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2002 F350 7.3 Superduty XLT owned since new, 265,500miles, worked fairly hard pulling 13,000 lb horse trailer or snow plowing with Western MVP Plus.
Truck basically as delivered. No engine or drive train upgrades. Recently been losing 1.25 gal engine oil a month. Puddles of oil below front of engine on driveway. Best guess is front main seal as no evidence of oil in coolant or coolant in oil.
Plan is to replace LPOP locally with Melling M208, and OEM Damper (F81Z-6316-AA) from TASCA Auto Parts, their website shows 13 in stock.
Would appreciate any reviews of TASKA, suggestons of other sources, (F81Z-6316-AA) is actually commonly used as late as 2020 in various vehicles but seems to be special order @ many Ford dealerships.
Weather is delaying actually being able to get work done, but feel I might as well get parts in. At current mileage I think replacing LPOP & Damper, even though not cheap, is not out of line!
Tasca is legit. If ordered good many parts from them and always fast shipping. Usually have the parts in 3-4 days after I order.
Really? The 1 time I ordered from them it took 3 weeks, and when I called to ask about it they said they hadn't received all the parts for my order yet. Huh? You sold me parts you didn't even have? Their parts are legit though
Really? The 1 time I ordered from them it took 3 weeks, and when I called to ask about it they said they hadn't received all the parts for my order yet. Huh? You sold me parts you didn't even have? Their parts are legit though
Yea I've had good luck. I even ordered a interior panel from them. Turns out it was discontinued. Got a email few hours later that said it was discontinued but they found a dealer somewhere that still had some in stock and will get them to drop ship one to me. Still had it in 3-4 days from when I placed order.
Some stuff on there will show if they have any in stock or not.
Plan is to replace LPOP locally with Melling M208, and OEM Damper (F81Z-6316-AA)
I have replaced the damper on my previous owned e99 that had 180k or so on it. The e99 seemed to be a more rattly engine than after 99.5, based on hanging around these things for awhile. I did the LPOP (Melling) and Harmonic Balancer/Vibration Damper (OEM) together. After I came out of that outage, I noticed it was less rattly. Attributable only to the damper? Hard to say. I did have a failing LPOP which prompted the repair, and that may have played a role also in quieting things down.
For my '02, the LPOP will get replaced sooner than later as PM. I recently replaced the radiator since it had started leaking, but I didn't have time to order a LPOP. The new rad is leaking, so I will grab a Melling and replace it this time. I don't think you can go wrong replacing it now at >250k on it.
@Colorado Horseman have you considered using one of those UV dyes to confirm the source of the leak? I'd hate to see someone drop the money only to discover the leak was elsewhere.
I appreciate everyone's input!
Weather here is not likely allowing me to do repairs for at least a month (no inside shop to work in), which gives me time to diagnose further. I have an inspection camera and will check oil cooler headers, oil rail end plugs, etc.
Still tending towards front crank oil seal, but will investigate further as I can't do real work as long as temps bite me through my Carhartts!
Tasca has been hit or miss for me, usually they are quick to ship out but I have had problems with them in the past. If they seem to be the only one that has the parts you need I would roll the dice. Being that the front of the engine is relatively easy to get to I would clean everything up real well with brake parts cleaner or simple green and then monitor it to see where the leak is coming from. Sometimes leaks on the front of the engine can look like they are originating from a different spot being that the fan can blow the oil around. If the leak is too hard to locate the UV dye from tracer line is a great idea, I actually just bought some to find a oil leak that has been difficult to locate.
Tasca has been hit or miss for me, usually they are quick to ship out but I have had problems with them in the past. If they seem to be the only one that has the parts you need I would roll the dice. Being that the front of the engine is relatively easy to get to I would clean everything up real well with brake parts cleaner or simple green and then monitor it to see where the leak is coming from. Sometimes leaks on the front of the engine can look like they are originating from a different spot being that the fan can blow the oil around. If the leak is too hard to locate the UV dye from tracer line is a great idea, I actually just bought some to find a oil leak that has been difficult to locate.
TASCA is the only place I have been able to locate the OEM damper in stock (if we can trust Tasca's website). I have cleaned with Simple Green and parts cleaner as well as I can without pulling the damper. Seems to me the only test I can do to definitely rule out the LPOP or damper is to pull damper and look behind the LPOP for leaks. I think if I am getting in this deep I might as well replace the LPOP and thoroughly inspect the damper for runnout and slip of the rubber between inner and outer pulley. Since the damper is 23 years old, it might be best to replace at any rate. Not thrilled at the cost, but I don't want to do this again because I got too cheap to do it right!
I got my harmonic balancer from Rift Raft, OEM Motorcraft.
I'm in the same boat as you, lpop front seat leaking, will replace with a melling and also replace the balancer, hey
.it's 24 years old and 240k
