Picked up my E99 zf6

Farmer Rock

just a fella' without a 10mm socket
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Hey there, this is my first post in the powerstroke section, as I've only had IDIs in the past.
I made the leap to a powerstroke, and while I'll definitely miss the IDIs, am so glad I made the switch.
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Only problem worth noting, is it won't shift into L or R unless you do some fancy stuff.
It seems like the clutch isn't disengaging 100%, because otherwise shifts good, and goes in other gears fine .
I'll sort that out, but besides that, I'm really happy with the truck, and low the gearing. Will be a perfect fit for what I need.
Since I'm new to PSDs, is there anything I should check right off the bat while I'm going through it? And things to watch out for?
I'm aware of the cps problems, and plan to keep a spare on the truck.


Rock
 

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sheepman

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I've only ever had one cam sensor go bad, I think Double S makes a good point put a new one in a save the other as a spare. Check your HPOP hoses and fuel hoses, they degrade over time. Also the orings on the oil rail plugs and where the HPOP hose connect will weep with age. E99 use a different air filter than the late 99 up trucks. also get Forscan and a OBD II usb plug in, super cheap way to diagnose the truck and run test.
 

Farmer Rock

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Thank you for the tips, I'll be sure to check those things, and swap out the cps.
Today I was leaving for the farm, batteries were dead so I jumped it quick and headed for Walmart to get 2 new batteries since they were old and mismatched.
I got 3/4 of the way there, and the gauges all died, wipers went crazy then it died after a couple miles.
I should have know better than to drive an electronically controlled engine on with stone dead batteries, but I've been hanging around mechanical Diesel for a while, so didn't think about it.
Of course, napa was the only store with 65-2s, so 300 bucks later and Bobs your uncle.

Rock
 

snicklas

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My guess is the 99-03 7.3's are the same way... but.....

My 03 6.0, the instrument cluster and the radio will drop out at ~9 Volts...... the engine still runs at that voltage.... not sure when it drops out....

Had an alternator die a few miles from home. I made it home... so it will run under 9 volts.... didn't see how low it got, but I was turning into my neighborhood when the gauges dropped out.....
 

Farmer Rock

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When I left home, it read 11 volts unloaded.
During the attempt to drive to Walmart, It started creeping down fast, knew I would be in trouble. Gauges died at 9v, the truck stayed running down to 6-7 volts, but it dropped fast.


Rock
 

dsrace

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congrats on your purchase. i too drive an e99 zf6 quad cab drw 4x4. i'm sure you have checked your alt to make sure it's working properly. if that alternator isn't keeping up or borderline then that will effect the injectors. your clutch issue......the e99's used a diff throw out arm then late 99's, because ford quickly realized the e99 wasn't strong enough. they crack then flex and you wind up having to push the pedal all the way to the floor. that is one tell tell sign you might have a cracked throw out arm. when changing trans fluid, some pump new atf in through fill port on the side of the trans. i removed the shifter last time and poured it in there. i say this as that really free'd up the stiff detent! now after a few thousand miles the stiffer detent is back, as it had been since mile one on the truck. tells me there isn't enough lube getting to that socket imo. imo the e99 has the best turbo for bottom end and mid with a little top end. once turned up say 80 hp tow via a tuner, it doesnt breathe the best at 75 mph (3.73 gears) pulling a load. i say that based on egt's alone, hauling a 34' fifthwheel camper, only weighing 11k lbs but 12'6" tall. kc turbo has a very nice drop in turbo for the stock up pipes. if you make the change then go with kc's 363/68 .91 as that will give you the top end with out deducting too much off of bottom end. it will perform well with stock inj's as well. if you decide to swap the inj's some day then i personally would go with AD ( late 99's) with 30% tips and some " custom " tunes in a hydra tuner. unless you need to double the rwhp then 205/30's are max on that kc drop in turbo. if add a hydra tuner, make sure and get the 90* usb head so that you can leave the cord plugged in and remote that port by the obd2 connector..... in case you want to up load someone elses tunes. the manuals are tougher to write tunes for but the e99 ecu is even harder to get decent tunes for. so far i have tried php, jelibuilt and 1023. in my truck for my application, 1023 tunes were unusable. php are the best for power int he wind but jelibuilts have the best pedal (tps) input while towing. i have been wanting to try allens tunes from AA tuning as i believe he took over for bill at php?? not sure of that though. in stock form the inj's cannot feed enough to overspin the stock turbo. un plug the waste gate controller and plug it onto the boost tube boot clamp bolt. i first tried the ww2 comp wheel in the stock turbo just to see. it did quiet it down but that was about it. while i had the turbo off i tightened up the wg controller 1 full turn, just so be sure it didn't float for any reason.

