7.3l Powerstroke upgrades

[LDennis24]

I have a 2001 Excursion with the 7.3l in it that I haven't done anything to except a new transmission year before last and a new HPOP. Well it has become more and more difficult to start in cold weather. I would like to just throw about $3000 at it for some improvements.  Basic improvements like new turbo and injectors and glow plugs. But not a 6 position tuner. Maybe the EDGE CS2 combo kit? It has an EDGE attitude or evolution on it but I never mess with it. What would you guys recommend?

[TommyH]

exhaust, it needs to breathe. Bigger injectors, Put new valve cover gaskets in while your doing glow plugs. A good tune really wakes these up. Is there something wrong with your turbo?

[deereman]

Tag, I am going to follow along. I just purchased a ‘99 f250 4x4 with 7.3l that only has 67,000 miles on it. It is having random hard start problems when cold too. Definitely looking at doing a few upgrades to mine as well. I just don’t want to mess up a good reliable truck with the wrong upgrades.

[LDennis24]

exhaust, it needs to breathe. Bigger injectors, Put new valve cover gaskets in while your doing glow plugs. A good tune really wakes these up. Is there something wrong with your turbo?

The airbox tabs were broke when I bought it and it had oily dirt past the filter, I just put sheeting screws in the lid to keep it shut and intended on replacing it with a banks box but never did it. I feel like sometimes the turbo doesn't spool up when it should and other times I feel like it doesn't spool up at all.  I know how to work on almost anything but I don't know the ins and outs of when it should spool up and when it will have a delay and why, etc. I know for sure it has sucked some dirt past the airbox in its life.

[LDennis24]

Tag, I am going to follow along. I just purchased a ‘99 f250 4x4 with 7.3l that only has 67,000 miles on it. It is having random hard start problems when cold too. Definitely looking at doing a few upgrades to mine as well. I just don’t want to mess up a good reliable truck with the wrong upgrades.

I have the 1999 7.3l F350 4 door long box as well. Manual and it's an excellent pickup. Mostly stock. Straight exhaust with magna flow muffler.

[LDennis24]

They both have 250,000 miles on them

[rainshadow1]

Tag, I am going to follow along. I just purchased a ‘99 f250 4x4 with 7.3l that only has 67,000 miles on it. It is having random hard start problems when cold too. Definitely looking at doing a few upgrades to mine as well. I just don’t want to mess up a good reliable truck with the wrong upgrades.

Don't want to thread hijack, my '96 is about as bone stock as they come (aside from lots of diamondplate), but I had cold start issues, then it started to randomly die, sometimes mid-stride. Turns out the fuel bowl heater was rotting away, and it's one of those things that needs perfect functionality for the engine to run at all, much less start in the cold. (Kinda like, if there's a taillight out it won't shift into 4th...) $30 part, 15 minute replacement. Truck won't operate without it.

One upgrade I did was the higher speed, high torque starter, and 2000 Cold Cranking amps in the farm duty batteries... helped things a lot!

[deereman]

A friend put the high speed/high torque starter in and he said it helped with cold start issues too. Said he doesn’t plug it in anymore in the winter after this mod.

[LDennis24]

I have a new starter as well. I believe it is the high speed one and as long as your batteries are strong it works well. But it doesn't matter when your injectors and glowplugs don't wanna work properly and are beyond their life. I had an issue with this vehicle a few yrs ago where it was shorting out and would suddenly engage the starter out of no where. I don't recall the exact fix but I replaced the solenoid on the passenger side firewall and the starter and the batteries and the ignition switch and something else....  That one had me baffled so I ended up buying several different things before I got it to stop doing it. It also could use some new cables between the batteries and the starter. I hear they can corrode inside the cable insulation where you won't see it and cause voltage issues.

[Encore 280]

Friend of mine has the 7.3 in his Excursion and had slow starting problems as well. Ended up being glow plugs and starter relay. Replaced and all is well now.

[huntnphool]

 LDennis, happy to help if you have specific questions, just send a PM. Mine has 600k+, original starter still fires it up just fine!

 Your issue is your injectors, it’s time!

 Rob

[jackelope]

Yeah there’s a noticeable difference between a long crank because of a fuel issue and a slow crank due to a starter issue.

[bustedoldman]

First thing I'd do is start running Archoil ( https://www.archoil.com/products/power-stroke ) after a few tankful's of it you decide you still need to do something then call/text Cody Toner out of post falls. Send me a PM and I'll pass on his number to you.

[LDennis24]

PM's sent guys, thanks alot!

[Vek]

Here's an easy/cheap recipe with good bang for the buck.  I've done this more-or-less to three vehicles...an F350 stickshift 7.3 and two 7.3 excursions. 

1. Gauges...get a boost gauge and pyrometer.  These are not optional if you get a tuner or tune of any kind. 

2. Turbo as follows:
a.) Not optional: new compressor wheel.  Wicked wheel 2 from dieselsite or similar from kcturbos.  I've used the BD billet compressor wheel and the kcturbos (which is very similar to the WW2) and the WW2 or KC unit is a bit more responsive down low.  Do this regardless of the rest of the options.
b.) Optional: new turbine wheel: KCTurbos has one.  More blade area than stock...more responsive down low.  I've done two of these and like them. 
c.) Not optional: wastegate controller: I bought the Turbomaster and like it a lot.  No more mystery about are you bypassing exhaust before you should be. 
d.) Optional: or leave stock...this works too...we left my BIL's stock and it works fine. 

3. Up pipes: new up pipes from KC or even dorman aren't too expensive.  The stock up pipes with their slip joints kinda suck.  Removing/replacing these is a tough job.  I've done 2 and am happy to not do any more.  You know you have an issue if you see soot around your up pipes; up by your turbo. 

4. Exhaust: look up how to replace your stock muffler with the Walker 3.5-inch "big truck muffler" or BTM.  That's all you need to do for anything your stock or stock-modified turbo can do. 

5. Intake: Once you have a tuner and turbo mods, you'll pull more air than your stock airbox with a paper element can provide.  Cheap way is to do a DIY 6637 type filter.  On my excursion with turbo mods/tuner/exhaust and stock airbox, I routinely pull the little vacuum gauge out of range. 

6. Tuner: the PHP hydra is super easy to get loaded and going.  Since your excursion has an anti-theft PASS key (probably), you'll need to be sure you check that option when you program your tunes, and learn how to reprogram all of your extra keys after you load the tune. 

The canned PHP tunes work great.  I've used the 65hp daily and heavy tow tunes on my stickshift truck, and both 40hp daily and tow tunes on the excursion. 

Hard starting is a glow plug and glow plug relay show.  Glow plugs can be tested by unplugging the plug that goes through the valve cover gaskets and Ohm testing the right pins...no need to remove valve covers.  If you replace some plugs, do yourself a favor and get new valve cover gaskets from ford/motorcraft. 

This is all very much worth doing, and you'll regret not having done it sooner.