But the Ford kits are Buna-N. For less than what Ford wants for the o-rings, you can get a complete kit of every o-ring found on the fuel bowl plus the Parker fuel line sleeves, all made of Viton.

^true. When My buddies 99 did this I bought some Vitons from McMaster-Carr and had then next dayed for cheaper than what Ford wanted for them.

Filter too...
 

Thanks for the post, very helpful. Nice to know just what I'm doing BEFORE I get started.
I went ahead and replaced the whole thing, didn't want to find out later that the plastic was cracked.

I also replaced the fuel filter while I was in there, since the fuel was getting drained and making a mess anyway.

Mine started leaking last year when it got cold.... i bought the oring kit from Smallparts.com....then the leak quit and I never installed them....now it's cold again and a hint of a leak again... can't find the orings....

But...thanks to your post and in depth instructions i feel confident to tackle this finally!

Viton is what I meant.....:argh:

We knew that :ok1:

BTW, you do know that there are 3 o-rings in the drain valve, right?

where doe's the 3rd one go? I haven't had to do mine yet, but I thought there was only the 2 on the side

There is one at the top of the valve stem that keeps all the grit and grime away from the internal movement of the drain valve. Without cleaning the stem and changing the top o-ring when the fuel seal o-rings are changed, the grit that has made it's way into the valve will quickly wear on the new sealing o-rings and prematurely cause them to leak. This is true for all Ford 7.3s from 94 to 2003.

Ever wonder why some say that they just changed their o-rings and in a few of months it is leaking again?

Here is my writeup on the drain valve that replaces all 3 o-rings in the drain valve.