7.3L diesel advice

[Rox Crusher]

well my luck on a good running 7.3 I think is over. Lost what I believe is the turbo. wont know until I can tear it out and rip it apart.

Jesuschristo, you certainly having a run of bad luck with cars lately

[ZOSO]

well my luck on a good running 7.3 I think is over. Lost what I believe is the turbo. wont know until I can tear it out and rip it apart.

Jesuschristo, you certainly having a run of bad luck with cars lately

Im about ready to sell everything and be done with cars. Im down to my mustang and harley. And neither are snow vehicles.

[Justin]

Throw some blizzaks on the Mustang and go have fun!

[ZOSO]

Throw some blizzaks on the Mustang and go have fun!

Might come to that. If I cant get a turbo until next week I guess i'll have to go get the 79 and hope it will run and drive.

[Justin]

Running and driving is overrated. Just ask my bronco.

[akaFrankCastle]

I hope it's only the turbo. What happened?

In other 7.3 news, I pulled the 73 back to Missouri yesterday. 600 or so miles. About 5-6k hanging off the back bumper. Didn't lose any injectors or lock the engine. 222 mile stretch at 77mph, 6-8psi, 90-110*F over ambient, and 8-10k*F on the EGTs. 12.33 mpg.

Definitely time for a regear.

Found best mpg over 70mph was at 2k rpm and >10psi.

[ZOSO]

the thrust bearing is bad. Causes the shaft to slide over. Which means the compressor wheels kisses the compressor housing. I caught it early enough that it didnt pump tons of metal shaving into the motor. I only drove it about 2 miles once I heard the squealing. It would come and go.




So I made a phone call in hopes someone would be open today. As luck would have it Bob and dieselOrings was there. Talked to him about it for some time and decided that the best solution is go 38r. So I borrowed a car and drove out to weldona to get it.




its all back together now. I just went for a short drive to check for oil leaks is all.

[ZOSO]

Well I drove it around a little now. I don't like the 38r. It doesn't "hit" as hard as the stock with billet wheel did. Seems to spool a little sooner ~1400-1500rpm vs 1700-1800. But it takes a while to hit full boost. I need to go through it and check for boost leaks and exhaust leaks but im only hitting 21psi vs the old setup at 27-28psi.

[Jesus_man]

Do you have a tuner on your truck Rob? I don't know much about aftermarket turbos, but I assume the compression side on the 38r is larger than stock?

[ZOSO]

Do you have a tuner on your truck Rob? I don't know much about aftermarket turbos, but I assume the compression side on the 38r is larger than stock?

Yes it's tuned. Compressor side is a little bigger. It's just been cold and snowy so I haven't looked into it yet. Im betting I have an exhaust leak somewhere.

[akaFrankCastle]

4.5 hour oil change. I rebuilt the oil cooler while I was at it.

Two weeks ago I was in KC when I notice the axle tube under the front of the truck was wet. I peered underneath and found a slightly loose hose clamp on the radiator. After I tightened it, I checked the fluid on the tube: oil. Further investigation showed my oil cooler was blowing crude past the o rings when cold. After some very anxious googling I found that the problem goes away once the motor is warm and the seals expand. I was pretty relieved as I thought I would be tearing my motor apart in MO versus CO.

Anyhow, I ordered the new o ring kit from Bob at dieselorings.com and put it in tonight during my oil change. I was due for new crude anyhow.

Needless to say, it was a messy venture. But a test fire has shown that everything is holding as it should. Which is good. Because I'm putting 1200+ miles on it this weekend.

I would DEFINITELY recommend this to anyone with 150k+ on their motors. I did not take pictures, but what I found was about 50% of the coolant passages through the cooler were clogged with crap. So, I was only getting about 40-50% effective oil cooling.

My original plan had me using the oil cooler from my builder motor. That plan was quickly scrapped when I found this.



It's full of aluminum shavings from when two pistons proved the 1220*F melting point.

[akaFrankCastle]

Here's what those passages look like with a bottle cap for scale.





Not much room for error. Or crud.

[Jesus_man]

Wow, those are small passages!!

Good work!

[BroncoCrawler]

Wow....I've rebuilt alot of those over the years in trucks with 200k plus and never seen one with as much metal in it as yours.

