Part two of our series forced us to tackle a job many 7.3L Power Stroke owners dread: replacing the exhaust manifold up-pipes. While it’s not a fun process, it’s a necessary one as these engines age. At some point, every 7.3L requires attention in this hard-to-reach, back-of-the-engine area.
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What Happens
The exhaust up-pipes were designed using a crush donut gasket, which seals the top of each pipe to the turbocharger’s Y-collector. After thousands of engine heating cycles, the expansion and contraction of the exhaust leads to leaking donut gaskets. The result is an exhaust leak that can cause dismal performance, increased EGT, and a mess of soot all over the back of the engine, firewall, and transmission.
Ways To Simplify The Job
Pulling the transmission will allow you plenty of access to the back of the engineand if you’re working on a ’94 to ’97 Ford, it’s pretty much a necessity. Getting the truck on a lift also simplifies the job, and we lucked out by having the Ford specialists at Flynn’s Shop give us both a lift and a helping hand. To ease your labor efforts, soak every bolt you’ll be removing with a penetrating lubricant. Finally, know that the job requires time and patience. Expect to fight rusted, brittle, and seized up nuts and bolts throughout the process. The payoff will be an engine free of exhaust leaks for another 15 years.
Stay tuned, because next month we’ll be installing our bulletproofed E4OD and a new flexplate and taking the truck for its first testdrive with all the newfound power.
Part 2, 7.3L Power Stroke Parts List: Part: Ford Part Number: Price: Qty: Up-pipe (left) PN F4TZ-6K854-A $97.59 1 Up-pipe (right) PN F6TZ-6K854-A $47.39 1 Up-pipe Donut Gaskets PN F4TZ-6K854-C $8.68/each 2 Up-Pipe Flange Bolts (bottom) PN W300013 $2.17/each 4 Up-Pipe Flange Nuts (bottom) PN W300050 $3.88/each 4 Up-Pipe Flange Bolts (top) PN W301640 $3.83/each 4 Turbo Pedestal O-ring (small) PN F4TZ-6N653-A $2.37 1 Turbo Pedestal O-ring (large) PN F4TZ-6N653-B $2.42 1 Turbo Exhaust Inlet Gasket PN F4TZ-6N640-B $6.88 1 Turbo Exhaust Y-Collector (optional) PN F4TZ-6K854-D $118.15 1
Total Price: $213.53 to $331.68 (with Y-Collector) *Mention this Diesel Power article to get these prices from Rodeo Ford
This is the basic hardware needed to tackle an up-pipe replacement on a ’94 to ’97 7.3L Power Stroke, although replacing the Y-collector is optional. For Super Duty 7.3Ls (’99 to ’03), International offers up-pipes with bellows as an option (PN 1837872C93). The up-pipes with bellows rule out the biggest weak link since they don’t utilize donut gaskets to seal the up-pipes to the Y-collector. All of our genuine Ford parts came from Rodeo Ford in Goodyear, Arizona.
