Now that the Duramax history lesson is complete(LINK), onto the Powerstroke starting with the one that started it all. The venerable 7.3L. I will update this as the rest of the engines get posted.POWER STROKE HISTORY, LESSON 1: 7.3LOWER STROKE HISTORY, LESSON 2: 6.0LPOWER STROKE HISTORY, LESSON 3: 6.4LPOWER STROKE HISTORY, LESSON 4: 6.7LPOWER STROKE HISTORY, LESSON 5: 3.0LEnjoy!

People loved that 7.3 I guess when you look at the rest of the stable it was their “best” motor...V8, heui injection, glow plugs, no attributes of a decent diesel in my book. Before the crowd piles on I owned both a 7.3 and 6.0

Thanks for sharing. I kept my old 7.3's, have one in a Excursion and another in a F-250. The old things have been as reliable as a anvil. The truck has 255k and the X has 160k miles. While underpowered by today's standards they get the job done. The manual transmission truck does 21 mpg solo highway and the automatic transmission X does 17mpg solo.

2000 F-350 7.3 PSD 245,000 miles. It tows a 11,000 lb 5er. Same transmission, 1 water pump, 2 altanators, misc front end work, rear wheel seals, both front hubs. It has a Banks chip since 30,000 and I will drive it until the wheels falls and then put on new wheels and go on down the road

My dad has a 2000 7.3 that only has about 110,000 miles on it. He's had to do some work on it but nothing unexpected for a 20 year old truck, and overall it's been very reliable. It's super loud and with the front leafs has a horrible turning radius and it rides like a hay wagon. He says he's keeping it until one of them dies. He's in 80s now so things are looking promising for the truck.

7.3 was a great motor. Now let's talk early Powerstroke 6.0....but not to my brother who traded his 7.3 for a 6.0. BIG mistake and it turned him into a Ford hater.....:M

Powerstroke History Lesson | Good Sam Community

4x4ord
Explorer III
Jan 15, 2019
I know a lot of people who were very happy with their Ford 6.0 liters. All but one of them had their engine fail. It has got to be one of, if not the poorest designed engines ever built. To make matters worse it existed at a time when the competition was bullet proof, regardless of whether you had a Ram or GM.
36guy
Explorer
Jan 15, 2019
I gotta say, my first diesel was a 95 7.3, I bought it from my friend who was gonna trade it in for a 6.0, he bought it new so I knew its heritage. I got it just shy of 100,000 miles, one owner and 10 days later had to put glow plugs in it, then a total of three water pumps, two injectors, two sets of injector O rings, one set went in kitwanga bc, and the tow bill to terrace was huge. An alternator and three belts after stripping the rear rib off the belt and chewing the hood insulation up, shimmed the power steering pump and cured that. The dual mass flywheel went south, so in went a luc conversion which my tranny guy told me would eat the input shaft in the tranny, yep, you guessed it, new tranny a year later.
The end was leaking O rings all over the engine, all this within 100,000 km's (60,000 miles) sold it, bought an 07 duramax, ten years ago, zero issues yet with 225,000 on the clock.
However, there isn't a duramax made that makes the sweet sound of a 7.3.
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
Jan 15, 2019
^^^^ what does filters have to do with popped head gaskets and stretched TTY bolts? (The most common problem with these engines)

For sure warped heads and casting sand caused problems. But again, these were not maintenance issues the customers caused like this article insinuates.
FishOnOne
Nomad
Jan 15, 2019
Turtle n Peeps wrote:
I thought Mike did a poor to fare job of writing this article. The way I read it he contradicted himself several times.

One of the biggest for me was this:
First he says:
Mike McGlothlin wrote:
In our opinion, maintenance is key if you want this engine to last. It can’t be neglected like the 7.3L can and still give you years of loyal service.

Then he says:
Mike McGlothlin wrote:
Nearly everyone knows that 6.0Ls are notorious for blowing head gaskets, but why is this particular failure so prevalent? Many factors can contribute to a blown head gasket, but it all starts with the head bolts—the type and the lack of them.[/quote]

Now how in the hell can the lack of the amount of head bolts be a maintenance issue?

It can't. That is an engineering issue plain and simple.

Then he missed the whole issue on what causes the head gasket issue. The stock turbo veins would stick because of a poor design turbo and if they stuck in the full boost condition the engine would over boost and kick the head gasket out.

In short, the people that owned a 6.0 did not have maintenance issues. The engine had design issues which cause problems. Stop trying to maintenance blame the owners Mike!

The only poor maintenance issues I can honestly say is using after market oil filters that don't hold the anti drain valve closed which means you're constantly starting the engine with the oil filter housing empty and oil bypassing the filter media, using after market fuel filters that didn't have the aquablock material to remove water from the diesel, and some rigging companies installing the incorrect coolant which plugged the EGR. In addition some of the problems were poor quality control like warped heads and leaving casting sand in the blocks.
deltabravo
Nomad
Jan 15, 2019
From people both inside and outside of the diesel industry, the 6.0L tends to get a bad wrap.

