idi reliability HELP! --warning ... long crazy story

[Groovatic1]

You all are awesome! -- Dont think Ill give up on her,, It was very apparent once I got it home how much neglect I was getting into.. I bought it for a very low price and since it only had 107k on it with just shy of 8000hrs on the clock - yea I know that sounds high, but it was really snappy running, no smoke and happy to move such a big weight. Was the shuttle bus for the Boynton Beach run in Florida. NO RUST!!! ....... underneath
Unfortunatly every nut and bolt in the body (Fiberglass) was rusted - and I mean rusted to the point they were gone!
Ive replaced EVERY BOLT in the body with stainless and rebuilt all the wood supports in the walls with new - over 5 gallons of fiberglass and 15 yards of mat.
Floor was taken to the frame and rebuilt using advantech soaked with roofing tar and poly resin. I rebuilt the wiring harness totally and replaced all the lights with led. I even built a resister pac to keep the tranny happy. Yea Its been a lot of work. I only wanted to try to understand the mechanical workings.
Not only am I a ford guy now... but I own volvo cars. Most of my old 740 and 240 go 400k+ because I do my own work and I know them intimately. I hope to have this relationship with my new tiny house on wheels. Growing up I lived in a farm house with a machine shop off the kitchen. My dad was an engineer. now 80 he still runs every day and builds these crazy modded solar tractors. www.solarcarandtractor.com I developed a love for old Jaguars and Lotus race cars early which translated to my current situation with ol beluga very well.
My thought was to hold a more practical discussion about a "survival" kit for these ol idi dinosaurs so people like me can go out in the world and travel with some sense of place. Ive already done most "i hope" of the immediate stuff - water pump, alternator, coolent check, belts, pullies, oil, wiring, vc pump, tranny, u joints, and rear fluids. oh-- over sized tranny radiator. Plus 100ds of hours building the coach interior. Not to mention the huge 1kw solar system with 600+lbs of batteries.
Im IN THIS now.. IDI rally? Hell yes! Im now part of the club and proud of what I have accomplished. Its just when Im on the side of the road broke and looking at another 1k+-$ for tow and fix, I get a bit worried.
Looking forward to July and oh yea - Ill bring my fiddle. Anyone play guitar? Bass? Im a bluegrass nut. Good times will be had! Thanks to all!
Onward..........

 

[leswhitt]

Have you heard of Good Sam Platinum? Roughly $180/yr for their roadside and they'll tow just about anything. I have an international crew cab and they sent a hdt semi wrecker to pick it up. The hook up fee was $200 and the tow was $350...Good Sam covered it all. You get up to 100 mile towing wherever you want to go, whether it's a shop, home, etc.

I'm very pleased and now won't drive my big trucks without it...

 

[stealth13777]

You all are awesome! -- Dont think Ill give up on her,, It was very apparent once I got it home how much neglect I was getting into.. I bought it for a very low price and since it only had 107k on it with just shy of 8000hrs on the clock - yea I know that sounds high, but it was really snappy running, no smoke and happy to move such a big weight. Was the shuttle bus for the Boynton Beach run in Florida. NO RUST!!! ....... underneath
Unfortunatly every nut and bolt in the body (Fiberglass) was rusted - and I mean rusted to the point they were gone!
Ive replaced EVERY BOLT in the body with stainless and rebuilt all the wood supports in the walls with new - over 5 gallons of fiberglass and 15 yards of mat.
Floor was taken to the frame and rebuilt using advantech soaked with roofing tar and poly resin. I rebuilt the wiring harness totally and replaced all the lights with led. I even built a resister pac to keep the tranny happy. Yea Its been a lot of work. I only wanted to try to understand the mechanical workings.
Not only am I a ford guy now... but I own volvo cars. Most of my old 740 and 240 go 400k+ because I do my own work and I know them intimately. I hope to have this relationship with my new tiny house on wheels. Growing up I lived in a farm house with a machine shop off the kitchen. My dad was an engineer. now 80 he still runs every day and builds these crazy modded solar tractors. www.solarcarandtractor.com I developed a love for old Jaguars and Lotus race cars early which translated to my current situation with ol beluga very well.
My thought was to hold a more practical discussion about a "survival" kit for these ol idi dinosaurs so people like me can go out in the world and travel with some sense of place. Ive already done most "i hope" of the immediate stuff - water pump, alternator, coolent check, belts, pullies, oil, wiring, vc pump, tranny, u joints, and rear fluids. oh-- over sized tranny radiator. Plus 100ds of hours building the coach interior. Not to mention the huge 1kw solar system with 600+lbs of batteries.
Im IN THIS now.. IDI rally? Hell yes! Im now part of the club and proud of what I have accomplished. Its just when Im on the side of the road broke and looking at another 1k+-$ for tow and fix, I get a bit worried.
Looking forward to July and oh yea - Ill bring my fiddle. Anyone play guitar? Bass? Im a bluegrass nut. Good times will be had! Thanks to all!
Onward..........