[akaFrankCastle]

Wow....I've rebuilt alot of those over the years in trucks with 200k plus and never seen one with as much metal in it as yours.

That's what happens when you tow heavy, chipped, with no gauges. The previous owner of that motor melted two pistons in the block.

[BroncoCrawler]

What kinda mechanic would just replace two pistons in an engine that suffered that kinda trauma and not tear it completely down?

[akaFrankCastle]

What kinda mechanic would just replace two pistons in an engine that suffered that kinda trauma and not tear it completely down?

I think our trains are running in different directions. Let me clarify.

A couple years ago I bought a blown motor from a shop in Denver. It's too cheap, and too complete, not to buy it.

Previous owner of the motor had it in his truck and ran back and forth across I70. One day the truck started running poorly on his trip and it was towed to a shop. There, they replaced the injectors thinking that was the problem. When he saw the injector bill, he told them to remove them and he has the truck hauled back to Denver. There he bought a low mileage truck that had been t-boned, paid a shop to swap that motor into his truck, and away he went. After the swap was complete and he'd paid the shop, he told them to just sell off the remaining parts for however much they wanted.

Enter me.

I got the 90% complete motor (less injectors and glow plugs) for 100.00. I figured it would a good training aid to dissect and see how they tick. As a bonus, I would have some spare parts around.

On tear down, I found two pistons, #s 6 and 7 IIRC, melted in the block. So, I finished tear down, took it to the machine shop, and had it rough bored to clean the slag off the walls.

And now we're all caught back up. :)

[BroncoCrawler]

gotcha ok makes much more sense now. I did the same thing. bought a complete 7.3 turbo, injectors, and hpop for $300. got it home and did a compression check found #8 to be 100psi. its currently in my shed and some day i'll build it but for now my 350K truck keeps running strong so it hasn't been a priority

[casadejohnson]

Here's what those passages look like with a bottle cap for scale.





Not much room for error. Or crud.

I did mine last year and it had what looked like plastic ??????? clogging up a few of the tubes. I have no idea what it was or how it got in there! I ended up replacing the center cooling tube section with one salvaged from another 7.3.

[cravenbronco]

Here is one. I have a 97 7.3 and when I add a load to the truck it doesn't pull worth a crap but then I run it by its self and it runs great. I have taken it to 3 shops and they all said that it is fine no codes nor any problems. I am confused. I have a 95 with the same engine and when loaded it will pull at 55-60 mph up hill. The 97 drops down to 30 mph with same load going up the same hill.
What could be causing this problem ? Any ideas ?

Found the problem it was the Turbocharger Back Pressure Sensor got it from Ford for $115.00

[Gunnibronco]

I'm getting ready to order a new ring & pinion & master bearing kit for my SD.

Ron's Machining Services was linked as a less expensive alternative to Randy's Ring & Pinion, in one of the forums I was reading. Their prices on the master bearing kits are MUCH lower than Randys or another place I checked (Filthy).

Ron's has gear & install kit package for the 10.25 (can be installed in a 10.5) priced at:

Yukon gear & USA Std bearings $400
http://www.ronsmachiningservice.net/gea ... -gear-pkg/

USA Std gear & USA Std bearings $320
http://www.ronsmachiningservice.net/gea ... r-package/

They don't have a 10.5" kit listed, when I spoke to them months ago, they didn't think the .25" larger ring mattered & suggested the 10.25" kit as fine.

To compare, Randy's sells the 10.25 gears & kits separate priced at:
Yukon gear & USA Std bearing: $608
https://www.ringpinion.com/b2c/ProductD ... rodID=6595
https://www.ringpinion.com/b2c/ProductD ... ProdID=253

USA Std gear & USA Std bearing: $529
https://www.ringpinion.com/b2c/ProductD ... ProdID=254

Filthy's prices were similar to Randy's, but they didn't offer the USA Std bearing set.

Just want to make sure I'm not missing something critical between the products. I've never done a new ring & pinion & bearings, so I want someone else's opinon.

I'm leaning towards the 10.25 USA Std gear & bearing since I've read decent reviews of the gears, and I'm not going to be towing heavy equipment or a huge camper trailer, just the Bronco.