I recently changed the oil in my F250 7.3 and I saw copper flakes in the oil I drained. I know this means the bearings are going bad. Probably hard to tell but I wonder how much life this engine has? I got the truck at the end of last year. It has 247,000 miles. Oil pressure on the dash gauge reads slightly less than half way.
I guess I should go ahead and try to have it rebuilt before it goes completely?
Thanks,
Brian

 

The only place I can think of to get copper flakes is from the bearings. My factory oil gauge reads about 1/2 way when my accurate gauge reads 20-60 lbs. You could get an oil analysis done by a place like blackstone labs to see if the oil has other wear metals in it as well.

 

Shell bearings have a layer of copper between the white metal bearing material and the steel backing. If the copper is from the shells then urgent attention is required. However copper from bearing shells would usually be very fine particles rather than what you describe. Also if white metal was gone from the shells I would expect much lower oil pressure and bearing knock. An oil analysis would be good. But whatever you decide to do, do it quick just in case.

 

m998--jack the engine--reomove the pan--no its not easy--but doable--and get those rods and mains replaced now-----------------because when the clearance gets just a bit excessive--bang goes the rod--why--because diesels have much more copression than a gas---and the cranks most likely ok--their hard!!! just get stock bearings and put her together--

 

Yeah luckily I got another truck so I can let this one set till I can try it. Can the oil pan be removed on a 4x4 with the engine lifted up? Engine still runs good and I would hate to mess it up. I'll do the bearings when I get time.
Thanks
Brian

 

The book says it can be done. But it will have to be a bear to get the pan out from between the cross member and crank. I will say I have never tried it that way.

 

you can do it with in the truck, its a real pain to do, i had to replace bearings in the past with the engine in the truck, i would pull the motor out befour doing it in the truck agan.just unbolt the motor mounts put a block of wood on a floor jack jack up the oil pan, put 2x4s under the motor mounts and let it back down. is going to be one of thouse projects your going to say i'll never do that agan