Alrighty, there is this 2001 Superduty for sale and Im kind of interested. Its a XLT 4x4, 7.3L, Auto, supercab short box, 46,000 miles-If we offered him 20,000 it sounds like he'd sell it. Havent got to see it yet, but he says you cant tell it from a new one, I asked what kind of shape it was in, and he says "Ohhh, well, there are a few scrathes in the bed from hauing my neighbors furniture" Just the way he said it, I was like, he must baby the heck out of this and take nice care of it. Hes the original owner. Hes going on vacation, so I wont be able to look at it for a week or so.

Anyway, I was wondering If theres any concerns or anything I should know about on this pickup, any recalls etc.

Also-Ive never owned a diesel before-what are they like maintenance wise etc, driving, starting etc.

I live in Nebraska so temperature ranges from belw zero to 110. During the winter it will be driven 5 days a week,less in the summer, pull a big cattle trailor when needed etc. Ive read you need to plug them in for about 2 hrs before you go anywhere when its real cold, and before you start it put the key in the 'run' position a few minutes before you start it. (what exactley is it doing when you have the key in the run position before you start it?) Also, diesel condition is a good deal so it doesnt gel, correct?

I live on a farm so we own all diesel tractors, so im not new to diesels, just new to them in a pickup.

As far as maintenance, how is that. How far do you go before oil changes? how much oil does it take? what wieght oil do you use? Iv heard you need to change the fuel filter every time you change the oil, is that correct?
What else?

As you can tell-, and like I said, Im new to the whole diesel pickup scene and dont know a whole lot about then, so, ANY info on them, and the pickup in general, would be awsome.

Oh yeah, what are some problems to look out for with these 7.3's?

Thanks

 

Forgot one thing, what are the alternators rated at on these? I have a stereo Id put in it with 2 amps, one is 600 watts and the other is 300, Id like to know if the stock alt. can handle these. Thanks

 

If you're looking seriously at it stop at a Navistar dealer and get a set of coolant test strips. The coolant needs to have an addative in it to keep the system from cavitating and eating away the engine. It also must be the correct level of addative, as too much will damage just as much as too little. An oil analysis would be good as well, but will take much more time to have done. Pull off the intake line from the turbo (make sure the truck is off) and look at the blades of the impeller. Check for any pitting on the blades or any damaged fins. Also spin the impeller to make sure it spins freely. After that check the engine and trans oils to make sure they're ok. The 01 trucks have a mechanical diode in the auto trans and they are known for going out. They can be changed out, but it requires dropping the trans to do it. Its kind of a crap shoot whether it lasts 10k or 100k. Though none of the stock 4R100s were really all that spectacular to being with.

As for maintenance, it will take much more than your gasser. The engine oil is every 5k, trans 30k maximum, coolant addative (SCA) checked every oil change, fuel filter every other oil change but not exceeding 15k. The engine holds 14-15 qts of oil and uses 15W40 oil. I usually run Rotella 15W40 non synthetic because Rotella is in the business of making diesel rated oils. Walmart also carries it for $8/gal.

In the winter time when its much colder out you may have to plug in the block heater for a couple hours to warm the engine a little to help it start. When I lived in IA only a couple times last winter did I have to plug it in. When you turn the key on a wait to start light comes on and that means that the glow plugs are on. The glow plugs help warm the cylinders so the fuel can ignite. When you start the truck in cold conditions don't just hop in it and go, you need to let the truck warm up for just a little bit. And when you do go don't run the truck hard (ie not over 2k rpm) until its reached operating temp. You also don't want to let it sit and idle all day or to let it warm up. If you do you will want to look into an AIC (auxiliary idle control) that will let you increase the rpm to a high idle so you don't wash down the cylinder walls with fuel. Diesel conditioner is VERY good. I run Power Service year round in my truck. In the winter its mainly for the antigel, but it also increases the cetane rating and the lubricity of the fuel. This helps out the injectors and may help increase mileage some.

 

Ok, great find milage wise, and sounds like a fair price.

Green coolent needs to be checked carefully for correct additives. 01 was the last year for that crap and in 02 a trouble free gold coolent was used. Might have already been switched in.

Little overdue for a tranny flush if that wasn't done. There is a lot of fluid there so be ready to shell out some $$$

Don't put your off road diesel in it. Not good for the injectors, and if you don't get farm plates, you are looking at a major fine for burning off road diesel.

