High Milege 99 7.3 reliable?

[iddavies]

There is a guy on craigslist who wants to trade me. He has a 1999 flatbed 7.3 with 275k. Would it be stupid to trade for something with that high of mileage or will I still get some life out of her?

[jacobford]

mine has just over 300k on it now, but it all depends on how well he took care of it... if he has a pretty extensive list of new parts, or maint. records it might not be a bad deal, I guess it depends on what your trading him and how bad you want it... there seems to be more 7.3's running around with over 200k, many pushing 300k or more... I guess it depends on your comfort level with the trade...

[JK23112]

I know a guy (used to work with him for about ten years) who owns a 1994 International step van. He uses it for a delivery truck, has owned it since it was new and does between 70 and 80 stops EVERY DAY with it.

It is not a Ford, but has the Navistar DT444e engine (from which the Powerstroke is sourced) and a five-speed manual Spicer transmission. Guess how many miles are on it? Over 700,000 and still going!! He has replaced the heads (or valves - not sure) and has put in a water pump or two; but the crankshaft, camshaft, pistons and rings are still the same ones with which it rolled out of the factory eighteen years ago!!!!

If this is not a testament to the 7.3L, I don't know what is. FedEx and UPS still have several thousand trucks on the road (Internationals and Fords) with 7.3L diesels -- many of which have logged 400,000 or even 500,000 miles of stop and go driving. Those trucks are also heavier and carry more weight than your typical F-Series pickup truck.

The old 5.9L Cummins is no slouch, either; but the fact that it comes hooked up with a Dodge probably sours most folks on its virtues. LOL!

[iddavies]

Originally Posted by jacobford

mine has just over 300k on it now, but it all depends on how well he took care of it... if he has a pretty extensive list of new parts, or maint. records it might not be a bad deal, I guess it depends on what your trading him and how bad you want it... there seems to be more 7.3's running around with over 200k, many pushing 300k or more... I guess it depends on your comfort level with the trade...

He said it has lots of new parts...only problem with it is it pops out of third gear. But that shouldn't be hard to avoid since its a 6 speed right? and I'm trading him a 96 fully loaded tahoe for it....that only blue books for 3500

[Codum]

I have 408,000 on mine now. Engine has never been touched. If he took care of it, it's a no brainier. Popping out of third, I don't think is a hard to fix problem.