towing that fifthwheel listed above i ran a dp tuner, ww2 comp wheel with an afe stage II intake and full exh. if i were to do the exh over again i would use the stock dp and pull the cork out of the lower. larger exh does make a diff but not sure how much as i never tried. 28 psi was all she had in a 80 tow tune, in the wind, pulling grade, would see 1300* often and that just wasn't quite enough power to maintain ground speed. so i decided to swap out to hybrid 205/30 inj's, adrenaline hpop, t4 ss up pipe conversion kit, borg warner sxe 363 turbo, high v high freq idm, riff raff fuel cross over with fpr kit as well as high flow fuel fittings. 35 psi no problem now and egt's only hit a max of 1200*. i also discovered that the factory leaf springs didn't like the increased tq so ouo traction bars. i now have 139k miles on the truck and still love the truck. i had a low pitched chirping noise that sounded like a pulley starting to seize. so i replaced the tensioner and idler pulley's. didn't fix the issue and it turned out to be the power steering pump dragging a bit. sucked all the atf out of it ( yes it's atf not regular power steering fluid) refilled then ran and repeated until the fluid was clean. that stopped the sqeaking and made a noticable diff in idle as well as power steering. never knew a little drag on the belt would effect these that way. at that same time i began noticing that the coolant temps were 10 to 15* higher then normal under a load. the water pump wasn't leaking nor was i loosing fluid but had ran into an issue with a semi plugged radiator on my '92 7.3 idi. the thermostat necks are known for rusting out on these sd's so do yourself a favor and buy the aluminum version riff raff sells. i went ahead and replaced the cooling fan clutch, water pump and radiator while i was at it. the water pump bearing was on the verge of going out and the shaft was starting to deflect to the point where the impellor blades were just starting to make contact with the case. had a clean cresan moon shape on the block but just surface scuff at that point. so between that drag, the ps pump, it idles better with improved steering. another important note is that your abs module has been discontinued. remember that if you go to bleed the brakes! if it comes time for new wheel bearings the e99 are diff then late 99 and e99 is no longer available from ford. you will have to swap out to late 99 bearings, rotors and calipers. just below the 42 pin wire harness connector..... the wire harness can rub on the drivers side valve cover. wrap that in some rubber or something before it rubs though. never use dorman valve cover gaskets (uvch) , use alliant power or ford and never use anything but ford glow plugs. diesel o rings sells a schrader valve for fuel filter housing so you can check fuel psi. says not to leave it in but i have for 30k miles with out issue. i set my base psi at 65 psi with the fx fuel cross over kit. cannot say if that made any diff or not but if your pump starts to get weak and you drop below 40 psi you can damage the inj's. if the truck acts like it's running out of fuel at 1/4 tank then its the pick up in side the tank. easy to drop that tank.
 
