2002 F250 diesel - discovery and build thread.

[ericbphoto]

The 7.3 Powerstroke can see 20k psi injection pressure or slightly higher. That’s before modifying everything.

20k!!! That explains a lot.

This is a whole different beast from the older 1990 7.3l I had years ago.

 

[snoranger]

20k!!! That explains a lot.

This is a whole different beast from the older 1990 7.3l I had years ago.

Yeah… the old IDIs (pre Powerstroke) probably hit a little over 2000psi

 

[ericbphoto]

Got up this morning with a plan for the day. Tried to start this beast to go to breakfast and all I got was a click. Battery voltage is 12.5. I've been having this problem intermittently and pushing it off. So I took the Ranger to breakfast and sat in the diner ordering a starter.

 

[ericbphoto]

Did an oil change today. After that, since I had it up know the ramps, I did some cleaning. After about an hour with the air nozzle and a putty knife, I had the pile of oily dirt you see below. Then I sprayed a can of engine degreaser all around the bottom until it was empty and hosed everything off with water. This was by no means a thorough cleaning. Just trying to knock off some of the worst stuff so I could actually see components like the oil pan, transmission, steering box, the brake line that follows the front crossmember, etc.

Then I took a shower in Dawn dish soap because nothing else would cut that mung.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If you pick scabs its gonna start bleeding...

 

[Bgunner]

I've found that dish soap seems to work the best for me and doesn't dry my hands out like Gojo and similar products do. It also works really well for cutting the grease/oils from my face on the lenses in my glasses.

 

[racsan]

Ive found dawn to be quite effective myself, I will spray down extremely dirty work clothes with the dawn spray stuff before tossing it in the washer.

 

[ericbphoto]

If you pick scabs its gonna start bleeding...

It's a 7.3l. It's always bleeding.

 

[ericbphoto]

So, tomorrow or Thursday I plan on draining the cooling system, replace upper and lower radiator hoses, flush the system and refill. But I have a question for the gurus @snoranger , @Mattman347 , @bobbywalter . Since there is no cap/fill neck on the radiator, what’s the best way to refill this system and get air bubbles out? Seems like filling from the overflow tank would be slow and inefficient.

 

[bobbywalter]

pop a flush tee in the heater hose....raise it high as the bottle....the degas bottle is your fill port.....turning the cap off of the tee allows fastest fill.

if you look at the hoses it will make sense.

 

[ericbphoto]

pop a flush tee in the heater hose....raise it high as the bottle....the degas bottle is your fill port.....turning the cap off of the tee allows fastest fill.

if you look at the hoses it will make sense.

Cool already have a flush tee. I always put one on a heater hose on all my Ford vehicles.

 

[snoranger]

That’s not an overflow bottle… it has a pressure cap on it. It’s called a degas bottle. It’s designed to help burp the air out of the system better than the old school rad with a cap (it’s usually the highest point in the system).

I usually use an airlift to refill coolant systems. It’s the quickest way to fill it.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

That’s not an overflow bottle… it has a pressure cap on it. It’s called a degas bottle. It’s designed to help burp the air out of the system better than the old school rad with a cap (it’s usually the highest point in the system).

I usually use an airlift to refill coolant systems. It’s the quickest way to fill it.

An ”airlift”,what's that?

 

[ericbphoto]

An ”airlift”,what's that?

Vacuum system for drawing in the new coolant under vacuum to reduce or prevent air bubbles. I had to look it up. I went ahead and ordered one.

Anyway, it uses a pressurized air source from your compressor to create a vacuum in the system. Then you shut off the vacuum source and open the valve for the hose coming from the jug of new coolant. The vacuum sucks in the coolant. Repeat until system is full. (If I understood the directions properly) Similar to vacuum brake bleeder.

 

[bobbywalter]

An ”airlift”,what's that?

its a c130 with gear that parachutes out of it.....