Now I definitely say keep it. You can obviously do the work. Tool/ parts bag as you mentioned and probably good to go


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[laserjock]

Other than major mechanical (transmissions and the like) the thing needs fuel and power for the shutoff solenoid. Most everything else is optional. Carry some fuel line, maybe a spare lift pump (especially if you've gone electric) maybe a spare injector and a couple spare washers. An assortment of fittings, o-rings and some fuel hose and you should be covered for propulsion. You've redone the brake lines and they aren't anything special so that ought to have that covered. Spare set of belts is not a bad idea. A DMM and a good set of hand tools and I'd think you'd be covered. I haven't put my kit together yet but these are things I'm planning on carrying on road trips. About the only other thing that is specific to the engine would be a spare IP. If you can pick up a used runner just to have for emergency purposes, probably most other problems ought to be able to covered via parts store.

 

[jim_22]

Hmm... I bet not many would be able to definitively diagnose a failed IP on the side of the road let alone swap it out. My "road kit" is a serpentine belt, fuel filters, and a tool box. Oh and AAA extended towing.

 

[laserjock]

Forgot the filters. Need to get Gary to share his spare parts under the seat list. I think he carries a spare crank and rods. [emoji23]

 

[Groovatic1]

Just an update... Nose is off... Radiator out and so is ac... More to come..

 

[FarmerFrank]

Anytime I went more that 50 miles from home there was a starter, spare electric lift pump, ip, vacuum pump, FSS, 10' of 3/8 fuel line and 10' of 5/16, and a spare injector with spare o-rings. That's just the parts. Kinda fills a back seat but like we all said, it's a 25 year old truck. Things break.

 

[Groovatic1]

Any preferences to a new starter manufacturer? They range from 75 to 300 on ebay... Already am replacing radiator and hoses. New bearings all round on pullies.. Replacing fuel line... New lights... Grill redoing front end with 2005 e450 front end.....

 

[opusd2]

If you are looking to be set when travelling and have that LLT warranty be good for you, try getting your starter from a chain parts store. Sure it may cost a little more, but your warranty travels with you.

 

[laserjock]

If you are looking to be set when travelling and have that LLT warranty be good for you, try getting your starter from a chain parts store. Sure it may cost a little more, but your warranty travels with you.

Yes and no. I just went through this over an alternator. I was on a trip to see some family and the alternator went out on the subaru.... again. I thought no problem. Bought it from advance. It will take 15 minutes to change (i've got it down, this thing eats them for some reason). Get to the store and they can't look it up because I bought it in another state. So I ended up calling the store that I bought it from and having them talk to the manager at the store I was at. Long story short they worked it out but I was going to have to pay for the alternator there and then the other store was going to reimburse me. That's when I discovered another dirty little secret. Parts stores aren't doing lifetime warranty like they used too. Now they replace stuff once. Doesn't matter if the replacement lasts a month (it had been like 8 months). One and done on warranty. At least that's the way advance does it. Others may differ but be prepared with reciept in hand and for the difficulty that may occur if you try to redeem the warranty on the road.

 

[junk]

Damn, Mike Our subaru is 190K on the first alternator and going strong....for now. That sucks man.

I've never traveled with much. Most of the parts for these old girls are pretty easily gotten at most parts stores. Well alternators, starters, etc. Now you;re an E450 so you probably got some special brake parts and such that could be hard to get, but sounds like you went through them. For starters and alternators I us DB electric. They have had good products for me and priced right. Also I don't remember the last time I was able to use a warranty on a car part even when I should have had warranty in place. Thus I never count on a warranty.

I personally have never had a 7.3 IDI leave me on the road. They've always made it home for me. Sounds like a hell of a rig and glad your in it for the long haul. Would be a shame to have done all that work and then be belly up!

 

[laserjock]

This is the 4th alternator on it and it only has 86k miles....

Anyway the point is, warranty is not necessarily a good reason to pay a lot more money. It really is all a bit of a gamble with online parts. Sometimes the deal is good enough that you are okay with the risk of having to replace it. Ultimately your time and ability to swap it easily and where ever you may be should weigh heavy in the decision. Starters and alternators... eh... not so bad. Water pumps and things like that... not so much. Its always a game of risk versus reward.

 

[BrandonMag]

Quite a story! You've got some skill on that electric fiddle.

I'm like most on here: haven't had too many problems with my IDI powered F-Series. It is NOT a daily driver. I mostly use it to haul house stuff around and my trailer on trips. I bought it from the original family in 2009. Had I bought it from the fifteenth owner, I'm sure I would have had more problems.

I had the fan clutch fail on me (having your temp. gauge go into the red while hauling an 8K lb. trailer up a hill is not fun), had some problems with the rear brakes (the e-brake cables lock up from time to time for some reason), killed the batteries once (my fault: left the Sirius tuner on), but that's about it. And I've driven it/hauled my trailer all over the Western United States. I have sunk quite a bit of $ into it, but I've been rewarded with the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned (going on six years now).

Lots of opinions have been given: I say since you're already this far in, have the ability, and want something you built yourself, keep plugging away at it. Some things will fail, but that's what happens when you own a 20-year-old rig.

BTW: post some pics of Beluga!

 

[snicklas]

...That's when I discovered another dirty little secret. Parts stores aren't doing lifetime warranty like they used too. Now they replace stuff once. Doesn't matter if the replacement lasts a month (it had been like 8 months). One and done on warranty. At least that's the way advance does it...

At this point, that is just an Advance thing. AutoZone still has the "old" lifetime warranty. They follow you, and it is not a "One and Done' either. That is one reason I quit using Advance...... Not sure about the others, I mainly use AZ or NAPA, I don't have any of the other ones close.