1988 ford f350 centurion diesel o.bo

i just saw this on my local craigslist. seems like a deal and a half. we have been looking for an excursion for the wife but i love my '95 f 350 and want something close to it. with a trunk in place of bed. now this popped up! this will probably be a fun truck for me. could this be a legit centurion conversion? how can i tell? what to look for? i admit to knowing nothing about the idi except they don't have the turbo and borrow no parts from the powerstroke. i am becoming adapt at working on my '95. is there a few parts i could show up with and drive this thing home? batteries? thanks in advance for your help.

 

Idi's are a very simple Diesel engine not only to work on but usually a very simple engine to diagnose problems on and it depends on the reason it's not running the add doesn't give much information if I were you I would contact the guy and get more information from him first!

 

Some IDI's have turbos

 

thanks genscripter. was that the months before the power strokes came out or the aftermarket kits your talking about?

so the guy called back, he says the motor is no good, it knocks real bad and dumps oil when you crank it. this sounds bad to me. i'm sure it has been run low on oil for a while. will these shut down with to little oil? any good places to look for engines? and i've heard they are about as easy to swap as my old (60's) gas engines, 2 wires, fuel, and exhaust?

 

in '93 and early '94 you could get a factory turbo on the idi. banks and hypermax also make aftermarket drop in turbo systems. these engines will run on ZERO oil until the engine decides that it is not fond of the lack of lubrication. i would consider the engine to be junk.

 

ok that engine is a write off, more questions, i called a guy with a motor for sale no price, says it needs "spider lines fuel filter housing and alt". he used them for another motor. that sounds like easy top end stuff, but how much $$$$ i just want to hear 1 engine run before jumping into this. also is $500 about right for these engines near Chicago? obviously not rebuilt, are they hard to mock up to run on a pallet?

 

That is indeed a Centurion, it's a 4 door Bronco, those didn't exist unless they were Centurions. Very rare mind you.... I'd love one!


Add says not running, maybe batteries are not strong enough to crank it over quick enough to start (these engines need to spin over fast to start), or the mechanical fuel pump is dead, or glow plugs are shot, or starter is dead.


I've seen ALOT of IDI's, and a few "so called non running" and had those running within 10-15min of tinkering with them. I've personally never seen a completely dead IDI, so chances are, that one is just fine.




You'll need to make sure it has good batteries, and that it cranks over fast enough. Then are glow plugs working? When you turn the key on, the WTS light should light up for a good 10 seconds or more, and after, you should hear a clicking noise under the hood, if no clicking, the controller is dead, or if the WTS doesn't come on, or comes on for 2 seconds, some glow plugs are bad.


Then is it getting fuel? Crack open all the injector lines at the injectors, and spin over the engine, fuel should come out of the lines.




If you have all of that, 0 reasons why it wouldn't fire up. If glow plugs aren't working, give 'er a small shot of Ether! BUT make SURE glow plugs are indeed not working before doing that....

 

John, he called and the guy told him the engine is no good. knocks and leaks oil.

 

Woops, missed that part. lol

 

If its spewing out oil more than likely the oil cooler gaskets are bad

 

Frankly, 1200 bucks for a shell is asking a lot. There's a thread on this forum called something like "How much did you pay for your IDI?" and I'm willing to bet lots of guys got a moderately working, high-mileage, 4WD truck for $1200 or less. That centurion has no engine (as far as we can tell, PO's are notorious for misleading and/or not knowing s***), and no 4WD. the treads look light, there is rust, and the PO didn't take photos of the passenger side, interior, and engine compartment (which leads me to believe there is something wrong with the passenger side and interior.)

This CL post already breaks one of my rules for selling/buying a truck on CL... 3.) Never buy from a guy who can't clearly write a description about the vehicle. The a**wipe didn't even put how many miles are on the darn thing.

Also, I'm willing to bet this PO didn't run SCA's, and cavitation led to one of the many failures of that Centurion's engine. I mean come on, this is a huge diesel engine. They should last hundreds of thousands of miles.

But who knows. Go over there and check it out. maybe there are some quick fixes that could get it up and running for a short while, or maybe you can find a cheap engine for replacement. Maybe the tranny is nice (i assume a C6) and maybe the rest of the vehicle is ok too. But anyone that lets the diesel engine go to s*** on a nice-condition-(for-Chicago) Centurion was someone that didn't really care too much about their vehicle regardless.

 

Did you ask him about SCA's? If he gives you the blank stare or hesitation on the phone, he didn't.

 

21411,

$500.00 for a running 7.3 is a decent price, and you can most likely use the parts it is missing from the existing motor. I would ask the guy with the replacement motor about SCA's. I bought my first diesel with a seized motor, and found a good motor for 500 bucks. I had never worked on a diesel before, and had her running in four days without the help of this forum (wish I had it!). It is not rocket science. If you can turn a wrench you can do it. Just know that these motors a BIG and HEAVY! Parts for them are cheap, so if you decide to do the swap, i would replace a lot of the bolt-ons while the motor is out. If you need to pull the IP, read up on doing it before you start. The worst mistake you can make is pulling it off the wrong way! You should also be forewarned, Like your PSD, these motors require a lot of fluids, they alone can set you back a couple hundred bucks. I would offer the guy 800 for the Bronco, and ask the guy with the engine some more questions, like SCA's, mileage, regular maintenance, that sort of stuff, and if you're up to the challenge, jump in with both feet! We'll talk you through it. Too bad its not 4x4 though!

Good luck,

Mac.

 

if it was a 4x4 i would have it on a trailer already. i agree that 1200 seem a little high for a 6500# paperweight.

can i jump it off my truck to start it?

genscripter, i understand what your talking about with him having no info, it seems like English may be a second language for him, so i'm willing to give some slack. but i have seen many trucks beat to **** when they don't want to give any info. just bad motor it pours oil during cranking. any way the wife doesn't seem to think it is special so i may be sticking with the '64. i just don't want to find out it went to scrap and have to wonder for the rest of my life.

seems like sca's are the bench mark for knowledge, he was not there making the engine a write off in my book. would this be easy to swap to a manual trans? i mean as long as the engine is out and all.

thanks for all the responces, sorry for my delay. nice days = family time

 

Manual easy yes. I would drop 1200 on a Centurion in decent shape. As long as the whole thing wasnt coming apart. 4x4 is easy to drop in there as well.