Need Advice On How To Clear Severe Sludge F250 7.3

[kevincolby650]

Thank you all for the great help!

I just ordered a Blackstone kit just to get some facts on it before I do anything and I will share the results if it would be helpful to anyone.

I was planning on doing the HPOP reservoir on the next few changes. Its easy to get to and seems that it will only take a little extra time to change, and I don't mind that.

I like the Giants but not a huge fan lol.

Is the flush ok to use, or should I be skipping that part?

Are bypass filters worth the money?

thanks again for all the great feedback.

 

[roadrunner1]

The HPOP drain & fill on these engines is a waste, it doesn't hurt anything. Any other advice you get from that powerstroke guy you can pretty much ignore also.

 

[Ken2]

Quote:
Are bypass filters worth the money?
Maybe...if you run the oil for its full life as shown by a testing lab, and if you plan on running the engine for many hundreds of thousands of miles. The International 7.3 is a half-million mile engine with ordinary good maintenance. Will the of the rest of the truck even get close to that mileage?

You are doing the right thing by getting an oil sample analyzed. This is a big money saver compared to guessing at the problem and the solution, then throwing money at it.

 

[Olas]

valve cover off, sump off, manifolds off, lots of brake cleaner and shop towel, fill it to the brim with diesel and let it sit for a day, then drain and move onto 1k OCI's with Rotella.

Easy

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: Olas
valve cover off, sump off, manifolds off, lots of brake cleaner and shop towel, fill it to the brim with diesel and let it sit for a day, then drain and move onto 1k OCI's with Rotella.

Easy

Oh that English sense of humour!

 

[riggaz]

Originally Posted By: Olas
valve cover off, sump off, manifolds off, lots of brake cleaner and shop towel, fill it to the brim with diesel and let it sit for a day, then drain and move onto 1k OCI's with Rotella.

Easy

If he takes the sump off then how will the diesel stay in the engine?

 

[The_Eric]

With the maintenance you described, I'd be EXTREMELY surprised that engine had any sludge. Especially since you said
Quote:
I would change oil every 5-7 months and not pay attention to the mileage since I don't drive it before the return mileage.
One counter monkey commenting on the oil shouldn't carry any weight.

Like others have said, most diesels will turn the engine oil jet black within seconds/minutes and by the time you drive enough to warrant draining, it's so sooty black that it'll stain your hands. That's how they are.

If you are driving 6k? per year, then buy some diesel approved oil on sale in 10w-30 or 15w-40 and be happy. Drain it once a year and skip the bypass system.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: Olas
valve cover off, sump off, manifolds off, lots of brake cleaner and shop towel, fill it to the brim with diesel and let it sit for a day, then drain and move onto 1k OCI's with Rotella.

Easy

Funny, but what sucks on the 7.3 is that in order to properly pull the oil pan the engine must be our of the vehicle. They use silicone for the gasket instead of an actual gasket.

 

[Highline9]

Get a uoa done. I think your fine. I would second guess some Orileys oil dumper.

 

[yvon_la]

Dont sweat it ,if you changed oil every year ,its just a reaction between oil just change it every 6 month.probably thickness modifier acting up

 

[TiredTrucker]

I have found the Hot Shot's Secret to be a very good diesel engine internal cleaner. They developed this to combat "stiction" problems with the HEUI injectors of the Navistar built Powerstroke engines. Did a great job. I have used this on heavy commercial diesels and it really does what it says. It is not some mysterious snake oil, but primarily a mega dose of detergents that most oils already have in them, so there really is no risk.

http://www.hotshotsecret.com/hotshotssecret/

 

[yvon_la]

What is stiction?

 

[Kuato]

To answer your question about a flush: nope. It could release clumps, as mentioned earlier, and block an oil passage or gallery or even the pickup.

Shorter intervals and maybe a slow cleaner (I like ARX) would help but I like your idea to get a UOA first, and the post saying you can't be sure about sludge without a look inside the valve cover.

 

[The_Eric]

It's HIGHLY doubtful that there are "clumps" of anything in that diesel engine. That thing has seen very easy service with plenty of oil changes. That, coupled with the stout add packs in diesel oil means that it is not at all likely to have a sludge issue.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
It's HIGHLY doubtful that there are "clumps" of anything in that diesel engine. That thing has seen very easy service with plenty of oil changes. That, coupled with the stout add packs in diesel oil means that it is not at all likely to have a sludge issue.


