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    Oil in Coolant, need advice!

    Best idea is to flush the cooling system, maybe more than once or twice, running the water with a very mild flushing compound for a day or so before draining. After that, when it seems to be clean, fill with water and a rust inhibitor only, observe, and see if more appears. If not, after an...
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    7.3 harmonic balancer installation tool

    Yep, if the snout of the crank is clean and the bore of the balancer is clean, it's not usually a problem. Goes even easier if you warm the balancer and install it on a cool crankshaft (I have used a hotplate to do that but you have to have some common sense about it). If you are working ina...
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    how long do you guys run your oil?

    Is that "Wow!" good or "Wow!" that dwebe doesn't know jack! ( : < )
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    how long do you guys run your oil?

    Chris142 you are, or were, over on BITOG... the fountain of knowledge on oil. What would they tell you over there? Oil analysis, right? The oil is good until it's not and modern oil usually lasts longer than people think, but in reality anything said that isn't based on oil analysis is just a...
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    Fluid specs?

    The service/owners manual is always the first/best source. Though 1985 vintage oil specs are very obsolete, they can give you the basic viscosity requirements for a starting point. Any 15W40 API SM/CJ4 is suitable for the engine. Because the more recently developed oils that did not exist at the...
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    Disappiontment In The Mountains

    True, but one fact I failed to include in my post is that the #2 high-sulfur diesel fuel we were getting in Colorado at that time had a very low cetane rating. I worked with Stanadyne on that story and we tested the locally available diesel fuel, they had a cool little test kit, finding it was...
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    Saving summer oil during winter season?

    +100 There is a noticeable cold starting difference running 10W30 (I've never used 5W40 but predict it would be fine as well) in cold starts vs 15W40 conventional. But I use 10W30 all year around anyway. When I got my truck, that was the recommended oil grade. Also, since my truck lives...
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    Saving summer oil during winter season?

    Doesn't matter within the realm of the human biosphere.
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    Saving summer oil during winter season?

    What about plugging it in? Block heaters do wonders! I Have drained oil and reused it on numerous occasions. The key is to; A) make sure the drain plug area is clean; B) drain into a super clean container that you can seal up after. No need to filter the oil before reusing it if you took...
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    Short Trips In Winter?

    I suggest plugging the truck in overnight or on a timer for about 2 hours before you leave. Idling a diesel doesn't generate a lot of warmth very quickly but the block heater will take the engine about halfway there. You might also consider blocking off about 80% of the radiator (a muff if you...
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    Was this a waisted 30 minutes?

    It looks good on a dolled-up truck but it looks like a toothless redneck without a winch in it.
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    Fuel Filter Light after Carrier Pump Swap

    Not familiar with that year of truck. What does the light indicate? If it's a differential pressure light, meaning lower pressure on the outlet than on the inlet, it could mean filter doesn't have enough flow to match what the pump can deliver. In other words, to much pressure on one side of the...
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    Disappiontment In The Mountains

    IAT (Intake Air Temp) has significant effect on power with NA diesels. The "Magic Number" is 90F. After that, you see power start to drop. I had this great chart that showed approximately by how much in ten degree increments. Can't find it now but IIRC it was about a 2 percent drop per every 10...
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    Disappiontment In The Mountains

    Typically, an intercooler will lower boost if no other changes are made but "boost" in and of itself is not the goal, airflow and a power increase is. Sometimes, you can make MORE power with less boost just from the cooler, denser air charge. Boost is just a number! A part of a calculation! If...
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    Really Surprising Boost

    Air temp, barometric pressure, load, altitude, grade, fuel type (e.g. average fuel vs some of that whizbang 50 cetane LSD you used to be able to get) ... These are all factors in this in my observation. Some days my truck seems barely able to make 10 psi. Other days, it could make 14 psi. As I...
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    Disappiontment In The Mountains

    First thing I would do is go out with your rig loaded for bear and get on the scales. People tend to underestimate weight in my experience... unless they are bragging things up for a good war story, which it doesn't sound like you are doing. When I first started towing big with my '86 in the...
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    Oil Pressure Question

    Please explain what you mean by "isolator."
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    Oil Pressure Question

    The '94 factory manual lists the following oil pressure specs for a 7.3L IDI fully warmed up with the specified grade (15W40) oil in it: curb idle- 10 psi 2200 rpm- 40-70 psi I concur with the recommendation to double check the gauge. If it's a mechanical, you could have a kinked line...
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    Annual Oil Change?

    Now THAT was a good find! It used to be like pulling teeth to get specific info on MC filters. I guess they finally bowed to pressure. That is excellent performance, especially considering the price. That's typical of MC, though, good value. I still prefer synthetic media filters over cellulose...
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    Annual Oil Change?

    Dunk if you want to get clearer, look up boundary lubrication vs hydrodynamic lubrication. Most of the time, the bearing is suspended above the crank journal by a layer of oil. Motorcraft is very tight lipped about the specs for their filters (which are manufactured by Purolator and...
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    Annual Oil Change?

    I routinely run 3-4 year OCIs on my equipment. It was not done willy-nilly, either. I would run a year, then have the oil tested. Then run two, three, etc. I'm on the fourth year for the fill in my '86. At this point, I use only miles or hours on all the equipment I maintain (a car, two trucks...
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    86 f250 6.9 rebuild/refresh advice and questions

    Good! But you never know, so it pays to speak up when offering advice! When I overhauled my engine, which had 140K on the lower end at the time, I could have reused the bearings but didn't. Clearances were well within tolerance. The bearings had some cavitation showing, which the Clevite...
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    86 f250 6.9 rebuild/refresh advice and questions

    IMO you cannot make a good judgement using plastigauge. The best way is to measure clearance is to mike the crankshaft journal and them mike the ID of the bearings in their bores, caps torqued. Subtract one from the other and that's your clearance. That's how it's done when engines are...
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    Attempted compression test today how are you guys doing this?

    The IDI Service Manuals I have do not list a minimum pressure. Rather they state the criteria is for the lowest reading to be at least 75 percent of the highest. So if the highest cylinder is 410, the lowest should be no lower than 308 psi. The "official" method for running a compression test...
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    Ford service manual

    The factory manuals are the best option IMO. They aren't edited or abridged in any way and it's right from the source and right from the era. Can't buy them new any more, but when a guy "borrowed" mine (bought new with the truck) some years back, I easily found a set on eBay. For my '86 era...

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