What started you burning oil?

[jonathan]

i wonted a diesel because i liked the smoke it looks cool so i looked for a few months until i found a guy that wonted to do a even swap so i traded my 95 z71 for his 93 4 door f350 dually it has every thing i wonted the bad needed a head gasket and bats so i said deal i just got it runing the ip timing is off a little bit but ill get it sooner or later ive never messed with diesel the only reason i got because no one wonted to trade i like it a lot

 

[RustyBolts]

My love affair with diesels started when I was old enough to ride on our 1957 John Deere 720 Diesel with my dad when he would go to the fields, at the age of 3. 15 years later we still use that Tractor regularly in the Hayfields and for other odd jobs around the place. When I was 7 my dad bought a 1990 Ford F-350, Crew Cab, Dually, 7.3 NA IDI,2WD, E4OD and 4.10 Rear end. At 335,500 miles we replaced the trans, and that's the most major work it's had done. It now has 345,000 on it, engine still unopened.

 

[vegas39]

From the time I was a little kid, I always loved buses. In 1979, my aunt bought a brand new Oldsmobile Delta88 diesel and I thought that was the neatest damn thing, the smell and rattle of a big bus!
I drove buses for twenty years and cannot get the diesel bug out of my blood.
In my opinion, there is no better sound and no finer smell!

 

[geonc]

For me it started working for a truck leasing outfit while still in high screwel then progressed to a job offer from Detroit Diesel after attending one of their training classes while at the truck outfit....

BESIDES already being a gearhead

Spent the better part of 15 years bending wrenches on anything powered by Detroit but mainly focusing on high performance marine and gen sets....

Now after a 20 year absence building custom homes and outrageous stair cases , I find myself enjoying once again the smell and sounds of diesel engines on a tug boat

And for the record...been driving diesel powered pick ups since '83!

 

[Russ]

When my wife and I first got married(May 1994), I had a Dodge Dakota, and a 18' inboard ski boat. We found out that our marriage and water didn't mix well. So I started looking for a cheep camper to test "those" waters. I bought an old 10' truck camper that needed alot of work, I borrowed a truck to haul it home, then spent the summer rebuilding it, while my wife was doing the pregnant thing, all the while looking for a truck that could haul it and our soon expanding family. My dad called me one day and told me about a white and red diesel Ford sitting at the local Chevy dealer. I went down and drove the truck, and the OD light was blinking. So, I made a deal that the dealer would rebuild the tranny and I would pay the advertised price for it. It took them about a month to get the tranny done. On the day I signed the papers, my wife was in the hospital preparing to give birth to my son. (Oct. 97).

You must be registered for see images attach

We took our first camping trip in it in July of 1998

You must be registered for see images attach

We got along very well while we're camping so we moved up to a small travel trailer,

You must be registered for see images attach

and got hooked up with a bunch of goofy people that liked the same kind of truck as me. So... longer road trips required a bigger trailer right?

You must be registered for see images attach

That worked well for several years then one time too many tows...

You must be registered for see images attach

I ended up with what I have now. and the fun continues...

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[h2odrx]

I run diesels because I don't understand carbuerators.
I was poor for a really long time, so I got good at working on diesels.

I'm with you on this one... I've always loved FORD and then the fact they run on anything.....

 

[hheynow]

My best friend and I each had gray '91 F-150s. In early 2002 he sold his and got a white '97 F-350 PSD reg cab 4WD. Then I sold mine and found the exact '97 F-350 PSD reg cab 4WD in white/teal, but a few months later. I really had no idea what I was getting in to. I was 100% diesel ignorant. Just ask Mike or Steve Baz. They've "known" me from pre-OB days from elsewhere and knows of my limitations. But as with any slow learner I caught on fast. Then in '06 I joined a local biodiesel coop then a few months later my truck was converted to run on vegoil. Soon became the local vegoil filter king as my filtering techniques improved over time and my vegoil reserves became huge. In August '08 I bought an '84 Mercedes Euro 300D NA with 132K miles. By Thanksgiving it was converted by myself to run on vegoil too since I already had the vegoil infrastructure setup in my barn. I used my experience on SVO forums to build a custom two tank system with the best components from various vendors. So fast forward to today and I'm a confirmed dieselaholic with a weakness for VO and biodiesel. I can't see myself ever owning a gasser or gas/hybrid. FWIW, I'm the first in my immediate or extended family to ever own a diesel. They just don't understand.

