Lol I kinda thought so! You had me confused for a minute.
Forde E350 short school bus 7.3L IDI - surging at idle
- Thread starter Max Mini
- Start date
Lol I kinda thought so! You had me confused for a minute.
Doc Niver
Registered User
As far as older cars and trucks on long trips, I make a living hauling rv's across the us I use a 89 f350 crew cab with 400,000 miles now, started with 80,000 3 yrs ago. Had the normal problems, Alternator, vacuum pump belt, fan clutch twice, and a ignition switch, and return line o rings more than 5 or 6 times.
I carry bag spare o rings and belts at all times
I rescued many newer trucks due to computer and sensor problems.
I drove a 55 Studebaker that had been in a field for 25 yrs from Billings MT to Chattanooga.
Other than dissembling the fuel pump and cleaning it out and a cap and rotor button no other problems.
Walmart wouldn't mount tires because they didn't have toque specs for lug bolts. Had to mount them by hand.
This year my daughter drove her 66 Ford Falcon from Chattanooga to Seattle Wa With only a flat tire and a vacuum line that fell off the transmission both which she fixed her self
I learned along time ago not to trust technology.
I carry bag spare o rings and belts at all times
I rescued many newer trucks due to computer and sensor problems.
I drove a 55 Studebaker that had been in a field for 25 yrs from Billings MT to Chattanooga.
Other than dissembling the fuel pump and cleaning it out and a cap and rotor button no other problems.
Walmart wouldn't mount tires because they didn't have toque specs for lug bolts. Had to mount them by hand.
This year my daughter drove her 66 Ford Falcon from Chattanooga to Seattle Wa With only a flat tire and a vacuum line that fell off the transmission both which she fixed her self
I learned along time ago not to trust technology.
That sounds like something a horse and buggy owner would have said about those new-fangled "horseless carriages".
The IDI engine is "technology" by the way. So is this website.
The problem lies in newer vehicles having a lot more sensors and computers, aka possible more points of failure.
If you have an old 100ft garden hose with 10 splice repairs, it's more likely to get a leak from one of them when being dragged around the yard than if it only has 3 or 4.
Old diesels like ours instantly have less points of failure for it "break down" (as in, stall while driving) since there's no spark plugs, no ignition system, etc. Nothing adjusts air flow either, something that's been around since I'd say the mid 1980s on Ford gas trucks, or at least early 1990s.
Our engines won't even shut off if the fuel cutoff solenoid fails stuck open. It's not common, but it does happen.
Owning an IDI with an E4OD means you can have all kinds of tech problems that ones with a C6s don't, but I see no one fussing "darn that E4OD tech! avoid it!". It requires a computer and a high failure rate tach sensor to operate properly. It's a fairly common topic on here.
My E350 RV doesn't even HAVE a tach sensor due to it's C6 and no tach clusters available.
Less added tech means less points of failure, but it also means things are harder to diagnose, adjust and repair. I can't wander into just any random repair shop that services diesels for timing check/adjustment because they probably won't have the experience and proper equipment to do it.
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Doc Niver
Registered User
I'm not dissing the idi technology or the website I think its great and I've learned a lot from it.
Worked on semi's till they started putting computers on them a saw it was going to be nothing but trouble. Got back around them years later and found that shops charged $400 to $1000 just to analyze problems.
Did go through the troubles on 2 e4od's one of which a transmission shop didn't do a complete rebuild and had to pull it and take it back 5 times before they got it right. Should have gotten a book and learned to rebuild it my self.
Couldn't find a C6 to put in its place.
Worked on semi's till they started putting computers on them a saw it was going to be nothing but trouble. Got back around them years later and found that shops charged $400 to $1000 just to analyze problems.
Did go through the troubles on 2 e4od's one of which a transmission shop didn't do a complete rebuild and had to pull it and take it back 5 times before they got it right. Should have gotten a book and learned to rebuild it my self.
Couldn't find a C6 to put in its place.
