# 2000 f550 7.3l diesel



## fastxcr800 (Sep 18, 2008)

anyone running a 2000 f550 with 7.3l? Problems, things to look for, ect.. I have the opportunity to purchase one and I have zero experience running a ford. I've always owned gm and dodge trucks, never been a fan of ford but the price is right.


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## SnowFakers (Dec 31, 2012)

A quick google search for 7.3 common problems would bring up quite a few results but things to look for would be... Oil pan( they rust out), oil cooler ( commonly leaks, located under driver side manifold, it's a cylinder which attached to the oil filter), fire up the motor and go under the hood and unscrew the oil filler cap and turn it upside down on the oil filler; if the filler is blown off immediately and excessive smoke is coming from the filler run away from truck fast, look at water pump to see if it's been sealed up with gasket maker as they like to leak some times. Other than that look the frame over and check for any play in the front wheels. When you go for a test drive don't be afraid to get on it, if you see excessive smoke from the tail pipe while either at idle or while under load you could have a few issues like turbo seals or leaking injector o-rings. Make sure the transmission shifts firm and that the tack doesn't jump up on it during a shift, that would indicate some issues. Other than that just do a quick googles search and you could literally read for hours on this stuff


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## Hexa Fox (Oct 15, 2014)

fastxcr800;1851147 said:


> anyone running a 2000 f550 with 7.3l? Problems, things to look for, ect.. I have the opportunity to purchase one and I have zero experience running a ford. I've always owned gm and dodge trucks, never been a fan of ford but the price is right.


You will probably get a lot of replies to this with "two cents" and stuff. I am just like you I have always preferred General Motors or Dodge. However you are in the right place. I'm going to guess you are looking at it for plowing? Then you are definitely in the right mindset. I would not go out and buy an expensive Duramax or Cummins and use it for plow work.

I am pretty certain that the 7.3 Powerstroke is Ford's most popular diesel engine as well. I know you can get them ridiculously cheap compared to a Cummins or Duramax... and in my opinion for good reason.


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## kimber750 (Sep 19, 2011)

Hexa Fox;1851404 said:


> You will probably get a lot of replies to this with "two cents" and stuff. I am just like you I have always preferred General Motors or Dodge. However you are in the right place. I'm going to guess you are looking at it for plowing? Then you are definitely in the right mindset. I would not go out and buy an expensive Duramax or Cummins and use it for plow work.
> 
> I am pretty certain that the 7.3 Powerstroke is Ford's most popular diesel engine as well. I know you can get them ridiculously cheap compared to a Cummins or Duramax... and in my opinion for good reason.


If you don't mind point me to some of those ridiculously cheap 7.3s.

Like mentioned, look at oil pan, bottom of doors and cab corners. Suggest taking a small scanner along to check codes. Listen for exhaust manifold leaks. Inspect tranny and brake lines. Sad thing about the 7.3 trucks is that the truck rots away around the engine.

Pretty much just look at the same things you would with any other used vehicle purchase.


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## snowish10 (Oct 29, 2010)

kimber750;1851421 said:


> If you don't mind point me to some of those ridiculously cheap 7.3s.
> 
> Like mentioned, look at oil pan, bottom of doors and cab corners. Suggest taking a small scanner along to check codes. Listen for exhaust manifold leaks. Inspect tranny and brake lines. Sad thing about the 7.3 trucks is that the truck rots away around the engine.
> 
> Pretty much just look at the same things you would with any other used vehicle purchase.


^ x2 oil is the biggest thing to look at. Look at the valley on the engine for any leaks. And do a oil fill cap test- to test for any blow by.

This is a very good motor to learn off of. I love my 7.3, my first diesel too.


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## Hexa Fox (Oct 15, 2014)

kimber750;1851421 said:


> If you don't mind point me to some of those ridiculously cheap 7.3s.
> 
> Like mentioned, look at oil pan, bottom of doors and cab corners. Suggest taking a small scanner along to check codes. Listen for exhaust manifold leaks. Inspect tranny and brake lines. Sad thing about the 7.3 trucks is that the truck rots away around the engine.
> 
> Pretty much just look at the same things you would with any other used vehicle purchase.


None on Ebay right now. There are a couple but I guess people are buying them up for the Winter. If you compare a PowerStroke to a Duramax or a Cummins the price is usually dramatically different. If you find a cheaper Duramax or Cummins it will have a crap load of miles on it.

Another thing about the Powerstrokes is that I HEARD they get really really crappy gas mileage for a diesel truck. I am not sure if it is true because I have never actually owned a Powerstroke. I only used them at work and never paid attention to the gas mileage because it was not my truck.

I used to drive a 2007 (Classic Bodystyle) four door 4x4 Duramax (6.6) and it got on average 20MPG. Which is considered great for a diesel truck. I have a 4.8 V8 Silverado now and I am lucky to get double digit gas mileage.


