That's a tough call, if it was me I would go with a new pump from Ford, if you can get it cheaper online form a ford parts dealer all the better. A aftermarket pump might not far to well but you never know.

 

When you busted something free in the water pump, where you spraying air from the inlet and it busted free out of the outlet? If not, that was probably the check valve, so you need to replace it.

If it were my truck, I would replace it. $150 really isn't bad. I put one in from NAPA (it was the only place around when I needed one) and it's been good for about 45k miles. I did notice the new pump sounded stronger when I put it in, and don't regret changing it (even though that turned out not to be my problem)

As for your expenses over the last couple of weeks above. I don't really count tires since even the 08 will need tires at some point. Depending on road conditions and what you bump into, the 08 may have required an alignment by now also. Balljoints/bearings, well how much would the new truck payment be?

As for the fuel system, even if you add in the cost of a new pump, if you had bought the 08 last month and put that same fuel in it, how much do you think that would have cost you?

Of course you'll have to understand we're biased here. Ask the same question up in the 6.4 section, and they'll tell you to get a new truck. Personally, I'm happy with my truck that has 269,000 miles on it and can still break 20 mpg's while empty. For me, the poor fuel economy of the new trucks, combined with one peek under the hood, convinced me to stay with the 7.3. I understand that most engine repairs involve pulling the cab off the truck to be able to reach the motor. Since I don't have a cab hoist out back and I'd run through the 100k warranty pretty quick, I can't see paying the additional labor for a cab R&R, not to mention the concern about things not quite going back together right after a certain number of cab off cycles.

 

Thats exactly why I didnt get the 08, however if I had gotten it I would have swapped my 2 week old tires over to it

 

The newer trucks have bigger sized rims, so the tires wouldn't have worked, and our wheels won't fit on the newer trucks.

Told you we were biased.

 

yeah, but the base model has 16's.

 

UPDATE

I finally got it all back together. I had some problems with the POS fuel pump from oreillys so I never even installed it. Old pump is back on the truck and the truck is driving again. I took it for a test drive and it still has the exact same problem that it did before I started this whole mess. I got home and took the FPR apart and cleaned it (it wasnt that bad). After assembling the FPR I tested it again and its still go the problem. Looks like Im back at square one, any ideas?

 

Well I'm glad you at least got things cleaned up to keep the problem from getting worse. As I mentioned earlier, I'm worried about your injectors. That will take putting the truck on a scanner that can monitor live data and do some tests to check out.

How far did you test drive it? Need to make sure it was 30 miles or so to purge any air that may have gotten in the fuel rails. How old is your engine oil? The fuel injectors fire off of engine oil, so make sure the oil is good. How old is the fuel in the drums, and are you still using an additive? If the fuel is older than 6 months, you might try putting fresh fuel in from a station to see if that helps anything.

 

With the earlier bad fuel fiasco, I think you fouled your injectors with some insolubles.

 

I drove it about 20-25 miles. I changed my oil less than a week ago and when I did that I had fresh oil put in with an engine flush additive and then that drained back off. I make sure the fuel is used before it hits a month old, so I doubt that could be the problem. Whats the next step? Should I try putting something like Stanadyne directly in the fuel filter housing?

 

No need to dump it in the fuel bowl, since once you turn the key on, it starts pumping the stuff in the fuel bowl back into the tank.

I'm not a fan of the engine flush in these engines because the motor holds about 17 qts or oil, but you can only drain out 15 when you do the change. Any of the flush treatment that stayed in those other 2 quarts might cause aeration issues. I don't know this for sure, just speculation on my part. Hopefully others will chime in on this.

I think the next step is to find a buddy or fellow member with a good scan, or take it to a shop to find out which injectors have been affected. You can buy your own scan tool for about $350, but the free scans at the auto parts stores won't work.

 

What are they scanning for? Will a general engine scan on a good scanner work, or does the injector system have to be specifically scanned?

 

You'll want to look at contribution or percent of delivery for each cylinder. If you have partially plugged injectors they should show up as being off from the rest of them.

I guess you could also pull the valve covers and visually watch the amount of oil being discharged from each injector spout when the engine is idling. The amount of oil discharged from the injector is supposed to be proportionate to the amount of fuel injected into the cylinder. If you notice a difference, this will tell you which injector(s) are affected.

 

ok, Ill see what I can do with it today.... Im scared to ask, but if one is plugged, what can I do?

 

Replace the injector. New Alliant injectors are about $260 ea. That's why I've been so focused on making sure your fuel system got clean first. The only special tools required for changing an injector is a torque wrench. If it comes to that, we can walk you through the process. It's easy to do, just don't trap oil down in the cylinder.

 

Im going out of town today and Ill be back sunday. Is it a good idea for me to keep diesel clean in it for the whole trip? Do you think there is still a chance of something like that helping out?