So here's where I am at.

I bought a 94 f350 7.3 idi turbo, extended cab 2wd as a dead truck. Its that raspberry pink/red/purple color complete with racer back, checker plate box rails, tailgate cap, and running boards. The previous owner said it had a bad head.
So bought a set of heads, had them checked and all tested out good. the guy threw in all his spare engine parts as he was moving...block, crank, cam oil pump etc...no tin or bolts.
Pulled the top end of the engine, sent the turbo and injector pump to GCL Diesel in Edmonton, to have them looked at. estimate to repair: $1300, and $1500 respectively. So Off to the US they go. Russ rebuilt them both for the price of one!! Oh, not to mention $700 for the repair estimate!
Ordered a set of head studs and a downpipe from IDI Performance.
Had the rad checked...no good... hunt the classifieds and find one for $60 bucks...slight damage. Take it to Hunter's Rad, and he patches it up for an ice cold case of Beer!!
Go through the rest of the truck...add temp, EGT, Trans temp gauges. repair cracked pick ups in both fuel tanks, add B&M trans cooler from a buddy's old race car, rear axel seals, grease front wheel bearings, flush brake fluid and trans fluid, change oil, clean oil cooler, fix door rattle (1/2" pex works great!!), wire in trailer connector at bumper, and in box for 5th wheel, install 5th hitch, it had a goose neck hitch already, new ford glow plugs, new battery cables, electric fuel pump for a 95 6.5 GM diesel.

Notice I have not yet turned the key

Batteries from Rockies Battery, the BEST place to buy a battery in Alberta!
He sold me 2 slightly used Red Optimas for a smoking good deal.

Go home and install batteries, get everything mounted and installed and wired, guess at placement of IP, cycle key and check the function of the glow plugs, clean them up a bit, and try again...all good. look for leaks, tighten up some clamps, and hold my breath and turn the key to start.
The crank may have made 2 full rotations, and fired!

I spent the day going over some things, and the next day ran it to Mike's Custom Exhaust for a 3" to the bumper, no muffler. Then to Dan's Automotive for a timing adjustment, and she was dead on 10 degrees.

Well not all is good. There is a bunch of blow by. the CDR is steady flow of smoke, not dark, but more than I would expect. But I have never worked on a diesel before December 26, 2013 when this truck entered the garage. There is also smoke out the oil cap, and a pop pop pop noise out the air cleaner. It still has lots of power, runs nice and straight.

I am thinking broken rings or something on one cylinder.

Next step rebuild that block that came with the heads, and reuse the studs and heads, turbo, IP.

The question is should I just go ahead and drive it as is and just keep an eye on the gauges? or park it now. I'm leaning towards drive it, use it to pull the trailer, and build/install the engine over the winter.

I need to thank everyone who has posted on here because I have done a lot of reading, and it is this site that made me decide on an IDI, and all the posts have made this a lot easier, and less expensive.

 

You've been busy!

I know the N/A engine all make that popping noise out of the intake when the air cleaner is off or the lid off. Never checked a turbo unit though. If you're hearing it fully assembled then yes, there's a problem.

These engines put out a lot of blow-by naturally, I wouldn't worry about it. If you want for peace of mind do a compression check to make sure everything's kosher.

 

Subscribed.

I'm always interested by this type of story. Keep us posted!

 

Picking up a jug of 15-40 from the Diamond International dealer, they are $10 cheaper than all the other stores here, and keeping it in the box beside a me mixed jug of A/F with distilled water. (as per FTE site) and hooking up the fifth wheel and see how it goes.
Haven't been able to pull my new to me 5th since the first time I tried with my 454x4 3+3 V3500. Which just didn't have the *****. So for the past 1-1/2 years I have been walking past this 40 foot toy hauler taking up room in my yard.
Camping this Saturday night at my friends wedding!!!

Goona make sure my AMA membership is up to day in the morning before we leave the yard.


I need to say it again. I would be way lost without all the helpful people on this site.

 

The blow-by was by design; it's apparently a longer-lasting, better ring design than most, but you get more blow-by.
Call it good and run it hard!

 

Got your SCAs in? Either that or pre-charged antifreeze? It's supposed to prevent cavitation, which can be a big problem on these engines.


It'll definitely haul it, but you may not go all that fast... especially starting out or going up hill. You've got a turbo, though, so that definitely helps.

 

Mine blows smoke out of the oil cap and dipstick, but still fires right up, runs great, and will haul everything I've hooked it up to so far. Just keep track of the oil used, top it off and call it good.

 

1, What are Kosher compression readings?
2 What were original or new engine compression readings for our motor?
3 What are minimum compression requirements?
Thanks

 

My manual shows 440 for a 6.9, haven't looked up the 7.3 yet.

Not sure what the minimum would be, but I'd say as long as whatever it has is enough to start without difficulty is good enough.

Here's a discussion we had recently with some info:

Compression test

 

So here's how the weekend went. Friday night thrash on the trailer to get it loaded. Fix the leaking fresh water tank. Got it on the second try. I hate crappy cheap band clamps. Mount the trailer's spare tire. Check pressures on all 5. Fill the water tanks. Saturday morning get groceries, and put them in the trailer. Hook up. Clean up, ready to go by noon. An hour ahead of schedule.
Pull out of the drive way and head up the road a mile to the first stop sign and do a walk around. All is good but the popping out the intake is bugging me. Jump back in and head west on hwy 16 through Edmonton to Acheson truck stop for fuel and another check. About an hour drive with all the lights. About half way there I noticed to pupping stopped, and more power. EGTs no more than 1100, water at 195-200. Get to the pumps. Switch tanks and that all works. Do a walk around, pop the hood, and fill the back tank. I'm thinking that after sitting for about 2 years the rings just needed to reseat.
As I'm filling I'm thinking awesome. Things are finally going my way.

Oops

Pull out onto the hwy an put my foot into it. Hmmm how much does $70 of diesel way? Slowly accelerate up to 100km for a couple miles and turn north. Now really have the heavy foot to maintain 90. EGTs at 1200. Getting slower. Turn left up a hill and no more than 50. My much better half asks "what's smoking?" Look back and that's all we see.
Pullover and a huge flowing river of burnt trans fluid. Poop

Call AMA. Just renewed on Friday!! . 1-1/2 hr later truck is on the flat bed, trailer is behind the second tow truck and we are still headed to the wedding.

The groom is a transmission guy. So in a couple weeks (if he's not too worn out from the honey moon) we will try again.