New To Fords and Diesels - Need Tips!

[jkmola]

Hi All! After having GM's all his life, my brother has now slipped over to the dark side - Fords! Hey, who am I kidding - if I didn't work for GM my truck would also be a SuperDuty (just love their looks). But, I'm not here to start a war. Just that neither him nor I have any clue about what this diesel things all about, other than the basics (let the glow plugs warm up before you start, takes like 73 qts of oil on a change, etc. He just bought 2001 Lariat with the 7.3 Powerstroke.

Now what I am looking for is some of the little tricks that everybody does or should do when they get their truck. For instance, I have seen the AIH mod, but we live in MI. Also, shimming the FPR (have to look into that). I don't have any idea about most of the abbreviations that you guys use, so maybe take that into account. We are just looking for anything that will help with reliability, performance, comfort, and is just good for the truck - things that seem obvious to you guys, but might not be to us, things that we can do ourselves and don't cost thousands. We like to fancy ourselves quite the shadetree mechanics, and even amateur fabricators. We are not looking for "Put in a BTS Tranny" (or whatever those initials were). That stuff might come later down the line.

I might have to qualify all this by saying if it's really good info that might help alot - he might not get it. You see, I just bought a Chevy - and I would hate for him to have the upper hand! Yeah, I am the OLDER brother. Can't let that punk kid win anything!

Thanks for any tips or mods you can throw our way. I've been snooping through the forums for a few days now, and you seem like a great bunch of guys (for Ford guys, I mean). Seriously, thanks in advance - would really appreciate it. Have a great week guys.

MO

 

[RickGmi]

Well if you really want to know things the best thing i can say from being a new diesel owner, Many years around semi's but new to a diesel as a personal vehicle, I would think it like anything else, read,read,read, Im not trying to short come things and im not shy to type, but from my experience, I started just going down the list reading the first 50 pages of fourms, also look at the top right of the screen you will see a (WiKi link), click on that and you will find most of the mods if not all,
By the time I was done i either found out all the mods and/or all the problems, that can happen from either fatory or owner use, So I hope you will enjoy learning as i did....Also I live in the southeast part of michigan,where abouts are you at

 

[jkmola]

What the h###"s a WiKi? I'll find it. Hey Rick, yeah I've been reading, but it's too soon for it to sink in and mean very much. There's a ton of info on this site and I've only been at it a couple of days. I suppose I'm guilty of trying to speed things up a little. I belong to a couple of other forums - so I'm sure that I will get the "Use The Search", and that's okay. But in truth, I'm not so sure I know what I am searching for. But I'll use it as issues arise. Thanks for the reply, Rick. Now it's off to find out what a WiKi is!

Oh, I live about half way between Flint and Saginaw.

You?

Later, MO

 

[whatabudro]

What the h###"s a WiKi?

Its on the top right corner of this site. Click on > Technical Articles WIKI

 

[true91799]

I'm an avid reader of all things diesel and I LOVE to peruse the sites and truck magazines for any and all information on diesels. I have owned a Cummins and now own both an 02 Powerstroke and an 02 Duramax. I'm not a "wrencher" but I've done quite a bit to my own truck and it's an F350 4WD Crew Cab Long Bed with 16.5" mud tires an ARE Utility cab, Extendo Bed roll-out system and is loaded with approximately 1800 lbs. in the back all of the time and I get 20-21 MPG driving "around" and I've gotten as good as 24 on the interstate and NEVER got worse than 16 (after modifications, of course). Prior to modifications, my workhorse did about 12MPG

Common sense tells you to get the air in and out. Put on a good free-flowing intake (more than just a K&N) and go with a 4" exhaust from the turbo out. Change fluids to synthetic and buy a Super Chips Micro Tuner 1705. I also bypassed the Crank Case Vent (know as the CCV Mod) although I didn't see any significant gains except I felt alot better not spewing oil vapor into the turbo piping. I don't want to any body off, but the Cummins is a more durable motor and the Duramax runs like a banshee stock. However, Ford makes (In my opinion) a better truck and the Powerstroke CAN be a beast!

I just love diesels. Finally got the wife a Passat TDI!!! She loves the 46MPG and the car is super quick.

I must some of the other guys on this site for their knowledge and helpfulness and I am sure you will find the same here.

 

[s d mills]

I too was a lifelong GM guy who'd never owned a diesel truck. And I read everything that passes my vision....soup can labels while the soup's cooking. Along with the good info I picked up in my diesel research, I became so apprehensive about all the problems (with every brand diesel) I nearly scared myself into buying another 7.4L gasser. For the better part of 6 months I tried out up to 60 diesel trucks, was undecided/scared of taking the leap.

Then I happened across my Super Duty PSD more by accident than anything else....I fell in love with it at first sight, it had 78K miles and ran like a fine swiss watch, and since buying it in November I've had nothing but pleasure from it for the 9K miles of hauling and pleasure driving I've done. I'm not the least bit scared any more and I look at it this way. Each manufacturer is going to produce a certain percentage of problem trucks but when you compare that percentage with total units built it begins to lessen in significance. There are far more diesel truck owners who are happy and satisfied with their trucks than ones who complain about them. The "squeaky wheel gets the grease"....you primarily hear about the problem vehicles.

If you're buying new it's a crapshoot but your odds are excellent in buying a good truck. Buying used, if it has reasonable mileage and runs/drives good, odds are it's going to be a good truck and whatever serious problems it may have had were resolved. Otherwise, just follow the advice in the previous posts and good luck.

