Everything Wrong With My 400,000 Mile 7.3L Powerstroke

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Behind me is my 1996 73 Powerstroke with over 380,000 m on it. And this truck actually has the porno red interior and a super nice exterior. However, we are having some serious issues with this vehicle behind me. And I have been daily driving this truck behind me for about 30,000 mi with a ton of abuse put on it and a bunch of performance mods put on it. However, after some recent unfortunate events, this truck is now blown up. And today, I'm going to be breaking down exactly what happened to this truck, as well as how you guys can avoid this mistake and how we're going to fix it. So, without further ado, let's fire up this rig and attempt to roll it into the shop.

[00:00:38]So, as y'all can hear, the truck does fire up, but I'm going to be explaining what actually happened to this vehicle in a second and why it's running weird, running rough, and why this truck actually blew up. All right, as y'all can see, she's got the beautiful porno red interior. She's a little bit dirty right now, but no big of a deal. I haven't drove this truck in a hot minute. Windows do still roll down, as y'all can see. First major problem that I've been having with this vehicle is the transmission will not go into gear anymore. I'm going to show you guys that right now. So, I'm in drive right now and I'm hitting her down here in drive.

[00:01:08]Trying my absolute best to put her in gear and she will not go into gear, but it will go into gear in one.

[00:01:15]Maybe not.

[00:01:18]She's just toast, boys. Yeah. So, she's a goner, but it it will go into reverse.

[00:01:25]Yeah, it will go into reverse, just not drive.

[00:01:31]So, that's our first big issue.

[00:01:33]Attempting our best to get this thing in gear so we can get in the shop.

[00:01:39]There she goes.

[00:01:41]All right.

[00:02:01]Oh yeah, she's in gear now. There we go.

[00:02:04]We finally got her, boys. Come on, baby.

[00:02:06]Don't [ __ ] it up on me now.

[00:02:10]Oh no. Come on. Get in there. Get in there, girl. You got it.

[00:02:15]Be good to me.

[00:02:20]Oh yeah. Here we go. She's coming in hot, boys.

[00:02:34]>> We got her in.

[00:02:35]>> Oh, we got her inside. A little beat after that. Had to really push her hard, but she went into gear finally. I think it just needs to be a little warmed up.

[00:02:41]Torque converter probably is cooked and the fluid's [ __ ] So, I'm going to drop the pan though and show you guys what's going on with it, just so we can see, you know, what could possibly be failing on it. Okay, since the transmission is the biggest issue currently and why my 73 is currently blown up and not going into gear and not even driving, we're going to be investigating that problem first and then later on in this video I'm going to be showing you guys multiple more problems that are wrong with this truck.

[00:03:00]Then also, I'm going to be going over how much I've actually spent trying to upkeep this truck and keep it on the road and daily drive it. So, drop the pan on the transmission, see what kind of damage we got. One of the biggest problems currently with this vehicle is it is leaking transmission fluid. And that could have been one of the reasons why this actual truck went out. I let somebody borrow it that I probably shouldn't have let borrow while I was leaking transmission fluid. And I'm about 100% sure he ran it completely dry and out of fluid just by how given how much this is actually leaking. So, I think that's what actually caused the transmission failure. However, I do need to fix that transmission pan leak. But that'll be fixed with when I get the new transmission. But we're going to drop the pan right now. see the damage. See how dark the fluid is. See if we got any metal in there. And then see, you know, everything wrong with this transmission as well. So, let's drop this pan and see what we got under there. Here we go.

[00:03:41]Y'all busting her off.

[00:03:50]Start popping off these back ones here.

[00:03:55]Oh yeah, she's dark, boys. Holy cow.

[00:03:58]Holy smokes, boys. That is not a good deal right there. I don't think she's gonna be savable, y'all.

[00:04:07]Oh, [ __ ] yeah.

[00:04:09]There she goes.

[00:04:12]I'm not worried about bending this pan, guys, since it's already bent. I'm going to need a new one anyways. So, got one more over here, boys. And then she's coming down.

