So my grandfather is wanting to tade his 1999 7.3 for my gas motor chevy. I am seriously considering it but i need to know what damage he may have done to it. He had a habit of starting it without waiting for the glow plugs, reving it when it was cold. neglecting to put in any aditive for the low sulfer diesel and thats about it for the moment. I have seen it ideling at times and it seems to look like it was smoking grey or white, dont know why, have also seen it not smoke at all when it is ideling. but i have seen it smoke black with a load on it. I am also a college student a little straped for cash so what is the fuel millage of a stock 7.3 and what can be done to get the most out of the fuel millage?
thanks for your help i appreciate it this is a big decision for me i just cant decide without some info.

 

A little more specs on the truck like miles, if you could the build date since 99 was a split year. As for the smoke when its first started in cold weather most trucks do smoke especially if it wasn't properly glow pluged.If you know how too turn a wrench youself some help 2 this something as simple as a new relay or even a set of glow plugs might only set u back about a $100 There r many things that influence fuel milage and alot of things that can help but an average would be between 14-18

 

Glow plugs aid in starting, so if it's colder outside and he cranked right away without waiting for the glow plug light to go out, as long as the truck fired up it means those plugs are working just fine. That light means nothing, here's why:

Every time you go to start the truck, the glow plug light illuminates from 3-10 seconds, depending on ambient temps and barometric pressure. Now, the glow plugs themselves may be on during that time, might not come on at all, or may stay on for up to 2 minutes even after starting the truck. When the engine is already warm from driving (maybe you stopped in the store or something, just an example), when you go to crank the truck, the glow plug light illuminates, but the glow plugs never turn on. They are not needed on a warm engine. In very cold weather, and on a cold engine, you will see the glow plug light stay on a few seconds longer. However, when the light goes out, the glow plugs are still on, and can stay on for up to 2 minutes. After cranking the truck, the glow plugs can still remain on for a minute or two, depending on temps and whatnot. So as for your grandfather's habits of cranking up, don't worry about it. No harm done.

Revving the engine when cold? What do you mean by this? Are you talking about the engine idle coming up a bit? Or was he pushing the pedal to the floor and trying to redline the engine? The PCM on these trucks will automatically raise the idle point in colder weather while the engine is cold. This is part of the cold air package, and it prevents "wetstacking" as well as other issues. There's nothing wrong with it, and it's supposed to do this. Now if your grandfather was holding the truck at the rev limiter on a stone cold engine, then yeah you have problems. But I doubt that's the case.

Smoke at idle is what brnab1 pointed out. If the engine is cold, it will probably smoke a bit. As the engine warms up, you shouldn't see smoke at idle. Black smoke when it's heavily loaded is also normal. How much smoke you see really depends on the truck. A bone stock truck shouldn't have much at all, more of a dark grey haze when working hard, especially if you're on it hard at low RPM's. It's the lack of air, diesels need a ton of air, and the turbo is not spooling up at low RPM's. These trucks really kick in good at over 1800 RPM's. Now if he added a chip or programmer, then yes black smoke will be seen much easier. Chips and tuners add fuel for more power, that extra fuel results in more smoke until the turbo catches up. If he doesn't have a chip or tuner, and the truck smokes excessively, then he may have a boost or exhaust leak going on. It happens, and usually it's not an extremely expensive repair or anything.

The last part about the additive. I don't use any additives in my truck. I've tried them in the past, and almost all of them out there are for the most part, useless. If the truck was maintained properly, then you really have nothing to worry about. Maintenance is key, and keeping up with it is invaluable.

 

If it started without the glow plugs, then it probably wasn't cold enough to actually need them, that part should be okay. The smoking could be a problem but if it is only for a few seconds to a minute when it first starts that is probably not bad as brnab1 said. Black smoke when loaded on a stock truck could mean an air restriction probably nothing more than a dirty air filter.

If you are a college student who is strapped for cash, I would seriously think about it. Diesels are expensive when things need to be repaired or fixed, and that is to say nothing of the fact that diesel fuel is above $4 a gallon in most places these days. The cool factor of a diesel truck is certainly high, but things can get expensive to maintain or repair, so think about it.

 

Damn I am slow pocket already answered way better than I did.

 

And that's where you'll stay Jason..... RIGHT BEHIND ME HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Eat my smoke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11













Too much coffee this morning.

 

Jason, don't you hate when that happens. More so when someone writes a book and a perfect explaintion for the problem. And I come right behind them with 3 lines of general bull crap. lol

Good post Curtis. We will beat you to the puch one day.

 

the truck has 140,000 on it and it was made in the later part of 1999. the reving i am speaking of was when we were hunting and it was maybe 10 degrees outside my grandpa started it and instead of letting the truck keep itself running he took it upon himself to rev it up. i dont think he redlined it but i wouldnt have done it myself. let the truck keep itself going that is what the computer is for. i dont know how often he did this so i am just curious as to what if anything could have been damaged by this?

 

In that situation, nothing would have been hurt. There's no load on the engine so it's really not doing any work. Free revving it in neutral like that is fine. Unnecessary, but fine.

 

Isn't a puch some kind of motorbike from Austria? Have a nice ride, but that won't help you answer any quicker !

 

Welcome to my world.

Excellent job on the advice Curtis.