Just bought a 7.3 IDI. Questions/Details

Hi,


First post here. I'm new to diesels so I have a few questions about my new to me truck. First off it's a 93 f350 extended cab dually 4x2 with 212,000 miles on it. I've been searching for a truck for about two months because I wanted to buy a truck camper to use with it. A few guys at work mentioned that diesels usually get more mpg so I turned my attention to them. After looking at a few busted up rusted out trucks (I live in Ohio) I was surprised when I found one on Auto trader that looked to be in good condition based on the pictures. I drove a couple of hours south of my home, test drove it, talked to the owner about the history and maintenance of the vehicle, and bought it for $3500. The previous owner told me he used it to haul his horse trailer a few times a year from Indiana to upstate New york and that he bought it from the original owner in 1995. It fires right up without any smoke and drove very well on the ride back home. Like I said it has no rust at all but a little bit of peeling paint on the fiberglass dually fenders. It has an ARE truck cap. The interior is in very good shape and everything works as far as A/C, heat, cruise control, both tanks, lights, knobs etc. He also gave me a folder with service receipts of all the work he's had done to it in the past. Some of the work done:

Oil changed every 10,000 miles.
Coolant flushed every 2 years and additive added. (He even gave me a bottle of the additive that I'm to use in the coolant)
New fuel filter every 35,000 miles
Lift pump and fuel injection pump @ 141,000
Glow plugs @ 156,000
Shocks at 158,000
Master cylinder ad belt tensioner @ 178,000
Wiper motor @180,000
Ford re-manufactured transmission @ 185,000
Muffler and exhaust pipe @186,000
Rear brakes @ 187,000
Front bearings, seals, driving pinion, rear pinion differential, rear bearings, rear seals @ 190,000
New ignition, door locks, door actuator @ 191,000
Return line hose grommets, O rings on right bank @ 196,000
New ABS hydraulic unit and differential valve @ 199,000
New fuel lines, trans lines, and cooler lines @ 201,000
New rear wheel cylinders @ 206,000

Those are the items that stand out as being the most expensive and honestly I'm not even sure what some of that stuff is. The tires look good but I the receipts show that they were purchased around 45,000 miles ago. My questions are:

What should I be looking at next as far as continuing to keep up the maintenance on this truck besides an oil change. At this many miles what should I look out for?

What is my payload capacity? I searched the web and couldn't find an answer for this year ford. GVWR is 10,000. I know that need to weigh my truck but if anyone can give me a round about idea so I know what size camper to look for.

Overdrive? On or off once I have a camper in it?

On the front fenders under Ford XLT emblem there is a Banks Power Pack emblem. What is this?

Rear gears are 4.10 LSD? Hitch is a draw tite and also there is a break controller. What is the towing capacity?

Aftermarket mirrors? This style doesn't fold in and I don't want them to get ripped off if parked in a street. I'll search also of course but just wondering if anyone of you have changed yours.

Do I need to put an additive in the fuel when filling up? What kind? How often?

Thank you for your replies!
Josh

CONGRATULATIONS !!

I think you got a Great Buy!

As far as fuel additive goes I run opti-lube XDP in every tank.
I mix it according to what the bottle says

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Fuel filter and oil could be changed a bit sooner.
The banks power pack is a intake lid, y pipe, and exhaust. Iirc.
You can tow in OD unless the trans starts hunting gears.
Which mirrors do you have? Most all of the ford mirrors I've seen will fold in one way or another.
Truck should be about 7300 lbs I think. My 94 4x4 zf5 sclb dually is 8k.


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Thanks Guys! I'm do for an oil change now according to the records. Every how often should I have it changed? I'll also start using the additive in the fuel. The mirrors have three arms that come off the door. They are hard to adjust as well without loosening the bolt. Should I keep OD off or on for around town and highway empty driving? Also I requested my build sheet from ford for $17 in order to see the specs because the previous owner told me that the original owner ordered the truck with extra leaf springs? Was this an option? How can I verify this?

Thank you!

