2002 F250 diesel - discovery and build thread.

[Curious Hound]

I kinda thought SD wheels were all metric...

I don't know. It appears that I have no idea what I'm driving. So. What does "Super duty" mean? When did that name start getting used? This truck is obviously a "Johnny Cash Special". F250 chassis? 7.3l Powerstroke. F350 hood, fender and front bumper. Later model bed. I have no idea what year or model the seats are from.

Most of this is just curiosity. I have what still seems like a good, strong truck and I love driving it. I have a long list of things to repair and modify. But I need to know what I'm actually working on. I feel like a detective because I don't know the details of this trucks history. With my Ranger, I know the details because I did all that stuff. So, here goes the adventure.

 

[Snoranger]

I kinda thought SD wheels were all metric...

And you’d be right.

All 99+ superduty F250/350s were 8x170mm. The E-series kept the 8x6.5” (165.1mm) bolt pattern for years after the truck switched over.

 

[Curious Hound]

And you’d be right.

All 99+ superduty F250/350s were 8x170mm. The E-series kept the 8x6.5” (165.1mm) bolt pattern for years after the truck switched over.

I'll have to check closer to see what I really have. The ones on my truck have a coarser thread and the lug nuts have a washer attached to them. What I oulled from the junk yard has a finer thread pitch and conical lug nuts.

 

[Snoranger]

I'll have to check closer to see what I really have. The ones on my truck have a coarser thread and the lug nuts have a washer attached to them. What I oulled from the junk yard has a finer thread pitch and conical lug nuts.

FYI - That flat washer style gets torqued to 165 lb-ft.

The early 8x170 wheels (99-04) used a different back space than the later (05+) wheels… at least on the 4x4s.

 

[Curious Hound]

FYI - That flat washer style gets torqued to 165 lb-ft

I read 150 - 165 ft-lbs. I have them at 160. Thanks.

 

[Curious Hound]

Back to working on the rear bumper today. Tacked in the plates for the mounting brackets. Then set it in place and marked the holes. I drilled all the other holes yesterday - trailer plug connector, license plate mounts, license plate lights. Please ignore where I had to fill in the wrong trailer plug connector hole. Somebody marked and cut it while looking at the bumper upside down.

I think it will look OK.

 

[Curious Hound]

Bumper is finished. I primed it yesterday and just finished the first top coat - my traditional black Rustoleum applied with a cheap brush.

While that's drying, I'll tackle the wiring under the rear if this thing. I tore into yesterday and found a mess. Thenoriginal trailer connector is missing. But I think all the harness wires are there. I cut out TWO 4-wire flats that were connected in parallel with butt splices. When They replaced the bed with this newer bed, the tail light wire plugs didn't match. So they spliced onto the original connector for that. But wires are just twisted and taped and there is broken insulation and bare wire showing between the connector and the splices. I went to the junk yard yesterday and harvested some decent plugs and harness pieces to splice in properly.

 

[Curious Hound]

Well, it's on. Looks good froma distance. I had to reverse polarity on the LED license plate lights. Those are like the red and yellow clearance lights I added to my car trailer. Except these are clear. All lights on the truck are working. Now I have to take a break to mow the lawn and do some grocery shopping for the week. Summer shutdown at the plant this coming week and I volunteered to work 7 days of it in a row.

 

[Roert42]

Bumper looks like it could have been factory. Nice job.

Still impressed with the use of the tubing to create the rounded corners.

 

[Curious Hound]

Changed the oil today and the fuel filter. I thought I was doing well with keeping the oil change neat and clean. The filter is easy to access. But as I was turning it over to put it in the drain pan, it slipped and fell. Oil everywhere. Then my shirt sleeve dipped into the puddle. Why did I bother wearing gloves? Oil from finger tips to shoulder. Yuck.

Anyway, 15qts Rotella T6, 15w-40. Plus some additive from Hotshot that is supposed to free up the hydraulic part of the injectors. Look up the term "stiction". I'm hoping that is my cold start issue. Filled the fuel tank. Got 15mpg on that one. Previous tank was almost 16mpg, but had a lot less "in town" driving.

