tempted by the darkside part 2

[rip van sparky]

A buddy of mine that owns a junkyard and sells salvage vehicles has a '94 F350 w/5spd, stroke, cc, dually for 2k. It has plain turbo diesel emblems on the fenders. I was wondering if the 94 strokes had power stroke emblems or if it was changed to a stroke? The install looks factory, there is no intercooler. The vin is 1FTJW35F3REA4615O. Can anybody tell what engine came in this from the vin? It has a salvage title, but the only damage appears to be from a light jack-knife, bumper brackets bent and a tennis ball sized hole in the passenger fender, be a piece of cake to have inspected. well, thanks again

 

[towcat]

early chokers didn't have an IC. If somebody did do a conversion, they spent alot of money and time that would be very difficult to recoup. But then again, stranger things have happened. Another possibility is the previous owner may have hung a IDI nose on it. there is no difference outside of the radiator support if that was changed. can't say for sure. Question is.... have you driven a unbombed early choker? The preformance is underwhelming.....

 

[Mike]

IIRC the early early 94's didnt get the PSD badging, fenders simply said "turbo diesel".

 

[hheynow]

Here's your answer:

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/vin_tools/default.asp

The 8th position on my VIN is also F, so I'd guess it's an early Powerstroke.

THIS wikipedia confirms that an 8th position "F" is a Powerstroke.

 

[wanderer]

THIS wikipedia confirms that an 8th position "F" is a Powerstroke.

Be careful when using Wikipedia, as the information is unreliable. Teachers in school swear by it, but we had an article in our local paper recently which cast doubt on user submitted entries. As with anything on the 'net, never trust a single source of info.

The powerstroke came out in mid '94, and was badged turbo diesel. I had a friend who had one of these, and that is what prompted me to buy my '96 model. These motors were nothing exceptional, until you "bomb" them.

 

[rip van sparky]

great info guys, especially the links. the nice thing about the strokes and cummins is they are mundane to start with but relatively painless to get quite a bit more power out of. I guess that I should find a cheap turbo for my idi for the time being, and wait until a newer one comes along. Is 250k miles pretty high for a powerstroke?

 

[hheynow]

Is 250k miles pretty high for a powerstroke?

Depends on the maintenance performed through out its life. Mine is almost there (226K)...and as far as I'm concerned...it's just gettin' broken in.

 

[PSDfreak]

Depends on the maintenance performed through out its life. Mine is almost there (226K)...and as far as I'm concerned...it's just gettin' broken in.

Agreed....It CAN be if the truck was abused...if it was treated right it should go forever. We have company trucks at work (a 95 and a 97 i believe) both with over 700k miles on em...dont smoke at all and havnt ever had any major work done on em.

I met a guy a couple of months back with a 94.5 PSD....it was #13 PSD on the road or something like that...had 500k miles on it with almost stock everything! Said he still runs about 19 mpg and it never even hiccups. Says he run Lucas oil additive in it which i have heard to stay away from due to the injection systems on these trucks but its working for him.

-Casey

 

[geonc]

Says he run Lucas oil additive in it which i have heard to stay away from due to the injection systems on these trucks but its working for him.

-Casey

Lucas oil additive has been known to foam and thats not a good thing

 

[PSDfreak]

Lucas oil additive has been known to foam and thats not a good thing

Yeah thats what I have heard which is why I won't run it....mine does fine on regular ol' delo...

-Casey

 

[troutwest66]

My buddy's '94 PSD is identical to my '94 IDI down to the paint but different motors, obviously. Mine is Jan. '94 build date and his is around Sept. '94. Many of the '94 PSDs had the IDI Turbo badges. We have all the same badges on our trucks as well. A little misleading at first but who cares?

 

[twildman]

All turbo'ed 94's had the "turbo diesel" emblem on them. 94 was a confusing year, since all 3 motors were available in that year.

 

[TimMiller]

Easyest way to tell is look for plugs that go into the valve cover gasket.