school me on f250s

gboroxj

Active Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Location
Greensboro
i am lookin at getting an early 90s ford f250 with a 7.3L diesel in it. auto trans. lifted 6 inches and with 36s. it has 150k on it with the trans rebuilt at 110k. it has an arb air locker up front and a detroit in the rear. i am wanting to know a few things. first would be could this make a decent daily driver? would i be better off takin the locker out of the rear? what kind of fuel economy am i gonna be lookin at? how reliable are these engines? how hard are these to work on? any help or more inout would be great. thanks alot
 
These engines are very reliable, the trans is not the greatest, fuel mileage can vary based on the lift and tires. Prior to 1994.5 they did not have turbos. So you won't be getting up to speed as fast as newer models, but probably more reliable engines though. Not to hard to work on with mechanical knowledge, you can get more info at ford-trucks.com, there is a ton of info on these trucks.
 
Early turbo'd models were the ones with cavitation problems.

The detroit will eat the rear tires to death.

I'd take out some/all of the lift. Depends to some extent on how it's geared and what tires are currently on it.

No telling what fuel economy is like as it sits... but figure on mid teens in factory trim, more or less depending on how heavy your foot is... 12mpg and 19mpg equally possible.
 
Agreed on taking the lift off...you can fit 36's without, just shim out the front bumper 1.5-2". If the tires are 12.5" wide you won't rub at all, if they're 14.5" wide, you'll rub some fender at full lock.

For mpg's...consider yourself lucky if you 18, expect more in the 14-16 range.
 
Small hijack. When someone says "Powerstroke" does that automatically mean turbo? Did none of the pre-1994s come with a turbo?
 
ok updates
its a 93, regular deisel, E4OD trans, 36 inch irok swampers, 4 inch lift, 4.10 gears any more advice or stuff to look for when i go look at it?
 
First was the 6.9 litre diesel it was IDI, then came the 7.3l diesel. It too was IDI. In 94 they came out with a turbo'ed IDI 7.3 from the factory and the late 94 the 7.3l DI turbo diesel AKA the power stroke was introduced. then in 1998.5 the intro of the Superduty and the inter cooled power stroke. (98.5's are known as 99's but there are differences in a 98.5 and a 99)

All the IDI 7.3ls "can have cavitation problems", they have thinner cylinder walls than they should but keep full of coolant and it shouldn't be a problem unless you turn it way up.

IDI being of course indirect injection and DI being direct injection

Can't help you on the MPG's as i have never had a IDI engine. My 97 gets around 17-18 on stock tires but its a power stroke and it has/had 3.55's Very strong engines and sounds like a good truck just don't expect to keep up with the other diesel's most you can get is like 350ish rwhp. Drive it for what it is, I think it'd make a good DD/ wheeler.
 
I have a 93 with a few simple mods like aftermarket pump and injectors with the pump turned up and get about 18 -19 empty and about 13 pulling 12,000lbs behind me. Like was said, it isnt fast but pulls good on the HWY. I bought it BECASUE of the engine, with maint. it will last longer than you want it to.
 
They last for ever with decent maintenance. My friend has a work truck with 450k on it. its a 90 ish 7.3 IDI. there definetly good strong motors.
 
thanks alot guys i dont know if getting the truck though had someone lined up to buy my jeep but backed out so im waiting
 
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