Now, after showering, I'll go out for dinner and pick up a bag of kitty litter on the way home to clean up thecdriveway.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I'm not sure how many quarts my drain pan holds... but I'm thinking I would have to buy a new bigger one to hold 15 quarts.

 

[Curious Hound]

I'm not sure how many quarts my drain pan holds... but I'm thinking I would have to buy a new bigger one to hold 15 quarts.

You might be surprised. I looked at the label on mine before I started. Besides that, I bet at least a quart was in the filter. Maybe more.

 

[Curious Hound]

I have noticed a chirp in the engine bay. Took the serpentine belt loose today and rotated pulleys. I don't feel play in anything. But the bearings are starting to sound rough in 2 of the idler pulleys. So, all 3 idler/ tensioner pulleys are on order along with a new belt. I'm not 100% sure about the belt length. There are 3 to choose from. One is for dual alternator/ ambulance setups. I know I don't need that. One is fir single alternator with cold weather package. The thirds is fir single alternator without cold weather package. The only clue I have is that there is a block heater cord hanging behind the front bumper. So I ordered the belt for single alternator with cold weather package. It's around 1- 1.5" difference in length between that one and chose number 3.

Also plugged in my trailer brake controller and looked a bit deeper at the 2 aftermarket relays hanging behind the dash, near the fuel panel. One seems to be for the Frame mounted fuel pump. I'm thinking that after the fender bender, the inertia switch was tripped and they didn't know about it. So they probably Bypassed that and the original relay with their own work-around.

The other add-on relay looks like it is supplying trailer lights. It's supplying that wire, anyway. There must be something wrong with the OEM relay for that function. For those who don't know it, on vehicles with tow packages, or at least heavier duty vehicles with tow packages, all the circuits for the trailer have their own separate power supplies - a fuse running through a relay that is controlled by the original function on the vehicle. That way, a problem with trailer lights doesn't also kill the vehicle lights. So there is a separate relay for lights, one for reverse, one for left turn, one for right turn and one for trailer battery charging power.

So, now I have a better idea what needs some troubleshooting and repair.

 

[Curious Hound]

Ok. It nearly stranded me today. I had driven the truck around town quite a bit, taking mom to a Dr. Appointment and going to a locksmith. Then went to get dog food. On the way back, it lost power and started running rough, wouldn't accelerate. Trans wasn't shifting right. But I think that's due to lack of torque from the engine. I pulled into a parking lot and shut it off for a few minutes and restarted. Same issue. Wouldn't Rev past 2000rpm and didn't like that at all. I looked under the hood and didn't see anything abnormal. Not sure what I wanted to see there. Decided to see if it would limp home. Got into traffic and it got worse. Almost couldn't get to the next parking lot entrance.

So, once I was in a safe place again, I recalled that some previous owner had wired in a new relay holder and relay for the electric fuel pump - lift pump mounted on driver side frame rail where we are familiar with seeing it. So I swapped that relay withthe one for the trailer lights, since it was there and handy. Pushed the throttle and the engine accelerated smoothly. Drove home fine.

So, old worn out relay? Is the lift pump going bad? Loose connection in the wiring somewhere? Or was that a coincidence and not even related to the rough running and lack of power?

I don't want to spend the money. But a lift pump is only around $100. That's cheaper than getting towed somewhere. So I guess I'll order one. I'll put a brand new relay in that spot, too. Maybe get out my fuel pressure gauge and test the pressure. I don't know what it should be on this truck. But I can see what the difference is with the lift pump running and not running.

 

[Curious Hound]

Replaced tensioner pulleys and idler pulley today. Overtorqued one of the screws. Had to take the tensioner assembly out and drill and tap the stripped hole for M10 instead of M8 threads. All is well. Then I backed it up to my trailer to test the electrical functions. Found a blown fuse for trailer turn signals/brake lights functions. Regular lights work. Trailer battery charging circuit works. I think reverse lights work. I need to double check that one. My trailer plug on the bumper had a short pigtail to a round plug that felt loose and wasn't getting great connections. So I cut that out and spliced the wires together.

I wanted to go to the junk yard. But it's too hot. Going to take the dog swimming instead.