Hello folks, my beloved 99 7.3 developed a major issue today and it may be terminal. Without warning, it started smoking bad out the pipe and when I checked it had blown the dipstick out and the blowby was excessive to say the least. I pulled the valve covers expecting a dropped valve but everything looks good on the heads so I think at this point she ate a piston but I won't know for certain till I pull the heads. The blowby is bad enough that it filled the intercooler with oil. It is also running very rough to add to the info. Is there something I am missing that would explain this blowby that would not mean a motor job? I am doubtful but I like to toss around idea.

Now I just located a 2000 7.3 out of a low mileage van and I need to know are they compatible? I think the turbo is different but not certain on that. I have had this truck for 7 years and never touched the motor , my 2007 6.0 is a different story.

Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.

 

The easiest thing to do and is what I would do first off is to make sure the vehicle is in park or neutral and jumped the starter solenoid on the passenger fender well. Listen to the way it cranks. Does it crank like it's lost compression on one or more cylinders? If that is the case, then yes, a new engine is in your future. I have replaced engines in these pickups for people before and they have brought me van engines as replacements. Besides the oil cooler and engine mounts, it will be identical. Of course, you're going to want to use your pickup turbo and all of the associated engine bracketry, oil cooler and engine mounts.

 

Thanks Cleatus , this is one of those cases where I am certain I know what is wrong but since it is my own for a change I am second guessing myself and hoping for that one chance I am wrong. Once I pulled the covers and seen nothing wrong in the valves it only leaves one place left for that much blowby to come from, a big *** hole in a piston. This thing has been rock solid and I maintain it very well. It only has 235thousand miles on it but it pulls most of the time I drive it. The big question was the van motor, I just wasn't sure about the differences between the 2 . I found one with 120thousand on it for $600 and I can hear it run so I think that I will grab it and get ready to swap it in. The truck was coming off the road soon for the winter anyway so now the 6.0 will have to do all the work around here. Thanks again.

 

The motors themselves are the same IIRC, and the only differences are in the turbos themselves- which you can just swap your old one on.

 

Hey Cody, how are the oil coolers different? Just curious...

 

Cletus has the winning answer to your question.

If you have access to a Lab Scope, perform a relative compression test (easier to identify anomalies IMO).

Seems when we diagnose our own, we are just hoping against hope it's something different.

 

The oil cooler on the vans is smaller in diameter, I believe that is so it will fit inside a narrower frame.

 

Ah thanks Mark....that would kinda suck. I guess it performs ok though?

 

The cooler and filter are the same as the pickups. The front and rear headers are different; they are tucked-in closer to the block and raise the cooler about 1.5 inches relative to the truck location....also the filter is angled in and back instead of in and straight down.

 

The only other difference would be the valve covers but those would get swapped in the engine change. The vans' fill is on the driver's front instead of right front.

 

Ohhhh, I (obviously) thought it was the cooler body. So...is it necessary to swap the cooler out or would the van oil cooler be OK in there? And are there plugs in the VC's that can be moved around for the oil fill?

 

It is only necessary to change the headers on either end of the cooler but the cooler core itself is the same. Also, just put the pickup valve covers on the van engine as there is no way to move anything on the valve covers. They are stamped as they are stamped.

 

Hi gang, so I finally got around to pulling the motor out after find the #4 cylinder or 2 nd one on the left bank had no compression. I pulled the head and there is a hole in the piston and it has several cracks in it and #5 or 3rd down also had cracks starting in it. No here is where I need some assistance. What caused this (see pics) , the hole is at 3 o'clock on the piston and you can see the damage on the liner as well. Blow plugs looked fine as well as the injector tips so I don't see an obvious reason. I have the Van motor about ready to drop in once I finish swapping some parts and pieces around. So any ideas would be welcome, I have my own opinion as to the cause but I will share that later, I want fresh ideas.

 

Man you had some bad tuning on that thing, likely to advanced look at those pistons. We had a 6.doh with a bad crank shaft tone ring ( where the CPS gets its signal) bend just a little causing the timing to go all over the place and killed the pistons just like yours.

 

What tuning were you running and were you watching egt?

those are some serious hot spots on those pistons.