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## snowish10 (Oct 29, 2010)

Hexa Fox;1851456 said:


> None on Ebay right now. There are a couple but I guess people are buying them up for the Winter. If you compare a PowerStroke to a Duramax or a Cummins the price is usually dramatically different. If you find a cheaper Duramax or Cummins it will have a crap load of miles on it.
> 
> Another thing about the Powerstrokes is that I HEARD they get really really crappy gas mileage for a diesel truck. I am not sure if it is true because I have never actually owned a Powerstroke. I only used them at work and never paid attention to the gas mileage because it was not my truck.
> 
> I used to drive a 2007 (Classic Bodystyle) four door 4x4 Duramax (6.6) and it got on average 20MPG. Which is considered great for a diesel truck. I have a 4.8 V8 Silverado now and I am lucky to get double digit gas mileage.


My350 7.3 lifted wider tired with 4.10 gears usually get 13 in the city and 17 on the highway


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## Hexa Fox (Oct 15, 2014)

snowish10;1851466 said:


> My350 7.3 lifted wider tired with 4.10 gears usually get 13 in the city and 17 on the highway


So you get about 15 on average? I guess that is not terrible. Especially for having the extra weight a F350 does. My Silverado gets just around that maybe slightly less. 4.8 Gasoline Obviously a 1500


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## kimber750 (Sep 19, 2011)

Hexa Fox;1851456 said:


> None on Ebay right now. There are a couple but I guess people are buying them up for the Winter. If you compare a PowerStroke to a Duramax or a Cummins the price is usually dramatically different. If you find a cheaper Duramax or Cummins it will have a crap load of miles on it.
> 
> Another thing about the Powerstrokes is that I HEARD they get really really crappy gas mileage for a diesel truck. I am not sure if it is true because I have never actually owned a Powerstroke. I only used them at work and never paid attention to the gas mileage because it was not my truck.
> 
> I used to drive a 2007 (Classic Bodystyle) four door 4x4 Duramax (6.6) and it got on average 20MPG. Which is considered great for a diesel truck. I have a 4.8 V8 Silverado now and I am lucky to get double digit gas mileage.


My 02 7.3 does 19-20. My 06 gmc 3500 6.6 does 16-18. Both crew cabs but the gmc is drw. Both have aftermarket exhaust. The 7.3 has a tuner.

Only 7.3s I see cheap are 300k+ and need half the body panels replaced. Just don't mistake the 7.3 for the 6.0. The 6.0 has a somewhat unwarranted bad rep.


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## Buswell Forest (Jan 11, 2013)

My 7.3L PSD F550 4x4 with a heavy 12' dump got 13 mpg empty at 45 to 50 mph. It had 4:88 gears.
It weighed 11,800 lbs empty.


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## snowish10 (Oct 29, 2010)

Hexa Fox;1851468 said:


> So you get about 15 on average? I guess that is not terrible. Especially for having the extra weight a F350 does. My Silverado gets just around that maybe slightly less. 4.8 Gasoline Obviously a 1500


Yea. Kinda. It also depend where you get your diesel too. My truck weights about 7850lbs. Even snow plowing i still average about 11, depending on the snow type. But in the winter my fuel mileage goes down cause winter fuel.


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## john r (Jan 3, 2001)

I love my F450 4x4. Has the 7.3L PSD with a V plow. Always been reliable. Be careful when engauging the over drive button on the shifter while driving. There is an internal problem with the wires chaffing every time you move the shift lever. The wires short blowing the fuse ( forgot which one) which will render the truck useless. I replaced the shifter mechanisum and all is fine. The oil pan will be your biggest head ache. They are not cheap to replace. Ask me how I know.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Oi vey, here we go again with the 7.3 experts that have never owned one.

Cheap 7.3's? I'm with Kimber, send them my way, I'll be happy to take them. 

Sure there are problems, but they are well known and relatively easy and cheap and result in a reliable truck. 

Oil pan for sure. 
Check the ball joints--all 3 have problems, Ford are hit and miss.
Oil cooler doesn't leak, it will rust out and you will have a rust proofed engine compartment. lol About $600
Water pumps are fine, unless you flush the coolant and it hasn't been done in a long time, just as any other vehicle. 
Never heard of the filler cap thing, sounds like a my uncle's brother's sister's cousin's best friend's dog had this happen once. 
Sometimes they smoke a bit, sometimes they don't. 

Overall, they are fantastic engines and there is a reason they are at a premium. 

I have 4, have owned 2 since they rolled off the line. My 2000 just got new injectors and glow plugs. 183K on it. 1 turbo somewhere along the line. Couple oil pans. 1 or 2 sets of ball joints and it's plowed its entire life. Pretty sure we did the oil cooler. Injector wire harness too. Just spent a bunch of money last fall redoing the body, because the frame and drivetrain are strong. 

