New guy here looking to get a 7.3 have a few questions and into

[Alex S]

Hey guys wicked fourm. Been doing lots of reading. Anyways a bit of history I have this old 68 IH pickup that I want to turn into a decent DD with some of today’s technology added like disk brakes with power assist, a diesel engine for power and MPG and something with a bit more smother ride. and over a 1/2 ton rating So I kind of keped my eyes open for a 3/t ton or 1 ton Chevy 4x4 with a 6.2 diesel (ya I know there not race winners but they have adequate power and great mileage and reliable as hell) and they would have a solid front axle that was an easy swap (drivers side drop) Then I was at a friends farm and seen this old ford sitting there so I checked it out and BINGO exactly what I was looking for

90 F350 4x4 7.3L ZF 5 speed (cant stand an auto in a truck) and its an IH engine so its keeping it in the family.!

(Oh I do have some diesel experience)

Anyways so I went back and looked at it I can get it for $1500.oo It had been sitting for 2 years! So I charged the batteries and the ignition was screwed I can get ignition but not start so I jumped the relay and it turned over slowly. Tried different batteries and the same problem no go and the GP relay was doing something wired so I said **** on it so I rolled it down the driveway and let jumped it in 4th and dam it fired up and was running. so I drove it around the back roads and it seem to run pretty good but it started to blow BLUE smoke when I punched it seemed to be lass but it was the worst when I was just coasting with a slight bit of load. So I drove it back let it idol for a while the shut it down. Then I went back and drove it around agene but the blue smoke seemed to be less but a bit was still present. (and it didn’t smell like burning crank case oil it just smelled nasty) Any ideas. ?
Also it seems to have an odd miss and it appears an injector is ticking.


here or some pics.
The 68 IH

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the Ford doner

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[FordGuy100]

I would see if they will let you drive it around for a little bit. Get it up to temp, and then drive it hard. It could be that the piston rings need to re-seat or something, and that might be causing it to burn oil.

The miss sounds like an injector, and looking at that pic of the engine bay, it looks like the Number 4 cylinder's injector is leaking somewhere up there, but I cant pinpoint where. If its leaking it could cause it to have a slit miss.

How long did you drive it around for? I would talk them down on the price a little, try to get it for a grand. Worse case scenario if the engine is bad you still have a Dana 60 solid front end

 

[Alex S]

I would see if they will let you drive it around for a little bit. Get it up to temp, and then drive it hard. It could be that the piston rings need to re-seat or something, and that might be causing it to burn oil.

The miss sounds like an injector, and looking at that pic of the engine bay, it looks like the Number 4 cylinder's injector is leaking somewhere up there, but I cant pinpoint where. If its leaking it could cause it to have a slit miss.

How long did you drive it around for? I would talk them down on the price a little, try to get it for a grand. Worse case scenario if the engine is bad you still have a Dana 60 solid front end

I probibly dove it for a good 20 min then let it idol for another 20 then shut it down then a few hours later, drove it for 10-15 minuts. It appered the fuel return system was leaking but im not 100% and then IP had a leak to somewhere (the next day there was a puddle under it)

 

[FordGuy100]

Hmmm....

Well it does sound like its burning oil, thats for sure. Dont know what else would cause blue smoke . I would, for the time being, say that the blue smoke, which is probably it burning oil, is being caused by it having sit for so long. Might take some time for things to get to know each other again. There is a product that I just got, and I hear great things about, its called AutoRx. Might wanna look it up. RLDSL has used it on a lot of diesel engines, and have brought them back from burning lots of oil, and such. Its a little expensive, around 42 bucks for a dose of it shipped to you.

Others will chime in with some more advice.

 

[Alex S]

cool thx. I was thinking maybe the smoke was 2 year old diesel maybe but im just pulling that out of a hat

 

[FordGuy100]

It could be fuel to, especially if they burn WMO (waste motor oil) in it along with diesel. I would just see if they would let you drive it for a while, and burn some tanks of diesel through it and see if it gets any better.

How was the oil level? I hear if you over fill it they will burn through that oil fairly fast, that might be the case . The CDR takes the crank case gases and routes them into the engine, and it might be bad causing excessive oil burning as well.

