Our service truck next to the hauling rig and the Monster Trucks

Click on the pictures above to see full-sized images.

We recently had a customer bring in a 2001 F350 7.3 Powerstroke. The customer complaint was excessive blow-by. We preformed a compression check and found.... four bad cylinders. And it was all because of

Yep.
An air filter.
The air filter was installed improperly and eventually got sucked into the intake tube.

Since the air filter was no longer functioning properly debris was bypassing the filter and getting into the intake system, went through the turbo,

then through the CAC (charge air cooler) and found it's way into the engine. In the picture below you can see the dirt in the CAC. The debris damaged the cylinder walls, essentially wiping the engine.

We recommend upgrading your air filter to a more efficient model. A little investment could save you thousands of dollars!
Here is a link to the Donaldson website. http://www.donaldson.com/en/ford/
Click on · Read more about the Donaldson 7.3L Conversion Kit to see the components included for this model truck and the difference in filter performance.