IDI down...what would you do?

Minimallimits

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Hello Everyone!

I have a 1990 f250 2wd with a service body. Overall the truck is beautiful, no rust, good paint, no body damage, cosmetically it’s 10 out of 10 for a 32 year old truck. I had hopes of putting a Dana 60 under it soon but...

I took it in for diagnosis at a local diesel shop after reading low compression on cylinder 1. The shop is saying the rocker arm has mushroomed the valve stem and the valve is misaligned in the guide. The mechanic is suggesting to send the heads off to a machine shop for new valve guides and installation of new valves and rockers. I guess both sides would need to be rebuilt together.

Keep in mind it has a new injection pump and injectors installed not too long ago. The truck is non turbo and has 230,000 miles on it. Is it worth fixing? If do fix and sell it what is a fair price to ask on it? Also what is a fair price without fixing it?

Corey
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NeverHave-I-Ether

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Truck looks worth fixing to me. Once it's rebuilt you already know it's done vs buying another truck with no history. Imo, you know what you've fixed on your truck, why buy another truck where eventually you'll put more money into it in the long run? Cheaper keeping your own truck and fixing it.
 

MtnHaul

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A lot of my decision would depend on how much the parts and labor estimate was, and how perfectly that truck suits your needs. A 2wd regular cab out where I live doesn't seem to hold much value so a major engine repair would be a real tough one to consider. I would check craigslist and FB Marketplace for your area to get an idea of resale value.
 

Minimallimits

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Truck looks worth fixing to me. Once it's rebuilt you already know it's done vs buying another truck with no history. Imo, you know what you've fixed on your truck, why buy another truck where eventually you'll put more money into it in the long run? Cheaper keeping your own truck and fixing it.
Thanks for the reply. That’s where I’m at too, I’ve really grown fond of this old truck and overall it’s has been a good unit. Still waiting on an estimate from the shop before I know for sure.
 

NeverHave-I-Ether

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Thanks for the reply. That’s where I’m at too, I’ve really grown fond of this old truck and overall it’s has been a good unit. Still waiting on an estimate from the shop before I know for sure.
These old trucks are nice, and I get being fond of it. I am of mine also;)

If the heads are too expensive to be machined, you may luck out at a PnP and doing the work yourself. Good project to learn, it's not terribly hard either unless you don't like instructions o_O

I have a IDI pdf I can send you which covers head work and step by step instructions.
 

u2slow

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Will you drive/use it as a daily once repaired? If so, then do the heads. These 2wd trucks take well to a 05+ Dana 60 from what I read.

An auto trans would be a deal-breaker for me. At that point, neither the engine or trans are any good to me. Then I'd have to decide if a cummins/manual swap are worth doing to a short, low-gvwr, 2wd without enough cab space. That said, a minty cab/nose and service body could be useful to another project.
 

Minimallimits

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Will you drive/use it as a daily once repaired? If so, then do the heads. These 2wd trucks take well to a 05+ Dana 60 from what I read.

An auto trans would be a deal-breaker for me. At that point, neither the engine or trans are any good to me. Then I'd have to decide if a cummins/manual swap are worth doing to a short, low-gvwr, 2wd without enough cab space. That said, a minty cab/nose and service body could be useful to another project.
The truck has a zf5 with 3.55 gears, it’s a great truck at highway speeds compared to my powerstroke with 4.10. I’m a tradesman so the service bed is what I prefer. The shop quoted $5200 so I’ll definitely be doing this myself with some used heads or selling as is.
 

Minimallimits

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These old trucks are nice, and I get being fond of it. I am of mine also;)

If the heads are too expensive to be machined, you may luck out at a PnP and doing the work yourself. Good project to learn, it's not terribly hard either unless you don't like instructions o_O

I have a IDI pdf I can send you which covers head work and step by step instructions.
That would be great and much appreciated, like I mentioned before the shop told me $5200 so I’ll definitely be going another route. I originally bought this truck to have as a back up to my 96 7.3 dually. I’ve always wanted to put a slide in camper in it and use it for a weekend camper/dirt bike hauler.
 

u2slow

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The truck has a zf5 with 3.55 gears, it’s a great truck at highway speeds compared to my powerstroke with 4.10. I’m a tradesman so the service bed is what I prefer. The shop quoted $5200 so I’ll definitely be doing this myself with some used heads or selling as is.

I spent a lot of miles in a buddy's '90 idi/zf5/3.54 truck. Nice for a daily. A locking axle (lockright, etc.) makes a 2wd that much better.

It did wreck a set of heads, for which i found some uncracked cores to have a valve grind and seals done. Between the rad and heads and whatever gaskets/hoses, I think it was under $1500 all-told DIY job.
 

Big Bart

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Private message TNBrett if he does not reply shortly. He found a place who sells rebuilt heads. The heads on these are a little tricky so to send to a machine shop who has never done 7.3 IDI heads is asking for trouble. But maybe your repair shop can suggest a machine shop. FYI the valve guides on these are known for wearing out.

These trucks seem to get 4-8k on average right now. (But many asking more than that.) As mentioned many have done the head gaskets or heads so lots of folks who can chime in to help out. Some do it in the truck and some remove the engine.

You should also do your own leak down test and confirm what they said. You can buy a compression tester at Harbor Freight, test which cylinder/cylinders that are bad. Then put the cylinder at TDC of the compression stroke and shoot air down the compression tester hose. You just want to confirm it is not leaking much if at all via the rings IE out the block. Rather you want to hear air leaking out the intake or exhaust. If your bottom end has issues then you are looking at a complete rebuild. But most often at your mileage the bottom end is still healthy.
 
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TNBrett

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https://www.alliedmotorparts.com/pr...l-v8-exc-direct-injection-030c1-cylinder-head

Still shows “call for availability”. For the record, these are not the highest quality heads that you could hope for. They are affordable, and should work fine. I’m running a set on mine. As is typical for reman parts their first step was sand blasting them aggressively, and their last step was to bomb them in “cast” colored paint. Some of the valves were new, and the rest were mix and match. One head had all new guides, and the other just had new guides on the exhaust. They also used cheap rubber valve stem seals. I ended up disassembling them, cleaning them a little better, and installing the FelPro valve seals that came in the head gasket set. All in all, the machining looked good, and I expect them to do fine.
 

FrozenMerc

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Fix it. Have you tried pricing out used service trucks lately? I just picked up a 2009 Chebbie gasser 3500 HD service truck for $28k (OUCH!) with 120K on it before the new year for work to replace the E350 service van that experienced an unceremonious death.

Also, I am in the process of finishing up a complete rebuild 7.3 Turbo motor for the '85 F350 in my avatar after the 6.9 cracked a main web. Even if I dump $10K into this motor, the truck will still be paid off, in excellent condition every where else, with a brand new motor, and still much cooler than a new $90+K F350.
 

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