[00:04:20]I'm trying to see if I can get a little bit of fluid in there just to see what we're working with.

[00:04:27]Everything under here looks fine, too. I don't see anything wrong under here. You can see she is cooked, boys. Holy cow. I mean, look at all this right here. Super ton of clutch material and just absolute just destroyed transmission. Super dark, too. We do have something down there at the bottom. We got a bunch of dirt or something down there. I don't feel any big metal, though. Well, she's officially a goner. What could cause this is either running it out of fluid completely or just a bad transmission on the way out, but there's like a bunch of metal and dirt in here. Bunch of dirt debris. Uh, is that metal? I just changed the fluid, too. probably like 5,000 mi ago. So, I know it's not bad fluid. I think I really do honestly think, guys, it was just the person that I lended the truck to and that's what caused this to fail. I don't want to 100% blame him, but I'm kind of blaming him just because I don't think he checked the fluid and I let him know, hey, you're the transmission is leaking fluid. Yeah, there's so much metal. You see all those like little dots over here? That's all metal. Holy schmolley, that is a bad deal, boys. Yeah, this is pretty gone. And I'm just sw Oh my gosh.

[00:05:25]Yeah, look at all that metal. See all those sparklies in there, boys?

[00:05:29]That's all metal. Yeah, she's a complete nutter going. It's like fully like a glitter party. I'm going to swipe swipe up some more glitter bomb right there.

[00:05:36]All right, y'all. Well, E4 is E4 no D anymore. So, uh, she's a goner. Tons of metal in the pan and I'm officially deeming it as a complete goner. Once I get the pan back in and the fluid back in, I'm going to fire it back up. Yeah, the E4D is the first thing, first huge thing that went out on this truck. This was a one-owner truck, guys. So, only one person owned it before me, and he said this has the original transmission and the original motor in it. I mean, it lasted a super long time. I got to give credit where credit's due here. The E4D did last a really long time. But I'm going to give it like a reliable, though. I I think the E4D is reliable just because of how many miles I have on this truck, and it held up to my abuse for 30,000 mi. But now, I'm going to show you guys some more things that are wrong with this 73 Power Stroke. I'm going to be also checking our turbo as well. That KC turbo has 30,000 mi on it, and I'm going to be pulling the intake off and testing shaft play and stuff like that. This is a Gen 2 300X KC Turbo. And I also have some serious other issues with this truck that I want to talk about for you guys. The next thing we're going to be investigating on this 400,000 mi 73 Power Stroke is oil leaks. Do have a couple of oil leaks and I want to go over where they're coming from as well as how how we can fix it.

[00:06:38]The only oil leaks that we do have on this truck is one is coming from this bad boy right here, the O-ring on the intercooler. This intercooler is complete and utter garbage. I would not install this intercooler. This is the Atlas intercooler. I would, if you're going to buy an intercooler, guys, install the Banks one. This one just fit horrible. Super hard to install. as well. The O-ring doesn't work up there as well. Both of my intake boots are leaking oil as well and it's leaking boost. If I were to do a intercooler kit, I would do a Banks one. We sell this one and the Banks one on PS repair.com, but I'm actually thinking of taking this one off. The only reason I have this one on there is because it's a cheaper option than the Banks one, but I don't know if I would go with this Atlas intercooler. It's It's just a really hard install and I just have so many oil leaks on this deal and it's just a really bad kit, I think, over the Banks one. So, our one oil leak is right here.

[00:07:24]And then we also have another oil leak on the Hop cover gasket. Just a very, very small one. It's very hard to see.

[00:07:30]That Hop is a again an Atlas Hop. I wouldn't recommend installing that one.

