Differences between early99 and late99-03 trucks

[flyingcoscott]

I have an early 99 with a bad engine. I am trying to swap in a late 99 engine but not sure which parts to use. I would like to use the tubo that is with the late 99 because the early one had a bad air filter and had dirt run through it. The late 99 has 2 glow plug solenoids, and what loolks like a heating element in the turbo spider. Can I just use the wiring harness from the late 99 and everything will work, or what are my options? Thanks!

[superduty4x4]

That heater in the spyder pipe is the AIH (air intake heater) and most guys remove it anyways. I would definitely snag the engine wiring harness for the late motor if you can, it will make your life much easier.

[flyingcoscott]

Thanks, what about the IDM, will the early 99 work?

[alabamafrog]

Originally Posted by flyingcoscott

I have an early 99 with a bad engine. I am trying to swap in a late 99 engine but not sure which parts to use. I would like to use the tubo that is with the late 99 because the early one had a bad air filter and had dirt run through it. The late 99 has 2 glow plug solenoids, and what loolks like a heating element in the turbo spider. Can I just use the wiring harness from the late 99 and everything will work, or what are my options? Thanks!

Sounds like you have the same problem I had with mine. Darn crappy factory air intake system. I opted to rebuild it myself. Total cost was around $4,000, took about 3 weeks but only about 3 days actual work, rest of the time was waiting on parts and machine work. I don't know but I'd guess the complete late99 engine with complete wiring harness would be a relatively easy drop in.

[strokin_early_99]

The IDM will work on the early99, the late99 IDM is better some will say as it operates at 10V(AC) more than the early99. The early99 PCM will not control the AIH so it does not matter if you use the late99 harness without swapping PCM's. If you use the harness and PCM from the late99 then everything will work together.

[flyingcoscott]

Thanks! That is good news since I don't have the IDM from the late 99. I am leaning toward using the early wiring harness since the AIH won't work anyway. No use in having extra kludge on the engine. Is the AIH not very effective, or why are people removing them? The other reason I would rather use the early harness is someone cut the main power cable to the glow plug relay about 8" from where they could have just disconnected it, and I would rather not splice a large cable that could leave someone stranded sometime! The only reason I would consider using the late 99 harness is to maybe wire the AIH solenoid to a momentary switch for cold starts.

[superduty4x4]

I hate it when people cut wires that would have taken under a minute to unhook... I went to a scrapyard looking for a factory trailer wiring plug for my 99 and couldn't find any. On my way out I noticed a bumper on the rack with the plug attached to it- I figured if nothing else I'd see if they would swap me bumpers (mine is a later bumper with the holes for back-up sensors and this was a non-back up sensor bumper). Stuck my head around the backside of it and the tool that had removed it cut every wire in the bundle. It would have taken 2 seconds to reach up and unhook the connector instead of butchering the wires.

[alabamafrog]

AIH does nothing to help starts. It only turns on during idling when very cold to cut down on the white smoke, emissions stuff. It is a very large hunk of useless material right in the middle of the air intake stream. I have removed two of them and installed a plug in the hole.

[flyingcoscott]

Thanks, Frog! I bought this truck on Ebay with a dusted engine, but the price was right. I wasn't sure if I would keep it or my 96 F250 Powerstroke. I have pretty much decided to sell the 99 now, mainly because it is auto trans and i much prefer the manual in my 96. I also like how much easier the 96 is to work on,. it doesn't have 1/2 of the engine under the cowl! I don't drive a pickup very much, either so the old 96 suits me fine. I just use it to haul firewood & for hunting & camping trips.

[thelittle289]

I'm new to the form and this is my first reply, hopfuly it will come out right and where it should be. When Srokin_early_99 and superduty4x4 where talking about the leveling kit, I just ordered a Rough country 2.5 leving kit today. I have an early 99 and the kit I'd been looking at was no longer being made, but he said that the late 99 kit was the same other than the bigger bolt holes in the track bar. I asked him about the different U-bolts and after 10-15 minutes he assured me that this kit had the squarish U-bolts I needed. I should get the kit in 4-5 daysand if this thread turns out right I'll let you now how it goes if your interseted. If you are interested in this kit, you can get it cheeper for National Tire and Wheel, than from Rough Country them self.