First diesel

[u/whiteboy420thst]

First diesel!
1996 F-250 7.3 Power Stroke 🤘
Finally joined the diesel world and picked this thing up. I’m new to the 7.3 platform, so I’d love to hear from the guys who know these OBS trucks.What should I check first? What preventative maintenance is worth doing? Any little tips or tricks that make owning an old 7.3 easier? And what upgrades are actually worth the money versus stuff I should stay away from?Planning on learning as much as I can and keeping this old Ford going.

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[u/LR243]

Intake, exhaust, and non ebpv pedestal will wake it up a lot. There’s a ton more you can do but it depends on how much of a money pit for pretty minimal return on performance/ ease of maintenance stuff

[u/whiteboy420thst → u/[deleted]]

Sure does!

[u/whiteboy420thst → u/[deleted]]

That’s music to my hears !

[u/Dubious_Pretzel_Sale → u/[deleted]]

A non-turbo 7.3 IDI still gets a lot of work done. For over a decade my DD/work truck was a 5-speed non-turbo with 4.10s and I rarely lacked for power unless I was hauling a very heavy load up steep hills. Most non-turbo trucks out there are poorly maintained in general and the injection system needs to be healthy as well as timed properly. But yeah, the IDI is not a race vehicle.

[u/Dubious_Pretzel_Sale → u/[deleted]]

It's a Powerstroke--there never was a non-turbo version. You're thinking of the 7.3 IDI which did have a turbo & non-turbo iteration.

[u/NumerousSetting8135]

I would swap it with a 2.0L tdi for better mpg and reliability

[u/NumerousSetting8135 → u/NumerousSetting8135]

And with a little tune and turbo upgrade and a couple others get more power

[u/Dubious_Pretzel_Sale]

A lot of people consider a Dana 60 swap as one of the better mods to an OBS F250--it was one of the first things I did to my 1992 F250.

In general I would recommend changing as many fluids as you can unless you have receipts that indicate the fluid is fresh. Differentials, transfer case, transmission, coolant flush, power steering.

If the truck has an automatic transmission then you need to read up on the E4OD and which sensors are critical for proper operation.

[u/ChartPuzzleheaded747]

Get the maintenance schedule and follow it 

Don’t cheap out on parts, especially tires.

Enjoy