 

[Leviathan]

I started a soon as i got a ride in my dads car on the highway in my car seat. I heard a Peterbilt go by and thought it was the best damn thing in the world, and as i got older i learned more about it and it just grew and grew. I had always wanted to be a diesel mechanic but i found another, stronger passion for aircraft and that's where I'm headed off to for now. Buying the IDI was just the way to keep things balanced, and to keep me happy while i save up for a mustang, but the way it looks now, this truck isn't going anywhere for a long time.

 

[safd1919]

I got mine because the price was right and diesel was cheaper, the plan was just to drive it back and forth to work. but then a buddy of mine was taking this diesel class at the local college and asked if could use my truck for it.... but then a fell in love with this truck.... now im building one with a 6.9l idi cause i dont want a cookie cutter truck like most these guys have i wanted an eye catcher.... thats why im building my 1964 ford 1ton 4x4 i cant wait til i get this truck done its going to be awesome

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

I had wanted one since the mid 90s looked a a few then, but couldnt afford one.
then in 98 I went to look at a 97 reg cab, the price tag was a little over 30k, couldnt afford it either, then looked at a 99 SD v-10, enden up buyin the v-10
had it for 3 yrs then talked the wife into a 00 SC PSD, 4x4, that was my first, did lots of mods to it, and put 75k on it until I rolled it.
right after I bought the 00 and really wanted another diesel, I ended up buying a 84 reg cab 6.9 4 speed off of ebay, even woke the wife up at 2 am for approval.
ran that truck for a few years till I sold it for a 351 gasser with a sleeper cab.
since then I have had nothing but diesels, with the exception of the few cars we have had.

 

[punkmechanic]

My story is kinda funny. I grew up on a farm and in a machine shop. The farm had a tractor (big green john deere with a bush hog and a bucket, no idea what model) and the machine shop had 3-4 f450s, 2 international small semis, and a kenworth sleeper cab. I spent a lot of time on or around diesels and for the most part hated the smell and noise.

I was into (as most "kids" are) fast things. I was sure I really needed a camaro. I grew up a chevy guy. Looking back its cause they are simple, cheap, and easy. I didnt see the need for a truck and wanted a hot rod car.

Never did get a hot rod, but while in college I found a k5 blazer 4x4. swap the drivetrain and engine into a 2wd that wasnt swiss cheesed, and my love of big 4x4's was born.

My first ford was the 1968 f100 regular cab that had lived its entire life in my small home town (I found the owners manual under the glove box and the local dealership stamp and info was on the front page). That truck rusted out with me in it and I couldnt repair the damage with the money and resorces I had so I lost it.

I was heartbroken and really missed my truck. At around the same time I got into the diesel class at school. I knew diesel sounded like a gas motor gone wrong, smoked and smell "off". I told the instructor that I dint know anything and wanted to learn it all, He said "go buy a diesel and between me and it, you'll have the basics COVERED"

I told my fiance and she felt bad for me loosing the other truck. We scraped up what we could get (some of it came from my "allowance" in my student loan) and started looking all over for a diesel. found an ad on cl over a hundred miles away for a cc 4x4 diesel that was 4 different colors and the guy "wanted gone".

drove down and paid the guy 2500 cash, went back the next weekend with a few buddies and we put a vacuum pump, filters, oil change, fresh diesel, taillights and tail light wiring. Drove it home matted to the wood. Blew all kinds of crap, smoked out the cab from the exhaust leaks and probably almost killed me.

took it in to school the next day and asked the instructor if I got screwed. He looked it over and said "It aint a hot rod and wont be, but it will last damn near forever and you couldnt get a better one for your first one. congradulations on your new life long love hate relationship with this truck"

The rest is history. I still have it almost 2 years later ( the longest I kept any other vehicle is was 8 months). The cc is now a 5 speed, turbo charged with its third seat arrangment, and it has a flat bed. The motor is worn out. the front axle needs resealed and Im gonna have to put her down for awhile to get everything all fixed and right.

