What started you burning oil?

[TBigLug]

I first got started with the IDI's because of price and mileage. 1986 F-350 with a 6.9 and a 4 speed. Got about 16 mpg's and had plenty of grunt to pull a trailer. Cheap too!

 

[sassyrel]

was driving back and forth to work--37 one way--and gas was going up--drove myself because of after hours mech work--so i heard of buick dsls, guy had one advertised,went and bought it--drove it till died,then found another one--drove same way, then found another wagon,drove till died-then i heard about ****** diesels. went by a lot one day--and spun the buick car around--hmmm,4 dr ****** dsl--talked em down--home it went. put in heated glass,and changed the interior to plush seats that were in a gasser---drove that till flintstones happenend. then found another two dr ******--drove that till flintstone happened,then found a tiempo dsl--drove till died--about that time,joined the old dsl site---started to learn about idi's, had very little money cause of clown wife---but knew i wanted a idi turbo. friend drove by dealership--said i think the truck you want is there--yup--bought it, put on the ats upgrade part,turned up pump,and drove it up to a idi weekend in grand rapids burning 100% wmo--mel didnt believe it,thought i was nuts till the price of dsl stated to climb high---is parked now because of k&n filter--junk--but have a good 100,000 mile engine waiting to be put in. rebuilt the 96 pwr to drive till i get the engine in the idi, and will keep it till i leave planet earth--some will understand that--simple, and since i modified it--it runs!!

 

[motox tech]

When I started rodeoin in high school I always wanted a late 80s model CC chevy 1 ton w/454. Dont ask me why, just thought it would give me the "Real Cowboy" image. In my search for one I ended up test driving a 90 Ford 1 ton single cab 7.3 w/ banks sidewinder. Fell in love and bought it-----rolled and totalled it in 2 weeks. Ten years later I was driving an 83 chevy single cab 1 ton dually w/454, got 6 miles to the gallon.(hauling or not) Decided I was going to put a diesel in it to save some coin. Went to local salvage yard, found a 6.2 in a suburban and traded it for the 454. Tore it down and was going to rebuild, but a local engine builder here told me I would not be satisfied, and to try and find a ford diesel for it. Went back to salvage yard and found a complete 85 ex cab Ford 3/4 ton lariat w/ 6.9 4+4, with some crash damage. Bought it for $650, and decided it was a beter truck and got to work on it. I put about $4000 into it, painted it black with custom pen stipping to match the tempco flat bed, added banks turbo, and Put 3" exhaust w/ 5" single stack on it. Everyone at the time had newer Cummings trucks, but I was satisfied w/ my little work horse. This truck earned its keep on the ranch I was managing at the time (hauling horses, cattle and hay). It wasnt used to cruise main, bellowing smoke at the stop light to make my nuts feal bigger. I sold that truck two years ago to buy my current 94 CC 7.3. Like others I had to get a crew to cater to the needs of the expanding family. I bought it due to the price, cab size, and the excuse to tinker. Lets face it, anyone w/ a fat wallet can have the most horses and torque, but its rewarding to put in the blood sweat and tears, to have a truck w/ personality. Ive had two cummins trucks in the past, but I wouldnt trade them for my IDI. I couldve kept dumping $700 a month into a smoke bellerin, chromed out chick gettin show truck that the banker owns, But would never have the satisfaction my IDI gives me. Now my paid for, oilburnin rig, gives me the freedom to experiment, without spending a fortune, or feeling guilty. There is a glow of pride gleeming from my IDI, that no spoiled daddys boy can match w/ all the bells and whistles in the world. Long live the IDI.

 

[emiliorescigno]

I got my '87 F250 for free from my friend's dad who was about to sent it to the scrap yard. It has the 6.9 and a 5-speed manual, and 268k on the clock!

I can't decide yet if I will be selling the truck or maybe making a WVO or WMO project out of it.

 

[punkmechanic]

Motox, We should send your story to ford. That would make for one really good commercial.

btw, I like the way you think.

punk

 

[1994IDI]

Bought my truck in Oct. 2008 sight unseen off the internet. I was driving a '75 International Scout II with a 345 and an automatic. I was doing a lot of driving and didn't have the time or space to fix up the Scout to the condition I needed my dd to be in (although I wish I still had it.) My previous truck was a an 05 GMC Canyon, which I have nothing good to say about, and my first truck was a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4. So I knew my next truck was and would forever be a full size 4x4. I had always had an interest in diesels but like some of the others here, no one else in my family drove them so I was learning from scratch. I found the truck on the internet as said above, researched the engine, and had very little doubts that I wanted it. Then I found OB and never looked back. Thanks to everyone on the forum for all the help that I've been given.. free of charge.. It will probably keep me in an IDI for years to come.

