New (to me) 7.3 Powerstroke!

[CaptainMorgan556]

I've recently acquired a 1997 Extended cab long bed 7.3 powerstroke, 4x4 with and automatic tranny and she's got potential but a few problems that need to be taken care of first.
First of all the seals in the oil cooler are bad and need to be replaced, and I'm thinking of doing it myself, doesn't look to hard but I could be mistaken. Also there's a coolant leak at the front passenger side of the block where a heater hose goes to a "T" fitting and then into the block. Gotta figure hoe to seal it up the right way. After that, the dipstick tube holder on the side of the oil pan is leaking, that may have to get expoy or RTV, and I belive the timing cover there is a small leak at the bottom. Trucks got 333,000 miles on her so is there anything I should look out for? I'm replacing all my filters and fluids asap but was widmering what else I should do.

 

[IDIoit]

the worst problem ive encountered with my powerstrokes is that there is alot of electrical.
a good scanner is a MUST!
there is no guessing when it comes to diagnostics, you let the CPU tell you whats wrong, or you will be blindly throwing money at it.

the oil cooler is basically like an IDI, not too hard to reseal.

the coolant leak, i would pull the fitting and RTV it.

the dipstick can be a nightmare!
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/sh...ve-been-an-easy-job-now-a-Disaster&highlight=

 

[79jasper]

Well get you a spare cps to keep in the glove box.
The oil cooler orings are easy on these. Especially being 4x4, gives more room to work with. Check out dieselorings.com and riffraff for the orings set.
For the coolant leak, check out the hoses first.
The dipstick is a little harder. There's the outer nut, also a fitting inside the pan. It can fall in if you take the nut off. So be careful. You can get a kit to fix it. Has some nice little tools to hold the fitting from dropping. I think dieselorings has it.
Can't really say on the timing cover. I haven't had to mess with that.
Also check the icp sensor for oil in the connector. If it does, it's bad.

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[CaptainMorgan556]

Sweet, I'm guessing I can do the oil cooler myself which is awesome. After that gets resealed I'm going to flush it a few times to get all the oil out of the system and replace the thermostat with a 203* One from diesel site and a new thermostat housing, see If I can get a filter too for the cooling system, eventually I want a aluminum Mishimoto rad for the thing. I don't want to mess with the Dipstick adapter too much right now, I just wanna seal it up, until I can grab one of those $300 fix kits. And the timing cover still don't know on. But besides a fluctuating idle and not so perfect shifting the truck is in pretty good shape.

 

[79jasper]

The mishimoto is the route I'm going before long.
For the coolant filter, look into the international water pump that has the filter base built in.
The idle could be the icp sensor also.
Oh clean the ebp tube. That can affect shifting.
For a air filter. Look up tymar or 6637. Way better than the stock setup, which were known to not seal, dusting the turbo eventually.

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[CaptainMorgan556]

Right now I'm running some like tractor air filter right now, things old and I was thinking On a KN RD-1460 replacement, but I'll look into those other ones. I really want to modify this truck so that's its way different than any OBS Around here, I can get Superduty seats cheap, which is where I want to go, plus carpet and black interior. But first gotta get the engine and drivetrain up to spec. So then I can work inside out. At least I have a freshly painted frame and no rust to work with.

 

[IDIoit]

ford electrical parts ONLY,
DONT USE ANYTHING LESS.

 

[CaptainMorgan556]

ford electrical parts ONLY,
DONT USE ANYTHING LESS.

Thanks for that, I already try and use OEM parts but that makes me feel better about myself when I'm shelling out THAG extra $$$

 

[79jasper]

For the icp and IPR, yes ford only. But there's new stuff out there far as the cps. (which I think is actually cheaper at ford, but seems lately people are having trouble with the Ford one)
Another thing. Look into a good scanner. About the best (best deal, not necessarily best ford the truck) thing you can get is the autoenginuity with the Ford bundle. Next up would be torque app and a good Bluetooth dongle.
Personally I would stay away from K&N. At least on turbo engines. Riffraff had a 6637 kit for about 80 or 90.
Diamond eye has some good turbo back 4 inch kits on amazon. I just put one on. $300.

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[CaptainMorgan556]

Just curious, why would you stay away from the KN? I do like that 6637 Kit though.

 

[Waystro]

Did you sell your idi? Don't see it in your sig.

 

[79jasper]

They let dust in. Basically the dirtier it is, the better it filters.
The 6637 has way more filter area. You can also get a water coalescing one, if you live in a really rainy area.

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[CaptainMorgan556]

Did you sell your idi? Don't see it in your sig.

Yeah, I was having major issues, kept randomly accelerating, and stalling, and fuel leaks kept showing up, and lastly I found out that my odometer was messed with before I bought it. Sold with 289xxx miles and the last reading was 347xxx in 2001, so I traded it for a buddy of mines truck. He loved the Crew Cab regardless so he's going to do a bunch of stuff to it that I can't currently afford lol

 

[whitehorse]

I wanna see a bigger pic of it....looks like the blueish purple color Ford has.....

 

[79jasper]

Mine is the blueish purple. Lol
Sounds like the idi needed a new ip.
I still like the idi, but I'm happier with the PSD.

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