I do love the damn truck though. "The black Pearl" a huge beast that always seems to get me there and never leaves me stranded. She has proven to me she is worth the effort, So I will keep putting time and money back into it.

I went from not liking diesels, to hating gas. I wont own a gas rig now, I would rather walk.

punk

 

[rjjp]

When I was a kid we had 2 bulldozers, a backhoe, and a frontend loader. One of the dozers and the hoe were gone before i was old enough to "play" with them. So we had the loader which i put many hours on loading trucks and a gasser dozer but no diesel pickup I still worked on them though when i was 15 I bought a gas F250 but never legaly put it on the road then my dad sold his 97 F150 and got the 92 F250 IDI, I started driving that and loved it when I was 17 he got a 4x4 F250 and sold the diesel to me, traded the 93 and some cash and some work on his car... Ok alot of work on his car and quad. then for colledge they wanted me in a gasser that I wouldn't be overprotective of but after 2 F150s I'm back in the 7.3

 

[04_6.0]

My dad bought a CC long bed idi 2 weeks before i was born in nov. of 84. He had that truck til 01' i begged for that truck and there wasn't a dang thing wrong with it. Sure it had 500k but i still wanted it. And it ran like a champ! Well he sold it to my uncle and he drove it for a few years then sold with out telling me or anyone for 400 bucks. I loved riding and driving that truck when i was younger. I can remember many of early mornings driving to the hunting lease. My dad would drive there and i would drive back. My other two older brothers had been driving for awhile so they were not so into driving. Well i have been trying to find that truck for the past year with no luck. I can only hope that the old man that bought didnt get tired of it and scrap it. And thats why i bought an idi. And i also wanted to run biodiesel, wvo, and wmo. I love my truck and i oneday hope to hand it down to my kids and teach them to work on vechiles just like my dad did with me.

 

[VanBoy]

I've always known that diesels are more fuel efficient and usually have more longevity then gassers.

The 'first' diesel I bought was for the farm. Our small fleet consisted of gas trucks older then myself. And two were more antiques rather then 'usable'. So our 'newest' and 'only' truck was a 74 C750 for gasser. (The two 'back ups' were a 50 GMC and 48 Dodge....couldn't travel faster then 55MPH, let alone be trusted go farther then 60 miles.)

And then the gas prices shot up. And up and up. This was about 1999/2000 or so. Diesel was at that time, cheaper. So I bought a old, unloved, '81 C8000 w/ a 3208 Cat. And then, as it were 'fate'.... diesel shot up higher then gas.

That's my experience w/ buying my 'first' diesel......



Now, the story how I got my first 7.3L.......

Friend ended up going in to pay for his Pathfinder....he saw the 93 F250 LXT standard cab 4x4 w/ the 7.3L IDI. And then the sticker UNDER the badging.... TURBO. Before we went he told me he was going to look at the truck, and I was to STOP him from doing anything stupid. Any how, some owner installed an ATS turbo- and the truck at the time only had 130,000 on it!!!

Now, both of us are the same age. And our experience w/ the 7.3L IDI was zilch. Heck, we graduated HS when the first generation PS diesel was coming out to the market, so we kept on hearing the marketing for the PSD.

We took it on a test drive and he swore that this older IDI had VERY good performance. Performance nearly as good as his father's 95 PSD. Needless to say, we were unloading his Pathfinder after we got back to the lot.... and he drove that 7.3L IDI home.

