Tiggie’s 2000 F-350

[VicCrownVic]

That's the same coolant that I got with my new ride. A bit baffling considering I got mine with under 64k miles on it and everything else looks new.

[Tiggie]

I am wondering if this stuff had something to do with why the water pump locked up on the PO and the heater core leaked. Hopefully no head gaskets got compromised.

It will get fresh green and distilled water after a thorough flushing.

Finished checking the plugs. One of them turned a hair @ 25ft lb. This thing needs some COP boots. New fangled contraption.

[gadget73]

probably someone refilled it with the yellow/orange stuff. i think thats what the diesels from that era got.

when all else fails, refer to the owner's manual. I heard 3 different things about the diesel in the Lincoln. The manual gave the spec which translated to boring old green coolant, which is what it had. In surprisingly nice condition too.

[Tiggie]

Today I discovered really greasy parking brakes from that leaking axle seal. And a nice burr where the axle seal rides. Someone has been here before because the axle seal wasn’t Ford.



Some old dude told me to soak the brakes in 90% isopropyl alcohol. It did actually pull grease out. I doubt it got it all, but I stuck them back on for an experiment. They worked fine soaked in grease. Probably even better now.
I removed the burr and hopefully will have nice sealed axles again.
On the plus side, the grease was clean, the bearings looked nice, the traction lock is tight, and probably owner 1 or a car lot spray painted the brake calipers silver, which maybe points towards some level of care.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[P72Ford]

Congrats on finally finding your unicorn! I didn't realize these were not ZF6 trucks.

Nice that you got the 4.30s.

I have a friend with an '03 F-350 DRW 4WD with 650K miles on it. The original engine started to use a lot of oil around 610K. If you take care of it (no doubt you will), it will take care of you!

[Tiggie]

Congrats on finally finding your unicorn! I didn't realize these were not ZF6 trucks.

Nice that you got the 4.30s.

I have a friend with an '03 F-350 DRW 4WD with 650K miles on it. The original engine started to use a lot of oil around 610K. If you take care of it (no doubt you will), it will take care of you!

Thanks! I wanted the extra gear but the five do okay. Compromise but couldn’t pass it up since the rest of the truck was “the one”. I think 2002 was when they went to six for the gas trucks.

I love this thing. I really do. Put new heater core in tonight. Took about 90 minutes with me not knowing what was doing. Through the glove box.

Got to get a bigger garage. This doesn’t need to sit outside.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tiggie]

Put new coil boots on this weekend. Had a dead miss after that. I pulled the coils again, slathered dielectric everywhere, and it’s pretty happy.

BUT still have the occasional miss when cold. It’s flawless when it’s warmed up. Three original coils have cracked epoxy. One of the ten is an aftermarket. Do the coils get weak or do they just die completely? Wondering if one is weak. These should be the same as the 4.6 ones I guess.

Any recommendations for slip yoke grease? I think that’s my driveline clunk sound.

Also figured out the IAC problem. Someone stuck a big green plug in the intake hose so it couldn’t get any air. It works fine now. Maybe a temporary fix for a stuck open IAC at one time.

[FordMan77]

my boss' 98 5.4L had a weird miss similar and it ended up needing a few COPs. I stuck with OEM Motorcraft replacements and RockAuto had them pretty reasonable. That motor runs like new now at 200k+ miles.

[gadget73]

Had some random misfires on my S10, found cracked insulation on the ignition coil that allowed it to randomly arc through to the frame. Single coil of course but same basic issue. I found mine by starting it in the dark and looking for the lightning under the hood.

[sly]

I had one cop go on my PI swapped 93 (03 engine). It had swelled up and cracked the case on the secondary side and was open circuit on the open side. Once I pulled it, it was obvious it was bad. Replaced it with a Duralast (needed the car and couldn't wait for stuff to be shipped) and haven't had an issue with the cops since.

[Tiggie]

Bought super cheap coils ($45 for 10) and put them on tonight. Same random miss at cold idle. Maybe a plug. Not going to screw with it until it gets worse. If it’s missing, the computer doesn’t know and it runs fine which tells me I am OCD and worrying too much.

Speaking of worry, I left the cheapo coils installed. Carrying an extra under the seat. I did swap the new Motorcraft boots onto them.

Got right at 500 miles on the oil change. Oil looks clean. PO said it used some oil. It’s about half a quart low on the dipstick. Not really wanting a 1000 mile/quart engine. My seven mile commute doesn’t help I wouldn’t think. Going to top off and continue to monitor.

[Tiggie]

878 miles into the oil change. Two quarts are MIA. Houston, we have a problem.

No leaks. Castrol GTX ultra clean Dino blend 5w-30 in the crankcase.

Tailpipe is clean. I guess the cat is eating it.

Going to put plugs in this over Christmas. Maybe I’ll see some evidence there and check the compression. Kinda bummed.

[Tiggie]

Did not put plugs in it yet. The miss quit. So the plugs are decent? Also the oil burning has improved. 800 miles and 1/2 quart is acceptable IMO. Not preferred but okay. Much better than 400 miles to 1 quart!

One of the headlight adjusters was broken, so I updated the lights to the 2002-2004 style. I like my amber turn signals, so they stayed.





The snow gave me a chance to try 4x4 and it worked as expected. I like that this truck has manual hubs and transfer case. No silly vacuum stuff to screw up.

[sly]

If the miss quit without doing anything, I'd blame carbon buildup or clogged injector that cleared out.

[Tiggie]

If the miss quit without doing anything, I'd blame carbon buildup or clogged injector that cleared out.

Sounds reasonable to me. It’s running good.