Before jumping to conclusions about your Powerstroke and its overheating problem start with the basics. Is your coolant full? Is there a leak? What condition is the coolant in? These are the first steps. Does your thermostate open? Is the belt in good shape? Remove the belt and turn the water pump pulley, is it smooth?
Does the fan clutch lock up when it gets hot. The engine will sound different when locked and under a load. It can also be checked by opening the hood and watching the fan as the truck is shut off. Does the fan stop with the engine?
But the most overlooked overheating problem on a 7.3 Powerstroke is the radiator. I know what your thinking, I can only see just in front of the fan and it looks good. What you need to do is look down the front of the radiator. This in most cases can be done be removing the trim piece under the hood on F series models or be removing the air filter duct work on the E series. Use a flash light and take a look. You will most likely see the front full of debris. It will take more than compressed air to get all that junk out. Removal of the radiator is needed and a good power washing to get all that dirt out of the fins. You will be shocked when you see the dirt come out of it.
Always start with the basic checks on a cooling system before jumping to a worst case scenario.
