HOW MANY MILES DO SOME OF YOU GUYS/GALS HAVE ON YOUR 7.3 ? I HAVE ABOUT 170,000 ON MINE.MY UNCLE HAS OVER 200,000 ON HIS AND IT RUNS GREAT! BUT A GUY I WORK WITH HAS ONE WITH 250,000 ON IT AND SHE BLEW UP WITH WARNING WHEN HE STARTED IT ONE MORNING! I HAVE HAD MINE FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS NOW AND LOVE IT! BUT I'VE HEARD HORROR STORIES ABOUT THESE IH DIESELS.ANYWAY JUST WONDERED?

 

90 f250 4x4 179k 7.3 non turbo zf 5speed 3.55 .
bought 1/3/04.

 

192k with a rebuilt engine @ 50k

 

What are the horror stories you've heard about the I.H. engines in Ford trucks? I'm curious since I just bought a low-mileage 85 ex-cab, 8' bed, 4WD, F250 with the 6.9. Has 67,000 original miles on it. I've been a diesel mechanic most of my life, mostly industrial equipment and have always preferred diesels. I realize though, that the pickup trucks don't get heavy duty diesels like the big rigs or industrial stuff does (except maybe the Dodge/Cummins which is rated medium duty). I've got four G.M. trucks with 6.2s and love them. My 87 Suburban has a little over 450,000 miles on it and the engine has never been apart. Runs like a clock, but is starting to use oil, and I'm afraid that one of these days it's going to give me a suprise like the Ford you mentioned.

 

most of the horror stories ive heard involve cavitation,exhaust manifolds cracking,impossible to start on cold days,head gaskits blowing things like that.i to am a diesel mechanic and work in the ag.field on caseih and claas.it seems like the more i read this forum the more i relize that these and other stories are mostly from people that do no regular maintaince or dont understand how a diesel is supposed to work.my neighbor just bought a 85 blazer with the 6.2 with about 30,000 on it and he has had great luck with it!just goes to show you i thought those 6.2's where total junk!

 

So, you work for the competition? I worked for a Deere dealer for years (ag, industrial, and forestry), with a Case dealer across the street. Ironically, most of my tractors are Case. I kind of like them.
I was led to believe for years that many engines were junk, but I guess you have to dig deeper in the stories for the truth. General Motors did make some genuine junk diesels when they came out with the 5.7 around 1978. Then they got wise, and had Detroit Diesel make the 6.2 in 1982, many people assumed it was just more junk. Our military uses them in the Humvees, but only buys them with mechanical injection like most of the small diesels were unitl the 90s. Smart move, it seems. When G.M went to microprocessor controlled injection sytems, problems began. And, since Stanadyne/Roosa Master makes the pumps, about all G.M. was doing "remove and replace." Now I'm hearing similar problems with the new Ford/I.H. 6 litre. Seems everyone has to go with microprocessor control to meet emission standards. G.M. said "the heck with it" and let the Japanese build their new engine (the new Powermax). Seems to be a real good engine. Daimler-Chrysler owns Detroit Diesel now, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Back to stories and diesels. We bought a Ford service truck with a 6.9 when they first came out. Everyone was telling us the crankshaft was going to snap in half, and the head gaskets would keep blowing, etc. etc. Well, the truck ran flawlessly for years. When I bought my first G.M truck with a 6.2, it wouldn't start and the guy was told the engine was shot. I got it home, put a new glow-plug controller on it, and put 300,000 miles on it since. I bought another truck with a 6.2 a guy was going to junk. He was told the a rod was out of it. Admittedly, it sounded like a rod knock. I gave him $300 for the truck, pulled it apart and found out it was just a bad injector. Weird, but true. John Deere tractor gets a bad injector, and it just skips a little. G.M. gets a bad injector, and, I guess gets some sort of hydrostatic lock, and sounds like it's going to blow up.
Good luck with your truck. Take care of it, don't use ether on it (if it's indirect injection), and you'll probably be fine. 7.3s, from what I hear, are bored-out 6.9s, and subsequently have thinner cylinder walls. So, cavitation can eat through a 7.3 faster than a 6.9. Coolant conditioner is probably good insurance. I'm hoping to do as well with my Ford 6.9 as I have with my 6.2s, but haven't had it very long yet. One modification you might want to do sometime - I've done it on all my trucks. A glow plug bypass with a pushbutton. Just need some wire, a relay, and a button. I've found that with most of these trucks, there are times when you'd like a little glow plug action but the thermal controller doesn't agree. It's rarely a problem, but it's nice to have the insurance of a bypass. Just don't let somebody hold it on for longer than 9-10 seconds. The new Delcos, and Berus have a built in current limiter to protect from burn out, but a lot of other's don't.

