Compression Testing Question
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From: North of Greenville
Compression Testing Question
I have a brother-in-law who is getting ready to get a 2001-2003 Excursion with a 7.3L PSD in it. He'll be pulling a small race boat with it, but nothing else really. He's been asking me lots of ??'s about the 7.3, and I've been able to help him out so far, but tonight he asked something I need input from you guys on, especially you guys who have spent much more time than I (which isn't much) in wrenching on the engine. Here it is.
How easy is it to perform compression testing on one of our 7.3's? He is pretty sure he'll end up buying frmo a dealer, and wants to do the compression testing before he drops the bills on it. He's pretty savvy with the wrenches himself, but moreso on his 60Hp power heads for his racing boat than with a diesel.
How easy is it to perform compression testing on one of our 7.3's? He is pretty sure he'll end up buying frmo a dealer, and wants to do the compression testing before he drops the bills on it. He's pretty savvy with the wrenches himself, but moreso on his 60Hp power heads for his racing boat than with a diesel.
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From: Central, Al
Compression test is not something the seller is going to want to do, You may get him to ask for a Cylinder Contribution Test, Buzz Test, KOEO, and KOER. If anything is amiss then maybe he could talk then into the compression test.
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A blow by test will be much more acurate on this engine than a compression test. International does not even give a spec for compression in their service manuals, although it should be in the range of 450 psi.
Not sure if ford gives a spec.
Not sure if ford gives a spec.
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Post Fiend
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From: Middle Tennessee
Originally Posted by blown99
A blow by test will be much more acurate on this engine than a compression test. International does not even give a spec for compression in their service manuals, although it should be in the range of 450 psi.
Not sure if ford gives a spec.
Not sure if ford gives a spec.
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From: Millbrook Alabama
Originally Posted by F250_
He's pretty savvy with the wrenches himself, but moreso on his 60Hp power heads for his racing boat than with a diesel.
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From: Rio Rico, AZ.
Originally Posted by bdrummonds
Just curious what kinda racing boat is it with only 60Hp power heads. back in the 90's we were makin 360hp out of Mercury 2.5L blocks. Sorry Pete didn't mean to hijack.
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From: North of Greenville
Brandon and Kwik. He's racing in the F3 class of what I call little "sprint" boats. It's only his second year racing, but he just purchased what was last year the fastest boat in his class from a guy in Minnesota who is moving up to the F1 class (Donny Lick). The heads are original 60 Hp Mercury heads, but the F3 class only allows very minor modifications. The allowed tolerance for larger bores on rebuilt heads is small, and not enough to let them develop the max Hp you can get from those heads. I think that most of them are running in the 90-100 mph range within the allowed modification limits.
The picture below shows two of these boats in action, the white one being the one my brother-in-law is now racing. At the time of the pic, though, Donny was still racing it.
The picture below shows two of these boats in action, the white one being the one my brother-in-law is now racing. At the time of the pic, though, Donny was still racing it.
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From: North of Greenville
OK, guys, thanks for the input on this Compression testing issue. My gut feeling was that it was going to be more involved than my brother-in-law would be able to navigate at the dealer. He's also in the situation where he's probably going to have to fly to the truck location to look at it (he's in Miami and most of the vehicles he's finding are in Texas).
I also told him that the impression I have received from all my time in here is that it probably wasn't a potentially serious issue for a 7.3 with 100-140K miles on it. He's been looking at one with only 65K miles, but has also seen that he can drop $5-6K off the purchase prices to stick with the 100-140K mile engines.
Alan, right now he doesn't have AE or any other type of scanner equipment... are those tests something that the dealer could provide easily enough to justify asking them for it?
I also told him that the impression I have received from all my time in here is that it probably wasn't a potentially serious issue for a 7.3 with 100-140K miles on it. He's been looking at one with only 65K miles, but has also seen that he can drop $5-6K off the purchase prices to stick with the 100-140K mile engines.
Alan, right now he doesn't have AE or any other type of scanner equipment... are those tests something that the dealer could provide easily enough to justify asking them for it?
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From: Millbrook Alabama
Way cool on the pickle forks, I forgot all about the lower classes of those boats. After we had talked at lunch (about Miami and your BIL) I had a mental picture of a 30' Skater Kat with triple 60's hangin off the transom. It just didn't seem right.
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From: North of Greenville
Yea... he wants to get a couple of years under his belt in the lower class and work his way up to the Formula 1 Unlimited Mod class later on. I haven't seen one of his races yet, but he is supposedly doing OK for being such a newbie to the circuit.
