Dont know what to tell you. I have daily driven OBS power strokes for the past 17 years. And have done so with 10 or more trucks. I got a fluke 19mpg ONE TANK but otherwise I stand behind my 15-17mpg and 10-12 when towing. Be we also have some hills out here and is not all flat land. Not sure your what your geographic area is

 

Mileage debates are often fruitless, as there are simply too many variables influencing the average between one driver, conditions, *and* truck configuration from the next. This is excluding the straight fabricated claims people make about everything.

There are 3 types of driving styles; straight grandpa an entire tank, driving "normal", then driving like you stole it. You can't compare one category of driving style with another, but the moral of the story is that the PS gets solid mid high teens for most people which is damn good for a 3/4-1 ton.

 

Getting back to this thread now.

So far, I’ve been able to find several 90-94 f350s for around 2 - 3k and ive found some 2000 to 2003 f250s for around 5 - 6k.

Obviously, I like the price of the older ones and the simplicity of the idi, based on the research I’ve done, but what are your thoughts about the two options? Would there be any big benefit in the long run to pay so much more for the f250? Again, this will be my first diesel which I probably why I’ve been leaning more towards the idi.

 

I've had two SuperDuty Fords: an '08 F-250 CCSB 5.4L/manual trans and an '02 F-350 CCSB diesel/auto. I really didn't like either truck and I really can't see myself ever owning a Ford truck newer than my current '97. Other people like the newer trucks, and being newer they have some significant advantages. But test drive them and see what you think. I just can't get comfortable in the newer trucks.

 

the newer trucks door design for the seal is terrible, they freeze shut and the dang windows freeze closed too! then to top it off they put a plastic door handle on it so if you gotta pull it up it will break!!!!

 

Hi I had a 2000 Power stroke f350 SRW manual transmission...it towed my camper like a dream on some 6% grades with no problem at all. But I was dissatisfied with the price of parts if I needed to spend some time under the hood.
I sold it and reached back in time to a dually 1994 IDI Turbo and I lucked out with themanual zf5 transmission, it is a simpler truck and most of all I Like getting to glow plugs with having to pull valve covers!
The only modification I did was a quick and dirty momentary switch to light the glow plugs only when I need them, not every time the engine starts. I like the idea of 10-11 quarts of oil instead of 17 with the power stroke.
Both are great engines and Im not bashing, but Iam frugal and if you are looking soley on economy I would go with the IDI but try to get the 1994 idi turbo. Since I dont rawhide them I really dont notice and power difference.
As others have said one injector for a powerstroke is what you will pay for all 8 on the idi. Likewise, that darn wiring harness that is part of your valve covers is about 4-5 hundred dollars for the PSD for OEM...you can get that Dorman stuff cheaper but folks have had trouble out that kung fu stuff.

So if you go after your injectors and might as well get the glow plugs while youre in there and new valve cover gaskets, you will be in the neighborhood of two thousand dollars, whereas 8 injectors and 8 glow plugs are about 250 bucks....indeed it is a big difference. However like I said they are both fantastic engines but Im a cheap *** too and the IDI is my ticket...the way I see things are like this, lets say: Joe the auto mechanic hands me a bill for 800 dollars, well yes I did earn that 800 on the job but in reality I had to earn about 1200 before taxes to pay ol Joe!

There is a guy on youtube, a Canadian fellow whose channel is "Love your RV" he tows his Cougar 5th wheel all over the South Western US and Canada and he loves his old 1994 IDI turbo to death.... seems like a swell guy,check him out and ask him a few questions he is usually pretty responsive to questions.

 

What is the GCWR on that truck? I know people say they're great towing, but I don't think I've ever heard what they were actually rated for.

 

the dually pickups were rated for 10,000lbs gvw

As for GCWR that depends on the trans, gearing .....

 

The mfg date says 11/93 but it is a 94 idi Factory Turbo
Since I never tow over 10K....more like 8k tops I have never looked into it, but I have "heard" folks saying they towed upwards of 18k....but if you screw up and get some one hurt while over weight then folks will pull a lawyer out of their pocket like a cheap pistol.
I went outside with a flashlight and got this for you...I dont think it has GCWR but maybe some of this may help...lets see if this picture will post:

 

The owners manual will telll you want the GCWR is

BTW you have 4.10 gears open diff

 

Hi Dieselbrad,
I wish I had one for the old beast, the only thing that came with the truck was a title and broken pair of sunglasses in the back seat. Now that I know which direction to go to find out ( Thank you!), I hope someone could post that if they have a owners manual.

 

I have one from 1989, of course then they had no IDIT, but I'll give it a try,;7.3l IDI (no turbo)4.10 axle, 11000 lbs: 2000-3.500Lbs trailer weight.

I know it's not the proper one for your truck, but maybe it helps?

 

Thanks Bart!
I found one online but it was for a 1995, and had a bunch of listings for all the engine, body type, srw, drw and rear diff setups etc etc, but they oddly left off the 7.3...every engine variant was listed but not the 7.3....strange....unless the 7.5 listing was in fact for the 7.3????

So somewhere 16k, possibly more would probably be my GCWR. I will never stretch it to that limit. The most I will ever tow with it would be 7-8k

 

I know that, but I was hoping for a number and what it applied to.

That's what I mean about "people say they're great". But even your 8K - 10K could easily be above the rating. I'm not saying that it is, but ratings on a lot of the earlier trucks were pretty pathetic. My '85 F-250HD, 351, manual trans, 3.54 gears had a GCWR of 7800 lbs. It had a GVWR of 8,600 lbs, so the heaviest trailer it could tow when fully loaded was NEGATIVE 800 lbs! (I occasionally exceeded that)

So if the truck was loaded to the GVWR of 10,000, it's rated to tow a 1,000 lb trailer. OK, now I know I don't want an '89 IDI for a tow truck! And yes, I know it WILL tow a lot more than that. My question is about the rating. It would still be interesting to know what Ford rated the IDI turbo at.

'95 would be the PowerStroke, wouldn't it? I wouldn't guess it would have the same GCWR as an IDI turbo. And at least the '97 PowerStroke had a GCWR of 20,000 with 4.10 gears. That's a nice number. I'm just curious how the IDI turbo compares.

 

Hello BOB, I don't think you get it... if you read it wel, it says that it handles about a truck 11000Lbs GVW NOT 10000!
it also says That I have that in print, and is meant for a IDI, NOT a IDIT (they did not have a IDIT at that date)

And compare with a Powerstroke? never, that's as comparing apples to pears.

With some luck somebody will show up with the correct owners manual

(I do know, (I wrote that as the first sentence) that even my numbers are not correct, but I think they will be closer than the comparison with the powerstroke.)