My First Ford 7.3 Idi

[gmdemo06]

Well I'm New To This Site And New To The Deisel World. Just Bought A 89 F-350 2wd. Just Drove It Home About 200 Miles. Truck Is A Five Speed And Seems To Work Good. I'm Going To Towing A 50 Foot Car Hauler With The Truck. The Guy I Bought It From Seemed To Take Care If It. Never Had To Do Any Maintace On A Deisel Before And Would Like Some Hints On What I Need To Do And Oil Change, Fuel Add's And So On. Any Experts On This Stuff Out There Would Be Great.




Greg

 

[Russ]

Welcome to OB Greg. Sounds like a nice truck. Nothing special about an oil change. You can use a powerstroke oil filter (motorcraft pn 1995) that will give you about another quart of oil. Rotella is a popular brand of oil. Make sure you check the SCA (Suplemental Coolant Additive) it goes in the antifreeze to help stave off cavatation. You can add a coolant filter (with additives) to the cooling system. I have an auto tranny , but others will tell you about the dual mass flywheels, and there flaws. Russ

 

[gmdemo06]

Thanks Russ. Never Heard Of That Type Of Oil. I Live In Ontario Canada So It Might Not Be Avalible Here. Any Other Good Oils That You Recomend, Castrol, Valvoline Or What Not. Now The Coolant Has Me Wondering. I Have Read Here And Other Sites About The Cylinder Walls And The Coolant. Not Sure I Understand This. Is There Any Test I Can Do To Make Sure It Has The Right Sca Levels Or Should I Just Ad Some. I Know A Fair Amount Cars And Trucks Just Not Real Handy With The Diesels. If You Could Explain That Better It Would Be Great. I Hear Of Guys Draining The Water Out Of The Bowl. Where Would I Find The Place To That On My Truck? I Found The Fuel Filter Up On Top Of The Engine At The Front Likely A Good Idea To Change This Too?



Greg

 

[Swany]

How Can You Type Like That With All The Caps, It Must Take Forever!!!

I usually change my fuel filters every 10-15k miles, they can get pretty dirty! Not sure where you drain bowl is on the IDI, I'm sure someone will chime in, the PSD's have them next to the fuel filter.

Do you have a disposable air filter or one that requires cleaning?

 

[Russ]

Greg, The fuel filter is also the water seporator. There is a small wheel on the bottom of the "cap" of the filter(the filter has threads on both ends) It would be a good idea to change the filter just so you know how and whnen it was done last. Fleetgaurd sells coolant test strips along with the SCA. You need the SCA to prevent cavatation Cavatation is where the iron in the cylender bore castings gets eaten away in very small amounts. The SCA puts a coating on the casting to prolong the life of the engine. Another option is to add a coolant filter. This filters out all of the little pieces, and the coolant filters can be bought with the additives in the filter, so you can add sca's with the filter change. Also a fuel conditioner like Stanadyne is a also a good idea with the low sulfur contents of todays fuels. I can't recoment a differant oil all I run is Rotella, I'm sure anothe Canuck can recomend a oil. Hope this helps. Russ

 

[Mikes91]

Well I'm New To This Site And New To The Deisel World. Just Bought A 89 F-350 2wd. Just Drove It Home About 200 Miles. Truck Is A Five Speed And Seems To Work Good. I'm Going To Towing A 50 Foot Car Hauler With The Truck. The Guy I Bought It From Seemed To Take Care If It. Never Had To Do Any Maintace On A Deisel Before And Would Like Some Hints On What I Need To Do And Oil Change, Fuel Add's And So On. Any Experts On This Stuff Out There Would Be Great.




