Do share more stories on working on old trucks! I have a '99 Ford with a 7.3, and everyone's saying it's not worth fixing, but I just like keeping it on the road...
I thought the 7.3's were supposed to be super solid?
How many miles does it have, what's wrong with it?
My extremely limited knowledge of diesel engines is something like "they go a ton of miles, then need a major overhaul, then go a ton more miles". If you're at some kind of major overhaul milestone, then I could see the response you're getting.
'99-ish Ford kicked off the Super Duty series, but it isn't sufficiently interestingly old to a lot of people, so I can understand their the why-bother attitude.
It's nearing 400k miles. It's had service - new turbo and engine control components, suspension and frontend, brakes, glow plugs, etc. Original everything else though, nothing fancy, just a work truck. But anything "newer", even 10 years old, is $25k minimum for any halfways decent duty truck.
Your 7.3 is gold, that engine will last till the heat death of the universe. And you’re maintaining it. For some reason people think that a well maintained vehicle is a grenade because it has service history, while one being run into the ground is great because they haven’t paid for anything recently.
Newer trucks aren’t more reliable. They’re just newer. You won’t find a truck cheaper to maintain than the one you’ve already got.
(The people who tell you your truck ain’t worth fixing sound like my mother in law who traded in her car ‘cause the windshield wipers broke.)
> they go a ton of miles, then need a major overhaul, then go a ton more miles
Yup. Not unusual for big rigs to go a million miles between overhauls.
Even for "consumer" diesels, the engine typically outlasts the vehicle around it.
I drove a '97 Dodge which had 300k on the odo, got tired of the poor interior and upgraded to an '06 with 200k. I even threw a mercedes diesel into a 67 chevy pickup, because diesels are great :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFd1ZL2hgMY
Typically, diesels are built with maintenance in mind (at least for trucks, no idea what you'd find in a diesel car). The cylinders are sleaved and meant to be replaced every couple 100k miles or so, so the cylinders themselves also last a long time (the sleaves take the brunt of the wear). I think theyre typically less complex than a standard gasoline engine. E.g. they have no spark plugs (and thus no distributor or ignition system), instead glow plugs to start the engine. Possibly more complex in other areas, such as emissions control.
I'm no expert on engines, so the the above may not be entirely accurate or current. Most of my knowledge comes from working for a semi truck/diesel engine manufacturer as an IT intern close to two decades ago and touring factories.
Nothing to my knowledge needs an overhaul yet, nearing 400k miles, and it's just been maintenance and consumables (except the turbo started leaking at 300k miles, which was replaced)
My extremely limited knowledge of diesel engines is something like "they go a ton of miles, then need a major overhaul, then go a ton more miles". If you're at some kind of major overhaul milestone, then I could see the response you're getting.
'99-ish Ford kicked off the Super Duty series, but it isn't sufficiently interestingly old to a lot of people, so I can understand their the why-bother attitude.