1994 7.3 IDIT oil in coolant

[1202]

I have a '93 F350 IDI NA 2wd dually ZF5 that I have been slowly fixing the issues on, she runs great, and I kinda love the ole girl. I've been using it to tow primarily, but I've been looking to add a 4x4 that would be more usable year round around here, and boy that IDI could benefit from a turbocharger.

There is a '94 IDIT 4x4 ZF5 that popped up nearby with 185k showing on the odometer. It's definitely not super clean but could be worse. I have no service history before the last couple years. The seller bought it but realized it was leaking some oil into the coolant. He apparently replaced the oil cooler and this did not fix the issue. It does not seem to smoke any more than any other IDI I've seen, the oil does not seem contaminated, and performance wise it drives fine. How scared would you be of buying this rig? I already have one truck that needs a new engine, I'd be living out with the dogs if my wife realized I brought another one...

Thanks folks, have a safe and happy 4th of July...

 

[asmith]

You are running a risk of sleeping outside, because it could be worse, but there has been more than one person who has replaced the oil cooler and damaged the new seals in it putting it together. It could be as simple as the oil cooler is still bad.

 

[Nero]

I would pass, mostly because if the cooler was replaced already, could be anywhere else. Head gasket probably.

 

[IDIBOBS]

A head gasket in these is soo easy I’d say depending on price and if it’s a 250 or a 350 with a d60 front end. If everything else is good with the truck and If it’s cheap enough I’d buy it and do the head gaskets and oil cooler at the same time.

 

[1202]

Kinda what I was thinking. I mean, best case scenario is that the oil cooler repair was screwed up, right? Or that its fixed but the coolant system wasn't flushed adequately? What is the next most likely? With a head gasket, or cavitated cylinder, or cracked block I would have expected some obvious smoke or contaminated oil but I don't really know how IDIs act when they fail. My duramax just slowly lost coolant and pressurized the radiator hoses when the head gasket went. My old toyota 22RE blew white smoke like it was announcing a new pope to somebody three counties away.

I don't suppose there is any way to know without taking the heads off? I have a coolant combustion gas tester, and I have a Harbor Freight AirLift clone that I could probably rig to check coolant system pressure.

 

[1202]

A head gasket in these is soo easy I’d say depending on price and if it’s a 250 or a 350 with a d60 front end. If everything else is good with the truck and If it’s cheap enough I’d buy it and do the head gaskets and oil cooler at the same time.

It runs good otherwise. Its a one ton. Head gasket isn't too tough on these huh, never done one. Gaskets on my 05 chevy duramax was brutal, I now know why shops lift the cab off the truck to do them and charge 8k. Truthfully if I was sure it was a head gasket I would negotiate down and just do it. I'm more worried about opening it up and realizing it needs the cylinders sleeved or the block is cracked.

 

[asmith]

heads can be installed with the engine still in the truck, its just a little tricky because they are so heavy. Especially if you are doing head studs, the back ones can be tricky to get around.

 

[Nero]

I did mine in chassis, and did head studs. Really only tricky part is you have to take part of the HVAC box out, and remove/install the passenger head with the two rear bolts set in the head with rubber bands.

 

[1202]

It did occur to me that even if this motor turned out to be junk it would be a good donor for both the turbo and the front diff/4x4 components onto my NA 7.3 dually...

 

[Nero]

Is the 94 a f250 or f350?
There is more fab work needed to swap over a 4x4 ttb front axle onto a straight axle truck. D60 would require less fab but you'll still need the dually hubs so your wheel offset is correct. Isn't hard to do, I dually swaped my D60.

 

[1202]

Is the 94 a f250 or f350?
There is more fab work needed to swap over a 4x4 ttb front axle onto a straight axle truck. D60 would require less fab but you'll still need the dually hubs so your wheel offset is correct. Isn't hard to do, I dually swaped my D60.

Donor 94 would be an F350, 4x4 single rear wheel.

Are there any factory dual rear wheel 7.3 IDI 4x4 trucks? I've been looking since I picked up mine and I thought I found one once but turns out it was converted to DRW by a later owner.

 

[Nero]

Here's some good info for ya, when I converted my truck I made sure to document as much as I could.

Dually differences

Hey all, Just wanted to share this info since i couldn't find it literally anywhere online, or even photos of it. 1987 factory dually complete truck. Bed is different and here's the data tag showing gvwr into.

www.oilburners.net

Long story short, dually 4x4 was only offered in a standard cab.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

It probably isn't a head gasket. There's no oil pressure in the head gasket. There is coolant pressure so the coolant could get into your oil, but that's not too common. I'm not saying that it's impossible that the oil in the coolant is head gasket, but I feel that it's extremely unlikely. I'd lean toward improper cleaning of the cooling system like you said or that the oil cooler is still leaking.

 

[1202]

I will add that apparently there has never been a lot of oil in the coolant, just spots. Not a huge slick, or standing oil on the reservoir.

 

[Nero]

I'm willing to bet leftover then. Run some cleaner and flush the cooling system and see what happens.