And just by shear happenstance, my wifes dad (we weren't married when I bought the truck) drives a 7.3 N/A and loves it to death.

 

[jwalterus]

I grew up in a Ford family, and didn't even think of a diesel until a few years ago.

My dad has always been anti-diesel. "Loud, get no gas mileage, hard to start in the winter, parts are expensive as hell......" yada yada yada

I had some money in my pocket back in 2003 just after graduating from high school, and when I was driving by the local Ford dealership, I saw a clean (and I mean clean grey 1989 F-250 extended cab with a sticker of $2500 on it, I said "no way!" and swung around to look at it

once I got up to it, it turned out to be a diesel 4x2 automatic, I was looking for a newer, bigger truck at the time to tow my boat and camper in the summers, and diesel was cheap at the time, so I figured what the hell I'd give it a test drive if it'd start (October in ND, snow on the ground and in the single digits)

talked to the salesman, who got the keys, the truck had just arrived that morning, so he didn't know anything about it, it had 120k on it, and it fired up immediately without being plugged in! I drove it through town, took it out on the highway, and was amazed at how quiet it was inside, it handled well, and when I got back to the dealership (after 6 by this time) I told him I'd be back the next day to pick it up after I got the cash from the bank

the next day when I got there, someone had already bought it!!

so since that day, I have been looking for that truck, a 1989 F-250 extended cab (bench rear) 2wd auto and haven't found one yet (rare truck in ND)

I got laid off from the warehouse I was working in back in July, I was working for Wilbur Ellis, making good money for the last few years, and even though I'd bought my home outright and had my toys free and clear, we were pregnant, and getting ready for the baby, with me now making nothing near the money I used to, I had to sell my '74 F-100 resto-mod, my beater ranger, and a couple other toys (of course we had to keep the money-pit of a car SHE liked) to make ends meet when things started breaking and I hadn't found a decent job yet (replacing a furnace isn't cheap!), back in December, I posted an online ad looking for a Ford extended cab pickup for under $1000, guy emails me saying he has my current truck, and he'll let it go for $1400, I convinced him to take $1200, then he ends up needing to put in new batteries, and was nice enough to fill the rear tank and put 1/2 tank in the front with number 1(with a bottle of diesel 911 in each to boot), so I ended up giving him $1300 cash

I haven't checked the fuel mileage yet, figured I'd wait till I had the oil changed and the good tires I had put on it, but it got me home (140 miles) on about 3/8 tank at 55-60 mph, yeah, it needs a little work, but I'll never part with this one now, I'll fix it, and if the engine ever fails from the big C (SCA level was something around .5 according to the test strip when I got it) I'll just park it until I can either have the block fixed or find another engine for it

now I just have to find a good excuse to take my dad for a ride in it to show him what a diesel is really like (the only one he's been around is his buddy's mid 80's dodge dually P.O.S.)

oh, and I will start burning a little WMO soon, I found a service shop that doesn't burn theirs for heat, and they'll give it to me for free , all I have to do is take a few 30 gallon drums I have out there and pick up as much as I want anytime

 

[smolkin]

For years I was a car person. Then I got a job that pretty much required a truck, and I got a Dakota. When fuel prices got really insane, I began looking into alternative fuels, and thought about throwing a 4BT into the Dak...then I saw what those engines go for, even used! The drummer in my band had this old F250 that his dad gave him, and one day he decided to go to Germany out of the blue (met a hot German chick) and so the truck just sat for a few months. Another bandmate bought it from him, fixed a few things, and then when he realized it would never be a VW or Mercedes when it came to hwy travel, sold it to me. This '84 is my first diesel, I got it for its ability to burn WVO.
Now the problem that I'm having as I fix more and more of the little problems it has is that I'm starting to love it. One day soon I may just switch to real biodiesel out of respect for it.

 

[nyteshades]

I got started young.....kind of

My grandfather had a 69 Mustang that he used to tinker with. Being I was the only grandson close, he'd watch me for my mom. Well he'd take me out and sit me on the car while he worked on it. So I developed a passion to work on cars.

