Hey guys,

I've been frequenting the Excursion forum lately because of all the soft rear suspension issues and towing issues i've had with it but figured i'd get more responses regarding the 7.3 over here.

We traded in our 2003 F250 7.3L truck earlier this year for a 2002 Excursion 7.3L. I just cannot get enough of the 7.3L, it's such a superior engine imo!

In any case we got it from the Ford dealership with 76K miles on it. Expired warranty but that's ok. Good oasis report and tested out fine. I pulled the oil dipstick at the dealership before we bought it and the oil was brand new, didn't think much of it. So far so good. Owned it for a few months now and decide I want to take the boat out, hitch it up and big time sag. Immediately notice p-metric PASSENGER tires on it. So I call Ford because the salesman who sold it to me said Ford had to replace the old tires because they were worn. It was a shot in the dark for me because I know dealerships will do anything to get away with it. But after the smoke cleared I was able to get to replace the p-metrics for a brand new set of load range E tires!! Woohoo!

I'm at 81k miles now and I decide it's time to change the oil and change the fuel filter. I drain the oil and it friggin drains like 10w-30 weight oil! Very super thin even thinner than 5w-40 diesel synthetic!! No wonder why my engine takes 2-3 full revolutions to crank! Next I go to twist off the oil filter and the oil filter twists off ever so softly!! I was lucky it did not leak or twist itself off, it was barely making a seal! Anyway I replaced it with a tried and tested FLEETGUARD full flow bypass/stratapore oil filter that I bought from powerstrokeshop.com. So I button the bottom end down and fill the engine with 3.5 gallons of 5w-40 Rotella T syn. I prefilled the Fleetguard filter prior to twisting it on.

Next I drain the fuel bowl then go to twist off the filter cap. Used a pair of pliers and a breaker bar between the handles, shadetree style, i know, almost lacerated my wrists on various screws and bolts around the engine. Even chipped off a couple of ribs on the filter cap. Pliers slipped off the cap 4-5 times. WTF?!?! It's never been this hard to remove this cap.. WTF is going on. So I get a larger breaker bar and slowly but steadily break it loose...wtf...I don't think this filter has EVER been replaced. Cap gasket was flattened to less than half of new and there was NO bevel on the gasket. Fuel filter was blacker than any filter i've ever pulled off. Replaced the filter and buttoned everything down. Cycled the fuel pump a few times and fired her up! WOW

Engine fired up and was noticeably quieter. Took a quick look underneath for any leaks then took her for a spin, wow! Night and day difference. Smooth acceleration, much quieter. I was a happy camper. Fired her up this morning not even thinking about it, but it only took half a revolution to fire her up cold! Must be the thicker oil in the HPOP doing it's job much better! Wow. I feel like I bought a brand new truck.

I was so excited I fueled up the tank to the filler neck and closely monitoring fuel usage. If I get anything more than 3mpg better than what i'm getting now (14.8mpg) I will do the indian rain dance naked standing in bed to wake up my wife!! I'm excited to say the least.

Now for the questions on the some of the mods I had in mind.

1. For the TC lockup mod. What exactly would that do to engine RPMs while towing out of o/d at say 55-60mph? I'm not exactly sure of the benefits of this mod or what it exactly does other than it will keep trans temps down.

2. The exhaust brake EBPV mod. I understand this is switch enabled. If I do this mod, do I still have to do the TC lockup mod? Kind of confusing so I figured I'd ask.

3. 6637 tymar airfilter mod. I have the filter in a box in the garage. Ready to be installed. All I need is a 3" long piece of 4" exhaust tube for the install. One concern would be the hot air coming from the engine and radiator fan. Being an open air filter the air is no longer mainly coming from a tube from the intake box that has an opening at the grill. It's coming from all directions. Will warm air affect performance?

Thanks in advance guys. Oh and just so you know i'm not into hotrod modding. I'm modding this truck for maximum fuel economy and reliability towing 10,000# trailer loads. I convinced my wife to trade in her Acura MDX that was getting us 17mpg. I'm a few mpg short, but hopefully not for long.

 

Wow, that's a lengthy post. I only read about half it, i'll read the rest once i get a free few minutes. Just wanted to let you know that the oil will always drain that thin. It goes in like goo and come out like water....