Problems and Troubleshooting for the 7.3L Powerstroke
- 1995 Ford E350 with a 7.3L Powerstroke
- Manufactured into a bus by Girardin of Canada in 1996
- Unknown automatic transmission
1. After buying it a year ago, I've put about 900 miles on it. I checked the oil level, both warm and cold, and it was below the fill line, which tells me that it was burning oil or something like that. Well, sure enough, I bring it in for an oil change, and they find a leak. They fixed the leak, but I'm wondering if this thing just burns oil, and that's a fact of life I'll have to live with. What concerns me is that, with the oil leak, it went below the fill line with only 900 miles. Now that it's fixed, hopefully it'll be good, but do you guys have any pointers for oil maintenance? Like routinely adding a quart or two every few months?
2. The transmission seems to struggle. I'm new to diesels and notice there's a rough transition when the transmission shifts accelerating past 10-20 mph. Do these transmissions run better if I press the pedal a little more, or if I take it easy and accelerate slowly?
3. The "Overdrive Off" light on the shifter handle will start blinking while driving. Typically, this happens while I climb a hill, and will stay blinking until I pull over and restart the engine. Are there any concerns about this? Does it just mean the transmission can't tell when to automatically shift into overdrive?
4. My last concern is that my bus is an empty metal shell right now, which is pretty lightweight compared to a fully loaded bus. All the wood and vinyl floors are out, along with the walls, ceiling, and all insulation. Literally a tin can. Is driving around super light weight like this a potential problem for the transmission? Is this what's causing the blinking overdrive light?
Thanks everyone for helping out, I'm new to this kind of mechanics and am eager to learn.
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