Question for Ford 7.3 owners?

It seems risky to be hitting the road in a 14 year old vehicle. My 7.3 developed some pretty expensive oil leaks at 122k, plus the diffy had to be rebuilt. I expect engine or tranny trouble, so I'm getting rid of it.

F450 7.3 2003 2wd dually.

Fwiw, I think 2oldman's post is one of the first complaints I've seen about the venerable 7.3, outside of the bad tranny reports. Just an observation, not a recommendation.

#1. Get a performance tranny. (Not some Billy Bob "I do those" rebuilder) But a REAL performance tranny and TC.

#2. Buy a "good" programmer and give it some fuel. These engines can handle a good bit of HP and not blow up. IOW's they were way underrated at the factory.

#3. Buy a good set of gauges and hang them on the A pillar.

#4. Buy a CPS and throw it in the glove box along with a 10MM wrench.

#5. I don't know how good the exhaust was on these trucks but I would buy a good exhaust also.

Boom, you're done.

You have a great truck; and this from an LBZ D-max owner. They don't put out a ton of power but that can be fixed. They can be fixed cheaply and are easy to work on compared to the later model Fords. Best of all, they run forever!

BTW it doesn't take a new truck to run good or to have fun!

gjwarneke wrote:


I already have a boat anchor.LOL.

Don't be so hard on yourself :W
To bad they don't make em like that any more.

As long as the rest of the truck is holding up keep it & enjoy. You may need a tranny rebuild sometime, but wait for it.

120,000 miles is nothing for a 7.3L. Keep it. :)

I have 2001 7.3 that I bought used about 3 mouths ago that has 249000 miles. The previous owner said the trans was replaced 3 years ago. Runs well and I run a programmer which i leave in tow mode the programmer real make a lot of deference as far as power goes!
When checking the truck out after buying it I found the fuel drain on the fuel bowel was leaking witch was easily fixed with an o ring But that all ive really found wrong with it it uses no oil and dose not leak anywhere trans, engine or diffs. Granted ive only put ab ought 3000 miles on it twice over the grapevine and once over Tehachapi towing my trailer.
Everyone I talked to said to stay away from the V10 and the 6.0

That Ford Truck is a workhorse out there I have a 2000 F-350 Dually 4X4 with about 145,000 miles on it the only issue I see is the weak Transmission. I have put a 4" MBRP exhaust on it and a TS Performance chip into it. The Chip (50,75HP) and exhaust really woke up the beast while hauling our 32' fifth wheel. Even though people state that the get better mileage you may get 1 mpg better. I would have no hesitation to start a cross county trip with my truck just need a bigger bank roll for fuel. I did have to replace my transmission at about 125,000 because they are weak and you must change the trans cooler also because there is not a good way to clean it after the trans blows(before chip was installed). I put in a Jasper transmission along with a shift kit that firms up the shifts and have had no additional issues. As someone stated above about the oil leaks are usually caused by a gasket under the Turbo pedestal which gets old there is also a lot of heat in that area. The stock exhaust on these Fords are 3.5" and are made out of Stainless steel so they will last a long time the Stock gearing for most of these trucks are 3.73 or 4.10. Whatever you do "Do not use a K&N Filter" if you want to upgrade the air filter system use the Ford Severe air kit AKA AIS the K&N lets too much dust particles in the turbo and motor.

Oh yeah, the front end had to be rebuilt at 100k.