 

[jkmola]

True - Thanks for the tips. I know my brother will be interested in some of your ideas as he's pulling about 12mpg right now. He'd be thrilled with anything above 18. He works for a distributor who handles Amsoil, so the synthetic fluid thing is a done deal. I've been reading up on some of the intake mods - gonna tackle them in the next week or two. We'll get some sort of exhaust system on after I do some more reading and figure out which one. Chip will follow - may be a few months away yet. Thanks again.

Kind of starting to feel at home around here. Bad thing is I really don't have much to offer the forum right now - just sucking up the info. Maybe one day I'll be able to help somebody else and pay a little back.

Whatabudro - Thanks - I found it. Great stuff. I think that I have already printed off almost all of the threads there that apply to us.


Thanks again to everybody. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Hey, I'll be haunting this forum for awhile - might even pop up now and then!

Later, MO

 

[Strokin_it7.3]

just be careful when you begin modding your truck. you will soon have PMS (Powerstroke Mod Syndrome), which will lead to acute emptywalletitis, creditcardmaxedoutitis, and the most severe case, wifepissedatmeaskingforadivorceitis. it is a never ending cycle. i bought my truck, thinking of putting ventshades and a leveling kit, but $5000 later, well.

anyway, some good mods i would recommend are the

Stainless HPX crossover
CCV (i tied mine into exhaust)
T/C lockup (manual control)
AIH delete
wastegate disable
tymar/46637
4'' exhaust will get the air out better
ZooDad mod

plus, keep a spare CPS in the glovebox. insurance.

those should keep you busy for a while

 

[Hoss 350]

I can't help but mention several things associated with owning a PS diesel that you should keep in mind, maintenance-wise.

First, there is this lovely little sensor on the front of the engine block, down by the harmonic balancer, which is prone to fail at the worst possible time in the worst possible way, because it shuts the truck down completely when it dies. This includes when you are driving 80 MPH down the interstate, or when you are 30 miles from the nearest paved road in the middle of Bigfoot Country and it is getting dark….It is called the Camshaft Position Sensor. It costs $100 bucks to buy one, and takes about 10 minutes, a 10MM socket wrench, and a big screwdriver to change it out. Buy one, keep it and the two aforementioned tools in your glove compartment, so that you do not have a trillion dollar towing bill because Ford was too lazy to design a decent sensor for your truck.

Second, the 7.3 liter diesel has this little issue known as cavitation. What happens is that the high compression ratio of the engine causes the cylinder walls to move in and out ever so slightly every time the compression stroke happens. This causes pressure ripples in the water jacket from the in-and-out motion. The low pressure side of the ripples causes little bubbles to “explode” inside the water jacket 250 to 1750 times per minute, depending on engine RPM. This slowly but surely eats away at the cylinder walls of the engine, and can eventually eat all the way through them, effectively destroying your engine. This can be prevented by using a Supplemental Coolant Additive (SCA) in your anti-freeze. It is a rare maintenance item, since the engine uses it up slowly once it is put in but it is a maintenance item, nonetheless. At every oil change, you should test the coolant with an SCA test strip, and add SCA as is necessary. This is not a very big deal to do, but can seriously effect the life of your engine if you neglect it. The strips are available at Napa, as is the additive.

Third, fuel filters will need to be changed more often than you are used to. Every 15 to 30 thousand miles you will need to change it. It is super easy, the filter housing is under the Powerstroke cover under the hood. It is right on top of the engine, just take the Powerstroke cover off, unscrew the fuel filter lid, and replace the filter. You will also need to drain the fuel water separator at the recommended intervals (also not a big deal. I just do it every two oil changes.)

Beyond that, if anything goes wrong, let us know, and we can help you out. The 7.3 is a uniquely reliable engine, so you shouldn’t have much trouble, and if you do, there are a list of about a half-dozen items that are pretty commonly the root of the problem. You must remember that with thousands of guys out there on this forum, you are bound to run into someone that has experienced your problem and knows just how to fix it.

As far as power mods are concerned, there are many on here that know more than I about all of that. My one recommendation is that you do it in order, which would be
1.) Gauges
2.) Intake (to keep you cool)
3.) Exhaust (to keep you cool)
4.) Power-adder (to get you HOT)

Anything other than that order could be asking for problems. Anyway, congrats on your decision to join the Brotherhood Of Oil Burners. We are all BOOBs, and are glad to have found another out there that is just as much a BOOB as the rest of us!

 

[jkmola]

just be careful when you begin modding your truck. you will soon have PMS (Powerstroke Mod Syndrome), which will lead to acute emptywalletitis, creditcardmaxedoutitis, and the most severe case, wifepissedatmeaskingforadivorceitis. it is a never ending cycle. i bought my truck, thinking of putting ventshades and a leveling kit, but $5000 later, well.

anyway, some good mods i would recommend are the

Stainless HPX crossover
CCV (i tied mine into exhaust)
T/C lockup (manual control)
AIH delete
wastegate disable
(tymar/46637)
4'' exhaust will get the air out better
ZooDad mod

plus, keep a spare CPS in the glovebox. insurance.

those should keep you busy for a while

Well, I'll warn him about all those itis's, but I don't think he will listen! Point taken.

I take it HPX is high pressure crossover?

All the others are already on the list of "to-do's", except the wastegate mod and the T/C mod. Could you help me and explain just what those would do for us?

Thanks for the tips.

Mo