Greg

50 Foot car hauler? Gawd. You're gonna want a turbo and probably an intercooler for that load.

 

[apextrans]

50 Foot car hauler? Gawd. You're gonna want a turbo and probably an intercooler for that load.

I was thinking the same thing. There may be some weigh station issues also How many cars/ trucks will that thing carry

 

[Pacific]

You should beable to get Rotella in Ontario if you can't find that you can always go with Petrocan Duron 15w-40 its what I'am running I like it. I was using Delo 400 15w-40 but I switched to the Duron. I buy it in 5 gallon pails as 1 pail does almost 2 oil changes.

As for oil filters I use nothing but Wix but that is my choice same with fuel filters I get mine through the local Autosense dealer.

I have been using Diesel Power + fuel additive it makes my old IDI run like a scalded cat. I tried Stanadyne (Freds Hair tonic) personally didn't see much improvement.

You sure you want to pull a 50' car trailer with a P/U you maybe should have bought a 5 ton truck instead. With my old truck grossing 15,000lbs carrying a load on the deck she slow as a snail even 4 cylinder econoboxes pass me on the mildest hills. I join the 140,000lb gross trucks climbing the hills when fully loaded

These IDI trucks are not big power by any means they are really slow compared to the new trucks. With the price of diesel now a medium duty truck would prolly get better mpg over the IDI pulling that kind of weight. What is the price of fuel in Ontario out here in B.C. its up to a loonie a litre which is a real

Anyhow good luck with the truck your biggest hope is the SCAs have been kept up so you don't end up as a Cavitation victim. Most IDIs in this area die around 300,000kms from cavitation or they are just plain worn out. A rebuilt IDI is around 6000 dollars CND.

Myself I'am considering going back to a 460 gas if the price of diesel gets any higher. If the price of reg gas was up to a loonie a litre then it would make me feel better :Sly

 

[apextrans]

With the price of diesel now a medium duty truck would prolly get better mpg over the IDI pulling that kind of weight.

I don't know about that 5.2MPG ....if i'm behaving. Around 4.3 when I drive normally. $300 - $350 to fill it.

 

[L.Wilkinson]

I don't know about that 5.2MPG ....if i'm behaving. Around 4.3 when I drive normally. $300 - $350 to fill it.

Scott, interesting offset to your stacks :Sly , is that off the shelf stuff or did you have them made that way?
Lorne

 

[apextrans]

Scott, interesting offset to your stacks :Sly , is that off the shelf stuff or did you have them made that way?
Lorne

It's off the shelf so-to-speak. I ordered them from a chrome shop when I specd the truck. You may normally find them on dump trucks, just much shorter. I put them on to make it easier to 1.- fit between them with wide cars or trucks & 2. I refuse to diet & getting in & out of the vehicles can be more than difficult with straight stacks

 

[Pacific]

Thats far from a medium duty truck what I was thinking was a International with 466 power. I guess you had to make the stacks that way so you don't bake the paint off the car over the cab of the truck.

 

[apextrans]

I had two DT wreckers that never did better than 7 - 11 MPG

 

[Pacific]

With a unloaded truck I only get 12mpg put a full load on the truck it drops down to 8-9.

I'am also thinking safety wise pulling a 50' trailer the older trucks don't have the best of brakes either so you would have to make d*mn sure the trailer brakes are in mint shape and work.

 

[gmdemo06]

The Price Of Deisel Here In Ontario Is Around 82 Cents Per Liter. The Regular Gas Is Up To Around 88 Cents. The Guy I Bought The Truck From Towed A 50 Foot Trailer Behind It. The Trailer Will Carry 3 Full Size Cars Or 4 Mid To Small Size Cars. He Said It Was A Little Slugish On The Hills With The Full Size Cars Or Trucks But Not Too Bad With The Smaller Cars.
As Far As The Scale Issues Here In Ontario When You Re New The Plates Every Year You Can Buy More Gvwr On The Sticker So The Truck In The Mto's Eyes In Licenced To Carry The Load. Don't Make Much Sense But Thats How It's Done. Should I Be Adding Any Thing To The Fuel Every Time I Fill It Up?? You Guys Are Helping Me Out Alot. Thanks


Greg