When I was 8, I started working on cars with my dad. Thought it was cool as hell. Of course, my dad having grown up on a farm in the 50's....lets just say I had bit of an abused childhood by today's standards. My old man taught me how to do everything the old school way, with old school tools. Not because he was mean, mainly because we didn't have the money for the air tools and what not. My first car was a 79 firebird (my dad hated that idea...he was right too..lol) and it needed tires. So we went and got 4 new tires and went home. The bird had Keystone mags on it. When we got home...I jacked the car up and took the wheels off and went to throw the wheels in the back of his s-10 pickup. He looked at me funny.....handed me 2 tire spoons and told me to get busy. Took me all day to bust the old tires off, and put the new ones on. I was pissed when we took them to have them balanced and the guy at the service station said it was 7 tire to mount...my dad laughed and said ya it would have been $30 bucks...but I bet you'll never forget how to bust tires and in a pinch...it could be useful, but I digress.

So I had the sports car and my best friend from HS had several trucks. And I always liked his trucks. In particular his 84 Chevy 3/4 ton with the 6.5 diesel. He got dumb one night and wanted to know what a glasspack would sound like on it. So we went outside, at night, and put a glasspack on it, cherrybomb I think. Then he decides he has to let everyone else know about it. We jump in the truck and head for the main town in the county. Well Mikey is a little disappointed because it wasn't as loud as he thought it would be. Then he decides to run it up a 6% 3 mile grade and on the way back down he downshifted the truck into 2nd (it was an auto). I think we shat our pants when he did that. The back pressure blew the packing out of the glasspack, sounded like a clap of thunder in the valley, and that truck was forever loud. Rolling Thunder was born that night....and so was my love diesels.

Fast forward a couple of years and I joined the Air Force. End up becoming a diesel mechanic for the flight line equip. I became fascinated by the simplicity of the diesel engine. After the Air Force I did some construction for a year and my boss had a 96 PowerStroke. First time I had ridden in a turbo diesel. I wasn't impressed until he loaded his JD backhoe/front loader on his gooseneck trailer and took off in 2nd gear. I was in love.

Well about that time, my dad landed a couple of trucks. An 89' and 90' F250's. He kept the 90' and gave me the 89'. First 4x4 and I love this truck. I've had it since 96...still runs...only downside is it's a single cab.

To wrap up this story, after one failed marriage (should have known it was doomed, she hated my f250) two kids, remarried with 3 dogs...I needed a bigger truck to haul everyone/thing, but I wanted a diesel bad. So Mikey finds me an 88 F350 sitting in a field in the mountains of Colorado. Straight body..paint still good, great interior...just missing the motor, front axle, trans, and tcase. So as a grad present, my wife and him snuck it down to me in Nov. Best present ever. Was thinking of what motor I wanted when I found an 89 f350 flatbed 4x4 diesel POS in OKC. Bought that and drove it home...now I spend free time disassembling the flatbed to build the grad present. Would be happier if the weather would cooperate.

 

[NapaBavarian]

I was told my truck wouldn't go over 88 miles an hour...I figured that woulg help me avoid a triple diget ticket

New diesels are cool, old are just bad ass, I don't like COOL trucks, I like work trucks!

 

[George_7.3IDI]

Well I started out young by being raised on a family dairy farm in Northern Vermont. First diesel I ever drove was a tractor before I could even get my drivers license. Back then though I had not yet fostered a love for diesel power but I really liked the smell of diesel fumes. In addition to the tractors we also had a F350 single cab dually 5 speed manual with a steel flatbed on it that was used to haul wagons, hay, and a portable sawmill. Unfortunately my first two vehicles were a Ford ****** and Contour because I never had a need to own my own truck as I could always just use the F350 farm truck if I needed something to haul stuff.

Then I graduated high school and went through a year of college in Vermont before deciding I wanted to go to College in Alaska. About two years into college in Alaska I finally bought a vehicle and it was a 1985 F250 6.9 single cab with a **** brown paint scheme and POS automatic paid $3500. I ended up replacing the glowplugs and heater core in that truck. Sold it after about a year and found a 1990 F250 XLT 7.3 extended cab long bed with the ZF5 manual transmission paid $4500. Replaced the injectors on that truck put a new ignition switch in it and herculined the bed... still own it but want to sell it. Although the '90 worked well for me I didn't really like the square headlights and the cab wasn't big enough when I wanted to hook up with friends and go for a rafting trip along with all our gear. I also wasn't a big fan of the TTB front axle. So I finally looked around and found a 1992 F350 XLT CC Long Bed ZF5 manual with front+rear receiver hitches...aka Kevorkian as my friends call it paid $4500. The nickname is a result of rebuilding the 7.3 engine in it over the summer of 2009 despite the fact that it was a running engine before I tore it down and in retrospect didn't really need a rebuild... oh well. So know at the moment I own the 1992 and 1990... I use the 1992 as the daily driver/snowmachine hauler and the '90 is just sitting in the yard at the moment.

