So... our '22 F350 XL CCLB DRW 7.3L got the hiccups the other day, and we had to cut short our spring break camping trip to limp it home, offload the truck camper, and take it into the dealer bright and early yesterday morning.

What we expected to be a quick and relatively simple fix - replace the plug / plug wire / coil pack - or some combination thereof - turned into a multi-day affair. Local dealer was trying to swap the various pieces to other cylinders to see if the problem followed any particular part, and apparently it did not. This morning, they stuck a bore scope down in the cylinder just to check, and after conferring with their upline tech support, plan to replace all the above parts - plug, wire, coil. Except they don't have a plug wire, and won't have one til Monday. Assuming it works okay during their test drive (don't they always?) I should have it back next week.

In the meantime, I've gone down a bit of a rabbit hole looking into this. Apparently the plug wires are a bit of an endemic problem with these motors? Here I thought since this truck was a couple years past the debut, it'd be relatively trouble-free - past the whole cam/lifter issues with the early production models, etc. But now it looks like there've been problems with the plug wires since damn near the beginning, and there *are* updated wire sets out there, but no recalls. And there's still apparently a shortage of freakin' plug wires, that dealers don't have any in stock?

Are there any sure-fire solutions for this? I've seen a number of accounts where people replaced one plug / wire, then multiple plugs / wires, sometimes more than once. Is the solution the newer 'rev C' wire sets, or are there upgraded aftermarket wires / heat shields I should be looking into? Do I need to start carrying spare plugs / wires / coil packs 'just in case'?

We've got more camping trips coming up this season, some of them pretty long over some pretty steep grades (ie Homestake Pass outside Butte MT) and/or over the endless rolling hills in eastern MT / western ND. Getting stranded somewhere in the middle of BFE a thousand miles from home is not part of our vacation plans... but at least we'll have our 'home' with us

 

There was a service bulletin out about the wires that stated if one goes bad the dealer has to update all 8. The smart thing in this situation would have been to pull a valve cover and inspect the rocker arms since the misfire didn't follow the coil or plug/wire. If you have a lifter issue causing the misfire you will find out soon after they replace the plug and coil and you continue to drive it.

Ask the dealer to look up the previous model years (2020 & 2021) for service bulletins about the plug wires and replacing ALL 8 at once. If you don't trust the revision for the pickup plug wires you can purchase the heavy duty/rv wire revision. Don't buy from the dealership though, you will choke at the price. Rockauto had them for less than half the price.

WR6167 / LC3Z*12286*C is the revised heavy duty/RV wire. I couldn't tell a difference in them side by side other than the angle of the plug wire and the shielding being different to fit the angle.

 

Thanks, I'll poke 'em about the service bulletins and see what they say. I'm *hoping* since they were conferring with the upstream Ford tech support that most of this would have been on the list of things they checked/tried... I've had pretty good results (mostly) with this particular dealer as far as getting stuff resolved. But I'll see about getting some spares on order. I hear ya on the OEM pricing - I about had a stroke when I got quotes on replacing the connectors on the plug wiring harness on one of my 6.2L gassers in the past :/

 

TSB 20-2370 was for the motor homes with 7.3s and specified to replace all 8 under that TSB. If you got misfire codes P0300, P0316 or P0301-P0304.

 

Tagging for any late breaking news about this..... good luck and keep us informed, as to the outcome please....

 

Last fall, I had that issue on my 2020 7.3, 21k miles.
I self diagnosed and was on the road and found out the rural dealer had no inventory.
Bought a set from Auto zone. Replaced 1, and went on my way. (The set included a fiberglass insulation sleeve)
When I got back home dealer replaced the ONE wire on #2 cylinder. Sheeze!!!
I put the insulation sleeves on all 8 of the wires.
If another fails, I'll replace all with the current oem wires, and keep the insulators on them.

 

Well, the truck is back in our driveway. Dealer got the parts in, replaced the plug, wire and coil pack, and had the tech take it for a ~50 mile test drive. Supposedly ran it as hard as they could on one of the gnarlier mountain back roads in the area. No problems or codes at this point. The service writer did look into the TSBs, but didn't find anything *specifically* referring to the '22 F350 7.3L that mentioned replacing all the plugs. I know @OBS460 mentioned one for motorhomes, but apparently they didn't look there / didn't think that would cover a crew-cab dually. They did however drop it off in my driveway while I was at work, so kudos to them for that.

At this point, I think I'm going to order a set of the rev 'D' wires, plus a spare or two. I'm half tempted on my next day off to load the camper up and go flog it up and down a couple mountain passes at interstate speeds, just to be sure.

 

See dead 7.3 post. Better get a spare engine and a spare transmission. We’ve been stranded twice on this trip and are still stranded after 2 weeks.

 

Yeah I'll just spring for a spare motor out of pocket, and take it with me everywhere. Any suggestions where I should store it with the camper in the bed?

Seriously, though... I've been digging through multiple threads like that this weekend and I certainly don't envy your situation.
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Seems like all I can do at this point is take some reasonable precautions, and be mentally prepared for it if something comes up again. Seems like it's somewhat of a roll-of-the-dice whether it ever occurs again, or becomes something more.

 

Yes, I understand. I was just exercising some dark humor as I sit here hoping my truck will get fixed.

 

I hear ya... we've got our big summer road trip coming up in a few months, going from central WA state to western Nebraska to eastern North Dakota. Some pretty trying mountain passes, and a whole lot of rolling hill country, that were putting the hurt on the 6.2L / 6 spd SRW we had. That was a huge part of why we traded for the 7.3L / 10 spd DRW. Something about 5000 lbs of tiny house in the bed? 😉

Loosing power in some of those windy passes could easily lead to a loss of control (to some degree). And some of the territory in WY/NE/SD/ND/MT is a looong way for a flat-tow to a dealer. So yeah, the reliability question is going to hanging in the back of my mind there like the friggin' Sword of Doom.

 

Got a chance to look at the paperwork from the dealership. Seems a little bit different that what I got over the phone from the service writer but the end result was the same.

 

I bought the plugs from ebay CYFS-12Y-T6P for $74.99 (12 of them and I don't know why). The plug wires and coils came as a set from Levittown Ford Parts as a kit for $293.61 (part # M-12029-SD73). There were several email exchanges with the guys there to check on the latest replacement plug wires (since I followed several sites discussing the differences). They did send the LC3Z-12286-D plug wires. The original price quote had the "-A" plug wires. Replaced 5-8 initially and torqued to 133 in lbs. The coil clips did not come off easily. After pushing the retainer up and out of the way, I needed to gently pry the sides of the clip up with the edge of a wide screwdriver. Plugs were a bit difficult to remove and looked like some rust had formed on the threads so I put a small amount of anti-seize on the new plugs. I got the first 2 plugs on the passenger side easy enough by pulling the 2 hoses out of the way and tying them off. I had to remove completely the wheel well liner to get to 3 and 4, reaching them with a foot long extension. Putting that back on was the hardest part getting the holes lined up. I'm no mechanic, so 4 hours, but I took my time and did everything right. Price was right for my 2020 F250 7.3L gas engine.

Levittown Ford coils and plug wires kit.