Sounds like a nice truck. Go check it out!

Adrianspeeder

 

about the farm diesel, it is the same stuff as regular #2 diesel. you can run it but i wouldnt because of the HUGE fine for running it on the streets.

Also you may want to check the engine for blow by. but what ps73 said pretty much covers it. nice find and that is a good price as long as the trannny is strong (even though it still could go out soon, damn 4r100 trannies.) i have an early 99 powerstroke and i love it!

 

Actually red dye diesel is different than OTR #2. Red dye has a higher sulfer content than OTR. That fact is actually better for the injectors for lubricity. The red dye though some people think that the dye itself causes damage, but its not really correct. It won't harm your truck to run it, but as mentioned its a very hefty fine to get caught with it. When I say expensive I'm talking in the thousands of dollars and your truck then gets impounded. If you do run it the dye will stain your tank and it will take a while to get it out. There are actually ways to legally run it if you own a farm, but there is alot of red tape to go through.


I should mention that since this is an 01 truck there is a 99.99% chance it has powdered metal rods in it. You're very limited on what you can run for power add ons. No drugs at all (meth, propane, nitrous) and very conservative timing on a chip.

 

Thanks guys, just the kind of info Im looking for.

As for the diesel type, thats something I was wondering but forgot to ask. My uncle has a PSD and has used the red Ag diesel from time to time, also, my friends dad has a PSD that he uses the red ag diesel in all the time. Neither have had any problems with their truck, my friends dad even used it for about 120,k miles, before he traded the truck off with no problems. Neither have been cought either.
Now-besides the fact that I could get one HELL of a fine if I get cought runing it, is there any mechanical damage that can occur to the truck or anything?
Also, how do they tell you are using that diesel? My state (NE) doesnt have emission checks, so I wont need to worry about that. Does it have a certian smell to it, or is there a certian smoke or what?

Finally-about how much more power can I add before the rods go do hell? All I would probably do is chip it (probably at least 100 hp tune) intake(filter, aibox) and some exhasut mods. Can I safley run with that type of stuff, or will it be to much?

Thanks for all the help
Ill have to write this stuff down as a list of stuff to check out when I look at the truck

Oh yeah-about how much does a tranny flush cost? And is it something I can do myself, or does it have to be done by a dealer?

 

Usually ag diesel doesn't hurt the engine, but sometimes it isn't held to the same "quality" standards. In PA, the state cops do a dip test where they just dip down into the tank at checkpoints and if it comes up red...BAM several thousand dollar fine. See it all the time after farm auctions, farm shows, supply houses, or just generally around central PA farm country. Having farm plates gets you by the dip test, but is restrictive in other ways and is sometimes not worth it.

A tranny flush is easy, but $$$ just for the amount of fluid. Lookin at 100 bucks there.

Adrianspeeder

 

Everytime there is a sale at the New Holland sale grounds you will see DOT roaming the parking lot. With red diesel since its a higher sulfer content they will actually use a sniffer. That alone is not enough to ticket you but that gives them an idea which trucks to dip the tank on. When I lived in IA you would occasionally see DOT officers around truck stops checking some of the rigs. Actually farm plates will NOT get you by getting dipped. Even if you have a farm truck the only way it can run red diesel is if it never touches pavement. If you're on a road it still must pay fuel taxes. We used to do that with gas on our farm at home. Since we usually pulled gas for the truck from the barrel we had we had to track how many gallons we used and then reported that to the accountant and then paid the extra taxes on it at the end of the year. Bottom line, just don't run the stuff, unless you really WANT to the $10k fine plus loss of your truck.


As for power additions the magic number is 400 rwhp. To get there you must NOT use any water/meth, propane, or nitrous. They are notorious for destroying PMR motors. Heck I've got forged rods in my truck and I won't even touch the stuff. The only thing I might run would be straight water for EGT control while hooked to a sled. Also when you get a chip don't get one of the real cheap ones. You need to get one from a place that really KNOWS how to write software. If there is too much timing written into the chip then you will lose a rod. Also so you know any chip or module will void your 5yr/100k powertrain warranty. Some dealers will overlook it, but others will void the warranty right away.

If you want to flush your tranny read here. All you need is 20qts of tranny fluid.