700,000 Mile 7.3 Powerstroke Teardown! Does This REALLY Have This Many Miles? 

I was a manufacturing engineer on this motor. It appears to be pre-1999. The valve has a 1998 date stanp. The injectors were often replaced by the factory on the two rear passenger side cylinders because of customer complaints for noise. We sometimes used the marine injector. If the cam is original it's also pre-2000. We switched from an induction heat treat that did one lobe at a time and left that blue circle to one from Contour Hardening that treated the entire cam at once. I also noticed the shaft diameter has some severe chatter during the plunge turning operation (Op20) done on a specialized machine from a company called Crankshaft machine. Lastly the rods look to be the old 4130 forged rods with milled mating faces. Later models used powdered forged cracked rods. Most forged rods were made in Indianapolis, but several thousand were made by Kaiser Manufacturing in Germany while we transitioned to powdered forged rods. Those will habe a K stamped on the weight pad on the end of the rod cap. We did have some premature cam and litter failures because the lifter supplier didn't properly heat treat the roller tip but not many. It looks like a high mileage engine.

This is awesome. That was my fathers truck. He owned a plumbing business and commuted over 100+mile a day since he purchased it new. The only engine work that was ever performed was new injectors due to the fact they thru him the keys and never owning a diesel before didn’t know about the lever to empty the water from the fuel. It also had the oil pan and oil cooler changed. The Trans and front end was rebuilt once. The straps broke and dropped the gas tank on the e way once but other than cam sensors it was very reliable. The maintenance was done religiously with Rotella. My Dad passé two years ago. And man would he have loved to have seen this!!!!

I had a 350k miles 7.3 that I pulled the heads because I was curious. Bores looked just like those. The longevity of a 7.3 is legendary. Sad the EPA killed it.

My 2000 F250 has 509,000 miles on it with the origional injectors. I ordered it new in june 2000. Raised 3 kids and still runs great.

All I can say is that if I had 699,341 on the vehicle and that's where my journey with it ended I'd be EXTREMELY disappointed to not have gotten all the way to that 700k mark.

I can tell you my 01 has 684000 miles right now and I drive it every day. It's had injectors, glow plugs, valve cover gaskets and water pump and various sensors replaced. Never had the oil pan or heads off. I just put a turbo on it and intend to drive it to 1000000!

I met a man who pulled travel trailers from the manufacturer to various dealers, he was driving a 1985 Ford F250 with the 6.9L diesel engine and a 4 speed manual transmission. At that time he had 999,973 thousand miles on his truck, and was leaving to poll another trailer.. Still running great.

This engine looks like it was worked hard but was also very well cared for. The uniform wear on the crankshaft journals, the cross-hatching still in the bores, the cleanliness of the aluminum front cover, the general cleanliness of the inside of the engine all suggest frequent oil changes using good quality oil and filters. I believe this is a 700,000 mile engine without a lot of idle hours. If was and idler and not a workhorse, you wouldn't see that type of wear on the crankshaft journals. This shows again what my Grandpa said: If you take good care of your equipment, it'll take good care of you.

That's a 700,000 mile engine for sure. The bearing wear says those miles were all under load, it didn't idle it's life away. Very impressive it was as clean as it was inside.

Man, does that bring back memories. My first job as a mechanic, back in 2001, was in a shop that had the service contract on all the ambulances in that region (South shore of Montreal). And they all had 7.3's. Everything you did, with the exception of cam and crank removal, I have done on these engines. (We had a special tool to remove the injectors). And let me tell you something...if you think removing the heads was tough, try doing it in the enclosed space of the engine compartment of an E 350. That was one hell of a job. Now, in the shop where I work, word has gotten around that I have years of experience on the 7.3, so we have several customers who show up with their F350's because no one wants to touch them. To me, they're old buddies...always enjoy working on them for old times' sake.

I am not a mechanic by any means, watching these engine break downs are just fun to watch.

I agree with your assessment. The truck was probably on a strict service interval and they were driving the wheels off the thing. I bet if you told most people that the heads on that engine weigh as much as a fully assembled Honda 4 cylinder they would doubt you. That engine needs to make a ton of torque just to haul itself around.

Eric, I do not mind the longer videos! I kinda enjoy a deeper dive in to them. Thank you.

I love how gentle you were with the water pump this time around. XD Your deadpan irony is top notch.

the lack of junk all over the engine like these newer ones is amazing. so simple and so beautiful these older engines are.

"Put some heat on it " 😂😂😂 Well done, sir! I'm personally leaning towards the high mileage being accurate. These things are beasts

Cam lobes have worn through the surface hardening. Not happening on a 70,000 mile 7.3 unless there was oiling issues. Bearings tell the story. The cracked piston was probably getting close to failing catastrophically. She’s definitely got some miles.

