Things falling apart....

[bcoutsfly]

My 2003, F250, 7.3 has lived its entire life in Texas. Around October I had to move to Barrington, IL for work. In Texas I rarely had any problems with the truck besides the maintanence and usual wear and tear. I wasn't in Barrington for 2 weeks when the transmission slipped and gave out. I get it back from the rebuild and a week later I notice my tires were cambered out. Had to replace all the ball joints and one new tie rod. A month later my first blown injector. This month I've had complete hell from the cold reeking havoc on my truck. I don't get it. Is it the weather just completely raping my truck? Or a series of the usual failures. What else can I expect to go wrong on a 7.3 with 160k miles on her?

[4ds4me]

Sounds pretty normal, extreme cold tends to identify weaknesses in these trucks.

[Marty]

Originally Posted by bcoutsfly

My 2003, F250, 7.3 has lived its entire life in Texas. Around October I had to move to Barrington, IL for work. In Texas I rarely had any problems with the truck besides the maintanence and usual wear and tear. I wasn't in Barrington for 2 weeks when the transmission slipped and gave out. I get it back from the rebuild and a week later I notice my tires were cambered out. Had to replace all the ball joints and one new tie rod. A month later my first blown injector. This month I've had complete hell from the cold reeking havoc on my truck. I don't get it. Is it the weather just completely raping my truck? Or a series of the usual failures. What else can I expect to go wrong on a 7.3 with 160k miles on her?

Usual failures that would cost you much more if you were doing them more often... 160k the motor is just broken in but it's still a truck day in and day out.

Trust me, if you saw how much I've put into my truck this week... well nevermind it's my toy

[bcoutsfly]

Besides a block heater and the 911 additive, are there any other actions I can take to prevent the cold weather from tearing my truck up??

[Marty]

Cold weather will not have any effect on it if things are working properly.

Poor connections at the batteries can cause a myriad of problems. Get REALLY clean terminals and make those suckers TIGHT. Next make sure your GPR is up to snuff, that way your glow plugs are working. If they're working and the above mentioned items are good there is no reason your truck won't start RIGHT off in 0* temperatures without being plugged in.

[bcoutsfly]

Im half-*** new to diesels so acronyms are still a little for foreign to me. What is a GPR and how do I make sure it is up to snuff??

[Marty]

Glow Plug Relay.

Test it with a multimeter... when you have the key turned forward both big contacts should have 12v.