So, I finally have some time to focus on my 2000 PSD again thanks to the snow. It’s not been moved in about 3 months. A bunch of you great guys tried to help me diagnose it in a thread I started back in November. Thank you again,and I’m really hoping to get some of y’all back in with me.
I bought this truck for the engine specifically. They re practically indestructible. My youngest son had one that had 380,000 on it when he sold it because he wanted a newer truck with more bells and whistles. Anyway I’ll only drive it when I pull my camper. 16,000 lbs dry
I’ll start with a little history. I bought it cheap knowing it would need work. It runs but misses but not consistently, when it is missing it emits a profuse amount of white smoke at idle that smells like unburned fuel and flunks the oil cap blow by test miserably.
I have cleaned or replaced every thing that the fuel runs through from the pickup in the tank to the IPR and fuel filter bowl to all new injectors, as well as hpop, valve cover gaskets and glow plugs. Little if any effect. No check engine light. No stored code. I bought a compression tester and I plan to check it before removing the engine for rebuild.
But, it has 285,000 on it and I’ve made up my mind to rebuild for longevity and reliability. I have talked to a diesel machine shop in town about the block and heads. Their estimate is $3500. Bore and sleeve, align bore, new cam bearings, re-size rods, rebuild heads, new springs, guides and seals.
Seems high to me but I have no experience with diesel and my gasser rebuilds are ancient history.
They told me that boring and re-sleeving is necessary. Is that standard practice? Is it recommended? I’m in if that’s what should be done. I just have no experience with this shop or diesel rebuild in general.
I watched a series of utube videos of a rebuild and there was no mention of that on the machine work he had done.
Also would appreciate any tips,
advice, recommendations, links to videos on removal, rebuild and re-install.
Thank you in advance.

 

I don't have personal experience with machine work on diesels but my understanding is that the outsides of the sleeves can get pitted due to cavitation if the cooling system isn't maintained properly. I monitor the coolant in my truck for the proper amounts of additive.

 

$3500 is more than fair. Or consider Asheville Engine

 

If they do good work and have a good rep, that price is really pretty good.

 

Thanks for those suggestions. Glad to know that price is ok. Also heard of cylinders pitting but I thought that it was only on wet sleeve engines. I’ll definitely be monitoring the coolant when I get it back together

 

The scoring that takes place from a broken piston or ring (your issue being one of those) and being driven in that condition will require a sleeve to be installed in that cylinder. Parked immediately upon discovery of problem....probably not. The main thing to remember is that the cylinder walls in these are already pretty thin and I wouldn't consider going past .030" on an overbore and would try to stay at .020" max if possible. The engine in my Crown Vic (7.3) needed two sleeves to stay at a .020" overbore....and that was from dusting from being run without an air filter at 154K miles.

Sleeves aren't the end of the world, just a little more money.

 

Thanks Dan V.

I kind of wanted to do most of the labor myself anyway,
but I checked the Asheville website. I like the idea of a warranty from Ford but I think if I save the money on labor I can spend it to replace some other things like the turbo and stand, water pump, thermostat, hoses, belts, fan clutch and then pay to have A/C pumped down and re-charged. Also want to do some mods that are not engine related.

 

I don't think the Ford Remans are at the top of anybody's list....I could be wrong though.

I went through one about 15 years ago. Hired out the machine work....just an overbore and some head work...It came to about $4500 with a set of reman injectors from Swamp's. Everything that is bolted to one of these 7.3's is expensive....even the bolts are expensive (like exhaust manifold bolts)

 

That's cheap, that's a lot of work for the price. Just in sleeving on my area cost me $120 a hole (I only did two that didn't pass the .030 overbore)
just in parts it's $1200+ if he uses OEM rebuild kit, head work another $250+ both head etc.

​​​​​I too am rebuilding my wife's 00 f250 7.3 already got a quote for just the bottom end I'm adding new valves, comp cam 910 springs and having the machine shop work the heads. So once engine is removed and have the machine shop check it over I'll post pricing on the work.

 

I’ve shopped price and OEM parts where possible + machine work looks to be about $7500. to $8000. I’m ok with that, I just wasn’t sure why boring and sleeving all the cylinders was necessary. After considering the cost of a new truck and how little it will likely be used I think this works for me. And If I put it together myself I will know for sure that everything that I wanted done is done.

 

I myself would lean towards this. Maybe something to consider?

https://killdevildiesel.com/collecti...roke-longblock

 

Boring is necessary because cylinder bores wear more at the top ("taper") and will cause the rings to continually work around the circumference of the ring land in the piston as well as take tension out of new rings. This taper also contributes to the loss of "cross hatching" in the cylinder walls which is essential for proper piston ring oiling. Sure, anybody can hone a cylinder and scratch it up but your rings are still going to hate life in a bore that isn't a true cylinder but a cone.

Who told you you had to sleeve ALL of the cylinders? Only the ones with scratches or grooves deeper than what can be cleaned up with a safe overbore are ones that need attention like that.

 

@runningman777 just had an engine rebuilt in central GA and can give you an idea what he has learned and invested.

 

Thank you for explaining the physics of cylinder taper on rings, I never knew that.

 

cleatus12r A local machine shop only gave me a ballpark price based on another recent customer job which included sleeving. I took that to mean all cylinders since they didn’t say and I didn’t know to ask, but after reading your post and some others I realize I just assumed that they meant all cylinders.
Since my engine hasn’t been disassembled and inspected there is no way to know how many sleeves might be necessary if any. I’m glad you helped me get that misunderstanding straight