Hi, I'm new to diesels...I've read pretty much every forum within reach online about cavitation occurring in the 7.3's but I have a question I'm not too clear on. Here's the breakdown:
Considering buying a '93 f-250 7.3 idi non turbo for really cheap. The guy doesn't know much about the truck, always had the oil, transmission fluid, and radiator flushed every 3,000 miles. The truck is pretty mint, engine is spotless. It has 225k on it now. I talked to the mechanic who tuned it up every 3k and he didn't know about SCA's. That freaked me out. I did tests to see if the cylinders were pitted or pinholed...they seem to be perfectly fine. My question is, why hasn't cavitation occurred yet? And, is there a specific mileage point when left untreated that they pinhole at? Is it worth buying (for only $2200) to risk cavitation? I'm not made of money and I cant afford to re-sleeve the cylinders...but damn this truck is sweet and doesn't seem to be mechanically damaged at all. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much in advance

 

Buy it, add sca's and dont worry about it. Cavitation failures are rare. If it does bite you, used running 7.3's can be had for $500-1000 all day. I wouldnt spend the $ on a sleeve and rebuild, but thats just my opinion.

 

Thanks for the quick response...ill take a chance and pray. Any particular recommendations for SCAs?

 

this:
PEAK COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL | FLEET CHARGE | HEAVY DUTY COOLANT/ANTIFREEZE | FAQS

+

penray NF-2088:
http://penray.com/wp-content/uploads...echfacts_1.pdf

 

welcome to FTE.
as the other guys said, don't got overly worry about cavitation.
i have only seen 2 or 3 ford engines suffer cavitation in the past 32 years.
and i have maintained hundreds of IDI diesels.
i actually have seem more chevy 6.2 engines suffer from cavitation, at least 20 of them.

 

I think the cheapest way is napas brand coolant in the blue jug. It is low silicate. The add napacool or whatever sca youwant. Premix like reccomended above if you want easier and $20 or so more.

 

Probably because...
is BS. Oil changes at 3000 one can believe. But tranny fluid and coolant? 75 times in the truck's life? I'd want to see EVERY receipt for that, or it didn't happen. He probably had the coolant changed many years ago, maybe 30-50K, and it was done with pre-charged anti-freeze, or they used SCA. I would also be suspicious of any mechanic who claims he "tuned up" a diesel engine every 3000 miles.

Pre-charged anti-freeze is nowhere near $20 more. You can get FleetCharge for <$12 / gallon at Advance Auto, using an online discount code. Considering 1/2 gallon of SCA costs $20-25, it's pretty much a wash between buying FleetCharge vs conventional coolant + SCA.

 

just remember though,that would need to be flushed every 30k miles or every 2 years,whichever comes first (as per the diesel supplemental maintenance booklet.)
then you need to monitor and add in liquid sca manually,as needed during that coolant life duration.

the fleetcharge + penray filter (filter changed every 150k/18 months) and you don't need to flush the coolant nor monitor or add liquid sca (as per the FAQ section of fleetcharg as linked above.)

so "cheapest" is all relative.
often (as with many things in life) higher initial costs can lead to lower overall costs in the long run.plus in this case,less,self monitoring and regulating of the sca level for easier maintenance.

 

Can the 7.3 IDI handle HD ELC and not have to mess with additives again? I switched my 2000 PSD to it.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post11880181

 

So a few orings can't handle it and that's it?

 

Oriely's has the SCA that ford calls for theu also carry WIX COOL


Hugh Turner
1990 F250 7.3 super cab

 

I honestly suspect that everything would be just fine. Worst case, you might need to pull the oil cooler and replace the O-rings in it if it starts to leak.
Do it, and if it starts to leak somewhere, fix the problem.

Personally, I'm cheap. I just went with dumping NapaKool into my system when I learned of all of this a year or so ago, and will check it every few months with a test strip. However... I'm pretty sure that my engine had *not* had any sort of SCAs in it for any number of years, and it wouldn't surprise me if there was traces of the original green coolant in it, and that block's never had any coolant issues(Note: Currently, that block is being rebuilt, due to the rings basically giving up after who-knows-how-many miles; the cyl bores were .02" bigger at the top than the bottom).

 

WhAT IS SCA? Are you all using ford vc-8 additive?

 

SCA is Supplemental Coolant Additive, as in VC-8.