2002 F250 7.3 longevity suggestions

Thomasbeau · 01-31-2019, 08:31 AM

Hi All, my TV is a 2002 F250 extended cab, Lariat SB. It has the 7.3 with 145K on the truck. I live in CT so it's seen a few New England winters but never a plow vehicle. Over the last three years I have replaced all four doors, the bed and tailgate, upgraded to a 4" exhaust, added a six position tuner, Timbrens and replaced the air box with the extreme filter setup. The truck looks and feels like new. I have been looking at new trucks because mine is 16 years old but the cost to buy an exact replacement is about $70,000. That's just too much for me.

So here is my question, if I want to keep this truck going for another 10 years or so, what is the most important fixes, upgrades or repairs that you would suggest to get the maximum life out of this TV. Currently I only drive it once a week about 20 miles for my weekend errands and about 1000 miles a year pulling the 5th wheel.

Thanks for all suggestions.

Ken / Claudia · 01-31-2019, 11:52 AM

Mine is at 183,000. Not a single engine/turbo problem. Tranny that is a different story, I went with a costly aftermarket after 2 ford trannies from overheating and a tunner. This tranny seems bullet proof and still strong after 10 years. Good oil and change it is important. I needed new lower ball joints at 100,000 but was carrying a heavy camper. I know of no special stuff to do to it besides normal maintenance and I keep up on it.
Here a replacement is 70- 72,000 as you found out. Get this I paid around 35,000 for this truck, it is excellence shape. I could get 15,000 for it they are selling for up to 21,000 right now with less than 200,000 miles in excelent shape. I am looking for a 2013- 2015. A CC 4x4 8ft box 6.7 lariat here are from 30,000 to 40,000 bucks. Go to ford trucks forum for detailed infor on your truck upgrades etc.
Edit: After thinking about things I did, A larger tranny cooler will help. I did what many have done. I had the tranny shop put a cooler from a 6.0 engine. It is 2x as large as the 7.3 cooler and I placed it center of grill not behind bumper. I also have a electric fan on it to force air thru it when towing at low speeds. It works great. Gauges are your friend, only way to really know whats up with tranny temp, turbo temps and boost. The last is not so important but fits a 3 gauge post mount. ALWAYS allow the turbo to cool down before shutting the engine off. Without a temp gauge, all you do is guess.

Thomasbeau · 02-01-2019, 09:37 AM

Thanks for the reply. I never thought about looking into an aftermarket transmission but I have read that it is the achilles heel of our trucks. My transmission blew a front seal at about 100k and the local shop replaced the seal and did a complete transmission service on it. I have also kept on on the filters in it too so right now it's been performing great. Do you recall the brand of transmission you installed in your truck? I don't drive it a lot but religiously change the oil about every 3000 miles. That's only about 2 changes a year so it's not too expensive.

I figure that even if I spend $2000 or more every year to just keeping this truck running it's way cheaper than a $1000 per month car payment. This spring it's new tires and leaf springs. I'm more worried about the New England winter and the salt rotting the frame than any other issues. Coating the bottom with Fluid Film every fall does seem to help. I had a buddy offer me 16k for it but it would do me no good because I would have to spend another 30k to replace it. It still looks great so I'm gonna hold on to it as long as I can keep it running.

Ken / Claudia · 02-01-2019, 10:28 PM

The transmission was a custom built at a tranny shop that did many rebuilds on those trannys, it's named a E4OD tranny. The new tranny has 16 clutch plates instead of the factory 8 and a completely different torque convertor. In 2009 it cost 5400.
The 1st tranny blew up, really did blow up at 40,000 miles due to a tuner I thought I needed. The factory ford tranny I paid for lasted 70,000 miles and the front seal failed. I keep using it and kept putting oil in it for a couple thousand miles. When the tranny temp would get to 180 degrees it pumped oil out. Now I drive it at 65 mph in 115 outside air temps while towing pulling hills and never get over heated degree tranny temps. Your front seal may have failed due to over temp. That's what they said caused mine. I did not have a tranny gauge at that time.

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