[early1999powerstroke]

Hello Everybody!
I recently purchased a 1996 F350 CCLB with a 7.3 and a 5 speed manual. It has 234,000 miles and was pretty much stock when purchased.
I decided to purchase this truck because:
A. I really like the OBS crew cab for family trips.
B. I like the 5 speed.
C. It has a 4:10 gear ratio which is great for towing.
D. I think the 7.3 Powerstroke is a great motor.

Things I have done to it so far.
1. Diamond Eye 4" Exhaust (3.5" Down Pipe)
2. 6637 Intake with Riff Raff Sleeve
3. AFE Rear Differential Cover with 75w-140 Synthetic Fluid Change
4. New Ball Joints, Front Wheel Bearings, Front Axle Seals, Front Disc Brakes, and Front Axle Fluid Change
5. New Coolant Cap
6. New Oil Fill Cap
7. New Injector O-Rings
8. New UVCH's
9. New Glow Plugs
10. New CPS
11. Unplugged EBPV
12. Oil Change, Fuel Filter Change, and Coolant Additive
13. CCV Mod
14. Riff Raff Intake and Plenum Boots
15. New ICP Sensor

Problems Remaining:
1. Leaking Up Pipes
2. Slow Turbo Spool (Doesn't come on till 1900 rpms)
3. Cranks slow when starting
4. Idles a little rough when at operating temp
5. Needs Clutch Replacement
6. Steering is sloppy
7. Smokes bluish white smoke when cold started. Smokes a little black smoke at WOT when hot.
8. Blow by amount seems normal for an engine of this vintage.

So...I've got a bit of work to complete on it before I haul cows this winter. I'm planning to fix most of these issues in the next 3-6 months. Here's what I've ordered in to prepare for the "GREAT REPAIR" as I've labeled it.

1. South Bend Clutch Kit. (350 hp capable...single disc)
2. Fast Spool Turbo from Ron Holland. (1.0 A/R exhaust housing)
3. EBPV Delete Outlet and Pedestal
4. New Stock Fuel Pump
5. High Pressure Oil Rail Cross Over Pipe
6. New Fuel and HPO Seals, O-Rings, and Sleeves
7. New Melling LPOP

Other things I hope to order for this repair segment:
1. Riff Raff Bellowed Up Pipes (They're out of stock for a couple of weeks)
2. Redhead steering gear box
3. Borgeson U-joint Steering shaft
4. A good set of shocks

Other things for next repair segment...(When I get some more money.)
5. MAYBE a set of stock injectors as I'm fairly certain that these have a large amount of wear with 234,000 miles.
6. MAYBE a 17 HPOP...gotta check pressures and duty cycle
7. MAYBE a good quality starter.

So, anyway, there's a description of what I'm doing. Please feel free to offer any suggestions or thoughts. I would appreciate any advice you might have as I have a fair amount of experience with these trucks but I know a lot of you have much more experience/knowledge.

Also, I have a couple of questions:
1. Should I replace the rear main seal?
I have read a lot of articles that say, "Don't Touch It!!!!" BUT.........it seems kind of foolish to be right there/ have access to it/ not replace it. It's not leaking to my knowledge at this time but it does have 234,000 miles on it.

2. Should I replace any of the seals on the ZF5/Transfer case while I have them out?
I think there is a little seepage of Transmission fluid from somewhere but nothing major.

3. Should I replace the O-Rings on the rear fuel rail plugs and HPO rail plugs while I have access to them with the tranny out?

4. Should I replace the water pump as a preventative measure while I'm changing the LPOP? It's the stock one from the factory.

5. Should I replace the wear ring on the damper when I am installing the LPOP? It's not leaking at this time.

I will probably have a few more questions as I work my way through this. Thanks in advance for your comments. I appreciate all the contributors on this forum.
Kind Regards,
Josiah

 

[terryknight]

if it were me i wouldn't replace anything that didn't need it. do the clutch and the up pipes first. you may feel you do not need a 1.0 housing at that point. i would skip the HPX line, i feel it's one more thing to leak. check your oil pressure with a gauge, i have replaced the plug in the HPO reservoir with one from Napa. my stock pump with 277K+ miles is still fine. if you replace the injectors get bigger one (my thinking anyway). the water pump will mostly likely start to weep before it fails. replace it at that point. if you replace the LPOP or front seal you will need to replace the wear ring.

how is the GPR? that may have something to do with the smoke when cold.

invest in the FORD sealant, it's expensive but it works really well.

i also wouldn't put a stock fuel pump in i would swap to e fuel. really cleans up the engine bay.

 

[early1999powerstroke]

Thanks for the reply terryknight.

I guess my thought process is that I don't want to have to tear into it more than I have to in the immediate future. Thus, the preventative replacements. I guess it also opens me up to possible problems if one of the replacements fail from one cause or another.

The GPR is new (Forgot to mention). When I replaced that along with the GP's it helped it start much better. The smoke on start up seems more like worn injectors. When I replaced the injector o-rings, that helped a little as a couple of them were leaking.

I have the HPX line on my Early 99 7.3 and it seemed to smooth out the idle and ICP readings just a little. I do agree with you though that it does give me more spots to have leaks.

I would love to go with E-fuel and maybe will at a later date but for now I just want to get the truck running as good as it can in semi-stock form. You are absolutely correct though that the engine valley is WAY over-crowded with the stock fuel system.