I don't work on diesels, but I am amazed at how heavy-duty those pistons are! Mercy. That's a lot of mass flying around in there.

My 2003 7.3 powerstroke had over 600,000 km (400,000 mi.) It was the cleanest engine inside that I had ever worked on. Couldn't get a white rag dirty wiping inside the valve covers with solvent. 7.3s had no EGR to pump pollution into the block or intake stream. Also it's best to run good old conventional oils as the detergents keep the soot in suspension and drop it out with each oil change. They also cannot be run low on oil as below 9 quarts in the pan there isn't enough oil to feed the HPOP, so they simply will not fire.

I can believe it's a 700k mile engine. If it was a reman deal, at least 300K+ on it with that bearing and lifter wear. The crosshatching still being on those cylinders is a testament to how far lubrication engineering has come in the last 50 years. It used to be that 200k was considered an insanely high number to get out of an engine outside of something like a semi truck. Now we're seeing this engine might actually have 700k on it without any internal work needed. That's a damn impressive number. Something to note is that this was in a pickup and is an engine designed for a medium duty application (Think ~10-12k unladen weight, 18-26k loaded), so it's had a relatively easy life as far as load goes. Let's not forget about engineering. This was probably one of the last engines at International designed and built by the older generation who had the concept of quality (things like TQM) coursing through their veins from top of management down to the lowest guy on the totem pole, with some advancement in modern tech thrown in to spice things up. They way overbuilt it for the stock power level. Very similar to the engineering and manufacturing coming out of Japan in the '80s through early '00s (Toyota and Honda mainly). Their thought processes were in decades, not quarters, and it shows here. You can also see how that got thrown out the window with the 6.0L and 6.4L engines that followed this one. They were a disaster by comparison. The crazy thing is how much they had in common with the 7.3L, but they still managed to screw it up. I don't know anything about the corporate structure or management history at IH, but my guess is that there was a generational shift change that happened right around the time the 7.3 was being phased out. You need to have everyone in the organization knowledgeable about engineering (at least from a layman's perspective) to get quality products like this. Good engineers can't make high quality products by themselves. They need good management backing them up and the manufacturing side needs to be on point too.

" this part looks good " , throws part , " this one looks smashed and bad " , gently lays it on the table 🤣🤣

This 2-part Powerstroke saga has more twists and turns than most Hollywood movies ever have.

Pour one out for the waterpump. Respect to you Eric for treating it with respect. It took the hit, to save the block.

59 and retired with a past history of just about everything mechanical but I still will watch just about any video I can click on no matter the content. Some for 30 seconds and some I will click through to see where it goes but I can say with out a doubt I watch every minute of your videos. The longer the better and there are only about 3-4 channels I do that with and I think it's because it's not just the content but because your a good character and seem like a great guy. Keep em coming.

700k totally possible, I sold my old f350 flatbed w/ a 7.3 turbo a few yrs ago & it had 639k on it when I sold it, tranny had been replaced, but engine was original & it still ran great

Remove the spill spout at the top of the injector next to the connector before removing injector so you don't break them. Usually removing the lower bolt, sliding the retainer plate upward to clear the top bolt, then prying the bottom of the retainer plate gets them out unscathed.

The skit with the waterpump had me laughing. Usually these get tossed without much ado, but this one get pampered as if it was something rare and special 🤣🤣🤣

First time seeing a 7.3 tear down thanks for the education 👍 Now I know why the engine’s are legendary in their reliability, super robust.

I do not like RU-vid's idea of shorter and shorter videos. Are they trying to rival TikTok? I love hour long videos of interesting things. Great video, Mitsu 3CYL, PEACE!!!

watched the whole thing. as a tech who now sales insurance and mortgages. i really enjoy these. its like watching bob ross but for cars

Loved this longer tear down, thank you posting this!

I worked at UPS for thirty years and we used this engine from 1997 to 2020 when I retired the last one in my fleet of package trucks the last one had 650,000 Milles on it I only retired it because the truck body was just to worn out to be safe anymore this was the original engine the only engine parts changed were the injectors fuel lift pump and water pump

I was in the 70k camp before, but I think you're right, it's got 700k. Crazy how clean it is.

