WHAT TO DO TO MAKE 7.3 IDI RELIABLE

[Monkeydk7]

hey guys im new to the forum, and new to diesles. I have a 1994 f-250 7.3 idi. i got the truck as a gift from my step father. it has been stuck in his drive way for 3 years. before then it has had a very precise and meticulous service record. i changed the glow plugs and relay. i got a new alternator and i replaced the water pump. i put on some new batteries and the truck started right up. it runs and drives pretty good. it takes a little while to start up though, and when it does theres a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust. it smokes kinda heavy when it starts up but starts to clear up after driving it around for a bit. on a hot day, or if it runs for a couple hours itll run warm. it wont overheat, but the temp gauge will show between the "A" and the "L" on NORMAL.
I work for a tile company, and my boss wants to buy my truck for work purposes. He needs it to haul large loads of tile and and materials. i wanna make sure this truck will be in top condition and reliable. what do i need to do to make sure my boss will be able to use this truck for years to come with just minor maintenance? im already thinking to replace the radiator, and the injectors. what else should i do to make to help fuel efficiency and reliability?

 

[Matt_INW]

Sounds like you've spent some money on it already. And your boss is now interested in it. Did he want more money spent on it before he bought it? I don't see the point in spending money a few hundred to a thousand or a bit more on something you're going to sell. If you're that worried either don't sell it to him, or give it to him for free.

Others will have some good recommendations on things to look into if you truly don't mind spending the extra $$.

 

[chris142]

Radiator clean? Hoses good?

 

[icanfixall]

Welcome to the forum. Might want to see if the radiator core has any mineral dropout around the tubes. You will have to drain down the coolant till you can see the top of the tubes in the top reservoir. If any white buildup is seen then you may need to rod out the radiator or replace it but.. Make sure the replacement brass radiator has the same tube count and the same fins per inch on the tubes. Or ship that and buy an aluminum replacement radiator. Just make sure you ask around this forum and not buy from some fake auto parts store aluminum radiator with the plastic reservoirs. Champion make s nice all welded aluminum radiator many here like and use.
BY the way what type of glow plugs did you remove and install. Why did you replace the glow plug solid state controller.

 

[franklin2]

Unless someone has time to work on it once in awhile, I would not buy it for business use. These trucks are pretty old now, and usually everything starts giving trouble. Mainly anything with rubber in or around it. Seals on the engine. Seals in the brake system. It has been sitting for 3 years, so once it's put back on the road lots of different things are going to start cutting loose/leaking on it till it's all worked out. It can be a good truck but it takes time to deal with it, and I would not think a business has time to mess with it.

 

[OLDBULL8]

How many miles on it? What is the 8th VIN letter? Is It Manual or Automatic?

In the first place that F250 is probably going to be overloaded hauling large loads of tile. You can probably get a hundred boxes of tile in the bed easily. Whats a box weigh? Thirty pounds? If so, that would be 3000 pound load, overloaded.

Next would come injectors and IP for about $1200+. www.conestogadiesel.com

What about tires? A good set would be ~$800.

How about the exhaust system? Is it rusted out or near that? About $400.

You need to replace all the rubber lines from tanks to lift pump. The shower heads fuel pickup in the tanks could be deteriorated. If there was any water in the fuel tanks, they could be rusted and need cleaning.

And so much more possibly.

 

[Mulochico]

Unless someone has time to work on it once in awhile, I would not buy it for business use. These trucks are pretty old now, and usually everything starts giving trouble. Mainly anything with rubber in or around it. Seals on the engine. Seals in the brake system. It has been sitting for 3 years, so once it's put back on the road lots of different things are going to start cutting loose/leaking on it till it's all worked out. It can be a good truck but it takes time to deal with it, and I would not think a business has time to mess with it.

I agree ^^^ I love my old truck. Very reliable, but it can make life interesting. I have had it 7 years and it took at least 5 of those to where I now will just take off for a trip w/o at least a little worry. Business doesn't get done when you unexpectedly get sidelined by an old part you did not expect to go bad, goes bad.

As long as your boss understands that, sell it for a reasonable price with full understanding of the possibilities.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

what to do,to make a 7.3l reliable? just drive it,son.this ain't no 6.0 welcome to OBN!

 

[mu2bdriver]

I travel with a full set of fluids, belts, tools, etc and can repair most common parts on the side of the road. As much as you want to make it 100% reliable, you'll never likely get to that kind of performance reliability just because of the what-if's. I'd drive either of my vehicles cross county tonight but with the most meticulous mx, you can never account for a ball joint and cv shaft separating driving over a pothole (VW problem).
Politely tell your boss that he's looking at buying 22+ year old vehicle and if he's not ready to put money into it (or any vehicle) then he's just going to be a marginal owner. I'd ask retail price anyway; you're not going to endear yourself to him by giving it away.
I second the question about the brand of GP's.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rockcrawler_101]

hell brand new trucks break down all the time. at work we had three of out f450 die over the last month and are still in the shop and the oldest was a 2008 and two 2011. The oil seals will be you biggest issues with how long it sat.

 

[compressionignitionrules]

use good oil , filters and good fuel, flush the cooling system and refill with premixed diesel antifreeze. even flush/bleed your brakes to get new fluid in there. trans and diff services.
don't be afraid of a grease gun!

don't sell it to your boss, tell him its too old and has been sitting too long.

 

[sgallaty]

Hm I have to think about this. Is my 7.3 "reliable" ?

In a way I guess I am more of an engineer and a pilot than I am a passenger waiting for a dummy light to go on. If his idea of reliable is neglect it until something stops working, don't bother. You'll get another 25k out of an engine that could do another 200k.

If however, you believe in maintaining things that are durable, then it'll last as long as you make it last, economically. (vastly more economical in terms of TCO than anything else in the same weight/power class)

I drive a 1993 Non turbo E350 van. It's decent inside, reasonably quiet most of the time, has ice cold AC, extremely uncomfortable seats (for now), but feels solid and drives great while getting really good gas mileage for a vehicle that can carry a ton of bricks. (literally)

My approach is to spend what I'd spend on payments for something a lot more complicated and less reliable (and impossible for me to fix myself), and slowly improve it to the point of being something unique and wonderful.

 

[burt]

The hard start and smoke are probably air intrusion. Unless you switch to electric fuel pump this will always be an intermittent problem in my experience. Electric fuel pump doesn't fix anything but masks the intrusion enough to ignore. Try parking nose down hill and see if it starts easier. I don't really think any other work truck is going to be necessarily more reliable. Just most will cost a lot more to fix

 

[jayro88]

My '88 e250 has been very reliable, but I have put a bit of $ and time in to making it that way. I have just gone system by system and replaced wear items. I have upgraded when that option was there. So you could make the 7.3L very reliable. To keep it reliable you need to keep up on the routine maintenance.

As far as selling it to your boss for a reliable truck, this is my opinion:

He either pays you a high price for it with the agreement that you are putting $ into it prior to the purchase to make it reliable. You need to figure out that he need to financially reward you for your labor through the purchase price.......or he buys it as is and puts the time/money in himself or with his check book.

If he was asking for you to put the time and money in and get the truck cheap, then I would definitely pass. You would be getting the short end of the stick.

Just my .02

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

If he was asking for you to put the time and money in and get the truck cheap, then I would definitely pass.

and find someone else to work for.i can be a cheap ******* but even i wouldn't try to do that to someone.