Life expectancy of a 2000 F450 7.3 Turbo

[crabo]

My wife needed to get her bees from North Dakota back to Texas. We found a good 16 ft flatbed, dually, F450. It is is good shape, runs and drives good. We are in it right, and could get our money back out if we sold it, but am wondering how many miles it should be good for with reasonable care. I don't know much about diesels, but one of my ex students is a diesel mechanic for Ford.

We probably won't ever work it too hard.

[starmac]

I have seen them push 400,000 miles, and I have seen them done at 120,000 miles.
The 7.3's are more of a workhorse than the later 6.0's.
Diesels like to be run warm, I do not like them for town driving where you run 5 miles and kill it, only to crank it and run another mile or two.
The high miles I have known about were used on the highway for longer trips.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

I do not have any experience with the newer 7.3's.
The older ones, you couldn't give me one. As a former owner of en engine machine shop,
the big problem was the cylinders would rot out from the water jacket side and eventually dump the coolant in to the crankcase or combustion chamber depending on where it failed.
the fix was a rebuild including sleeving the block in all 8 holes if you wanted a warranty. Otherwise, there was no way to ever know when another one was gonna start leaking or if you created a leak by machining the cylinders oversize.
Electrolysis is the technical term for the coolant eating the iron. Frequent coolant changes are mandatory to extend the life of the engine and also, make dead sure ALL the engine electrical grounds are intact and have good connections.
Maybe someone can figure out how to convert zinc wheel weights into sacrificial anodes like used on a boat? :mrgreen:
Again, my experience is limited model years up to around 1997 or so.
Never saw much as far as cracked cylinder heads or injection pump shaft wear as GM had.
Lack of maintenance is the main trouble with most all newer vehicles.

[crabo]

If there are any good resources to read up on care and maintenance, I would appreciate a point in the right direction.

[starmac]

Crabo check out the FTE website (ford truck enthusiast) they have excellent forums with info for the strokes.
The cavitation issues mentioned above are not as big a deal on yours, but the correct ph levels in the coolant are important on any diesel engine.

[Baja_Traveler]

I'll be at 300,000 with mine in the next month or so. Still running strong...

[lunicy]

400,000 before I traded mine. Had more miles left in it.

[oneokie]

John Deere sells a coolant additive to help with the cavitation issue. Run it in all my liquid cooled engines.

[Houndog]

To "fix" the cavatation problem find a Detroit Diesel or Freightliner dealer and buy the Detroit Diesel brand coolant additive AND a bottle of test strips! Follow the directions TO THE LETTER and forget about cavatation problems. They simply will not happen! The earlier Ford Powerstroke engines are actually International Harvester mid size commercial truck engines. With PROPER maintainence 300,000-400,000 miles is easily doable

[merlin101]

The proper coolent, use the test strips or have coolent checked by a lab ($30) every year and USE DISTILLED WATER.
I've been running diesel's both big and small for years and have had very few problems with the smaller ones. Most have been GM/Detroit and have put 400K on a 6.2L and it was still going strong but the truck itself rotted away.
Keep the oil changed,the air clean, and don't let it over heat and it will last for years.

[GP100man]

Been in the automotive repair business for as long as I care to mention !

If a vehicle is maintained & serviced regularly miles is insignificant factor .
We run Fords on the farm here & most see 500,000 before retiring.
I have Dodges now & over 200,000 on both no signs of lettin up .

The diesels are a little more expensive to maintane , but if I needed a true work horse there`d be no hesitation on a F450 with the 7.3 or the Cummins 5.9. in the Dodges

The biggest fear is fuel contamination with diesels , some systems tolerate it better than others , the 7.3 system will tolerate more than the Duramax will anyday.

[Ickisrulz]

I used to add an additive (FW16, if I remember correctly) to my 2000 F-250 that was required by Ford. I did this religiously and it was supposed to prevent cavitation. But, people being people, I don't think all owners headed this warning.

[Beau Cassidy]

Any cavitation issues with the 6.4's?

[starmac]

There is cavitation issues with all diesels, big or small. The 7.3's just showed up bad for two reasons. One was the amount of metal in the cylinder walls, the other was ford did not start out recommending to keep up on the ph in the water for the first few years the 7.3 was in production.

Some antifreeze has the additive in it, and it is not hard to get too much.
Besides truck and implement dealers, napa sells the additive and test strips, it is called napa cool at napa.

[pmer]

Powerstroke.org has info too. I have a 6.0 at home and drive a 6.4 for work. They both have over 100 K miles and so far so good. If you want to change coolant go with CAT approved stuff.