True; however OP said it is severely sludged and if it is then what I said could be true. Truth is we don't know as there are no pictures.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
Originally Posted By: The_Eric
It's HIGHLY doubtful that there are "clumps" of anything in that diesel engine. That thing has seen very easy service with plenty of oil changes. That, coupled with the stout add packs in diesel oil means that it is not at all likely to have a sludge issue.


True; however OP said it is severely sludged and if it is then what I said could be true. Truth is we don't know as there are no pictures.


If what the op said was true then, yes you could certainly be right. But the op was going off the assumption of a counter monkey that obviously didn't know much, if anything about used diesel engine oil.

 

[BruceM]

There is roughly 2 quarts of oil in the heads of a 7.3L diesel that do not grt changed durimg an oil change. This oil drived the HEUI injectors, and is made up of oil from your oil pan. Thing is that you cant easily drain those oil rails down and fill them with clean oil.

The powerstroke help guy online has a whole "top end oil change" deal, which would help you grt your oil a little cleaner right after the change, but its not worth the playig around with sucking out the hpop resivior ect. The black color of those 2 qts of oil will make things look black pretty much once the fresh oil has circulated thru the system.

The oil rails in the heads are nearly 2in in diameter and run the whole length of the heads. So there is a bit of oil in there. Also if there was any real sludge buildup in the engine you would notice it in how the truck runs since the engine oil is crucial to the functioning of the injection system. These trucks are brutal on oil and shear down 15-40w oil to a 30w pretty quickly, and once the anti foam additives are depleted in the oil the high pressure oil system can get air bubbles in it making it run a little off. If your oil was sludgy it would prolly block the pickup screen in the pan which would prevent the high pressure pump from having oil to drive the injectors, thus the truck would not run.

I have 227k on my truck and the oil is black within an hour of an oil change. Also I recall that when I used amsoil in a gas engine years back it got dark really quickly too, sorta like the additives discolor but the oil was still prefectly good.

Seing how you drive 6k a year or so, and the normal duty OCI for a Powerstroke is 5k miles, I wouldnt waste my money on amsoil or anything other than say Rotella 15w-40 or perhaps thier ssemi-synthetic T5 10w-30 and just do your oil change a month or so earlier each year. I do 4000 mile OCI's on my truck but I also burn vegetable oil as my primary fuel.

 

[BruceM]

Also I would not use ANY SORT of flush on a 7.3, primarily because the oil rails hold oil ( and some of that flush) and who knows how that flush will react with the injector orings and high pressure oil pump.

Ive also used hotshotsecret on some ppls trucks and I think its a waste of money on a 7.3l, as we dont have the sticking injector issues the 6.0 powerstrokes have. Thier injector are much tighter tolerances and use a different valve that is prone to sticking. I recently did a set of 7.3l injectors on a truck 377k miles and #8 was failing. 377k miles on the original injectors with nothing other than 5k mile oil changes with 15w-40 and 5-w40 synthetic in the winter.

 

[TiredTrucker]

Originally Posted By: yvon_la
What is stiction?


That was the term used by Navistar regarding how the HEUI injectors in the Ford Powerstroke engines they built would not operate properly because they were "sticking" somewhat due to oil deposits building up on them. They were having to replace a lot of injectors under warranty. They got the company that is making the Hot Shot's Secret to do some testing and find out if there was a solution. They determined that heavily dosing the oil with detergents normally found in oils would clean up the deposits. According to the company, they were able to cure 9 out of 10 injector problems. Navistar adopted the concept.

While things have changed regarding engines, deposit buildup due to minor coking, varnish, whatever remains. So the company sells the product as a way of cleaning up more than just injectors in diesel engines. It does do what it says, that I can confirm.

As a side note, i think this stuff might help with the problems associated with AFM design (especially lifters) in GM engines. Just waiting for someone with AFM related problems to give it a try and see if that assumption is correct.

 

[4wheeldog]

Originally Posted By: yvon_la
What is stiction?


A homemade contraction of "Static" and "Friction". Term has been in use concerning motorcycle fork seals for at least 40 years.