Newbie here with a 1990 international 7.3 idi bus. Needs help

Hello from Georgia. I am new to diesel motors. But I'm trying to learn. I have a few questions and I hope yall can help.
1. Where can I find the right valve cover and oil pan gaskets?
2. What oil should I run in it?
3. Where can I find the 20 filters that I need, lol, maybe not 20 but dang there's a lot.
4. Why do i have to spray starter fluid everytime i crank it?
5. Anything that I need to know before taking a long trip?
More to come I'm sure.
Oh I'm building a skoolie out of this bus.
Thanks

1. rockauto.com or ebay for valve cover gaskets. The gaskets are the same for all the IH 6.9/7.3 engines, just look at an application that uses that engine to get the correct ones. Felpro or Motorcraft branded ones will probably give the best life but many times you can just tighten up the valve cover bolts a bit more and they'll seal for a few years more. There is not oil pan gasket, they are sealed with a special RTV for diesel engines.
https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Ford-TA-31-Silicone-Sealant/dp/B000NUD02W

2. Since you're in the south and don't have to worry about cold much, diesel rated SAE 40wt (DELO or Rotella among others) if you can find it if not then 15w-40 will be fine.

3. Get the numbers off the filters you have and they can be crossed to any other brand filter. Wix is a good one and I believe they have a filter part number converter on their site. Then go to Napa or really anywhere these days and find the filter numbers you need.

4. You shouldn't have to and it's not good to do this on a continuous basis. Your glow plug system likely isn't working and you should replace the glow plugs with Motorcraft or Beru branded ones only and replace the wiring and controller with a manual system and new wiring from Classic Diesel Designs once you've determined it's failed.

5. Check belts, hoses, brakes, charging system and take a set of belts and filters with you and sign up for AAA towing for the first few trips you take until you're confident it will get you home.

2: The in house brand that Tractor Supply sells is very cheap and seems good. Sometimes they have Premium Blue on sale for around $8-12/gal depending on the area of the country/state. I saw it cheaper in E TX than in W TX. Walmart Super Tech is good too. Both 15w40. Rotella burns faster in heavier worn motors so you might want to avoid it.

5: Carry spare belts, fluids, tons of tools, and have roadside assistance that can handle towing a bus.

#4 instead of using starting fluid get you a spray bottle from dollar store and put diesel in it. Use that bottle to spray it directly into air cleaner until you can fix glow plug issue.

Thank yall. Sounds like very good advice and I will use it.

Oh and not kidding... get a HFT electric impact gun and carry a generator big enough to power it. (Or if you want pneumatic, a big enough air compressor to run it). If you ever feel the need to change a tire yourself, you'll be glad you have it. Removing 8 lugs (maybe more on a bus?) is no fun by hand. The electric impact is pretty strong but not as strong as pneumatic like tire shops have, so you can use it to torque down the lug nuts too in a pinch.

I have used my impact to remove and install the alternator pulley nut for my F250 in an O'Reilly parking lot in a pinch. Originally bought it for pressing in the F250's new ball joints too. It's handy for removing the vac pump pulley too. And of course, lug nuts on anything.

Alternatively, get a big breaker bar and long enough 1/2" extensions with a proper sized deep socket for your lug nuts. The extensions are needed for dually rears due to the lug nuts being so deep in. I got the HFT impact extensions since of course you can use them for both impact and non.

Get an oversized capacity bottle jack vs what it'll need in case you need to change the tire too, assuming you have a spare tire on it? I got a 12 ton (24k lb) bottle jack for my 11k GVWR RV from HFT. In your case you might want a 20 ton bottle jack? It partly depends on how high your rear axle is off the ground since bigger jacks are usually taller.

These are also very nice for safer lifting with a bottle jack. I got one for doing the rear wheel seals on my RV: https://bottlejackbuddy.net/the-big-one

I bought an Esco 22 ton pin style jack stand since I don't trust the cheapo ratcheting ones for heavy loads. They are low profile vs 12 ton ratcheting ones, which is great for my RV. I don't have to jack it up super high to get the stand under the axle.

The jack stand is on it's lowest of 3 heights, just enough to get the tires off the ground. (The weight was off of the jack in this pic)

Cubey said:

Oh and not kidding... get a HFT electric impact gun and carry a generator big enough to power it. (Or if you want pneumatic, a big enough air compressor to run it). If you ever feel the need to change a tire yourself, you'll be glad you have it. Removing 8 lugs (maybe more on a bus?) is no fun by hand. The electric impact is pretty strong but not as strong as pneumatic like tire shops have, so you can use it to torque down the lug nuts too in a pinch.

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These days, I'd say either get a name-brand(Dewalt, Milwaukee) or HFT battery-powered 1/2" impact gun, if you can, especially if you intend on working on the vehicle at all yourself(or other vehicles). They are going to be more expensive than the HFT electric gun, but if you have to carry a generator *just* to power it...

I'm spoiled these days - Mine has more torque than a typical pneumatic impact, and I can usually change at least 2-3 tires per battery.
When I recently had a blowout out on the highway a few hours from home, it served me very well - I had the old tire off, new one on, and back on the road in under 10 mins. The adrenaline may have had just a little to do with that too, though...

Macrobb said:

These days, I'd say either get a name-brand(Dewalt, Milwaukee) or HFT battery-powered 1/2" impact gun, if you can, especially if you intend on working on the vehicle at all yourself(or other vehicles). They are going to be more expensive than the HFT electric gun, but if you have to carry a generator *just* to power it...

I'm spoiled these days - Mine has more torque than a typical pneumatic impact, and I can usually change at least 2-3 tires per battery.
When I recently had a blowout out on the highway a few hours from home, it served me very well - I had the old tire off, new one on, and back on the road in under 10 mins. The adrenaline may have had just a little to do with that too, though...

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True enough. But people typically have a generator of some kind for their skoolies, so I mentioned getting one big enough for the electric impact. Beats having to wait for something you need to recharge in a pinch.

I've been impressed with the cordless impacts. Not enough to fork out the cash for one, but my friend has one and it's a beast.

Cubey said:

True enough. But people typically have a generator of some kind for their skoolies, so I mentioned getting one big enough for the electric impact. Beats having to wait for something you need to recharge in a pinch.

Click to expand...

chillman88 said:

I've been impressed with the cordless impacts. Not enough to fork out the cash for one, but my friend has one and it's a beast.

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I agree with both of the above.

I love my Dewalt 1/2 inch battery impact! I used it today to rotate the tires on my Corolla.

chillman88 said:

I've been impressed with the cordless impacts. Not enough to fork out the cash for one, but my friend has one and it's a beast.

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Better off using the extra money toward a generator for daily use with the skoolie, unlike a cordless impact. the extra $150 vs the HFT electric impact can sometimes buy a cheap 2000W generator. Or the money towards a quieter inverter generator. Yeah dragging out a generator and the impact to change a tire would be annoying but it's not one of those things you might not ever have to do. By the time you do, your cordless impact may have been sitting so long the battery went down because you forgot to keep up with charging it every so often.