7.3L engine life?

broncobowsher

Adventurer
That looks like a Honda 600 (can't see if it is an N or a Z).
The car weighs nothing. Had one once. I would park it crooked just so I could lift the back and put it in a parking spot straight. A slightly bigger friend walked up to it an tipped it up on two wheels. A whopping 48½" wide. They are known for fitting in the bed of a truck. They should fit inside a van just fine.
 

gtbensley

Explorer
The 7.3 loves long drives. If that is how it is driven, lots of miles left. My uncle lost his at 300k but it was due to a bad injector screwing up a cylinder. So while they can last for stupid long time, it doesn't take much to kill one in short order if things go wrong.

I also know of a 6.0 that is over 500k and the deepest they ever got into the engine was a rear main seal. Lived its whole life pulling a 3-car trailer. Nice long drives. Rare for it to run less than an hour at a time. No issues with EGR cooler or head studs like those that were just driven to work and back during the week.

Any indicator on the injector failing on you uncles rig? Must have been running it with it blowing blue smoke for a period I would imagine.
 

225

Village Idiot
I'm on the fence about mine. I kinda want a ProMaster. But don't wanna pay for it LOL.
 

Deshet

Adventurer
Your transmission will fail long before the engine.
At your mileage the injectors could probably use a refresh.
Sensors will fail ling before your motor.
Run synthetic oil.
I haven't seen a stock 7.3 with a blown engine. (Maybe failed injectors, bad sensors, bad wiring)

If you engine ever does fail just drop another one in it place. I have a dozen 7.3s right now and I always have a low mileage 7.3
Van available.

If you are doing the 4x4 conversion you may as well keep it going.
 

Bikersmurf

Expedition Leader
16K hrs and going strong. 13K as an ambulance, 2K as a contractor rig, and I've put about 1500 hrs on it. Runs smooth like a top... has a remanufactured trans... hoping the injectors were done. About 200K miles not that they're relevant given the hrs on it.
 

cjken

Explorer
Can you pull a 7.3 out of the front of the van or do you need to remove the cab?
Mine is running great now so just curious at this point.
 

F350joe

Well-known member
A full set of gauges and one of these, https://www.aeroforcetech.com/products_interceptor.html, should keep you from catastrophic engine and transmission failure. The aeroforce gauge lets you run injector buzz tests and cylinders contribution test, displays and clears codes, and lets you adjust the speedo and altitude. You can also go with a Bluetooth ODB app for your phone. If you are really anal you can even set parameters to trigger an alarm for something like oil pressure. The wiring is what will leave you stranded so learn to use a multimeter, if you don’t already, and read up on all the possible electrical issues now. Before a road trip I wipe down all my connections and look around. I just picked up some of that self sealing tape and may try to get a wrap of that on the brittle plastic pigtails connections. I have about 200k on my injectors and they look new. I almost always put in some Diesel Clean when filling up just as the owner before me did. It is important to open her up to burn out all the carbon build up as others have mentioned.
 

RVflyfish

Fishing is life. The rest is details.
A full set of gauges and one of these, https://www.aeroforcetech.com/products_interceptor.html, should keep you from catastrophic engine and transmission failure. The aeroforce gauge lets you run injector buzz tests and cylinders contribution test, displays and clears codes, and lets you adjust the speedo and altitude.

That Interceptor looks cool. They don't specifically list vans in their application guide but I'm guessing we use the one for Excursions and F2/3/450?

Interceptor guage 7.3 applicaton guide.png

You can also go with a Bluetooth ODB app for your phone.

Do you have any suggestions or links for apps?
 

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