Although newer diesels are cool and fun to screw with it is extremely expensive to have to replace components or upgrade to performance components. Another thing that I like is that I own all of my vehicles outright... no bank loans!! I've got enough to deal with paying education loans back I don't need a car payment on top of that. Also it is one of my goals to slowly upgrade to the point where I can get at least 20mpg at cruising out of my truck. Already have the turbo... now I just need intercooler, moose pump IP, moose mister injectors, intercooler, either front+rear end gearing change or auxiliary transmission, and I would like to put a flatbed on it... also have a waste vegetable oil kit and coolant filter setup that need to be installed.

We'll see how it all goes.

George

 

[motoboy549]

To start off ive already had 45 cars. I have had full size chevys s10s and a whole lotta cars. Ive had 2 nissan 300zxs trans ams camaros etc. Imma be honest ive actually always had a hate for fords. Well over a year ago i gotta new girlfriend she drives a mustang. Her dad has a powerstroke (96). I ve always liked diesels and always been a chev man but the duramax is only avail in a auto and i say f dat. I bought a mustang (99) it was an 5 speed with a 3.8 which ran really good. I wrecked it yea im still payin for it too. So i went back to drivin my civic which was a total kick in the nuts. So im in love with this powerstroke but with still havin a payment on the stang i hada go cheaper. i started lookin into the idis and my neighbor happen to have one sittin in the weeds, been there for 4 years or more. I went ova talked to him he said that his wife would love to c it gone. said that it had a miss and an oil leak. I bought it for 400 bucks put batts in it replaced one injector, put on an oil cooler and a headlight dimmer swith. Best 400 ive eva spent

 

[BleednBlue68]

Well I've just started in the diesel arena. What really got me into gettin a diesel is seein people I know with their Powerstrokes and Cummins gettin awesome mileage and towing capabilities compared to my old 77 F250 and my 3/4 ton van gassers. I was really impressed with my friends Cummins. That thing pulls so damn hard and gets awesome mileage. Of course me bein a huge Ford guy had to get a powerstroke and it had to be a 7.3. I've been around diesels all my life though since my dad has worked on Ford tractors all his life in a dealership so i've seen my fair share of them. We have an 84 1210 4x4 Diesel Ford and a New Holland LS180 turbo skid loader. My dad has always been against diesel trucks though. "Diesels are noisy and diesel is too high" he would say. You'd think he would have a diesel truck since he has to pick up customers tractors all the time usin is gasser. Doin a lil work to mine and I already surpassed him in mpg and I can still get more out of mine with a lil more work. Hes even made his own stuff to trick his computer on his truck to lean out the fuel mixture and stuff. Yea diesel is more expensive and yes diesels are a lil noisier than his 460 but I can yank his truck any place I want and still do good in fuel efficency. I think my truck is growing on him and I plan on keeping this one for awhile.

 

[Jake_IN]

My first diesel was the diesel ranger in my sig. Driving around with my foot to the floor running 40 mph (pretty much top speed) and pouring smoke out I thought was pretty cool. After rust bucket syndrome made it to scary to drive I decide to convert over to gas again. Had an old 84 silverado and long story short me and that 350 never got along. So I bought my friends Farm truck (91 F-250 in my sig) and was amazed at what it was like to drive a diesel without having to floor it constantly. I also like it because no body knows what it is. Everyone thinks power strokes were the first diesel ford used.

 

[IH_444]

I always lowed the smell and sound of diesel. I was especially hooked when my dad got his first diesel service truck around '97.
I have always loved the 73-87 Chevy trucks, when I learned they had a diesel (6.2) I had to have one. Now I have several, and while they certainly aren't powerful, I do love them.

My 7.3 IDI has decent power for a NA diesel, much better than the 6.2s I was used to.

Everyone thinks power strokes were the first diesel ford used.

I know, like the 6.9 powerstroke