My '99 has about 80K on it and an oil pan. Not sure what was done to it before, but we also had to do the manifolds because they were rusted out. Transmission issues due to a crappy local shop. 

I have 2 '02s that have had various things done, mostly the same as listed above. 

Give me the old stuff that doesn't have all the electrical crap. Preferably 7.3s.


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## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Plenty of people here to help you if you issues with it


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## northernsweeper (Aug 26, 2004)

I am to poor to run newer stuff. I have 2 97 f350's. One has the 460, the other has the 7.3..I get close to 20 with the 7.3 and about 10, no matter what I am doing with the gas. Bodies go to hell alot faster than the drivetrains, but they sure do move some snow.


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## fastxcr800 (Sep 18, 2008)

snowish10;1851449 said:


> This is a very good motor to learn off of. I love my 7.3, my first diesel too.


I have an 05 3500 ram lariate with a cummins. Only plowed with for one season, its way too nice of a truck to plow with. The cummins has always been reliable and a strong motor. No experience with the powerstoke. This dump truck was used by a municipality for plowing side streets and only has 70k on it. I'm scheduling an apt to inspect it, so we'll see how it goes.

Whats the going price for these in fair to decent shape? I have my number in mind, but curious to what the market will hold. Truck comes with 9ft western.


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## snowish10 (Oct 29, 2010)

I dont know about 550s but my 01f3507.3 with 192k on kkb is worth about 11,500. All depends on condition and how well good it was taken care of. Rust, fixing parts that kind of stuff. From my stand point from my old landscape boss he bought a 550 7.3 not well care for and it showed but if they took care of it really good go for it


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## Hexa Fox (Oct 15, 2014)

fastxcr800;1851789 said:


> I have an 05 3500 ram lariate with a cummins. Only plowed with for one season, its way too nice of a truck to plow with. The cummins has always been reliable and a strong motor. No experience with the powerstoke. This dump truck was used by a municipality for plowing side streets and only has 70k on it. I'm scheduling an apt to inspect it, so we'll see how it goes.
> 
> Whats the going price for these in fair to decent shape? I have my number in mind, but curious to what the market will hold. Truck comes with 9ft western.


Honestly dump trucks usually go for a lot less than they should. Because when you see a regular cab Duramax, Cummins, or even Powerstroke they are very desirable for everyone. They are all nice looking trucks, they make excellent work trucks, and people just snap after them.

Another reason is because people like to heavily modify them, either for work, tractor pulls, drag racing, and even monster/mudding trucks. So there is a large base of people after them, therefore they are desirable.

I bought a Regular Cab 2007 (New Body Style) Chevrolet Silverado 4x4 4.8 V8 Work Truck. I love it because it is just a regular little Silverado. It is red and I put black rims on it. I still get it down and dirty but my point is that these trucks are desirable.

After those "work trucks" that have dump bodies and stuff of that nature leave the lot they drop a lot. Another reason a lot of people buy them used. Basically the point you can probably see by now is the only people that are going to be interested in your truck are people that are going to use it to make money or buy it for a business.

So people are going to want to use it are not going to want to want to put a lot of money into it because it is the way it is. Go look on Ebay, you can get a great idea from there. They have all kinds of commercial trucks from super crappy ones to almost brand new ones.

Dodge is always the most expensive though. Followed by Chevrolet and of course Ford.


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## Stroke_this (Oct 14, 2013)

From my experience you will want to go check/ perform the following:

Check the up pipes for leaks. These trucks were not equipped will bellows from the factory. There are inexpensive kits and the pricier IH version. 

There is a published service bulliten through ford that the 450-550 of that year tend to start harder in the colder weather. Check and service the glow plug systems to aid with this. The UCVC gaskets are known to come in plugged and show sign of worn wires. If replacing any parts use only ford or IH. A western or fisher Reley can be used as a cheap quick fix. 

I keep a spare CPS in the glovebox. Much debate over who's and which color is the best replacement. I keep a ford. 

If it was me I would throughly flush the cooling system and add a coolant filter. Cheap piece of mind. Blocks were cast in sand and will present its self. 

You will also eventually have a issue with the mixing chamber in the fuel tank. Butch and harpoon mod. I deleted mine. Ask me why. I also keep a spare fuel pump in the glove box. Ask me why. 

I prefer to run a full synthetic in the colder mths to aid in the start up as the oil fires the injectors. 

The oil pans are tough if they are bad. To properly fix the motor needs to be removed from the truck turned upside down and givin proper time to cure. Mine were not bad so I put a few coats of POF 15 on

All in all these things went to bad especially if you can turn your own wrenches. These motors don't mks the most power but are damn near unstoppable.


