Quote:
Originally Posted by John Rogers
I looked on the Ford Powerstroke forum which I used a lot when I had my 2000 F350 with the same engine. I also called the fellow I raced with who works at a diesel repair shop just east of San Diego and posed your question. He and the forum both said the head bolts are single use only as the stretch and due to the metal they are made of will not stretch correctly if you try to reuse them. He said he dips each threaded end in some engine oil (new and clean) and sits them on a shop cloth to let excess run off. He uses an acid brush to oil the seating surfaces just before they get closed up. He also noted to not remove a stud at a time due to the need to replace them and once you remove the head due to wrong bolt tightening you have to use a new head gasket.
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Are you sure that he was thinking 7.3 engines? I have the entire FSM pages for engine assembly, (posted a screenshot above), and it does NOT specify using new bolts. And it is very detailed. I’ve never used new head bolts. No one I’ve ever known or read on a forum used new bolts. If you go to a dealer parts counter and ask for all new head bolts for a 7.3 Powerstroke, they will look at you confused and ask, “why?”
Ford sells a comprehensive rebuild kit for the 7.3 under a Motorcraft part number that has not only everything you need like new pistons and every imaginable part, plus things you really don’t need, like a new oil cooler. It does not come w new head bolts, because you don’t need them.
So I’m going to say those people are mistaken. I’m OCD as all get-up when it comes to building engines and I would never cheap out on something like that. If new bolts are specified, I get them, period.