After he got it home, I ended up doing research on turboed IDI's. Some of the research indicated that a properly turboed IDI actually had better performance then the first generation PSD that came came out. And all w/out messing w/ a computer!


Well, after learning all this about the 7.3L IDI... and what a 'little hair drier' could to do to it..... I kept my eyes open. Unfortunatley, anything worth a darn in my area is high priced (for me) or beat.

I was looking on Ebay (yes, Ebay), browsing my usual state surplus user. And what pops up.... but a VAN with a 7.3L IDI. Now, I know what you are thinking: "A van w/ a 7.3L IDI.... WHY". I was thinking, well, it's a diesel, it's older (1990), but it can still tow. My only pickup is a '83 F150 w/ the 300 Six and C6. I don't tow that much, but if needed, a diesel van would tow just as well as a diesel pickup. And if I needed anything bigger to haul, I have flat bed trucks. And if I had to go pickup anything at the state Surplus agency's main office two hours way.... I could just borrow a friend's flat bed trailer and use the van to haul it. Plus, I don't pay tonnage on the van..... Also, on long trips, I got tired of being cooped up inside a car (Sable). Riding higher up and having lots of cargo room was a nice idea.

Well, I lucked out and the van was being sold locally. Yes, state surplus agency put it up on Ebay for a local city. So I made an appointment to go see it and it ended up being VERY clean. Story was, it was bought used from another city's van pool, used as van pool and then assigned to the city SWAT team as their 'van pool' to go to training. So it sat parked..... It was advertised as having 250K on it, but I don't think so... the way it drives and runs, it seems less....I'm thinking it's like 150K. Any how, I decided I'd bid on it..... and I got it for $2200. According to the used car sights, I was fairly close to the suggested retail for it.... (oh, and both tanks were full of diesel too )

Now, being a "new" rig, I ended up doing some custom work right off. Bought some mats for the floor to TRY to keep the carpet clean. Installed a bug shield, tow hitch (still working on the wiring/brake controller). Bought some mud flaps, but they're just sitting inside still...

Now, the story takes a weird turn. I was quite happy w/ my 1990 7.3L IDI. Even planned to put a turbo (still do)..... And then I saw it on Ebay again. Yup, Ebay. Same seller- state surplus- and behold- local again- another VAN! YES, another VAN! BUT this was a 1999 van with the Power Stroke!!!! Well, I went down and took a gander and it 'only' had 216K on her. Ran fine, was a bit dirtier on the carpet, but overall condition was great. So, I bid on her.... didn't think I would get her.... but I did for $5500. And this was 6 or so months AFTER I bought my 1990 diesel van.

Now, the story goes on....and takes yet ANOTHER twist! Okay, I'll make it short- I bought another diesel van- from the SAME Ebay state surplus seller- from the same city- for $700 This one was the sister to my 1990, but she has seen a HARD life. After being retired from van pool, she was assigned to painting out city graffiti. So you have an idea how bad it can be hauling paint. She runs, drove her home, but needs some TLC. Diesel leaks on the engine (causing hard/no starts), needs rear brakes, a master cylinder and maybe vacuum pump eventually. Reason why I bought.... possible engine doner if I run across an older Ford F250/350 that is being sold as "needs engine". Those are usually cheap.....

So, I ended up buying THREE diesel vans all with in a 18 month period... and who knows what the next year will bring...

 

[fx4wannabe]

I got into diesels out of need for the power. Up until last year I have been in construction all my life and a good truck is part of the job. I have tried all kinds of trucks (look at my sig) and I always find myself back in a diesel. They pull better, getting better fuel mileage and just are built to work. The reason I like these old beasts is there reliability and they are cheap and easy to fix. When you depend on your truck for a living every time its down costs you more in down time than the repair. All of you that were at the Chattanooga Rally a few years back will probably remember me as the guy that came to the truck show with a truck full of lumber and a trailer load of tools. Now that I have my dream truck i am just going to keep building on it and it will hopefully be in the family a long time.