Hello, I was hoping someone could help me with some questions on a 1997 f250 7.3 I just bought from my dad. I know the history of the truck since I bought the truck from my dad, who bought it new in 98. My 1st question is how much horsepower and torque did these trucks come out w/ from the factory? 2nd, the truck has 160,000 miles and when I bought it I decided to do some upgrades. I have installed a down pipe w/ a 4" exhaust, straight pipe, no muffler. Do you think they need a muffler? Then I added a K&N cold air box. 3rd, I bought a Superchip Programmer. After doing all these things, I noticed a difference, but not the difference I was expecting. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on what I maybe did wrong or what I could've done different on upping the performance? It seems like on low end speeds of 0-30, it is a little sluggish, but at upper speeds it has a lot more power. I'm not sure if that's just the diesel engine or if there's something I'm doing wrong. Last question, about a year ago when my dad was pulling 13K 5th wheel on flat ground, the overdrive button on the shifter started to flash and the truck lost a lot of power for about 70 miles and then snapped out of it and ran fine again. Local dealership could not explain what happened. Said we could have a transmission problem, but never found anything. Has anyone ever had this happen? The off/on button on the shifter, which lights up when overdrive is turned off is what was flashing. Also, is it important to add any kind of fuel additives to the diesel? Any help or info. would be great.

1st time diesel owner,
Chris - NM

Chris,

Don't know where you live, but welcome to the diesel world! If you live in Colorado (or actually even if you don't), check out www.coloradopowerstrokeclub.com (http://www.coloradopowerstrokeclub.com/) It is free to join and we have forums with lots of helpful information. The other place you might look into is www.thedieselstop.com (http://www.thedieselstop.com/) There is a 94-97 aftermarket specific forum there with tons of info.

We have a 97 as well and love it. Your truck came out of the factory with 210 HP, and I'm sorry, but I cannot remember the stock torque. We've got our 97 up to 450 HP and 930 torque:D right now. Your downpipe and exhaust were great places to start. We did have ours straightpiped for awhile, but ended up going with the Aeroturbine muffler and love it. The intake you choose should be fine as well. As far as the Superchips programmer, that is where you could do better. We have been through Superchips and Hypertech tuners, as well as a single page Hypermax chip. Nowadays, the only way to go on these trucks is custom tuning. Check out these two guys: Jody Tipton with DP-Tuner http://www.dp-tuner.com/ and Tony Wildman with Total Diesel Performance at 405-818-6365. They both tune on the PSDs and are masters at it. If I were you, the very next thing I would do is get some gauges in there. Exhaust temp, tranny temp and boost gauges are all very helpful. There are tons of stuff you can do to your truck. It all depends on how far you want to take it. Bigger turbo, adding an intercooler, upgrading the tranny, better chip, bigger HPOP, upgraded injectors, upgraded fuel system...... the list goes on and on.:eek:
Diesel fuel addititives? That is a heated debate. Some people swear by them and some don't use them at all. We don't use them and have had no problems at all, but it's probably not a bad idea to use them in the very least during the winter.
As far as your tranny, it might have just gone into limp mode that day. But usually when the O/D light flashes on and off, that means you are throwing a tranny code and usually that is not good. Our preferred tranny vendor is Brian Thompson at BTS. He has rebuilt the tranny in our 97 and it runs great. Has it not ever done it again?

I do advise you to visit the PSD specific websites. There you will get tons more info!

Good luck and enjoy that truck!
Shay

First off, ditch the K&N filter as they have been known to dust more than a few diesel engines. Look into AFE intake systems, especially the Pro-Guard 7 filter media for maximum filtration.
Definately get your trans checked out to make sure all is OK. The E40D trans can be easily be built up with a just a Torque converter and shift kit to hold 500+ rwhp.
There is quite a bit of power to be gained over your current SCMT and a custom chip 4-6 position chip is definately the way to go. Give us a call for custom tuning for your specific application.

Why is the k&n filters so bad? Some people say they are great in there diesels trucks and some don't like them. What causes them to trash a motor?
Chris-NM