This is my first post in these forums, and I do not have all my ducks in order yet.
I registered as I have just joined the people who own a diesel rig... in my case, a big old 1994 Ford E-350 van with a 7.3L IDI / E4OD transmission. No turbo. I got it off Craigslist a year or so ago. About $3500 in Fullerton, California.
It needs a lot of work, but after seeing so many tales of woe regarding the newer vans and all the complexity, I opted for the simplest thing I could get. I am not trying to win some ****** wagging contest... I just want something that works, and won't drive me to the poorhouse. I'm retired, and a really good road trip is on my bucket list. I would just love to take an extended stay on the road to visit places I have always wanted to see and visit family. This thing looked like it would have no problem hauling me all over the place.
I just had my radiator recored at Tom's Radiator in Orange, California. In my case, I had them pull out the entire heating, cooling, air conditioner, all hoses, belts, water pump, blowers, etc. Total around $3000. The whole mess was over twenty years old and all eroded anyway. Just did not want to nickel and dime it. I want this thing to be reliable, and I felt I would rather fix up this old thing than deal with all the complexity of the newer ones.
They ended up desoldering the top and bottom of my existing radiator for re-use and replacing the copper radiator section. The heater core was flat replaced. There were issues with the blend door as well. Seemed like everything needed replacing. Well, 20 years old machine... what did I expect? So I got rid of all that corroded old stuff, put in all new, and filled it back up with Chevron Delo ELC.
I have the highest respect for these folks, as I have had several unforeseen things ( remember how old this thing is and I have absolutely no history of what condition anything was in ) and Roland ( one of their mechanics ) made everything right, even though money had already changed hands.
Next on my list... the transmission. OD light keeps occasionally coming on. Probability of malfunction highly correlates to temperature. Turning on the heater will almost guarantee a failure. Turning on the A/C almost stops the failures. I am sure the problem is in the PSOM module. Just have to scope it to be sure. I don't know what to look for exactly, but I will look for a clean steady logic pulse on the 8000 pulses/mile line at a rep rate proportional to my speed. I don't think my PSOM is generating it properly, and the E4OD controller is throwing off error codes telling me it can't see its Vehicle Speed Sensor.
I wonder if the instrument cluster for the Diesel Ford Bronco of that same timeframe will be compatible? They appear almost identical mechanically, except the truck cluster has a tach. I would really like to have a tach.
Anyway, if you live near Orange, California, you may want to drop by and see Roland. If you do, ask him if he remembers the longhaired old guy with the big diesel van. That's me.