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Just bought a new to me 7.3L, any advice?

5K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  Corey@CNCFAB 
#1 ·
I ended up picking up an 02 7.3L Excursion for a steal at a local auction, and this is my first diesel that I've personally owned and maintained. I've built plenty of gas motors and worked on plenty so I'm very handy with a wrench.

Truck has 280k on the clock, checked blow by and have very minimal out of the filler tube. Truck starts and runs great, plenty of power. Very slight coolant loss which I'm not worried about, no trace of coolant in the oil, no sweet smelling exhaust etc.

What should my first steps be seeing as though I don't know the history of the vehicle at all? I obviously am planning to change the oil and filter. I'm also getting a few codes for 3 different glow plugs, but it hasn't been overly hard to start as it's still very warm. Replace plugs? relay? do all the plugs/relay/harness in 1 go and be done with it?

Any other general suggestions are greatly appreciated. Put about 300 miles on it this week since I picked it up on saturday and so far I'm loving it, thanks!
 
#2 ·
Stick with motorcraft glow plugs. Aftermarket plugs have been known to swell and get stuck. Check the UVCH (valve cover harness) and engine wiring harness pigtails. The insulation falls apart with age. Also purchase a spare motorcraft CPS and throw it in the glove box. The CPS is one of the number one failing sensors on a 7.3 and us best to carry a spare and tools to remove the 10mm bolt that holds the CPS in.

If you want more power get a chip/intake/exhaust and some gauges and have fun
 
#3 ·
Welcome to the org.



at that kind of mileage you should replace all 8 glow plugs, both Under the cover valve harnesses (uvch) they connect to your glow plugs and injectors, as well as the valve cover gaskets. took a friend and I 4 hours to do in drive way and only normal tools needed. I would bring an extending magnet to help pull/insert glow plugs though then thread by hand etc. I would replace the glow plug module too. all easy and common.

I would also encourage a monitor sysem before adding chip and exhaust for power. You'll want to know what all your reading are to get an idea of any future repairs down the road... A common choice is the edge insight, insight cs, insight cts or insight cts2 lol. its a bit pricey but with an egt probe kit its all you'll ever need for gauges, codes, maintenance reminders, and alarms for readings.


contact corey from cncfab hes a vendor on the list in the forum. best prices and customer service. I also have purchased from svtfordparts and got a steal of a deal on parts.
 
#4 ·
Truck has 280k on the clock, checked blow by and have very minimal out of the filler tube. Truck starts and runs great, plenty of power. Very slight coolant loss which I'm not worried about, no trace of coolant in the oil, no sweet smelling exhaust etc.

What should my first steps be seeing as though I don't know the history of the vehicle at all? I obviously am planning to change the oil and filter. I'm also getting a few codes for 3 different glow plugs, but it hasn't been overly hard to start as it's still very warm. Replace plugs? relay? do all the plugs/relay/harness in 1 go and be done with it?

Any other general suggestions are greatly appreciated. Put about 300 miles on it this week since I picked it up on saturday and so far I'm loving it, thanks!
Congrats on the purchase, and welcome to the ORG.

First off, if it's all original at 280k, plan on putting a fair amount of money into sooner than later. Not that you will, but 250k is a general rule of thumb for injector replacement. Have an Oasis report done and see if anything had been done to it already.

Slight coolant loss could be the reservoir ever so slightly leaking at the seam.

Pop the VC's and check the wiring. As they said ^^^^^, could be the harnesses dry roted. Only use Motorcraft ZD-11 glowplugs. If the harnesses are cracked, just replace all those parts while you're in there.

If down the road you're thinking of doing any mods or customizing, I carry just about everything you can think of.

www.cncfab.us

And we also have a points rewards program fwiw.
 
#5 ·
im not as experienced as the guys above, but a few tools ive bought for my first powerstroke was
a 13MM swivel socket for the valve covers, makes the job easier.
I also bartered my way into a snapon solus.
I found out very early that you cannot just throw parts at these engines.
my scanner will tell me pretty much whats going on with the engine.
a super killer investment.

im in the process of rebuilding, cant wait to get this thing back together!
 
#6 ·
Hi! Congrats on your truck!

I own an 02 Excursion 7.3 Limited 4x4. While I've not done a whole lot of work to it (haven't needed to, should tell ya reliability :) I can share what knowledge I've picked up. I'm sure everybody here has done way more, but just for year specific if it helps.