[00:07:35]They're both of those are cheaper options than the counterpart, which is the CNC Fab Hop. So, if you're going to buy one, just spend the extra money on a CNC or Adrenaline one. Both of which we also sell on psrepair.com. But yeah, this Hop is leaking. The HOP gasket, which it did come with a new HPOP gasket. If you are going to buy an H Pop, I would do the Adrenaline one or the CNC one. We've installed a ton of those at our shop and have zero problems with them. However, I decided to test out the Atlas one since it's a little bit of a cheaper option and unfortunately we are leaking oil. It was a good H pop while it lasted. However, I don't see it as lasting a very long time. Uh but if you are going to spend money on a Hop, I would definitely do the Adrenaline or the CNC one. And those are kind of the big two oil leaks that we have on this truck. Other than that, everything is bone dry. This truck is still perfectly not leaking oil at all, which I'm super pumped up about. And the oil pan doesn't leak. Nothing else leaks on this truck. Just for shits and giggles on this truck, I'm also going to be showing you guys the blowby because I think that's one of the good things about this 7.3 power truck is they're super reliable engines. So, I do think that it is worth it to buy if you're looking for reliable truck.

[00:08:32]Fires right up.

[00:08:39]As y'all can see right there, absolutely zero blowby. And the truck is semi warm right now. So, zero zero zero blowby.

[00:08:46]Not even vapor. And that is one of the beauties about owning a 7.3 Powerstroke and daily driving a 7.3 Powerstroke is they are super reliable engines. Only downside is of course the transmission and oil leaks. You're never going to have to replace like an entire engine usually with this unless you start adding tons and tons of horsepower to it. However, that is the blowby. Very little no blowby on this truck. And that was a semi-warm test. Now what we're going to do is I'd like to pull the intake off the KC turbo and check our shaft play as well as if there's anything wrong with the turbo. Like I said, we've put 20,000 to 30,000 mi on this exact turbo, and we've been beating the ever loving hell out of it. So, let's pull the intake off here, and let's see what the turbo looks like.

[00:09:25]There we go. Got the intake off. Time to check shaft play. She spins super smooth still. No damage to the blades. It looks like she looks pretty good, guys. Let me see shaft play. She's a little toasty, boys. I got to get some pliers, move it up and down. I'm not going to be super aggressive on it. I'm just going to wiggle it. Very little to no shaft play as y'all can see right there. I mean, I'm I'm pushing him pretty hard, too.

[00:09:44]Now, there should be a little bit no in and out, a little bit up and down, but no inn-out. And there's really no in-n-out play on this guy. And that's normal. That's about how much it had out of the box. KC300X still running good.

[00:09:55]No exhaust leaks on her. Now that y'all saw the shaft play, we've got the truck fired up here, and y'all can see the the old KC 300X spinning strong there. She is ripping, and she looks perfect, boy.

[00:10:07]She looks super good. I'm gonna rev this servo up for you guys and show you guys what it sounds like.

[00:10:24]So, as y'all just heard right there, she sounds mint. Absolutely love this turbo on the 7.3 Power Stroke. We do offer different options as well. We offer the TP38R as well as the KC300X stage 1, stage 2, stage three. just a stage two and I absolutely love it. Ton of boost, very responsive, and a very good running 73 Power Stroke. And to go with this KC300X turbo, I have 180 over 30 full Force diesel injectors. I've heard some good and bad things about Full Force.

[00:10:47]However, I have them on my truck and they seem to run great. So, I do sell them on PSCrepair.com. Really no idling problems, and I've had them in the truck for almost 2 years now, and I've had very little to no issues with the actual injectors. So, that's why I'm selling them on PSC repair.com, cuz they actually performed quite well for me, and they added a ton of horsepower. This pairs super nicely with that KC Stage 2.

[00:11:04]However, you can also pair this exact injector with a KC stage 1. I just decided to do a stage two just in case I ever wanted to go bigger on the injector. So, for all the performance mods that I have on this truck that I would buy, uh it would be the KC300X uh stage 2 turbo. That one's super flawless turbo, great running turbo, as well as the 180 over30 injectors. I would buy those 100%. As well as the Hydrochip and the Jellybuilt tuning, all of which we sell on our website, psrepair.com. Those are the three biggest performance mods that I would buy on this truck that have not failed at all and are running super good. The two mods that I wouldn't buy on my 73 Powerstroke is this Atlas intercooler as well as the Atlas Hop.

