenance wise I run nothing but Valvoline products in her. When I bought it, I immediately changed the oil/filter, trans fluid, coolant and thermostat, gear oil, and brake fluid. After that i maintained the truck as follows:

Monthly oil changes using Valvoline MaxLife and a Fram PH2
Yearly I changed the trans fluid/Filter and coolant
Every 2 years I changed the gear oil
Brake fluid was changed at every brake pad change

As far as repairs are concerned I have only replaced the following:

6 of the coil packs
Brakes
Alternator
Starter
AC compressor - 2 times
Output shaft sensor on the transmission that provides the signal for the speedometer (I actually believe the mileage is closer to 700k because of the failure and how long I waited to fix it)
All of the suspension and steering except the Bushings and coil springs - Multiple times

this is the list of every repair that has ever been done on her

I will be documenting the rebuild and am very interested to see what she is like inside the motor

I made a video of the truck as she currently is running. She started on the second turn over after sitting for about 6 months (Had to charge the battery of course). I will upload those shortly

 

Well it has been a bit since I have had time to mess around with the old truck but I have removed the motor and transmission. I am in the process of tearing down the engine and have found almost no wear and tear on the old girl even though she has 700K miles on her. I am adding some pictures to this post since there was an interest in seeing the inside of the motor on here. What you see in these pictures is me literally pulling off the valve and timing chain covers without cleaning anything inside the motor. The same is true for the heads except I blew the dirt that fell in the cylinder out before picturing. What I am astonished by is you can still see the cross hatch from the factory on the cylinder wall. I have never pulled a motor apart and seen basically no wear and tear or even sludge. I will probably bolt the heads back on after I replace the valve stem seals and clean up. The block and crank I will have cleaned, honed, and cross hatched plus new rings, bearings, etc.. I do not think I am going to spend as much on the rebuild as I thought I would.

 

Amazing how simple & reliable the timing components are on a 2-valve Triton and how much they managed to screw up the 3-valve motors (at least the 5.4). The cam chain tensioners are all metal?

 

Thanks for posting those pictures! I guess I'd be inclined to replace the chain tensioners and guides just because you're already that far in there? Are you just doing valvetrain/head refresh?

 

Good luck on your rebuild. I have a1999 super duty 6.8 with 260.000 miles on here and still towing with her.

 

Thanks for this post. I own a 2000 F250 extended with 70K original and a 2000 F350 Crew with 172K original. (Both V10’s) My wife says I should sell the Crew due to its high mileage but I love that truck. I’ve often wondered how many miles I might get and your post just tells me I better buy a huge gravesite so I can have them both buried with me.🙂

 

I am completely rebuilding the motor. I have the block, crank, and cylinder heads at the shop to be cleaned, honed, polished, and a valve job with new seals. I plan to attach more pictures of the motors condition very soon as I have been completely astonished by the lack of wear. Granted I maintained it. Definitely replacing the timing chain, adjusters, and guides.

 

I think it is just a matter of using quality products to maintain this motor. You should get many more miles out of the V10

My ex-wife used to tell me that too. That's why she is my ex-wife. 😂🤣😂🤣 (Just kidding) Keep it maintained and it will be fine in my opinion.

 

Looking for opinions on my rebuild. Should I replace the rockers and lifters on my motor? There are not any signs of uneven wear or damage to them. This motor had 700k miles on it, ran perfectly, and showed almost no signs of wear on anything. I just picked up my parts from the shop since they were telling me that it would be another month before they could even do anything with them. I have cleaned everything at this point but am debating not replacing the rockers and lifters since there are no visible signs of wear or damage. My thinking is that since I am not replacing the cams because they are not worn and spec out, why replace the lifters and rockers? Any thoughts on this subject would be very appreciated.

 

I would at replace the lifters/lash adjusters. It isn't a huge expense and way easier to do when it is apart. They can get stuck or squishy if the springs inside wear out.