I have 260K and change on the original 7.3 and 4R100 tranny. Injectors and glow plugs were done once at 190K, keep the oil changed and injectors will last a looonggg time. My truck has always started perfect down to at least 0F without being plugged in, but I don't subject it to that unless necessary. I believe using the block heater will lengthen the life of the glow plugs, the PCM will cycle the plugs up til the oil temp hits 131F. So if you can use the heater to warm the motor to around 105F say, thats only 26 degrees of warm up the engine will need to gain to stop the cycles. As opposed to say, over 100 if not plugged in at 31F. Check the steel fuel line from the filter bowl to the rear of head on the passenger side. These are prone to rubbing on the glow plug bracket and puncturing a hole and leaking. I didn't have it happen on the Ex, but did on a Econoline van and its an issue all 99-up 7.3s are subject to. If yours is good still, be a good idea to wrap the line everywhere it could contact something with a 1/4 inch rubber hose by slitting it and slipping it over. If the line goes it'll be a massive fuel leak. Fuel bowl drain; These may have been done already considering your mileage but never know for sure. The small black drain valve on the rear of the filter bowl has three orings in it that go bad and can also leak everywhere. The kit is only like $5 thru RiffRaft diesel performance online, and you'll get a good set that is better than OEM. As the others mentioned, Cam sensor. I am running a Duralast from Autozone for the past 40k or so with no issues, its the gray one. Carry a spare and 10mm wrench or 1/4 inch drive shortwell socket and ratchet. As for your coolant loss, check the heater hose fitting on the back of the engine, driver side. Lay under the truck behind the LF wheel and look up and you'll see it. Mine has a slight drip and has been losing about a quart of coolant every four-six months for the past two years. Isn't a big deal (yet) but you might have it from the same place. just a thought.

Hope this is of some value!!
 
#7 ·
Awesome thread. I've just acquired an 02 f350 7.3 (with 240k on it) and I was going to ask the same question. Thanks for all the insight guys. Gives me a shopping list to get started with.

Also noted the Edge, monitoring system comment. is there any systems that encompass the monitoring and programming capabilities? I've been looking at the Bully dog 40420, But I know little to nothing about working with these motors. I was hunting for a Cummings 12v, when this 7.3 came up at a price too good to walk away from. So I'm going to have some relearning to do. I'm new to diesels. Gassers are where I come from. Had my fun with hotrodding gassers, but we all have to grow up some day.


So far what I'm reading above is:

Change injectors
Change glow plugs.
Keep a spare cps on hand


Any other comments?
 
#8 ·
There are and I do have them, but you lose the shift on the fly option. SCT Livewire, Bullydog GT. I do carry them, but one other thing, the tunes that come with them are not very good, and are expensive.

Best route to go is the EDGE Insight CTS2 and a PHP Hydra, or a TS chip with PHP tuning. These are also in stock.
 
#9 ·
Thanks everyone for the responses, I've been reading from my phone and it's been my first chance to actually sit down and log in since the purchase.

Truck has done very well, I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and do the plugs/harness/module as planned thanks to being a single dad with a business to run and time never being available, but I've opted to for now just plug her in on the chilly mornings, block heater is doing wonders.

Truck was owned by a mechanics son, so seems relatively well taken care of outside of the glow-plug issue. Did an oil change with motorcraft oil/filter and everything was spot on. The coolant leak has since resolved itself, either I had a small bubble in the system, or the cap was on a little crooked or something- no leaks in the past 2 weeks.

I've put probably 1500 miles on her so far, and everything seems to be working/behaving as it should- and in fact I find myself impressed enough with this rig to hopefully be buying another one (2000 ex, 260k miles) this evening.
 
#20 ·
you can always build a 6 door and when she gets mad, you can retort with
"well if you had let me buy an excursion..." >:)
 
#11 ·
Long story but please read as it may save you a lot of money.

Last week I was on a job pulling my 20' trailer with a deepwell pump on it (trailer & pump: 5,000 lbs) when I needed fuel in Orange, Texas on my way home to New Orleans (230 miles left to go). I filled up with Shell and got back on the road. Five miles later when crossing into Louisiana on the Sabine River bridge I noticed a reduction in RPM's. I couldn't get past 1500 RPM's (around 45 MPH). I made it to the next exit four miles into Louisiana where I removed the fuel filter and checked the bowl for water. I just knew that I had gotten bad fuel from this Shell station. I got back on the road as it started to run normally again. Ten miles later same problem. I repeated this procedure all the way home, exit the interstate, unscrew the cap, let it run good again and continue. It took me seven hours to get home in what would've taken four. I unhooked the trailer in my storage yard and went home to sleep on it.

The next day I went to two mechanics that I split business with and ask their opinions. One said he just knew it was the transfer (fuel) pump on the frame rail. "Change it and that'll solve the problem." The other mechanic was not so sure because of the coincidence of the problem happening immediately after fueling. I rode around that day allowing the truck to burn as much as the fuel in the tank as I could. Finally just two miles from my house the truck finally gave up the ghost and stopped running in the parking lot of a Wal*Mart. Luckily I got a ride home from a neighbor. I went straight to the Ford dealership and bought the fuel pump assembly for....ready for this.....$541.17 + $52.76 tax = $593.93 and that price was me using my mechanic's discounted price otherwise the price would've been $622.03 + tax. Regardless of the price I needed it immediately as I use this truck everyday for business. Waiting to get the pump off the internet would've been a false economy as easily make that much in a day when I have business. I changed it in the Wal*Mart parking lot in about an hour and sure enough the first mechanic was right and it wasn't bad fuel as I had thought.