I change oil every 5,000 and fuel filter every 10,000. No need to to turn the OD off while driving around empty.
I would assume extra leaf springs would be an option on like a camper package or something

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As far as a slide in camper goes, I don't think you can get one that is to heavy for the truck. Oil changes should be at 5000 miles and use the FL 1995 large filter, has an extra Qt. capacity. Transmission oil should be changed ever 30K miles, towing or with a camper on. Make sure it has an aux trans cooler in front of the radiator, you need that for towing or a camper. Heat is what destroys an E4OD trans. You can leave it in OD as long as your not towing or have the camper on, or in OD all the time as Long as it don't shift up/down continually. For gauges, you should have, transmission temp, EGT temp, and engine coolant, a boost gauge is not necessary but nice to have. Those extra leaf springs will be good for the camper.

Welcome to the OB. Read the IDI Tech Articles, there is a lot of great info there.

Thanks again! I'll check for the aux trans cooler. Not sure what it looks like but I'll google it. The truck has all the hookups for a trailer including an electronic brake controller so hopefully it has the cooler as well. I'll have the oil and fuel filter changed right away. Looking back over the maint. records and it was more like every 8 thousand miles for oil changes. A Ford re built transmission was installed 27,000 ago. I'll have that fluid changed out as well since it's coming up on the 30,000 miles. Are those gauges easy to install yourself?

Welcome to the forum. Please read the Hall of Shame forum before you buy any engine parts for this rig. This forum lists the ebay sellers that take your money and give you problems. Buying the cheapest parts gets you trouble you don't want. This forum has more information than any ford dealer shop on earth. We share it for free too. The FL1995 oil filter is the powerstroke filters made by Motorcraft. They fit and have a much finer filter media plus they add 1 quart of oil to the engine oiling system. I change my oil around 3000 to 35000 miles. Thats early and I never have found problems with the oil sample testing. Sounds like you have a well taken care of truck. Not many extra cab duallys out there either. I use 4 oz of Stanadyne Performance formula in every tank refill. The diesel today has less lube in it so run most any lube in the fuel. some like auto trans fluid and others like 2 stroke oil. Just find something and run it to keep the injection pump happy.. Good to know the coolant was kept up too.

Thanks again for all the input! I just went to get the title transferred to my name and in the glove box found the f350 owners guide from 1993 and inside it is a "Consumer Information Sheet: Truck Camper Loading" with all the weights and limits. Maximum cargo weight rating is 3066 lbs and also my max tow rating is 11,000 lbs. The camper I'm looking at is about 2800 lbs dry. When stocked and ready to go I might be at 3500 lbs. I understand that "legally" I will be over the limit but would this be too much for this truck to haul around? I usually camp within 2 to 3 hours of where I live.

Loading the amper sounds like your heavy. You might want to scale the loaded rig when your set to go camping so you know what it really is. When loading the truck it generally will handle more than what the sticker tells us but.. Its the brakes being able to stop that load thats more important than the ability to carry the load.

In my opinion you will be fine as long as you drive with a little common sense and have 18,000lb plates. The law isn't gonna mess with you as long as your license plates are rated heavy enough for what your pulling/hauling. At least that's how it is around here.
I have 24,000lb farm tags on my truck, use it to pull a 25ft tandem dual goose neck with a 10,000lb tractor on the trailer. I dont travel interstates much. But ive never had trouble with the law

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Ok so I went home to see if I could find a aux cooler and didn't see anything, but at the same time I'm not really sure where to look. I am taking the truck tomorrow to have the oil and filter changed and I will ask the mechanic if there is one. I would like to try to change the oil myself but I don't have anything to drain 11 qts of old oil into. That is on my list though. I really would like to learn as much as I can about this truck in order to be able to do my own wrenching. As I was looking around the engine for the aux cooler I saw a few things and have questions about them. First, and I'll try to post pics, if you look at the pic with the AC unit in it at the engine, is there supposed to be that wet look like it's been leaking oil for awhile? Does something need replaced or is it normal? Second next to the oil fill cap there is a some sort of wire coming out of there. Is this leaking oil or is this normal? Third, there is a pic of me holding three wires that were just hanging there in the back. Any ideas what they're for? Thanks for the replies, I know it's a 21 year old engine and its gonna leak in some places or has in the past. I'm just curious as to if it's normal or if there's something in need of repair .

Near the oil fill is the tach sensor. Could need replaced, or just cleaned and RTV applied.
A/C should not be leaking oil.
You can get a 5 gal drain pan.
Pics didn't show up, so I can tell you the 3 wire plug.


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Be sure to use diesel rated motor oil. Usually 15-40 if non synthetic.