Chief
Registered User
Going to start the rebuild of my ‘93 7.3 IDIT real soon. A little history - dad bought the truck new and I drove it in high school back in the day when it was still cool to cruise Main Street. Years ago, he had it in for a rebuild and they royally screwed him over. Ended up costing way more than it should and for some reason they replaced the block. Not long after, the turbo gave out and he parked it. It sat for 6 years until he decided to have it fixed. They “supposedly” put in a new turbo but it started burning oil big time. Mechanic said to drive it hard to seat the rings and they added an RDT to bypass the CDR. That didn’t fix it. He wasn’t aware of how bad it was burning oil when he gave it to me. Ran to Texas to get it and on the way back I was adding 4 qts every 100 miles. Hoped it would go away but it progressively got worse to the point I was adding a qt every 20 miles. I decided to park it to prevent any further damage knowing the gem that I have.
With y’all’s help, I’ve run the gamut of potential fixes. Thinking it was loose or stuck oil rings, I’ve run auto rx, 50/50 MMO and DELO 15w40, liqui moly, and removed the RDT mod back to how it should be. I can’t keep solvents in her long enough to do any good. I’ve also towed another 3/4 ton for a few hours trying to run her hot to unstick rings. Thinking it was a worn turbo, I pulled it and rebuilt it. I’ve also replaced the turbo pedestal grommet thinking it was a problem with the turbo. I ran a compression test and found 5 cylinders at or under 200psi. Haven’t done a leak down test because I’ve got major problems with multiple cylinders.
Here’s my take - I think I have bad valve stem seals or valve seats. I’m blowing white/blue smoke no matter if it’s idling or under load. I’m not sure if the heads were rebuilt when the rest of the engine was. I won’t really know until I get in there.
So, the plan is to pull the heads and have a look. I don’t mind pulling the whole motor but if I don’t have to then I don’t see a need. Like most everyone, I don’t have time or money to really invest in the ‘ol girl but, I have great memories of riding in her with dad and just love the truck. Plus, it’s an IDIT! Who wouldn’t want to keep it?
So a question, if you were in my place knowing you were gonna pull the heads and possibly rebuild the engine, what mods and/or upgrades would you want? I know I want head studs and eventually I’m adding boost, EGT, and oil pressure gauges. I’ll likely upgrade the IP and maybe add an inter cooling system. She’s a strong truck but has a problem with showing everyone she’s sick. I’ll post pics as I move along.
Thanks in advance!
With y’all’s help, I’ve run the gamut of potential fixes. Thinking it was loose or stuck oil rings, I’ve run auto rx, 50/50 MMO and DELO 15w40, liqui moly, and removed the RDT mod back to how it should be. I can’t keep solvents in her long enough to do any good. I’ve also towed another 3/4 ton for a few hours trying to run her hot to unstick rings. Thinking it was a worn turbo, I pulled it and rebuilt it. I’ve also replaced the turbo pedestal grommet thinking it was a problem with the turbo. I ran a compression test and found 5 cylinders at or under 200psi. Haven’t done a leak down test because I’ve got major problems with multiple cylinders.
Here’s my take - I think I have bad valve stem seals or valve seats. I’m blowing white/blue smoke no matter if it’s idling or under load. I’m not sure if the heads were rebuilt when the rest of the engine was. I won’t really know until I get in there.
So, the plan is to pull the heads and have a look. I don’t mind pulling the whole motor but if I don’t have to then I don’t see a need. Like most everyone, I don’t have time or money to really invest in the ‘ol girl but, I have great memories of riding in her with dad and just love the truck. Plus, it’s an IDIT! Who wouldn’t want to keep it?
So a question, if you were in my place knowing you were gonna pull the heads and possibly rebuild the engine, what mods and/or upgrades would you want? I know I want head studs and eventually I’m adding boost, EGT, and oil pressure gauges. I’ll likely upgrade the IP and maybe add an inter cooling system. She’s a strong truck but has a problem with showing everyone she’s sick. I’ll post pics as I move along.
Thanks in advance!