After I got home and removed the old pump from the assembly and looked on the internet I found the exact Bosch pump that Ford uses for $77.00 on eBay and Amazon. Ford does not make the pump but it does sell the complete assembly.

The whole point of my long winded diatribe is to warn you of what might be an impending problem that can leave you stranded and at the mercy of heavily overpriced dealer priced parts. I don't know if my original pump had been replaced before as I bought the truck with 166k miles on it. I had 374K miles on it when the pump failed so I know the pump lasted at least 208K miles under my stewardship.

I would whole heartedly recommend that you invest the $77 and replace the fuel pump within the assembly. It's an easy job that can be done in two hours. Remove the assembly from the vehicle and then the fuel pump from the assembly. You will need a 1/2" socket, 1/2" wrench, small and large flatblade screwdriver (for prying) and a set of air conditioning line tools for removing the snap on fuel line (easily bought at Auto Zone for about ten bucks).

I can't recommend this bit preventative maintenance enough. It can save you towing costs, mechanic's charges, overpriced parts and heart ache. The only bad thing is that you will never know how this one thing saved your äss one day because you avoided it in the first place.
 
#12 ·
good advice. You by chance don't have a link to the amazon ad do you?
 
#14 ·
A few years ago there were Walbro 255lph in-tank fuel pumps (very popular upgrade pump for hot-rod applications requiring in-tank pumps) being sold for "too good to pass up prices" on epay and other online sources. These were made chinee counterfeits, and were very clearly marked "Made In USA" just like genuine Walbros. These knock-offs didn't have the durability of the genuine item, and a failure under load in a gas engine can result in too-lean combustion and damaged parts. Walbro conducted a big PR campaign to educate people to the situation, and offered tips to avoid being screwed by buying a POS pump that had the potential to damage your engine.

Hard to believe a $77 dollar pump for our application is anything other than a Chineese counterfeit. Regardless of what it says on it.
 
#16 ·
there are indeed identical copies of pumps. People think the same thing when the buy Timken bearings on Amazon. They look absolutely identical, but are indeed counterfeit.

Just Google counterfeit Timken or even SKF bearings. There are only select authorized resellers and Amazon is not one of them. I believe @ZMANN posted awhile back on counterfeit parts, if Im not mistaken.
 
#18 ·
I talked to Timken and let me tell you the only way to guarantee you get OEM is buy from an authorized retailer
unfortunately Timken sucks at posting who is authorized LOL

and the fuel pump analogy I also can get a Parker ( racor) OEM motor for my 6.0 fuel pump for 1/4 of the cost of the Ford HFCM fuel pump unit just need to be smart and order one up before mine chits the bed LOL
 
#19 ·
I guess it's a crap shoot then. Like I said I'll definitely be on the lookout for it being a fake.

Yes I would definitely recommend you change it if you've gone a few years or many miles without replacing it. I really would like to know if mine was original to the vehicle. If it was that would be one hell of a fuel pump because it gave out at 374,000 but I've got to doubt that. I just don't see it lasting that long. I know for a fact it lasted at least 208,000 and that in itself is pretty damn good. I count my lucky stars that I was able to limp home that night being being that I had about 230 miles to go and one tall bridge in Baton Rouge over the Mississippi River to go over. I crested that bridge at 15 mph. I was sweating bullets. Good thing that when it failed it didn't just stop pumping all together just at a lower capacity.
 
#21 ·
Winter coming on (or already here in Rockies) check glow plugs, relay, bat cables, load test bats. Test your block heater make sure its working, youll need it unless you live in St. George UT. Also check intercooler boots and clamps, hpop fittings and lines for leaks, turbo pedestal for leaks. With that many miles I would recommend an additive when you change the oil, go with Lucas.


Link to Lucas stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Lucas-10130-Synthetic-Stabilizer-Quart/dp/B000ARPVNY/ref=pd_sim_263_9?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000ARPVNY&pd_rd_r=HGVMHA2GG5NVT6W32ZKE&pd_rd_w=1nLVv&pd_rd_wg=sbjQm&psc=1&refRID=HGVMHA2GG5NVT6W32ZKE
 
#22 ·
Re: Fuel pump life. These motors have brushes. The slower the motor turns, the longer the brushes last. If there is restriction on the outlet, the motor speed will be increased because the pump is doing less work by pumping less fuel. It seems 'wrong' that pump speeds up instead of slowing down to overcome the restriction, but it does speed up. If the fuel filter becomes restricted to the point that the normal regulated pressure can not be maintained, the pump motor speed will be faster than it is at normal regulated pressure. The higher speed wears the brushes quicker.

In the late 70's I worked on VW, Porsche / Audis and some 240 / 260Z's at the dealership that all had frame-mounted Bosch fuel pumps. When I'd get one of these cars with a bad pump, it invariably also had a very restricted fuel filter (which is always after the pump). I took a few of these pumps apart, and the brushes and comutators were always badly worn.

Keep those filters up to date.
 
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