looking at a 94 idi

[Danmerica]

I found a 94 f350 idi non turbo on craigslist today and emailed the owner a few questions. Here are my questions and his responces.

How long have you owned it? ==2yrs
How many miles have you put on it?==not many it sat most of the 2yrs
What oil?== think rotella
What coolant?== no clue
Visible oil in coolant? ==dont think
Any blow by? ==no answer

Seems like red flags to me but I'm sorta of a newbie with theses idi's.
I'm reading a lot and gathering a lot of info from this site thanks for your help.

 

[Cincinnati Guy]

He really dont seem to be very motivated to sell that truck giving short answers like that.

IF the truck is local to you Id go check it out personally. IF you have some SCA or DCA test strips take them with you and test the coolant in the truck to give you a start if additives were used to prevent cavitation.

Start the truck make sure it starts easy, check the tailpipe for smoke, white on start up is normal till its up to a warmer temperature.

OH before you start it remove the cap off the oil fill, if you get a lot of smoke out the oil cap you have a lot of blow by, yes a little is ok but a lot is bad, that and if you have oil spraying out of the oil fill BAD( I know from experience)

Anyways how the heck does he expect to sell it with answers like "No clue" and "I think"

If it were me id email him back and tell him you want the actual mileage, and what other information your wanting from him.

 

[icanfixall]

Usually those year trucks have a turbo from the factory.. Very few came without them so.... Get the block serial numbers... they should be at least 1,116,331 and up from there to be a turbo block... If the number is below this then its had an engine from another year installed because something "happened"....

 

[Cincinnati Guy]

My truck is a 94 and didnt come factory with a turbo. Is this truck an XL model or an XLT model?

 

[Danmerica]

If it were me id email him back and tell him you want the actual mileage, and what other information your wanting from him.

Well he did give milage of vehicle at just below 300k I just wanted to know how many miles he had put on it and he didn't know.

Only thing else he said was that it had new glow plugs and injectors but didn't give much more than that other than the "runs great" story.

 

[Danmerica]

My truck is a 94 and didnt come factory with a turbo. Is this truck an XL model or an XLT model?

Xl

 

[Cincinnati Guy]

Thats a lot of mileage! I really cant say much though mine has 331K. If the truck has been taken care of properly and all it should be ok, go check it out if you can go over it real well. With that many miles Id say a few things have been replaced! Do you know what transmission it is.

 

[Danmerica]

Thats a lot of mileage! I really cant say much though mine has 331K. If the truck has been taken care of properly and all it should be ok, go check it out if you can go over it real well. With that many miles Id say a few things have been replaced! Do you know what transmission it is.

5 speed?