7.3 Bad heads or head gaskets or what...

[7.3 stroking country boy]

Hi new to posting here, Ive read many post on here and decided to join and see if can get some help spicific to my problems.. and Thank you to all those willing to help...

I have a 2002 F250 SD with the 7.3 auto on 40x15.5 toyos....

Any how... My problem started out with I toke the wife and kids out to the training area of the military base (middle nowhere like 20 miles from everyone, cell phone dont work yada yada) I was stationed at to play round, fish at the lake ect. Well on the way back the lower radiator hose on the truck blew and ofcourse drained the collent. Stuck with being stranded in 100+ heat and overheating the family to death or overheating the truck on way back to house (30 min or so) I chose to save kids over the truck. DAMN! Had it been me and the wife she would been waiting in the heat... lol... Ne ways replaced the hose refilled the radiator and it ran great for awhile.

Problem now is sometimes not always it will start like boiling the collent out the cap. Still runs normal temp acourding the lieometer in dash. other times i can drive it for few hundred miles and it wont act up other times i cant get it to stop. tempermental B***H... Had a friend run compression test on it and he didnt give me the spicifc numbers but said after that he figured it was a head or head gasket. He dosnt really do diesel work tho so im kinda stuck.

If it is head or head gasket how hard are they to do yourself and any advice...

I love the truck and know 7.3s dont generly have problems and yes i know the problems were from running it hot and driving it home but as i said family or truck. Had it been in town or somewhere where could of gotten help i would of stoped right away no brainer and probley wouldnt be having ne trouble now but what can ya do... lol

Oh if it makes a diffrance or not it was running a superchip programer on it (came with truck) but after insident i tuned it back to stock and the programer is layin in the house. Thinking bout goin to TW chip after getting it fixed and running right.

Really miss driving it round..... Love the looks i get from cars when my headlights shine over their roof...

[chuck_yager]

That stinks man, but family does come first. I'd say either of the issues you were told could be entirely possible. I think there are ways to be more sure, but I don't remember how. I wouldn't think that working on these beasts are that much different than working on any other gas big block. If it doesn't scare you to pull one of those apart, I'd say you should be able to do this. It's just a few extra parts to get out of the way! LOL! I would say most everything would be nothing more than a guess until you got the heads off of the truck. Then you would know if its warped heads or what not. Good Luck!!!

[duck fan]

Gauge on the dash shows normal temp but you are getting boil over? I have seen the dash gauge come up without boil over before. Perhaps the thermostat is sticking closed?

[mgassel]

Originally Posted by chuck_yager

That stinks man, but family does come first. I'd say either of the issues you were told could be entirely possible. I think there are ways to be more sure, but I don't remember how. I wouldn't think that working on these beasts are that much different than working on any other gas big block. If it doesn't scare you to pull one of those apart, I'd say you should be able to do this. It's just a few extra parts to get out of the way! LOL! I would say most everything would be nothing more than a guess until you got the heads off of the truck. Then you would know if its warped heads or what not. Good Luck!!!

Dude these 7.3's are easier to work on than big blocks. I would check the thermostat first if it is not that then pull the heads but you will need a cherry picker and a engine chain. Do not use ant old chain get the engine one with the tabs on it.
You will need a couple of rubber bands to hold up the head studs that you can not remove on the passenger side for when you put the head back on.

[7.3 stroking country boy]

Thanks for the replies

[kuonen10]

You need to check and see how much coolant psi you are building, the easiest way is to put a coolant psi tester on and run the truck if you are building over what the cap is rated at possibly the head gasket. Next I'd combustion test the coolant system to confirm then pull heads good luck.

[7.3 stroking country boy]

Originally Posted by kuonen10

You need to check and see how much coolant psi you are building, the easiest way is to put a coolant psi tester on and run the truck if you are building over what the cap is rated at possibly the head gasket. Next I'd combustion test the coolant system to confirm then pull heads good luck.

Bingo... rad cap failed.... thanks for the addvise.... something so simple had my truck down for so long