You’re funny with the “looks good” and throws part then “looks horrible” and gingerly walks it to the table 😂

Longer videos are always welcome as long as the content and details are justified by any extra time keep it up highly enjoy watching

Your channel is great! It reminds me of my job at an US Army Aviation Intermediate Maintenance unit in Germany in the early 80s. We had a saying “ if we can’t fix it, we’ll fix it where nobody can”

The 7 liter powerstrokes can definitely handle a million miles when well cared for. We have a '99 F-550 at work with 285k on the clock, still runs like new. Overdrive went out last month (and she shifts hard as hell). The company mech hasn't been able to repair the trans except for a complete known-good-unit replacement. We're gonna miss Ol' Betsy if she has to go!

I don’t care how long your videos are, I have loved every one. I’m going with almost 700k. Keep up the great work. On a side note hope mom and baby are doing well. And congratulations on having another kid.

The respect you show worthless parts says a lot. Not quite sure exactly what its saying, but its a lot! Love your videos, Eric!

These engine teardowns are great btw. I love watching your videos :)

Thank you! The 7.3 (and earlier 6.9 [nice]) has a long history of being one of the most reliable diesels available in a consumer-grade truck. This teardown makes it pretty obvious why: It is ridiculously overbuilt for the power it is expected to output. I suppose that's why, even in my shop, the valve cover gaskets and harnesses still have order points and regular stocking even after it has been discontinued for nearly twenty years. I have actually lost count of the million+ mile 7.3s that have crossed my counter over the years. Engine Requests: Ford: 300 Inline Six, Windsor, FE, 1.0 EcoBoost, 1.4 EcoBoost, 6.0 PowerStroke, 6.7 PowerStroke General Motors: 3100/3400/3800 Olds, LUW/LWE 1.8l i4, 5.7L Olds Diesel, L5P Duramax, L86 6.2 (shouldn't have too much trouble finding that one) Chrysler: Slant Six, MORE HEMIS, 1.4L FIRE, AMC 4.0/4.2 Honda: B Series, D Series, K Series Toyota: 1LR-GUE (lol yeah right), 1GZ-FE, 1ZZ or 2ZZ Subaru: FJ series, EZ30/36

I really like the longer, more in depth videos. Thanks for this one.

I like the longer video's you go into more in depth with the explanation on all the parts. As always another amazing job and video.

I have a 1996 F350 flatbed. I bought from a friend of mine who owns a diesel shop. He got the truck basically from a customer who ruined the motor. He replaced the motor (it was rebuilt by a shop in Cullman) and he put in a remanufactured E4OD transmission at 190K miles. I've had it for a few years. I love the truck, I use it but not abuse it, I don't have a business just some acreage. I have people ask me all of the time to buy it. I've only put about 15K miles on since I had it for 4 years. It should last me the rest of my life. It has such a sweet sound. I need to get the AC fixed.

Geez that’s quite the talent you have. Never seen anyone that can heat steel with his breath. Keep up the good work I love your video’s. Very relaxing for me.

Love 7.3s, you handled the heads perfectly , those loops up top are for moving them , I’ve always done them with a engine hoist , anyway good content

love that you add humor into your vids awesome work brother keep it up never a dull video !!

I always watch and share the video you make and right off the bat that is the magic you have been working on because I am a mechanic and I have owned, worked on, and I know that just so far in you are making this look way too simple, but I am going to say that you are getting to the point of editing genius. Great day to 5on this Sunday morning.

Very nice! Looks like a well used engine, though amazing how good the crosshatching can look with proper maintenance. I know you don't typically get VW/Audi engines in but would love to see a teardown of the 1.4 TSI or a 24V VR6. As well as a FCA 2.4L Tigershark or 1.4 Abarth engine

5:45 "this thing looks terrible" (carries it gingerly away) LOL that's an inside joke for long time viewers thanks Eric

That's a high-mile workhorse. My '95 F-350 has 645,000 miles on it now and aside from a set of injectors, two sets of valve cover gaskets, three water pumps, an alternator, and a set of glow plugs has never been apart. Even the turbo's original. I've run Chevron Delo 15w-40 and NAPA Gold filters on 6,000-mile intervals since it was new and you could still eat cereal out of the valve covers. It's that clean inside. Oh, and it still gets 19 mpg on the highway. I have no complaints.

That was a really fun watch, love those 7.3 engines, nicely done.

I always save the longer videos as a Sunday morning watch activity and don’t mind at all! The hairline crack in the bore at 45:18 might be an indication of cavitation pitting the cylinder liner from the cooling jacket. It can happen with on any diesel engine (especially with the non turbo 7.3 IDI) if the additive levels in the coolant aren’t properly checked and maintained over its lifetime. From what I understand it may be repairable by boring out the cylinder and pressing in a new sleeve Disclaimer: I own a truck with the non PS 7.3 IDI but I am not a professional tech so I’m armchair guessing and defer to people who do work with the PS 7.3 if I’m wrong about anything

With that cam that wiped out...700K for sure...as for the truck itself...it had a hard life for sure. A great video Eric:-)

Always enjoyed that era 7.3. Used an F350 at work and always shined. Definitely earned all those miles for sure! Great video!

