For quite a while now I've had a sneaky suspicion that I probably had a bad cylinder. Especially after CNC fabrication told me that my injector number two looked pretty nasty and that it looked like a potential bad cylinder. I've always heard a little bit of a weird sound with my truck that I never heard with anybody else's but nobody else ever heard it so I was just assumed I was crazy or paranoid and i still may be. Well, I had to find a brake fluid leak anyway and decided to look for oil leaks again and I noticed that everything behind the dipstick was covered in oil. just a little residue but everything behind the dipstick at the top of the engine. So I cranked the truck and took the oil cap off and sure enough, puff, Puff, puff etc. I can feel the pressure puffing out against my hand. Still not enough to blow the oil cap off but, I can feel it now. I don't know if it was just a week cylinder that has gotten worse or what but, I know the blow by didn't seem this bad not that long ago when I first put the injectors in and checked it. Some of you may remember the videos that I posted then. I haven't been running my truck hard and I deleted all the hot tunes shortly after putting in the new injectors and trying them just because I did not need the power. I left a 60 HP performance tune on and that was it along with the stock tune, hi idle etc. well I think I definitely have a weak cylinder now. For whatever reason. Still seems to run great and is still pulling my trailer's great but, this explains my oil consumption, explains the oil coming out the top of the dipstick due to crankcase pressure, etc.

https://youtu.be/FAB9veAH6eQ?si=DZbItrUTpUySOgIl

 

How do you want to proceed with this? You use this truck for work, correct? Assuming yes for now on my end. How long can you afford it to be down? Balance the lost income against the cost of finding a second engine and getting that one rebuilt, taking your time vs melting the bank account, etc. Lot's to consider if this truck is your livlihood.
Completely different set of rules if you don't have to rely upon it for earning a living.

 

Not a day goes by I don't use this truck. It tows a lot and heavy at that. I often weigh 22,000-26,000 total. I may have gone over that once or twice but imahe doesn't tow everyday but is always loaded with tools and stuff.

I'm wondering if I should just run it and add oil for awhile since it still runs on 8 cylinders and runs good at that. Pulls strong and does everything I need and more. So maybe I can run her for awhile and get through the winter and plan some time in the summer when I have some more money. How long does a rebuild take? If I did it start to finish could it be done in a week of solid work?

Should I get an oil analysis?

 

It's easy to get an engine swap done within a week's timeframe. With mine, I closed the shop for a 4 day weekend and swapped mine out for a Ford reman. Had it done and the shop cleared for business as usual before the weekend was over. Nearly impossible to pull your existing engine, get it rebuilt, then back in and running within a week's time. That's where getting a rebuildable core comes in. Have it all done and ready to go before you take your truck into the shop for engine removal. Lost income is very expensive and every week lost is just as expensive, or more so than just spending the money up front getting that exhange engine. To the point of finding out if buying another truck is better money spent. You can write off the payments at tax time.
Yes, you need to start with an oil analysis.

 

Yup signs of a rebuild in the future. You can actually see the oil fill cap bounce when it's on the edge.

an engine swap can be done over the weekend granted you have all the tools to do it and have the donor engine ready install.

 

I personally would not get a ford reman: It does have the upside of being quick.

Rebuilding your engine...

• Whether you have a preexisting relationship with a good shop (this is assuming that you know how to qualify a shop's work)
• How far out that shop is booking
• How long it'll take to get parts (how many you have on hand) and tools
• How much machining you need done
• How many times you've built engines before
• What kind of power and longevity you're building to
• Whether you're the kind of person who leave well enough alone if you find things that are sub-optimal or done poorly

...it could be months or years of downtime.

Just an extemporaneous list of questions and thoughts:

Like how many cylinders are out of tolerance? If it's just one then could it be a matter of sleeving it, honing all of them, running new rings on the old pistons? Or will you need to bore and run oversized? If the heads are coming off are you going to have them checked? Valve recession, valve spring force, valve seat integrity, valve guide bore? Going to have the cam polished? What about the crank? Full rotating assembly balance or just journal polish (or nothing)? New main bearings I'd assume? Are the main caps showing signs of fretting or are the registers in good shape? Do you want to put in studs or a girdle? If so will need to bore and hone for the mains. Are you going to clean and refinish the deck and head surfaces yourself or have them machined flat? With a fresh motorcraft composite head gasket, even with studs, you might be limited to under 40 PSI boost based on what others have said. If you're running increased power can you keep it underpowered for several thousand miles? You going to take the time to prime and paint or have someone else do it? If you aren't sure the shop you're working with puts out consistent, quality work are you set up to accurately double check their measurements? You know the ideal break-in procedure after it's built? How clean can you keep your work space during assembly?

A "low" miles junkyard engine with warranty and some preventative maintenance and refresh parts would probably be the ideal if there's any in your area. Be sure to check running compression after it's fired up, and oil not long after. The warranties aren't usually very long in my experience so need to know it's all good pretty quick.

 

It is a balance of cost/timing and durability. An engine that is completely rebuilt top to bottom will provide years of service but will have a fairly large bill attached to it. If your time down needs to be minimal a good used engine can be swapped in fairly quickly so you would be back on the road. If you keep a lookout there are some decent deals around. My son picked up a complete 2001 2WD truck minus the box for $1100.00 and all he wanted was the transmission. The truck only has 68000 miles on it.

Rob

 

I vote swap in a runner to keep you going, put this engine on a stand, and start an epic build thread.

 

That was very self-deprecating.

 

That YouTube video is about a 6.0, not a 7.3. Personally I bought a Ford reman from RiffRaff when they were available and that thing has been a trooper of an engine. MULTIPLE trips pulling the trailer and at least a dozen times I looked down to see the temperature gauge up in the red zone because the blasted belt was slipping AGAIN.
It still holds fluid, pulls like a mule team, no leaks anywhere. Starts up like a racehorse at 3,800 feet and sitting for a week.
I don't know if Ford offers a remanufactured 7.3 any more, but the one that I got hasn't given me one bit of trouble. All my mechanical woes involve everything BUT the engine.

 

True, and that video is (well documented) anecdotal evidence of a single case. It could be that most Ford remans are fine. I was more-so meaning I don't think I could drop 16k on a Ford reman when there's a possibility I'd get something like what's in the video (which has layers upon layers of major issues).

You have no idea ; P

 

IMHO, a ‘good’ used engine is probably a better gamble than a rebuild. At one point I had (10) dead engines in my shop and most of them were ‘rebuilt’. A couple Ford remans, Reviva, Jasper...

To resemble ‘doing it right’, a rebuild will easily cost more than buying a running/driving truck. Ask Joel and Priuslover.

The reality is it can last a long time like it is. *I* would buy a running truck with other issues (bad transmission, wreck, UGLY, etc) and part it out after taking what I wanted. This is by far the most economical option with regard to $$$.

 

WOW on the video. And I was going to suggest going Ford reman. I recently called my dealer, and all of the 7.3 reman options are still avail with 2-3 day lead time.

 

LOL but on a serious note this is what I had came up with. Tpayne has an engine local to him for a good deal. I'm going to wait a couple weeks and get me a little buffer going and run up there and get it.

I may check in with Joel as well. I also figured since I'm going to be driving up to NC I may as well stop by Jason's place and maybe stay in a cabin if I decide to take a nap before driving back with the engine

 

Well I vented CCV to atmosphere in hopes of reducing the oil that is coming out the top of the dipstick by reducing crankcase pressure. Not only did it not help crankcase pressure one bit, I now have smoke clouds of oil coming out from underneath my truck in every direction at red lights LOL it's pretty bad.