Look at the pictures, if it was 4k to long for the oil it'd be all varnished and sludged up.
Oil samples say I can go 2k longer, but every 10k is easy to keep track of and schedule out the reminders in the computer.
Ford 7.3L Godzilla cam issue; Tell me what you think
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Look at the pictures, if it was 4k to long for the oil it'd be all varnished and sludged up.
Oil samples say I can go 2k longer, but every 10k is easy to keep track of and schedule out the reminders in the computer.
Possibly, the higher vitamins and minerals in it might provide more protection, but we may never know for 100% if this I the reason why it lasted this long or not.
We have a 120K Ford Extended Warranty on the newer Transits, so we pretty much stick with Ford’s recommended 5W20-but my 10R80 isn’t making it to 120K, no way.
The higher levels of ZDDP in the 15W40 would provide better protection than garden variety 5W30. Our issues with Ford are pretty legendary over the 25 years I’ve been there, box trucks with 3 blown E4ODs over 140K or so, 6.0 liter PSD E-350s needing the body removed to replace head gaskets, 3 VV turbo failures on one van… I don’t know how they’ve paid for it all!
What is your maintenance plan now that this occurred?
Why change , uoa say he can go longer plus it is a supposed defect ! something early oil changes may not solve ?
Considering it was a materials failure and not due to the oil, I’d expect they’d stay the same. Changing oil more often will not remove the underlying camshaft issue. Now that it’s fixed with a properly hardened cam, 10k is fine.
Once I get it back in service, it's going to run for one day and then I'm going to change the oil again, they drained it to replace the cam.
So that should flush out any contaminants that remain, then it'll get changed again at 130,xxx, then again at 140,xxx...and so on and so fourth.
It's how I've been doing it from day one, and how I'm going to continue doing it.
Oil changes won't make much difference on a defective part, and I still have to keep over all costs down.
Out of 50 trucks, 10 with this engine, only one has gone bad, but this is the highest mileage one of these engines in my fleet.
I have Freightliners with 600k on them with the Mercedes 4.3 and Cummins 6.7. The Mercedes is a bullet proof engine, the Cummins sucks.
Funny thing is the manual does have multiple severe duty recommendations, all for 5000 miles. The F59 manual has them plain as day. Fwiw, our fleet follows the severe duty schedule with the same chassis.
Thank you, and appreciate you sharing this information.
Side question, I am looking to stock up a little on 15w40, maybe 5 gallons. I am a hobbyist but not professional. Which brand would you recommend? I am thinking going cheap, either traveller, delo, or rotella on the upper end.
Depends on the application, I use Performance Plus, I buy it by the 55gal drum.
My personal choices, in order, Rosella, Delo, then Chevron.
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You mean Delvac ? Delo is Chevron …
Thanks for the info on these 7.3l's. Our new E450 chassis's at work get 5w30 and supposed to be at 5k oci. Most are changed at 5-6k but occasionally some go further. Was not aware of the cam issues and will be on the lookout for them as our oldest 7.3 are coming up on 90k miles.
Only thing we have had with them was one motor started to have valvetrain noise, ~75k, that one got Schaeffer 5w40 and helped quiet it down a lot.
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My question would be hours not miles.
I have seen gas engines idling for eight hours at a rest stop heating the cab as if the engine were diesel. Many gas engines don't do well idling regularly for eight hours at a time, especially on a regular basis.
I have seen gas engines idling for eight hours at a rest stop heating the cab as if the engine were diesel. Many gas engines don't do well idling regularly for eight hours at a time, especially on a regular basis.
…….. whats “cheap full syn”? I have a very hard time believing that an engine will fail at 150k, full of sludge, with 5-6k syn oil changes.
Maybe its time to dump all the fancy computer design programs, and go find some old retired engineer in his mid 80's that still knows how to use use a slide rule to show them all how to fix the problem. 
Let the EPA lighten up a little bit on the automakers, make the mpg goals a little more realistic, and give the automakers a bit more flexibility with ICE. If that happened my bet is a lot of these problems and complex engine designs go away. But we all know that's not going to happen.Maybe its time to dump all the fancy computer design programs, and go find some old retired engineer in his mid 80's that still knows how to use use a slide rule to show them all how to fix the problem.
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