I bought new and still own my 2003 7.3 Superduty with a 140000 miles . it's a rust free Arkansas truck . I'll keep the F250 crewcab probably until it gets too expensive for me to have repaired when it does need repair . Never been apart except for a waterpump . I learned so much from your teardown . Really awesome video that I've been waiting on for a long time . Great video .

I like how you *breathe* on the bolts to *Heat them up* haha you must've had them new spicy hot peppers

Love my 7.3 F250 Bought a 70s model F600 with 4 speed split rear and a 16ft dump bed. 53k original miles, was an old grainer spent alot of time in the barn or doing occasional odd jobs, great interior and body. Doors close with the press of a finger, really nice truck. I've heard that pulling these gas torqers like the 330 that's in it and dropping 7.3 set up in them makes a good difference on older 600 series trucks. F250 sometimes cant bite because not enough weight for the torque especially in low 4x Would be interesting having another 12k pounds of traction on that 7.3 with the split rear 4 speed. I bet it could crawl about anywhere it could get a good bite.

KEEP EM LONG LULZ! No but I love this show. It's a solid block of entertainment and laughs. I can't wait to see more. Always a highlight of my weekend and I think you might have the best job ever

Filling those cylinders with oil is common even when doing glow plugs. When we did my brother in law's 7.3 glow plugs I used a spray bottle sprayer with a long hose added on to evacuate the fluid to avoid hydrolocking it. We used the same trick a few years later to get all the oil out of a snow plow pump reservoir that had a stripped drain plug.

Mine had lots of blow by is why I rebuilt it. Piston #5 has pieces fall off when it came out and #7 the compression ring land was deformed downward angle. Still fired up and ran everyday. E99 has AB code injectors a few CC's smaller than L99 which arr AD code. 94-01 73's are more desirable cause they have forged rods.... L99 has PMR rods.

Had a 99 Superduty, I had the first one in my town of the new design, I put 900000 on it all highway miles, then sold it to a friend, truck still looked new no rust, he rebuilt the engine, well over 1 million miles. Only problem I had with the truck was the auto locks front differential and recall on airbox for the filter. Did have injector change and routine maintenance and a crap load of tires.. I bought a new Dodge ram 3500 and as soon as warranty ran out I needed to have transmission rebuilt, made it bullet proof and ended up being a great truck minus the fast acting rust that the Ford never had. Both was used in hauling marine equipment and boats. 7.3 was a beast!

It’s great waking up Sunday morning, and having a coffee while watching a tear down and waiting for the world to wake up. There’s a project waiting for me in the driveway afterwards.

Best Saturday entertainment on RU-vid!

You are a Good Man ! Not seen much any more this day in time . Stay true to your self ,Thank you .

looking at that engine inside and out is exactly why i run lots of additives and keep the outside of my engines super clean as well. i want my engines to look like new the day they finally wear out.

Such a lot of work went into this video .well done and thx for sharing

For those rusty exhaust bolts, I have had huge success with the Irwin extractor sockets, they bite hard on even fully rounded heads

My 2000 has 396,000 miles and it’s still running very well.

I have a 7.3L in a 1995 Super duty service truck with an IMT truck body and crane that 10K short of rolling over 400K and it still runs like a clock. Those engines are legendary for their reliability and ability to break well over a half millions miles without a sweat just as long as you keep the oil changed pretty much. Oil changes being the most important of all since it not only protects the engine but also all the parts in and around the fuel system including the injectors all of which are very expensive if any of them fail. And bad oil is what causes failures in the HPOP System on those engines the majority of the time.

I'm a fleet manager, that was a service truck and it has 700k on it. Fleet managers and techs drive a lot. They take care of their tools, and their truck is the most important tool they have.

your editing gets better by the video 💯

Definitely a workhorse of an engine!

I love your channel and I am thankful you started it.

2003 7.3L with 445k miles here. owned since 40k miles. Never had the valve covers off. Only major component replaced is the turbo at 400k miles and it was not because the turbo was bad. I just was not putting a 400k mile part back on when I was fixing a oil leak. Still running original ECM, original injectors, original HPOP, original glow plugs, original transmission. Obviously things like the water pump, alternator, starter have been replaced but those are wear parts. oil changed every 5k and trans fluid drained and topped off every 30k with full pan drop and filter every ~100k.

I drove one with 1.5 million miles on it. It was still running strong when was pulled. They are resilient engines.