 

[Alex S]

How was the oil level? I hear if you over fill it they will burn through that oil fairly fast, that might be the case . The CDR takes the crank case gases and routes them into the engine, and it might be bad causing excessive oil burning as well.

IIRC it was a bit overfull

 

[Alex S]

any other ideas guys

 

[built4tq]

First of Alex that ih is disgustingly sick, I’m envious nice ride! As for ford guy he's pretty much narrowed it all down for you I would lean more towards the old Betsy just being tired and possibly needing a ring job. Hit that drain plug once on the bottom of the fuel filter and see if maybe there is oil in the filter that may have been used for fuel once upon a time. As for the rest of the truck beat em up on price everything is present for a complete swap and it’s got a zf heck yeah. Even if you get it for a grand, still a good deal. I mean in all seriousness who else is going to buy it? As for the engine if all else fails start truck insert stick between seat and throttle pedal and walk away, she’ll clean up one way or another. Haha I’m only kidding good luck with your pick.

 

[RLDSL]

if it's been sitting 2 years, you can pretty well count on the rings being at the very least sticky. They might free up with some running, or if not, a couple of treatments of Auto RX can do wonders for cleaning them up.

However, you have one other less desireable possibility here. If you are in a fairly moist /humid climate, there's a good possibility that the cylinders developed some surface rust sitting all that time, and firing the thing up just did the equivilant of running all the rings over a rasp. The turning over slowly on hot batts can be a sign of that nasty little extra friction in there. All things considered, I would look at it as the engine being a core and price the thing accordingly, and if you get lucky and it's only sticky, great, but don't bet the farm on it.

 

[Alex S]

Ya thx guys im hoping it is something simple but i am looking at it worse case i rebuild the engine but it did pull strong and it did cleer up a bit on my 2nd drive plus it is in a dry part of the province. oh and i did find out when i looked at it the reason it was parked was because of the starter and then they never got around to fixing it because the husband of the farm went to jail


so fingres crossed

 

[RLDSL]

Ya thx guys im hoping it is something simple but i am looking at it worse case i rebuild the engine but it did pull strong and it did cleer up a bit on my 2nd drive plus it is in a dry part of the province. oh and i did find out when i looked at it the reason it was parked was because of the starter and then they never got around to fixing it because the husband of the farm went to jail


so fingres crossed

You might just luck out, but unless those things are going for pure gold in that area, $1500 seems mighty high for something in that shape, if the engine turns out to be TU , it doesn't look like there's a straight body panel on the thing. you'd have a hard time recovering your cash out of the deal. My rule of thumb on any vehicle purchase after a lot of years and even more vehicles, is , if you paid $1500 for it today, could you get someone to jump on it and give you $1500 for it tomorrow morning without a fuss ? Unless you can answer that with an honest, drool free yes, it's time to think about what it's really worth. I'd estimate closer to $500-700

 

[FordGuy100]

You might just luck out, but unless those things are going for pure gold in that area, $1500 seems mighty high for something in that shape, if the engine turns out to be TU , it doesn't look like there's a straight body panel on the thing. you'd have a hard time recovering your cash out of the deal. My rule of thumb on any vehicle purchase after a lot of years and even more vehicles, is , if you paid $1500 for it today, could you get someone to jump on it and give you $1500 for it tomorrow morning without a fuss ? Unless you can answer that with an honest, drool free yes, it's time to think about what it's really worth. I'd estimate closer to $500-700

It has a Dana 60 front axle. And if they knew that then I doubt they would let it go for much less than a grand. Look at ebay to see how much Dana 60 fronts are going for.

 

[Alex S]

It has a Dana 60 front axle. And if they knew that then I doubt they would let it go for much less than a grand. Look at ebay to see how much Dana 60 fronts are going for.

ya thats how i kinda looked at 1k for the front 60 1 k for the ZF maybe... ?? for the x-case and rear axle . i have no concern about the body because its getting thrown out to


but im going to see if i can get it for 1000

 

[Agnem]

How many years did he get? Never know. He might want it back.



Sounds like a good movie plot....