Does this sound right?
Thread Starter
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Senior User
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: Northern Nevada
Festus
I appreciate your comments and feel that I do have good knowledge on working on this truck. I am frustrated because I have maintained this beast and never abused it, yet it continues to have horrible reliability. Most of my friends have diesels and they are amost never in the shop. Tearing apart a 7.3 is not something that I can do in my garage,so I have to take it in. I am alarmed at the lack of knowledge about these basic engines in the Northern Nevada area. Thanks.
I appreciate your comments and feel that I do have good knowledge on working on this truck. I am frustrated because I have maintained this beast and never abused it, yet it continues to have horrible reliability. Most of my friends have diesels and they are amost never in the shop. Tearing apart a 7.3 is not something that I can do in my garage,so I have to take it in. I am alarmed at the lack of knowledge about these basic engines in the Northern Nevada area. Thanks.
Methanoholic
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 6,442
Likes: 8
From: Maine (NorCal Native)
That is a shame that you have had horrible luck with it, These IH's are typically very reliable except in the starting area.
Though I would not panic yet, Like I and others have said, the guy is a thief.
Take it elsewhere, have them do a compression test on all 8 cylinders, Get the numbers and post them...
You will not find a better place to get good solid advice on these trucks/motors than right here on FTE.
Remember, they may very well mess up the fuel return tees and they will likely leak again.
-Enjoy
fh : )_~
Though I would not panic yet, Like I and others have said, the guy is a thief.
Take it elsewhere, have them do a compression test on all 8 cylinders, Get the numbers and post them...
You will not find a better place to get good solid advice on these trucks/motors than right here on FTE.
Remember, they may very well mess up the fuel return tees and they will likely leak again.
-Enjoy
fh : )_~
Lead Driver
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 6,900
Likes: 3
From: Campbell River, B.C.
I would be curious to see what the compression test numbers are for each cylinder.
Right now I would be more inclined to think head gasket and/or injectors.
Bring truck and 11,000 dollars here to WV, and I will build you a motor, but it won't be exactly like what you have now.
Right now I would be more inclined to think head gasket and/or injectors.
Bring truck and 11,000 dollars here to WV, and I will build you a motor, but it won't be exactly like what you have now.
desert sled - never go back to that mechanic ever again!!
How does the truck actually run? Any nasty stumbling on cold start? any smoke when under load? does it pull well?
I would imagine the engine would run rather poorly with on of the holes at only 25% compression. Frankly, it might not even run off that cylinder at all.
While it is true that you can get a remaned engine for $500o or less, most of them out there are not assembled properly and will not last as well as a factory build. If something is genuinly wrong with the engine (something that has yet to be proven) and you have a garage, I would sooner rebuild it than pay to get a drop in engine.
Thread Starter
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Senior User
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: Northern Nevada
Thanks for the feedback, i will have numbers tomorrow and post them. The truck starts fine but smokes until one of the injectors in question sets itself,then stops smoking and the ticking noise becomes present. I simply took this truck into the shop for performance suggestions and to fix the ticking noise that i assumed was an injector. The truck smoothes out under load and the noise is not present when pulling. Oh, they did screw up a return line, my friend took it today to my regular mechanic and it was dumping fuel. I will be talking to the owner of the other shop once I find out what is really going on.
Post Fiend
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 21,285
Likes: 15
From: Nutter Fort, WV
Notice in my picture that my garage has green leafy walls.
Ceiling looks about the same, and the roof leaks rather bad, kinda like standing under a tree in a rain storm.
And that is exactly where I built my engine.
The only hard part is how much it weighs and how high in the air it has to be to go in the engine bay.
Last onne made in 94, so a 15 year old motor with no computer port is a bit hard to comprehend to a lot of parts changers.
And to most of us, that is exactly why we like them.
Ceiling looks about the same, and the roof leaks rather bad, kinda like standing under a tree in a rain storm.
And that is exactly where I built my engine.
The only hard part is how much it weighs and how high in the air it has to be to go in the engine bay.
Last onne made in 94, so a 15 year old motor with no computer port is a bit hard to comprehend to a lot of parts changers.
And to most of us, that is exactly why we like them.
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 477
Likes: 1
From: florida
Isn't the 94 model the best IDI? It should have all the improvements incorporated into it. I hope Desert Sled gets this thing sorted quickly. There may be very little wrong with this engine.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,207
Likes: 1
From: Las vegas
my dream IDI would be a brand new 94 block useing the smaller wristpins on anidized pistons with turbo heads with built in firerings and head studs and all turbo externals and the new ATS arura 2000 turbo, well maybe I would have to get some sort of definative answer of what makes the arura diffrent.
Stock for stock I would take the 94 turbo motor and keep a close eye on the SCAs. and if I had one it would be in your best intrest to invest in fleetrite because I would be testing the coolant daily. I often think if i could go back i would have done that with my 7.3 then i remeber the fact that it didn't cavitate threw on me but had on the SOB previous owner that block sealed it and traded it in.
Stock for stock I would take the 94 turbo motor and keep a close eye on the SCAs. and if I had one it would be in your best intrest to invest in fleetrite because I would be testing the coolant daily. I often think if i could go back i would have done that with my 7.3 then i remeber the fact that it didn't cavitate threw on me but had on the SOB previous owner that block sealed it and traded it in.
Thread Starter
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Senior User
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: Northern Nevada
OK
My regular mechanic checked out the engine and says the compression is low in one cylinder. He also found oil in the radiator. He is suggesting a rebuilt or new engine rather than trying to fix this problem. Does anyone have a good source for an engine. I cant believe all the time I took to maintain this engine and it ultimately broke on me. Thanks for a great forum.
My regular mechanic checked out the engine and says the compression is low in one cylinder. He also found oil in the radiator. He is suggesting a rebuilt or new engine rather than trying to fix this problem. Does anyone have a good source for an engine. I cant believe all the time I took to maintain this engine and it ultimately broke on me. Thanks for a great forum.