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Looking at a passanger van locally, it was a trade in to our Chevy dealer. Van is in good shape, with 163k on it, has the Chateau package w/captains chairs. It's an E350 that is the standard length, so it's up to 9 passangers. Unit looks clean and tight, I know the 7.3 PSD is a great engine, and for $6k it may just be a good buy as well.

Now - what should I know? I know the Ford Van is a solid product. How's the 7.3L and transmission do in this vechile? Are there specific problem areas and years to avoid? Would you consider such a van with 163k on it. I actually found two extended-length vans with the 5.4L Triton with over 200k on them for more money.

Any comments or ideas...and does anyone have an idea roughly what mpg you could get out of this? Thanks...

 

The 7.3L Power stroke is not a bad motor. I owned 2 of them when I landscaped, one of them was a 1999 with over 330,000 miles on it. Still ran great when I sold it!
What year is the van? it will either have a E4OD, or a 4R100. Both 4 speed auto.
The 2001 year 4R100 transmissions have intermediate gear failures that will ruin the transmission. Had one do it and know of others personally.
Once Know what year it is I can give you more info on what to look out for.

 

Pretty sure it's a 2000, late 1999 build.

I'll see and drive it tomorrow, any thoguths on what to look for on a test drive? I would tend to use it only for longer trips.

 

believe thats around the last time ford had a reliable diesel, lot guys have those years in work trucks around here and they are still running great. plus its a van so you know it hasnt really towed anything to tear it up. maybe see how wel the tranny shifts or if it slips. leaks just the obvious stuff

 

2K was the best year for the 7.3. It has a 4R100 tranny behind it, all in all a decent tranny. If the van is solid and not been in a major wreck then I would seriously consider buying it. They look worse than they really are to work on.

 

I had an '86 with the 6.9 so it's not really representative in too many ways, but if you ever have to change the injection pump you'll probably come up with some creative new words and "mention" them very loudly, I did have to. The rear end in mine could not handle the torque and broke a tooth off the ring gear. The tranny self destructed twice. Front brakes every 10,000 miles, recalled front end linkage that was still junk, fuel gauges senders went out, windshield stored up water and dumped it in my lap in the rain, two water pumps and the general difficulty of working on the engine. Mine cost me about $5000. to nurse it to 100,000 miles when I unloaded it.

It smoked a lot when pulling hard in the hills and I would back off the throttle a bit to reduce it, but I still got reported to the DMV and had to go "prove" it was diesel.

Besides those things, it drove great on the highway. But make sure you put on the front sway bar that Ford sold only as an option. (no need for good handling, I guess, unless you are willing to pay more).

If I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten the 460 gasser instead. But I am a diesel nut and had to have it.

 

I would just check for steering slop, transmission shifting/torque converter lockup. I would also pull the oil fill cap off while its running, there is no other way to check for excessive blow-by.

Few "faults" on these engines:

The O right under the turbo pedistal tend to go out. Leaving an oily mess.

Failed cam sensors (on the front cover) will leave you stranded, or may cause hard starting problems. You can get these at International for around $30.00. And in the worst case can be replaced on the side of the road in about 10 min.

There is no injection pumps on these engines. They have a HEUI injection system, so there is alot of pressurized oil.

Over all a solid engine in my opinion!

 

Ford detunes the 7.3 for van use but the trannies still have a hard time handling the torque. A shift kit and tranny cooler might help. Sportsmobiles with that engine are a good find.

 

I had an 04 E350 with the Triton 5.4, and that was a strong, hard working van. If it was taken care of, you should get good usage out of it. In the previous post about the 86, I never had any of those issues, so I would imagine that those bugs are worked out. In general, the Ford work vans are about the best out there. I would say that the weak link in the one you are looking at is the transmission. Find out the history if you can, and see if it has been rebuilt.

 

We had a e-350 ambulance with a 7.3l PS at the EMS system I worked at, that was the only one we had that was nearly problem free, and it ran better than most of the 6.0's we had. I think we had a couple of injector failures, but overall very few problems, not bad for a vehicle that is running nearly 24-7 (we ran 12hr trucks and did curb side posting so no station to go hang out at) and is driven hard all the time. Overall good vehicles, the transmission left a little to be desired, but if I were in the market for a van that's what I'd be looking for.

 

Well - unique expearance today looking at this van. The salesman, who is a friend of mine through our church had walked out with me to it, just after I started it up, he got a phone call (this is 9:00 in the morning). He comes back in two minuites and says: "Sorry, I have bad news...this van was just sold via a wire transfer of money from a customer in Ohio." Seems this customer found it on autotrader and, aside from photos, bought it for full asking price, sight unseen!

It was the truth and not a sales tactic! So I simply shut it off and we walked back into the dealer. Same thing had happend to the salesman earler that week while he was showing a woman a Honda Van.

What this tells me 1) the car business is changing, and fast at that. 2) there IS still a Van subculture, and a pretty dedicated one at that. 3) Those diesel 7.3L Vans must have a very dedicated following, sort of like our trucks. 4) I forgot how much those International diesels like to crank before they start - about 8 seconds, after the glow plugs did thier thing...guess I'm just a little spoiled with a Cummins.

Thanks for the info, I'm planning to help a friend find one of these, and it may be a hard search. Was the last year for the 7.3L 2002 or 2003?

 

What a bummer, sorry to hear about your luck! But, those 7.3L vans are in high demand around here in MN. A lot of them are 4x4.
The cranking could be due to weak batteries. If one is weak it will have a hard time starting. Plus the engine must see a minimum of 300RPMS while cranking over, to "charge" the HPOP (High Pressure Oil Pump)

Best of luck on shopping!

 

Oh BTW the last year of the 7.3PSD was 03. Stay away from the 6. Oh No!

 

That's right, I forgot about the HPOP. It's apparent that you have to keep two of the best batteries on those, or it's "too bad" for you to get it started.

And - that 6.0h-no isn't going to be considered. Thanks. I know local ambulence companies that have given up on Ford van based vechiles due to all the problems they had with that engine. I also don't think For offeres the diesel in their Vans now.

 

I have a fleet of 100+ Ford Ambulances so I know them all too well... the 7.3 is a bulletproof motor but if it is actually taking 8 seconds to start then there's a problem. But you're not buying it anyways, so it's not your problem. The 6.0's are ok at best... they require a ridiculous amount of maintance to be remotely reliable. But we seem to have this under control now thank god!

The 5.4 I personally think is junk. Great power.. when it's not blowing spark plugs out of the heads! which is far too often. We started only buying 4.6's and we have next to no issues with them...

As far as new, they no longer offer diesels in E series.. so V10 is the biggest you'll get. We still have leftover 09's coming through with the 6.0's till they run out. (no idea how they are able to do this without emmissions, but that's another story)