I've never seen an engine with a wrap on it. Make me wonder what a bad wrap looks like as opposed to a "good" wrap.

Sad that journalists can't even use the correct grammar these days.

Very good article though. I learned what the 6.0 issues are and what caused them.
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
Jan 14, 2019
I thought Mike did a poor to fare job of writing this article. The way I read it he contradicted himself several times.

One of the biggest for me was this:
First he says:
Mike McGlothlin wrote:
In our opinion, maintenance is key if you want this engine to last. It can’t be neglected like the 7.3L can and still give you years of loyal service.

Then he says:
Mike McGlothlin wrote:
Nearly everyone knows that 6.0Ls are notorious for blowing head gaskets, but why is this particular failure so prevalent? Many factors can contribute to a blown head gasket, but it all starts with the head bolts—the type and the lack of them.[/quote]

Now how in the hell can the lack of the amount of head bolts be a maintenance issue?

It can't. That is an engineering issue plain and simple.

Then he missed the whole issue on what causes the head gasket issue. The stock turbo veins would stick because of a poor design turbo and if they stuck in the full boost condition the engine would over boost and kick the head gasket out.

In short, the people that owned a 6.0 did not have maintenance issues. The engine had design issues which cause problems. Stop trying to maintenance blame the owners Mike!
cummins2014
Explorer
Jan 14, 2019
Wild Card wrote:
larry barnhart wrote:
what about the 7.3 engines before the 2002 models that needed the coolant additive every 15000 miles to keep the engine from going bad. PF-15 I think before it became PF-22. Most ford folks I knew did not know it was needed.
chevman

7.3 ended production in 2003.5. I don't know about the 6.0 2003.5 up or the 7.3 IDI...but all 7.3,s required the additive in the coolant. It is more of a water softening agent to stop pitting in the aluminium which results in holes in the water jacket. Class 8 trucks have this and it is controlled via a coolant filter.

And it was a pain dealing with the coolant , and then replacing the coolant ,flushing etc. A lot to be said about the new coolants ,longevity etc .
ShinerBock
Explorer
Jan 14, 2019
Updated with he 6.0L

OWER STROKE HISTORY, LESSON 2: 6.0L
ShinerBock
Explorer
Jan 14, 2019
blofgren wrote:

The Ford is a great choice then. :B

Seriously, one of the big reasons I went with the Ram/Cummins is because I plan on keeping the truck a very long time (possibly until death do us part) and I truly believe the Cummins provides the lowest overall cost of ownership. With the prices of new trucks I can think of way better things to spend that kind of money on, like retiring early! :C

Funny story. My brother had a 2010 2500 CTD that he purchased used with 70k miles. It was a base truck that was used in the oil fields and had a lot of idle hours on it. The emissions started giving him trouble at around 90k so he deleted it.

He sold to a good friend of his at 120K because it had a front driveshaft failure so he thought it was going to start giving him issues and wanted something with a little more bells and whistles so he got himself a used 2012 F350 PSD Lariat. At around 100k miles, it started showing sign of fuel issues so he traded that in for a 2014 2500 CTD Laramie. Ironically he says the 2500 handles the load better than his F350 did and it feels less taxed when pulling his RV too.

His friend that he sold his 2010 to just clocked over 300k a few months ago. He is a guide down in Rockport Texas so he is traversing between there and San Antonio every weekend on top of using it as a DD. My brother still gets pissed when talking to his freind because the only thing he replaced since he had it was a water pump and alternator.

I also have many other friend who have current 6.7L CTDs and use them for hotshot. Many of them have well over 300k with hardly any issues. Needless to say, you should be fine.

However, this thread is about Powerstrokes so please keep the discussion towards that without any bashing if you can. Not saying you were bashing, just don't want it to start. I will post the Cummins History lesson when it comes available and you will have all the opportunity in the world to talk about your Cummins. Thanks!
FishOnOne
Nomad
Jan 14, 2019
blofgren wrote:
4x4ord wrote:
It will make absolutely no difference to me whether the engine in my truck makes 150,000 miles or 1,000,000 miles. By the time my truck has 60,000 miles on it, it will most likely be in someone else's garage.

The Ford is a great choice then. :B

Seriously, one of the big reasons I went with the Ram/Cummins is because I plan on keeping the truck a very long time (possibly until death do us part) and I truly believe the Cummins provides the lowest overall cost of ownership. With the prices of new trucks I can think of way better things to spend that kind of money on, like retiring early! :C

My advice is to plan for the worse and hope for the best. You don't own a 5.9CTD so keep some $$$$ in your repair account.