I think you are probably correct that the stock turbo would be much more impressive with intact up-pipes. However, I already have the replacement turbo so I will probably try it out. Also, the compressor wheel has a little wear to it on the original turbo so I was going to have to work on it anyway. No slop or bearing play though in the original turbo. I'll keep it around to tinker with.

Okay, I'll plan to replace the wear ring on the damper and buy the Ford sealant.

I'll also check the ICP with AE when I get a chance.

Thanks again for your thoughts and comments!

 

[early1999powerstroke]

First Time Uploading Pics

Trying to get the size right so bear with me here.lease:

 

[early1999powerstroke]

More Pics

These pics should be bigger...

 

[majorgator]

Consider the 6.0 fan swap. Really easy and moves more air.
Check the fuel tanks, as they probably leak.

 

[early1999powerstroke]

Hey majorgator,
Do you use a stock 6.0 fan and the 7.3 fan clutch? Or is it something different? Is it fairly straight forward or do you have to mod the shroud or something? Couldn't find any articles on it but probably was just looking in the wrong place.

Where do the fuel tanks normally leak from?
Thanks,
Josiah

 

[early1999powerstroke]

Okay, I found out the details on the 6.0 fan mod. Thanks for sending that my way.

 

[majorgator]

OK, looks like you're good. Basically, remove the old metal fan from the clutch (after you remove the assembly from the water pump) and bolt on the new plastic fan. Its a straight-fit mod, no further changes required. For me, I could tell the difference in the sound as I rev'd up the engine. I just bought a plain 6.0 fan from Amazon, like $55 or so.

 

[Phillipjon]

When you do this mod do you use a 6.0 fan clutch or the 7.3 fan clutch?

 

[dannanw]

7.3 clutch....even the 6.0 guys use it haha

 

[majorgator]

Use the existing 7.3 clutch that you already have. I don't know if using the 6.0 clutch is an option, or if its even possible.

edit - dannanw beat me to it.

 

[terryknight]

the 6.0 guys don't even like or use the 6.0 clutch. it's a great mod

 

[early1999powerstroke]

Okay Guys there's some good info flowing here. Thanks for all the advice so far! I just want to steer it back to a couple of my original questions as I think maybe they got lost in the book I wrote at the beginning...

1. Should I replace the rear main seal?
I have read a lot of articles that say, "Don't Touch It!!!!" BUT.........it seems kind of foolish to be right there/ have access to it/ not replace it. It's not leaking to my knowledge at this time but it does have 234,000 miles on it.

2. Should I replace any of the seals on the ZF5/Transfer case while I have them out?
I think there is a little seepage of Transmission fluid from somewhere but nothing major.

3. Should I replace the O-Rings on the rear fuel rail plugs and HPO rail plugs while I have access to them with the transmission out?

I know a lot of guys say if it's not "broken" or "leaking" don't fix it. I'm just wondering how many miles I'll have before I have to re-pull the transmission to fix a seal if I don't replace them all during this repair.

Are there any threads where guys have done their rear main seal/ transmission seals/ HPO rail end seals/ Fuel rail end seals?

 

[dannanw]

Okay Guys there's some good info flowing here. Thanks for all the advice so far! I just want to steer it back to a couple of my original questions as I think maybe they got lost in the book I wrote at the beginning...

1. Should I replace the rear main seal?
I have read a lot of articles that say, "Don't Touch It!!!!" BUT.........it seems kind of foolish to be right there/ have access to it/ not replace it. It's not leaking to my knowledge at this time but it does have 234,000 miles on it.

2. Should I replace any of the seals on the ZF5/Transfer case while I have them out?
I think there is a little seepage of Transmission fluid from somewhere but nothing major.

3. Should I replace the O-Rings on the rear fuel rail plugs and HPO rail plugs while I have access to them with the transmission out?

I know a lot of guys say if it's not "broken" or "leaking" don't fix it. I'm just wondering how many miles I'll have before I have to re-pull the transmission to fix a seal if I don't replace them all during this repair.

Are there any threads where guys have done their rear main seal/ transmission seals/ HPO rail end seals/ Fuel rail end seals?

that was answered...if it aint broke dont fix it :thumb:.... so yea I'd do rear main, and find what is leakin on the trans and just fix that, unless you have to go to deep then a small leak/weap aint no big deal.

 

[majorgator]

As I was told a while back...these trucks will leak a little oil and burn a little oil...and they'll do it for 500K miles or more before you need to worry about it.
My dipstick tube adapter was leaking. That was a huge PITA to fix...and now it leaks again. I think I can live with it ;-)

 

[terryknight]

don't touch the rear main unless you have the proper tools for the job, they rarely leak and taking it apart and putting it back together incorrectly will leak. most leaks that look like a rear main are from on top of the motor and drain though the hole at the back of the block and down or around the oil pan. the trans i would fine and replace the seal that is leaking and leave the rest alone. the oil rail plugs you can do if you want, last time i had my trans out i had the plugs right there and skipped it. figuring i can always do them with the trans in, or drop the trans and do them. (it doesn't take long to drop a zf)

 

[early1999powerstroke]

Okay, sounds good. I'll try to avoid touching anything that isn't broken/leaking. It just goes against my mild case of OCD...:chicken:
I'll try to keep you updated when I tear into it...should be in the next few months. Just want to make sure I have all the parts first!
Now...off to find a 6.0 fan. I think my neighbor has an extra one.

Yes!!! Got one from my neighbor who swapped his 6.0 out for a Cummins. $20 for the fan and it is in really good condition!