89' ford f250

[Dr. Magnus]

Ok, so I just bought my 7.3 f250 a couple months ago for $2000. I though "Yeah! motor runs nice, and this truck has a rep for being extremely reliable"
little did i know, the previous owner had really only taken care of the motor and nothing else. He told me that the clutch was new, but bull***! All he had done was stuff a clutch disk in there. I took it on a roadtrip, and the slave cylinder failed. when i got it into a shop, the tech charged me nearly $2000 to replace the bad slave cylinder, clutch, flywheel, and rear main seal. most of the electrical system is destroyed, and it has a real problem heating the glow plugs in the morning. looking around for a bit, I found that the previous owner had almost completely rewired the truck himself with electrical tape and duct tape. Finally, when the transmission finally failed, i took a peak inside and found NO oil or fluid in it. bone dry!

Anyway, sorry about my little rant but I had to get it out there. I DO NOT dislike this truck, and plan on getting it into 100% working order. But unfortunantly, diesel is new territory for me, so i would love a bit o' help and some tips about the 7.3 idi naturally aspirated motor.
Thanks.

 

[icanfixall]

Welcome to the forum. Sorry about the owner lieing to you about the truck. thats a horrible way to do business. Looks like you have a 88 or 89 truck. Most important thing to need to check now is the coolant for SCA level. Thats supplemental coolant additive. Its a protection placed on the inside of the cylinders for cavitation problems with the thin cast cylinders. The cylinders move with every combustion. That movement causes the coolant to be moved away from the cylinders. then the cylinder goes back to the normal location causing a vacuum. then that vacuum collapses and the coolant digs out some of the cast iron when it crashes into the cylinder again. At 3000 rpm this happens 1500 times a minute. It can be effectively controlled too. We even have some coolants that will remove the threat completely. Its called Evans Waterless Coolant. Please ask questions here before buying parts or having anyone do any work on your truck. This forum is full of help waiting to aid you in anything that comes up. And the advice is free.

 

[phmezz]

Something similar happened to me. Just bought a '93 F250. Thought everything was fine. Seller gave me a story about how he' s a retired mechanic and just doesn't drive it much anymore. Bought for $2,000. Now it's throwing a transmission code and has a torque converter problem. Transmission shop told me I need a rebuild. I'm not convinced. Thought about selling it but I'm not going to lie to the next buyer. So, I'm going keep it. Had to put a new radiator in but that was easy. I agree that the first thing to do is make sure you have coolant with SCA added. I used Fleet Charge. Four gallons for full strength fleet charge and four gallons of distilled water. Make sure you use the motorola brand thermostat if you change it. Mine had an aftermarket brand that was having problems. There are a ton of posts about coolant flush procedures and using SCAs.

Have fun with it. I've never had a diesel truck before either and I'm having a blast! This site has really helped out.