 

yeah my neighbors 6.2 blazer is a ex military beast,at first he had some small problems. the truck was 24 volt and glow plugs were not working properly.took a little time and changed it to 12 volt put a new glow plug solenoid on it and no more issues.the ih and 6.2 are much the same in the way they start.your right most ag engines that have a bad nozzle just skip a little,or shake like crazy under load.i have been using coolant additive in mine and dont like ehter unless its on an case (just kidding) i have had many a case powershift apart and thier engines like the old 504 are bullet proof! as for the new duramax have company guy that works for claas and he says his company truck an 03 gmc does have as much power as his stock 94 ram with a cummins.personaly i dont like the idea of aluminum heads on diesel,but i guess only time will tell.thier is somthing to be said about the old diesels,once you get started keep fuel to em and they will run all day long,and run just as nice a new electronic eng.cheaper to!

 

Mine has 175K but is starting to run rough sometimes, and smokes like crazy. I have a question for you diesel mechanics, is white smoke normal on start up of a diesel when it is still cold(about 10 minutes if it is just idleing), and I mean lots of smoke?
I'm just going to drive it till it stops, then see how the budget is looking for a new motor(since I put 2100 bucks into the tranny a few months ago).
-Lars

 

I got just under 200k on mine and it runs strong. Are us losing any coolant, sounds like u might have lost a head gasket, check your coolant level and change your fuel/water filter to make sure there is no water in the fuel.

 

Depends on the particular engine and what you call "cold." I've worked on some diesels that will start at 10 degrees F. with no glow plugs or block heater, and don't smoke at all at start up. I've worked on others, when brand new, that smoked badly, and skipped at 50 degrees, and would do so for a minute or so. Fuel, fuel injection timing, engine design, etc. all play a part. Generally speaking (and I mean generally) whitish smoke is an indicator of low-firing pressure and incomplete combustion. This can occurr in a healthy engine if its inherent in its design, or it can begin to occur late in an engines "life" due to various factors including - fuel timing advance no longer working in the injection pump (common problem in Roosa Master/Stanadyne pumps), broken top pistons rings and/or scored cylinders from wear or excessive ether starting, and more. Coolant in exhaust can be mistaken for white smoke, but will usually get worse, not better when the engine warms up.
One fairly easy check is to simply advance the static timimg on your injection pump and see if things seem better. If you just loosen the bolts or nuts that hold it on the engine, and rotate it a little against the direction of rotation, it will advance a bit - just like you would do to a distributor on a gas engine. Mark the pump before you do anything so you can get it back to where you started, if needed - and do the moving when the engine is not running. On some engines, especially when they get a little worn, a few degrees makes a big difference. When all is working right the injector pump has a vane - fuel pump in the back of it. This little pump increases internal fuel pressure at higher RPMs, and subsequently pushes on a little piston that advances the fuel injection timing. When the injector pump is installed on a tractor, it's easy to check and adjust with the engine running with a plastic timing window. Not so easy when the pump is on a V-8 in a pickup truck.
As far a worn or broken piston rings go, I've pulled engines apart that had no top rings left at all, but they still ran fine after they had 5 or 10 minutes to warm up. Started very badly, though and skipped for quite awhile until they got hot.
These things are not always easy to diagnose unless you know your engine well, and can compare from how it used to be, and how it is now.

 

Mine has 371,000 km and still runs great. 89 7.3 4x4

 

My beast has currently 124k on it. I had to do my pump, injectors and glowplugs at 99k. I then was forced to do headgaskets, valve job, cam, and lifters at 110k. Two of my rollers flattened out and I just went ahead and did the entire thing. The block assy is still original and I think the bottom end will last 300k. I still get 49lbs of oil presure when driving and 20 some when idling.

Picture of lifter:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/...96970497nZCDzS

 

Mine has 185K on it, but rebuilt 20k ago. Valvoline forgot to titen plugs and drained oil while driving. Not good.

1990 F-350 Crewcab 4x4 fake dually 7.3L ATS turbo 5spd 3" exhaust

 

1986 F250 diesel, about 68k miles on it

 

I had an 88 7.3 with 297k, but she burned down due to a leaky injector pump. The old girl even needed ether to start!