New owner/member to the IDI turbo diesel world

[HS108]

Hey guys,

Just picked up a White 94 F250 ECLB 4X4 Factory turbo w/4.10's 195k All stock except for Warn hubs

Ive been looking for a clean, rust free OBS southern truck to bring up to the North, and be used to tow my built jeep back and forth to the trails.

Im the third owner, from what im told the Orignal owner was an older guy who lived in Washington state who just used it to tow his boat back and forth to the lake, and kept reciepts for all the work that he had done to it, which now fill my glove box The second guy has owned it since 2010, drove it back to PA after being discharged from the Army, and as taken pretty good care of it also.

My buddy and I drove down to PA on friday to pick her up, drove it back to CT no problems. Only issues I see with the truck is the visor clearance lights dont work(possible bad ground not 100%) and the brakes are touchy and need to be adjusted, other than that drove like a top!

I look forward to learning from you guys, this site comes highly recommended for IDI's from the powerstroke forums which I was on when looking for an OBS truck.

Ive been reading a little bit on testing the coolent, but im not a 100% on this as im new to the diesel world? Besides the coolent anything else I should look into doing on my new truck? I want her to stay in tip top shape.

Oh, and of coruse heres some pics

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-Matt

 

[GOOSE]

Welcome to Oilburners, I too imported my truck, into the salt/brine laden roads of New Jersey. Along with the pics, fill in your signature so we know the ins and outs of your rig. Good luck, sounds like you have a runner.

 

[Desertrig]

Inspect the harness on the trans the master connector behind the heat shield seems to be a common problem, clean the trans connectors into the main harness under the master cylinder, inspect the harness that comes from the tach sensor and fipl on the injection pump for rub through. Inspect the injector return caps for leaks, inspect/replace the check valve out of the fuel filter housing to return lines at the first sign of hard starts. Pretend a quarter tank is the empty mark. Check the oil, dump some napa kool in the radiator, if your towing heavy/weighting down the bed several members have installed a secondary trans cooler in PARALLEL. Drive it. There's something about adjusting the brakes out, but I'm not up on that yet....

 

[icanfixall]

Welcome to the forum and thats a really nice looking truck. If you feel something needs to be replaced or repaired just ask. There is no harm in asking even you you know the answers. Making a mistake is what we try to keep members from doing because after a while we all have made errors working on these rigs. So many of us try to help before things get really messed up. PS.. Read the Hall of Shame forum. Then you wont have to ask if "this or that from this seller is any good"...

 

[rob93]

I picked up the same truck a few months back (yours is much cleaner though).
I've since done a banks down pipe and custom intake with a cone filter. Got a little more from the butt dyno and it actually has a decent whistle

How does that bench seat work? Does the entire seat slide up to allow access to the back?

 

[HS108]

Thanks for the welcome guys

Desert, Ill have to get under there and check all those things thats a chore list lol

Rob, the bench seat does slide up and the seats are split in the middle and the slide in towards the steering wheel at a angle, I wish it had a center console, because there is no cup holders or anything up there, and that kinda sucks. Id also like to see a pic of your intake, I hear zero turbo whistle on mine as of now, Id like to atleast hear something lol

So after sorting through the reciepts today, Ive found out that it has got a Reman'd tranny installed in 07 @ 150k(due to a failed TQ convert), had a new Alt, Batterys, injection pump, Injectors o-rings serviced, Ball joints and wheel bearings put in 2 years ago. Plus I got all the factory manuals

I got the fever and bought a Banks DP already, but after a little gem I found called the 7.3 tech section. I plan to sell the banks and modify a PS exhaust and install it on my truck. I also bought a Banks transcommand off a guy here on the forum, im not 100% sure if I want to install it yet, but the price was too good to pass up. any thoughts on those?

I mainly plan on using those truck to haul my Jeep around and drive it during the summer on nice days, Im not looking to get crazy with this truck, even though its hard for me not too.

 

[rob93]

Wow, same truck doing the same job. I also bought mine to haul around my 99 cherokee on 35s. I drive it when I need a truck and have my dd for everything else.
I noticed the gain in whistle after installing my downpipe much more than the intake, but noticed a bigger performance increase after the intake.

Here is my intake very cheap, functional, and cheap-looking. lol. 90 degree flexible bend off the turbo to 3" PVC (ghetto but functional) to a spectre cone filter.
The turbo inlet is an odd 2.75" diameter, but one of the adapters that came with the spectre filter fit perfect to adapt from the inlet to the 90 degree bend.
I used the threaded holes from the factory intake for a mount for the intake to rest on

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[icanfixall]

When doing any exhaust work just try to open up the down pipe from what the factory pipe was.. Its really a restriction mess. Then do away with the muffler. Those give lots of restriction too plus they fill up with soot. Careful when removing them because they can be heavy more so than you might think. Just a straight pipe and it will flow very well and no loud exhaust noise... till you start working the truck... then any diesel will bark and let you know its working...

 

[HS108]

Thanks for the pic, the real question is does your truck color match the jeep? lol Mine does

Thanks for the tip Fix, I was looking today and it has a 3 inch straight pipe from the stock down pipe back, I think ima order that 3"dp 4"pipe 5"tip ebay special like mentioned in the tech article, part of me wants to stack it, but I think I might regret that down the road..

 

[rob93]

Lol no it does not. However it does match my dd, minus the faded hood

 

[icanfixall]

My crewcab runs a three inch down pipe then its 4 inch srtaight pipe all the way back.. Its been found that 4 inch is all we really need. Anything larger is just for show. 5 inch really does not improve the exhaust flow plus its more expensive.. But it sure looks great too...

 

[HS108]

Well Ill give ya an update on my truck.

I replaced a couple bulbs, and played with the wiring and got the visor lights working, so thats a plus

I also got some new wheels for the truck. When I pulled into the local hardware store to buy light bulbs, I noticed a CLEAN OBS F350 in the parking lot, it belonged to a kid in my fire dept who works there, so I chatted him up for a bit, and found out its his dads truck who drove it off the lot back in 97... pretty cool. He thenasked me if I was interested in some new wheels for my truck, I said sure what you got? He had 4 brand new Alcoa style American Racing wheels with stainless caps, and said he would do 400 for them. I said DEAL!

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Look pretty sharp, I think!

I also noticed when I had the wheels put on, I have some pretty serious choppy inside wear on my front tires, so looks like im going to be putting on some new bilsteins all around, and maybe a steering damper, but Im not sure if the damper is worth it?

Another important issue I discovered was, when im driving in the rain my roof leaks It doesnt leak if its sitting and it rains but if I drive it drips down right in the middle by the rear view. I took off the front metal trim, and the headliner isnt wet, it looks like the water is dripping from the pinch seam right before the window. I think its from the visor, I noticed one of the center bolts is loose and I can unscrew it by hand. I bought some windshield sealant (clear silicone style stuff) so I think ima seal around the visor, and coat that bolt up pretty good and try to tighten it back up, and see if that helps.

I got a ton of little things ima do/want to do, so I think ima start a build thread for my truck, so I can track the progress

-Matt

 

[icanfixall]

Nice rims and they sure make a good looking rig even better looking... You are a lucky owner to find such a new old set like that...

 

[justinray]

Who's truck do I have to wash to get factory bench front? I've never seen them on supercabs before!

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

does that truck have a leveling kit or add-a-leaf? the front seems to sit pretty level in the last pic of the new wheels.