I’ve been working on some electrical issues on my 96 F150 in another thread on this forum but while I’m troubleshooting that I wanted to gain some insight on my other project — a 1993 F250 7.3 IDI NA 5spd.

I bought the truck about 7 months ago with a blown motor. I did a head gasket hoping to solve the problem but cylinders 6/8 must have other issues. I have been looking around for an engine to hopefully do a swap. I’m not looking for anything fancy, just the same NA engine. I’ve found one on craigslist that’s out of an 89 E-350 van.

Yesterday a buddy and I went over to look at it a talk to the guy selling it.

The guy says:

- From 89 E-350
- Claims less than 100k miles
- Sitting 10 years

I brought my compression tester and starter and we proceed to test one by one pulling glowplugs as we go (the engine is on a dolly already pulled from the truck). After testing 3-4 cylinders, all of which the glowplugs looked good on, we get to cylinder #1. As we pull the glowplug out I notice that it’s broken off about halfway down. As i was on a time crunch we continued to test the remaining cylinders for compression. All 8 cylinders tested well within spec and the engine, although lacking fuel sounded like it wanted to run. No skipping cylinder sounds, no knocking.

So I wanted to inquire about the following:

- First and foremost, how should I address the glowplug issue for cylinder #1? Borescope? Magnet? Do I need to pull the head to be certain?

- How likely is it that the glowplug would have caused irreparable damage during our short spurts of cranking for compression testing

- Do the front engine components (power steering pump, a/c compressor, alternator) all swap over between the two engines? This engine I am looking to buy has the multi-belt design and adjustable tension alternator bracket whereas the one in the truck has the single-belt design.

Sorry for the long-winded post, just needed to get everything in my mind in writing.

 

The broken glow plug is a bummer. There's no risk of damage from turning the engine over because the broken tip is stuck in the precombustion chamber, and not near the piston squish area. You might be able to grab it with a drill bit and blow it out with engine compression, but most likely, you'll need to pull the head and tear the tip apart from the combustion chamber side.

The belt setup is different. The power steering pump is a saginaw pump vs the ford c2 pump. The water pump is standard rotation on the v belt engine vs reverse rotation on the serpentine set up. It would be better to put all the serpentine components on the new engine.

 

Good to know, glad the front end stuff can be swapped off. I planned to change it for all the stuff on my current engine anyways — just wanted to check that it would bolt up.

I should be more clear about the glowplug issue just to clarify that I am inquiring correctly. The entirety of the glowplug for cylinder #1 came out, but the last 1/4 inch of the tip was missing. The actual glowplug body itself was fine (as in not snapped off in the threads) but the tip had either melted or broken off. Here’s a stock photo showing exactly what it looked like:



So what you’re saying is that broken off piece isn’t in the combustion chamber itself?

 

Ok. I understand. I thought you were saying you could see the tip of the glowplugs still stuck in the head of the engine after you removed the glowplug. This happens when the glowplug tip swells up larger than the threads and breaks off as the body of the glowplugs us wrenched out.

What you're seeing is a rather common failure for aftermarket glow plugs, unfortunately. They probably weren't the reliable Motorcraft/beau glowplugs. The good news is that the tip is probably long-gone out the tail-pipe. It's not uncommon to pull IDI cylinder heads off a perfectly good running engine and see minor piston damage from broken glowplug tips before the engine ejected it out the exhaust port.
Unless you can see the glowplug tip stuck in the threads, I'd consider it a good engine and install new Motorcraft/beau glowplugs.

 

I see, yes I have heard/seen pictures of autolite plugs being notorious for breaking off. These looked like the factory plugs but certainly in rough shape. Is it worth using a borescope to take a peek at the piston/look for the broken piece (to see if it's still in there)? If so go thru injector hole? I'll do brand new ZD-9 plugs if/when I buy it.

I noticed a few differences which I assume are because it's from a van chassis:

- Fuel filter is in a different location (closer to driver's side of engine (rather than passenger side of engine as my truck))
- At least one of the exhaust manifolds exits straight down instead of into a 45 degree for the y-pipe (I'm not sure if this is the same on the truck but I swear it is different)

Anything else I need to be aware of that I will have to swap? Engine mounts? Oil pan? Injection Pump?

 

there are subtle differences between pickup and van engines. one being the oil cooler.
but anything that is on your 93 engine will bolt rite on to the 89 van engine.

 

I wouldn't waste your time trying to borescoped the cylinders. It would be tough to see anything past the precombustion chamber.
I'm pretty sure the oil cooler/oil filter assembly is a little higher on the van model. I don't know if the truck oil cooler assembly will fit on the truck.

 

If the cylinders all checked out I wouldn't hesitate to swap it in. As mentioned, I'd take all the accessories and brackets off and put the stuff from your truck on it.

If the exhaust manifold needs swapped I'd be hitting that with a good penetrating oil every day for a week or so before trying to remove the bolts.

 

Good note on the manifold bolts, I’ll be sure to give em a good spray down. As for the oil cooler I’ll bolt the one from the truck right up. Is it worth tearing the oil cooler open? I’ve got a Dorman (unfortunately) o-ring reseal kit for the oil cooler or is it better to just leave it be?

As for pulling the current engine from truck, any tips or tricks for this engine specifically? I was planning to do radiator and fan to give me some clearance. The hood is already off. Pull front clip?

 

Shouldn't have to pull the front clip. Fan and radiator are good ideas.

The oil cooler rebuild is a coin toss. I'd probably say give it a rebuild since you have the kit and are taking it off.

 

pulling the front clip is not a must do, but if you do pull it that will give you an excuse to closely inspect the rad support for damage and repair it before putting it back together.
pulling the front clip makes installing the engine easier as you do not have to lift it over the rad support. also make life easier as you can stand there and hook things up instead of climbing over the fenders and rad support.

 

Yeah my thinking is with engine out oil cooler rebuild is a logical rebuild step but sometimes hard to know if disturbing old parts is preventative maintenance or creating a fault. I'll decide closer to time.

I'll probably look into pulling front clip as well to get things moving smoothly and check for repairs.

What was the word on engine mounts? Different between van/truck? Also not sure if this matters but van was an automatic, truck is a manual, any complications on that front?

 

engine mounts may be different, i don't remember. i know the towers are different, but not sure on mounts themselves.
auto trans to manual trans, you will need to add a pilot bearing in the crankshaft snout before mounting the clutch assembly.
while it is apart, you should also consider doing a Luk clutch swap to get rid of the P.O.S. dual mass flywheel setup.

 

Awesome. I’ll look into doing that clutch swap, I’ll see what the budget allows, trying to do rather cheap but good to eliminate issues while engine is out for sure. Is the harness for the 89 engine the same as the 93? My gut says no which isn’t an issue, just would prefer to use the 89 harness since it’s in better shape.

 

not sure on harness. you would have to inspect the plugs where they go into the firewall. but i am going to say they are different