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dsrace

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also, if your going to use oil additives then use rev x or archoil. both work great but archoil will mix with atf where rev x says not to. so once a year pour a cap full of the arch oil into your power steering res and that really free's up worn or weak pumps. i and several others ( obs and sd's) do this and have had the same results. the type of oil plays a big role in idle quality from truck to truck. i get the best idle with ams oil and it's is expensive but works the best for myself. everyone has there own opinion but the heui inj's are really sensitive to oil quality and that differs from truck to truck. i tried rotella and it made for a worse idle then motocraft. i tried mobil 1 and that was the worst, so bad i dropped it and poured motocraft back in. if you decide to replace the stereo, consider an atoto din 2 as they are android based operating systems and you can down load the forescan app. with the blue tooth dongle you can view live data on your stereo screen and pull codes as well. forescan is the best app for these trucks or an actual scanner with a ford specific program. a good friend of mine had a ses light on. he was using the torque pro app and couldn't pull any codes. he stopped at oreilly's and they plugged there scanner in and no codes, with the check engine light one. downloaded forescan and pulled 11 codes! led tail lights and cargo light conversions don't play well with the other systems either! if you ever buy inj's do not buy remanned inj's! brand new only and only from a company that actually flow tests the inj's. they will provide a data sheet of the tests with the inj's. if they do not then are not actually testing the injectors. the only two companies that i can suggest are bitteroot or rosewood. i bought remanned from full force and that was a costly mistake! there is an oil rail cross over kit available to hose shoe the oil gally. i bought one and never got around to installing it then made all the changes. some swear it smooths the idle out and some say it does nothing. it is meant for use with stock hpop's. i still have a ss solid one brand new in the box if you really want to try one. just some helpful suggestions, based on my own personal experiences over the years.
 
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catbird7

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Congrats on the new truck! Given our geographic location, the oil pan is something you want to pay attention to. Notorious for rusting and not easy to replace. Both of the 7.3 powerstrokes I recently disassembled had replacement pans.
 

greenskeeper

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The ZF6 has a "detent" as I would call it, it takes more effort to go into L or R than all other gears as you throw the shifer beyond 1st/2nd

If it engages other gears easily this could be the case of normal operation.

The other area to look at is the slave/master assembly, it's plastic from the factory. There is an aftermarket pre-bled assembly made of metal.

The linkage at the pedal also is known to have slack (heim joint mod).

Also if you remove the slave cylinder, you can measure to see if the shift fork is bent/cracked not allowing proper travel.

Finally, I strongly recommend running pennzoil synchromesh in your ZF6. The stock ATF requirement is too thin IMO. I run PS in all my manual transmission vehicles and equipment.
 

Farmer Rock

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Great information guys, thank you. I'm gonna go through the truck this weekend and service it before too long.
I did manage to mount my toolboxs and cb.
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By far the best truck I've had or ran.
Rock
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Farmer Rock

just a fella' without a 10mm socket
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I've been wanting one of these for a while, and just installed it tonight
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My dad has the same jvc in his dodge, and I've always liked the hands free calling.
Plus, I can listen to George Strait all day long!:cool:

Rock
 

Farmer Rock

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So, this truck had an afe cold air intake on when I bought it. I didn't have anything against the intake kit except for the filter itself. I just don't get along with reusable filters, so I wanted to replace it with a replaceable element.
The afe piping has a flange pipe that goes from 4 inch to 5 1/2 inch to use the stupid cone filter. Well I couldn't get a replacement element any bigger than 4 inch, so bought this 6637 napa filter. Way bigger than I expected but the hood closes so we're good!
I forgot to take a pic with the battery in, I had to move it to the side a few inches.
All in all, I actually noticed quit a bit more turbo whistle and definitely more power. Well worth it.


Rock
 

Farmer Rock

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So........
Yesterday I was coming home with a flatbed trailer, and coming through town there is a really steep hill with a tight turn up top. I'm cruising along up like usual,15mph, and smack dab at the top, there's a pete 379 flying (had to be doing at least 40), in my lane not slowing down at all. I quickly throw the truck and trailer on the concrete wall(3ft curb), and he still hits my mirror. He definitely would have took off the top of my cab the way he was coming.
Anyhow, after that, the front brakes starting grinding..... I had every intention of pulling the wheels when I got home today..
This afternoon I left work , start heading home. All of a sudden it sounds like someone threw a crow bar on the ground and my brake pedal went to the floor.
I shut the truck off,look around, oh-cuss there's brake pad remains sitting on the ground......:frustrate
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I replaced pads, rotor,and caliper on the driver side at work. Drove it home, and I'll do the passenger side in the morning. It's just been a long day..

Rock
 

catbird7

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Good luck with your repair, and it sure was nice meeting you and your family the other day! Nice folks.
 

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