'99 f250 7.3

[Andymon]

Took my new to me '99 F250 7.3 to my well trusted mechanic for a thorough inspection and everything checked out. New brakes, tires, shocks, CPM, all fluids perfect, wheel bearings perfect. Not a thing wrong with it he could find other than a burned out license plate bulb which he replace. Not bad for 170K miles. And it runs like new and looks like new inside and out! Thanks for all the comments earlier on!!

[Ron]

Great looking pickup, i have 2 2001 7.3 PSD and love em, wouldn't think of trading them in.....Congradulations...

[lightning79]

Very nice! Going to do any upgrades?

[2011 keystone]

great looking truck I love that body style ford I just cant let my dodge hear me say that

[Andymon]

Originally Posted by lightning79

Very nice! Going to do any upgrades?

Not sure. I have a habit of breaking things and either ending up with one bold left over or one bolt short. Might talk to my mechanic about upgrades but not sure what to upgrade!

[DJ85]

Andymon do yourself a favor two upgrades and thats about all I would do. 1. somekind of cold air intake system do your research lots of choices they love cool air and lots of it. 2. exhaust upgrade the old saying bigger is better fits well with this engine. Keep up with maintance fuel clean and water free. Oil changes. Watch the ph on your coolant and your solid you got lucky and got you one killer truck there. Happy trails life is what you make of it.

[Rabbit Sheriff]

I recently bought a 99.5. I took it to local well known tranny guy and requested a heavy duty build with a 26 row 6.0 cooler (direct bolt on). $2200 later it's like a completely different truck with 30-40 deg cooler temps. The 4R100 tranny was the weakest link in these trucks. Just pulled my 15,000 lb toy hauler with no problem at all! Hope this helps, sure helped me.

[lightning79]

I totally agree with the cold air intake and exhaust. You can also look into a Mag-Hytec high-capacity rear diff cover, and maybe even some gauges to keep an eye on everything for you. A back-up camera is nice, too!

[Ken / Claudia]

What I would look at buying would be a tranny temp gauge or more. I have 3 extra gauges just for towing. A larger tranny cooler and place it up in the center of the grill for better air flow. That I have done, it is 2x as big as the factory cooler and I added a electric fan to it to force air thru at high speed when driving at low speed in 100 plus air temps. A better air intake, I have had 3 on 2 7.3s pickups and never seen better power or mileage. I never added larger exhaust since I do not want a louder engine sound. I added a power chip to the current truck when it had 34000 miles and it blew the tranny apart after 3 months. I was left with a working 1st gear when it blew, it had more power and better fuel mileage but, the factory tranny cannot handle the extra power. If money limited, a tranny gauge is a good investment. The other stuff is what ever you are willing to spend.

[JRTJH]

I agree with Ken. The transmission is the weak link on the 99's. HOWEVER, with your RV, it will haul it without any problem. Just don't lug the truck, don't be afraid to downshift if the RPM goes below about 1500 and just enjoy the truck.

If you haven't already, change the engine coolant, add the Ford "Coolant additive" (get it from Ford) and follow the recommendations in your owner's manual for adding more on schedule. The heads are cast, there are very tiny "sand cast holes" in them. As the coolant circulates, it causes bubbles and the bubbles carry oxygen (needed to support corrosion) to those tiny imperfections on the cast surface. With time, the corrosion can weaken the head and cause a crack to form. If that happens, the only option is to replace them. That has been an issue with the 7.3L since it first was used. The coolant additive stops bubble formation and protects the inside of the engine. Use it faithfully and you'll be OK.

Now, it's time to just get out and enjoy your rig.