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You can run 5-40 year round in the 7.3, probably in the 6.0 too. It's a bit more spendy, but not crazy. Walmart has the Rotella T-6 for $20/gal. and there's often rebates available. Walmart also has the Motorcraft filters pretty cheap and it's highly recommended to run them. Have an oil analysis at 5k and you'll likely find that you can go much further safely, or just read other people's analysis and make a semi informed decision. HotShot and Archoil additives, along with some others, are said to free up the spool valves on a 6.0. 5-40 may do the trick without additives. With 15-40 my injectors would stick below 80 degrees, with 5-40 they're pretty good to about 65, but it's a totally different deal compared to the 6.0 injectors. AE seems to be the holy grail and I'd love to have one, but they're spendy. I spent about $60 on Torque Pro, the dongle, & a cheapo tablet. If you have an android phone or radio you can use them as the 'gauge cluster'. The only thing I couldn't see is the injector pulse width, but I didn't try to figure out why it wouldn't just work. I might try at some point. It's nice to know that the ICP and other control stuff is doing the right thing. My main thing is to watch the trans temp when I'm towing my boat, at 13k lbs and over 13' tall it's a hearty load. The transmission programming in the '02 is pretty smart and it seems to keep the temp in check without my input, earlier ones weren't as good. The 6.0 auto is said to be pretty bulletproof, and it has a much bigger cooler than the 7.3. If not for the emissions crap the 6.0 would be the better choice over all. That engine is great once you address the things that will kill it, the trans is great, the truck is newer & nicer. The later 6.0, like your '06, is a bit better than the early ones. Mapmod: the 7.3 will de-fuel at around 25psi boost, safety thing. If your exhaust pressure gets that high and you do the mod it'll de-fuel cutting back your peak power. AE should let you see your EBP so you'll know if you'll be hitting that before you do the mod. I don't think a stocker will, but different people report different boost and EBP with supposedly stock engines. Another way to fool the MAP is with a resistor instead of connecting it to the EBP tube. There's other super cheap power mods like putting a resistor in the oil temp sensor line, resistor in the ICP line, and others. A highly recommended longevity mod for the 7.3 is a Ford AIS air filter. The stock air boxes tend to become leaky. If the box is good and you have a good filter they do a fine job, the AIS is a 'severe duty' system with a finer high capacity filter. Might be the only cool looking high capacity thing we can legally have in California.

Rust and accidents generally kill these things long before the engine dies.

Charging System Test 1) Make sure the battery is fully charged, and tests OK. Take it to your local batteries plus and have it tested after charging. A bad cell in a battery can give you 12 volts, but fail under load. When in doubt, replace it. 2) Start the bike. Take your electric meter set to DC volts and measure across the terminals on the battery. With the bike running it should be somewhere between 12 and 13 volts at idle. 3) Rev the engine, and measure the voltage at 4000 - 5000 RPM. It should climb to 13.9-15 V. If it goes over 15V, your regulator rectifier is cooking the battery. Replace it. If it doesn't climb, it's either your stator or your RR, you'll have to follow the Stator Testing Procedure below to determine which it is. Stator Testing Procedure This is probably the easiest, most reliable test: Always start charging system tests with a fully charged battery!!! 1) The stator will have 3 wires coming out of it. Usually they're Yellow. Locate where they connect to the Regulator/Rectifier, and disconnect it. 2) Start the bike. 3) Take an electrical meter, set it to AC Volts. Measure voltage between any 2 of the wires. You should get 15+ volts across them at idle, and when you rev up the bike, it should quickly climb to anywhere from 40 to 80 volts. 4) Check all possible combinations. If you don't get voltage, or get nearly none, the stator is bad. Every other test you can do (continuity to ground, resistance between the pins, etc) won't answer the question: Am I getting output from the stator? If you're getting output from the stator, and the connectors look good, your Regulator/Rectifier is most likely bad Replacement Procedure You will need to remove the rear tail cowl, the left lower fairing, and lift the gas tank. Note that the mounting bolt for the engine is removed because of my frame sliders, and has to be removed (on my bike) when you remove the fairing. Here's the plug for the stator. You have to disconnect the stator and fish the wire back through where it comes out by the stator. It's a bit of a challenge to get it through all the places it needs to go. The cable ties that came with the bike have a little lever on them you can pull up, and they come loose. So don't cut them. You'll need a #8 socket to pull the bolts. They are all the same, so don't sweat it if you mix them up. Note the little tab on the top of the stator cover. You will need to pry a bit to get it to come loose, that's what that tab is for. Once it's loose, grab it, pull back and wiggle it, and it will come free. Here's the inside of the stator cover. There's 4 bolts holding the stator in place, and one bolt holding the wire out of the way. Usually when you pull the cover, the starter motor gear falls out. Don't sweat it, you will put it back in before reassembly. Removing the stator requires a #5 allen wrench (in your honda tool kit) Here's the new stator (I used one from Rick's because they are cheaper and I didn't trust OEM any more. These had good reviews on the net, from what I could find. Note that I've already cleaned up the gasket on the cover, too. The new stator had the rubber plugs separated, so I had to move them together and trim the heat coating out of the way. This is right before final assembly. Note that I've cleaned off all the old gasket material. The last thing to do is to put black RTV gasket sealant, a new gasket and then line it up and re-assemble. I took no pictures with the new gasket and RTV, because I was too busy trying to get it back together. The picture shows the starter motor gear back in place. It only goes in one way. Just put the center pin in place with the gear, and when you put the cover back on, there's a spot inside the cover where the other side of the pin goes. It will sort of snap in when you go to line stuff up. That's the magnets in the flywheel. As long as you line it up close, it will pretty much snap right in place. Replace the bolts and torque them down. I try to go in a star pattern. I will have to look up the torque spec, but I like "one grunt tight" but DO NOT over tighten. This is aluminum, and you can strip the threads. That would suck. Here's the cause of my failure. See the bare wires. Must've been grounding to frame. Here's a closeup of the bare wires