[00:11:39]Those are the two that I really wouldn't buy. Now, for the Marty's E- Fuel kit, I do have the Marty's Efuel kit and I definitely would buy that as well. Super great e- fuel kit for these trucks, especially since the mechanical fuel pump does leak. And I am not leaking any diesel fuel from my E-fuel kit. So, that's another mod that I would buy as well is that Marty's Efuel kit. So, four mods total that I would buy, two mods that I absolutely wouldn't. So, the next super big problem with my 73 Powerstroke is that bad boy down there, the vacuum pump. I'm going to fire it up for you guys right now and show you guys what it sounds like. It's making a super high pitch screeching noise and it's a super big problem on these OBS trucks. So, that high pitch screeching sound whenever I rev it up, that's the vacuum pump. You can hear it right now as well.

[00:12:24]That vacuum pump is making that little ticking noise.

[00:12:28]So, that's the next big problem that I had on this truck. And we do sell replacements on PSC repair for this and it's a pretty cheap part to fix so I'm not really too worried about that. Okay, so now that you all have seen what's kind of wrong with the engine and the transmission on this truck, I want to show you all guys some of the stuff that could be wrong and looks good on the this OBS 73 for how many miles this truck has and how old it is. I really do like the look of this truck and it has very little to no scratches and dents for how old it is. Obviously, it's going to have its imperfections, but for this exact deal, it does look good. That's my handprint. I'm going to clean that off later. But, you know, it's got some little dents here and there. It's got some rust, a little bit of rust up there. No rust on the frame though.

[00:13:00]That's just surface rust. Very little rust on the frame. And this has been a one-owner Texas truck. The guy who borrowed my truck scraped up the tail light as y'all can see. And then the only other thing as well is the the tailgate as well. Um and then obviously I just need to buy a new tailgate. And I could probably do a new paint job up here. But other than that, the truck's actually like super immaculate. It's actually in pretty good shape for how old it is. Yes. So, as you'all can see, I really like the interior as well. Only thing is that dash is slightly split as well as uh the XLT badge is missing missing. But other than that, the truck actually does perform quite well and it looks good. And overall, I am going to be ending up fixing this truck. So, for the overall cost to fix this vehicle and get it back and driving on the road, I'm going to be breaking that down right now. So, for the exact problems that are on the truck, the vacuum pump would cost me $29. The Hop, a better Hop, an Adrenaline Hop would cost $199. However, if I would have bought that the first time, I would have only spent an extra $500. So, I'm just going to include the whole price because I would have to buy it again in this exact situation. Next would be the Banks intercooler, which would be $1,799. And then the final one, of course, would be the transmission, and that's the biggest one. That one I could probably get rebuilt for around 2500 bucks. So, the if I were to rebuild the transmission, my entire cost to repair my 7.3 Powerstroke as is would cost $5,77.95.

[00:14:11]However, if I were to get a new transmission, which would be around uh $6,000, that would cost a total of $9,27.95 if I wanted to buy an entire new transmission. That being said, kind of expensive to maintain this, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than a new diesel considering this truck cost me $6,500 to buy and I've got $30,000 good miles out of it, which is a huge return on investment. So, I would definitely buy this truck again and I would definitely spend the money on the certain performance mods I said earlier. That's a small price to pay considering how expensive newer diesels are nowadays.

[00:14:41]And it, this truck makes around the same horsepower as a newer diesel. So, I'm super pumped up with how this build came out and how long it lasted me. If you'all guys want to get any parts to fix your 7.3 Powerstroke, we sell a reliability package. It's basically a one-stop shop for all the products that could possibly fail on your 7.3 Powerstroke, as well as all the performance mods for this exact truck.

[00:14:59]The KC300X turbo, the Hop, all of that stuff is on PSCrep.com. So if you guys want to get any parts for your 7.3 Powerstroke, you guys can on psyrepair.com.