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## Hexa Fox (Oct 15, 2014)

Mark Oomkes;1851666 said:


> Oi vey, here we go again with the 7.3 experts that have never owned one.
> 
> Cheap 7.3's? I'm with Kimber, send them my way, I'll be happy to take them.
> 
> ...


My opinion may be biased but personally I have just been really unlucky with Fords Mark. I have never owned one because my taste has always favored General Motors or Dodge. I used to work for a casino where I frequently got to drive all of the big three's trucks.

I also worked in the valet department there where I quickly took a disliking to Ford's for many reasons. I won't go into detail I just have avoided them due to possibly coincidence.

Okay... personally I am a GM kid but is it just me or does the new Tahoe/Silverado and GMC equivalent look like a homosexual Jeep Cherokee?

I have seen them around several times already and the new look really is not sitting to well with me at all...
New GM Vehicles


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## snowish10 (Oct 29, 2010)

To people who owned a 7.3, if valve harness is leaking get oem or I found this upgraded version with no main plug inside the cover.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-3L-Powers...ts-UVC-Harnesses-Pigtails-97-03-/270882452617


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## john r (Jan 3, 2001)

Search around your area for a good mechanic/shop who specializes in the 7.3. This will save you down time. You could always go to Ford but since ford hasn't produced the 7.3 for 11 years they might not be as sharp as they used to be on these engines.


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## SnowFakers (Dec 31, 2012)

Mark, it's no brothers uncles wives tale, the filler tube method is used on more than just 7.3's. It is a great way to measure piston blow by.


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## fastxcr800 (Sep 18, 2008)

In the process of scheduling an appointment to inspect the truck, i found out that it was a flood vehicle. Although i'm not overly thrilled with that, I'm still going to check it out, so we'll see.


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## SnowFakers (Dec 31, 2012)

Well you certainly have some bargaining power now


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## anz27 (Jan 21, 2014)

fastxcr800;1854316 said:


> In the process of scheduling an appointment to inspect the truck, i found out that it was a flood vehicle. Although i'm not overly thrilled with that, I'm still going to check it out, so we'll see.


Run. Very Quickly. Do a few youtube searches on flood vehicles and you will quickly learn why.


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## john r (Jan 3, 2001)

Parts truck


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## FISHERBOY (Aug 13, 2007)

Check TO see if the exhaust bolts are still present on 7-8 cylinders, thats for high EGT'S


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## fastxcr800 (Sep 18, 2008)

I went to inspect the truck. It didn't look bad from a distance. up close, total piece of junk. It was parked when it got flooded out. They tried to start it until the motor wouldn't turn anymore. its been sitting for more than a year since in happened. Fluids are a milky rust color. needless to say I didn't make a offer. There was also a 97 chevy 3500 dump truck 4x4 with a 6.5l low miles. runs, drives, and everything works. Plow isn't on currently, so couldn't check operation of that. I working on a deal for that one, so we'll see.


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## SnowFakers (Dec 31, 2012)

fastxcr800;1857882 said:


> I went to inspect the truck. It didn't look bad from a distance. up close, total piece of junk. It was parked when it got flooded out. They tried to start it until the motor wouldn't turn anymore. its been sitting for more than a year since in happened. Fluids are a milky rust color. needless to say I didn't make a offer. There was also a 97 chevy 3500 dump truck 4x4 with a 6.5l low miles. runs, drives, and everything works. Plow isn't on currently, so couldn't check operation of that. I working on a deal for that one, so we'll see.


Sorry to hear about that, atleast you got yourself a back up plan. Good luck with it


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## fastxcr800 (Sep 18, 2008)

i'm more of gm guy anyways so it's probably good i didnt end up with the ford


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## 04trd (Sep 21, 2013)

I've got a 2002 550 love the truck with 4.88s it will pull a house down but don't expect to go very fast on the free way


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## john r (Jan 3, 2001)

Do you plow with it?


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## 04trd (Sep 21, 2013)

Absolutely that's why I bought it. It has a blizzard 810 and I throw a block of concrete on the bed


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## fastxcr800 (Sep 18, 2008)

04trd;1858126 said:


> I've got a 2002 550 love the truck with 4.88s it will pull a house down but don't expect to go very fast on the free way


how do you like the flat bed? i need to replace a bed on one of my trucks and i'm thinking about putting a flat bed on.


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## 04trd (Sep 21, 2013)

I really like it except for the fact I can't haul anything. I need to make wood side boards so I can throw a shovel in there with out having to tie it down. But other than that it's perfect for plowing because you can see all the way around the truck


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## fastxcr800 (Sep 18, 2008)

04trd;1858771 said:


> I really like it except for the fact I can't haul anything. I need to make wood side boards so I can throw a shovel in there with out having to tie it down. But other than that it's perfect for plowing because you can see all the way around the truck


The ones i'm looking at are aluminum dump with removable sides. I dont think i'd buy one without sides for the same reason. looks sharp though.


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