I totally agree with your assessment. There was a video of a fella tearing down a 900k 7.3 and it was in similar condition. They are just really tough low hp engines.

why are these teardown videos so relaxing for a sunday afternoon?

The way and engineering that goes into designing these engines is amazing

Very interesting video. Not into this sort of thing but I now understand why repairs to diesel engines are expensive.

Very much enjoyed. Thanks. I won't let go of my 1996 f350 7.3 even though hardly use it no more. 1996 with 98500 miles actual odo. Only issue is small rear main seal leak (mechanic in bottle not really helping) but its real slow leak only when running and hot.

I worked on a barn find truck a few months ago. 2002 7.3 dually with 40k miles. Beautiful truck. I can attest those down pipes are fun to do in the truck.

THANKS!!!!! S7 bricked with my teardown pics...this is gonna save me a ton of time...little stuff like water outlets, harness routing...perfect 2002 Excurion THE OG 7.3

They will run with a cracked piston it will just push all that compression into the crankcase. Love the vid and I would totally get that as a builder if I was local. I have 2 7.3 powered trucks and they both have 250k+ and still run great

My BIL has an 01 Excursion with factory 7.3 on a 1 ton chassis. Bought it brand new (had 4 miles on it) and it now has 610k on it. We tore it down because 610k plus the Trans and T case needed work also. What you are seeing is high mileage and idle time. My BIL had never been opened up since new and it looked really similar just not as bad on the cams or rod bearings.

Obviously a 2 day tear down as the shirt colors indicated. Seriously, I am darn impressed about the condition of the internals on that engine. I understand that class 7 and 8 trucks have engines that go to 1 million miles or more before an overhaul (some do, some don't) but I never expected a light duty engine like that one would go so far. Kudos to the owner who took care of it.

Very entertaining to watch. Your camera work is really good and clear.

My 7.3 has 264,000 so far, and other than many accessories like water pump and ac unit and alternator, and some oil leaks it’s doing well. Darn good engines.

The crankshaft bearings and connecting rod bearings have way too much wear for a 69K engine. I vote for 699k. As for the cracked piston, when you were showing the side view, it looked like the land between the top and second piston rings might be cracked.

Although I retired as a school superintendent and a university teacher, I did my own maintenance on our private vehicles and helped my brother doing maintenance on his airplanes which he used in his fumigating business...When I joined the U.S. Airforce, I went through formal training in aircraft maintenance...I trained myself to work on BT-13s, N3s, and other lighter aircraft...I trained on the B-25 and B-26...I then trained on the B-36, B-47, B-52, and other aircraft...I worked on the Canberra and the XC-99 as well...To make a long story short, I still tinker with anything mechanical, but most of all, I watch videos of other folks, such as you, take different engines apart...I thoroughly enjoy that and will continue to watch your videos and those of others until who knows when...By the way, my brother, a WWII veteran was a licensed instructor pilot, in different kinds of aircraft including helicopters, and he took time to teach me to fly...

I have a 97 F350 with this engine and it was pretty cool to see how it comes apart. My parents bought the truck new and it was passed down to me. I hope I can get 700K miles from it, although I doubt I would drive it that much. Currently it has just over 100K miles and still running strong. I have only had to replace the vacuum pump and rebuild the AC compressor. It have been a very reliable truck.

Been on a engine teardown kick today and I gotta say I love the comic relief whenever you blow on the engine after cutting away from the heat. Good video!

When working on diesels lifting equipment is you friend! I remember trying to get a 671 Detroit head down a ladder into a boats engine room. Even with 2 of us I thought for sure I was going to blow out my back. I think the 671/12v71 head is well over 200 lbs it really sucks to deal with.

I know next to nothing about engines, yet found this video surprisingly cathartic.

The removal of the manifold bolts was awesome. If that was an LS you would have broke 17 out of 16 bolts.

The one saving grace for the 7.3's was they would quickly start to misfire with bad/dirty oil, as the injectors were oil actuated. That required an oil change to remedy.

What a cool video! This whole engine screams "tough".

Bearings look about what I would expect from a 500K mile + motor. All components look very stout! I guess that’s because of it’s I.H. Navistar background. Awesome video, thank you..

Nice teardown. My early 99 7.3 has 450,000 miles and going strong. Maintenance is the key. Fluid and filters. I replace the 4R100 trans at 423,000 and last year 2 injectors needed to be replaced at 435,000 miles. Other than that, no other engine work has been done. Long live the 7.3! Thanks for sharing.

You should check out an Induction Heating Machine. Electric, flame-less, device that can heat up a bolt head to red hot. They cost about $200 on the Zon. Might save you from all that breathing ;)