New to the Diesel life...

[bfrank81]

Hello,

I am on the lookout for my first F250 diesel and I had a question. I was told that somewhere in the early 2000s the EPA forced the manufactures to detune the engines to have less emissions. Does anyone know if that is true? If it's true what year was the F250 affected?

Thanks!

[polarisrider4life]

hey man, good luck with shopping first off. What you have heard is true about the government pressing more harsh emissions laws on the ford powerstroke line up in the early 2000's. from 1999 through the first half of 2003, ford used it's 7.3L indirect injection powerstroke motor in all it's diesel's including the f250. In 2001 or 2002 the government told ford they needed to tighten up the emmissions control on there diesel's because the 7.3L motor polluted like a gosh darn freight train when it came to emissions. Although it polluted more, it is average to get anywhere from 16-22 mpg depending on how heavy your foot is, haha. The 7.3L motor's claim to fame is it's OUTSTANDING durability, longevity, and ability to outlast the body of the truck almost everytime as long as you keep up on general maintainance. Half way through the year 2003, the time was up and ford had to make good with a new engine to meet the new regulations. This is when the 6.0L powerstroke motor was born. For the 6.0L motor, the late 2003's and the 2004's are a COMPLETE crap shoot as to if you get a good engine or one that will be your wallet's worst F@%^*$G nightmare! Some people have bought a truck from either of those years and have had great luck and some people completely regret buying there's. The motor just was not ready and didn't have all the bugs worked out in time for it's launch. One guy on here i remember talking with said he has a late 03 6.0L and one cylinder keeps having the piston and rod shattering every 30k miles for example. Anything prier to the 2nd half of 2003 and anything 2005 or newer is okay because they had the 6.0L refined enough for 2005's and up.

[jethro]

Originally Posted by polarisrider4life

hey man, good luck with shopping first off. What you have heard is true about the government pressing more harsh emissions laws on the ford powerstroke line up in the early 2000's. from 1999 through the first half of 2003, ford used it's 7.3L indirect injection powerstroke motor in all it's diesel's including the f250. In 2001 or 2002 the government told ford they needed to tighten up the emmissions control on there diesel's because the 7.3L motor polluted like a gosh darn freight train when it came to emissions. Although it polluted more, it is average to get anywhere from 16-22 mpg depending on how heavy your foot is, haha. The 7.3L motor's claim to fame is it's OUTSTANDING durability, longevity, and ability to outlast the body of the truck almost everytime as long as you keep up on general maintainance. Half way through the year 2003, the time was up and ford had to make good with a new engine to meet the new regulations. This is when the 6.0L powerstroke motor was born. For the 6.0L motor, the late 2003's and the 2004's are a COMPLETE crap shoot as to if you get a good engine or one that will be your wallet's worst F@%^*$G nightmare! Some people have bought a truck from either of those years and have had great luck and some people completely regret buying there's. The motor just was not ready and didn't have all the bugs worked out in time for it's launch. One guy on here i remember talking with said he has a late 03 6.0L and one cylinder keeps having the piston and rod shattering every 30k miles for example. Anything prier to the 2nd half of 2003 and anything 2005 or newer is okay because they had the 6.0L refined enough for 2005's and up.

fist off the 7.3 POWERSTROKE IS NOT AN IDI MOTOR it is a direct injection motor the idi was the 7.3 in 94 and down trucks

second welcome to powerstroke.org i am not 100%sure about the detune or not someone else who knows for sure will chime in

[dalton1]

the 2000 was the last year you could get a 7.3 without a cat but other than that there was no "detuning" thet I've ever herd of.
and

[diesel73junkie]

Originally Posted by jethro

fist off the 7.3 POWERSTROKE IS NOT AN IDI MOTOR it is a direct injection motor the idi was the 7.3 in 94 and down trucks

second welcome to powerstroke.org i am not 100%sure about the detune or not someone else who knows for sure will chime in

Haha, I was about to say the same thing about the IDI/DI.

I'm not aware of any "detuning", however it could have happened.
The 7.3's are virtually bulletproof. I'm sure some folks have had their problems, but for the majority, they're super tough.

The 6.0L's on the other hand were not. Some people love em and have had no problems, but alot of people have had nothing but issues.

I'm not sure which engine your personally looking for, but that's a bit of info on em. I'm sure just about everyone else will tell ya the same thing!

Good luck finding a truck and welcome to the ORG!

[Dietoremain]

Originally Posted by dalton1

the 2000 was the last year you could get a 7.3 without a cat but other than that there was no "detuning" thet I've ever herd of.
and

not true at all. My 2002 has no cat. the 99's had cats. and the rest were hit and miss with or without. lets just say i love my stinky truck

[Ryan Rønning]

Welcome to the ORG

[polarisrider4life]

sorry....i miss spoke about the 7.3 being indirect.....i get em screwed up sometimes lol. and i agree with Dietoremain.....2001 02 and 03 i am pretty sure you can get without a cat but it doesnt matter....we all love em

[bfrank81]

Thank you for the replies.

I'm 98% sure that I would be looking at the newer trucks I would end up with the 6.0L. With that said from your suggestions are to stay with the 2005+ trucks. Not to bash anyone that has one of the "problem year trucks" it's just if I have the luxury of getting one that will have a better chance of less problems I want to do that. There is no way I can afford new so gotta get my hands on a good used one.

I probably should have specified "detune" a little better. If I remember correctly he was saying that because of the changes the engines made less power and used more fuel. Or something like that. Reliability might have been a factor mixed in there also but I can't remember honestly.

[oasis04]

With regard to any detuning I believe that to be bunk. The HP and TQ numbers went up almost yearly with the superduty in general and went up ALOT with the 6.0 addition to the stable.