OK, I am neither partial to Cummins nor IH, but lean more to IH for the fact that our Farm Equipment is mostly IH and for the most part my family hasnt had much trouble with IH Diesels in Fords since we bought our first one in 1986. But I tell this story because even though it is about an IH Diesel, any of this could happen to any of you at anytime. I recently purchased a 1992 w/ 7.3 IDI , and the owner before me got one over on me, they had stoped the engine full of Block Sealer/Stop Leak, then drained it and sold it to me. But I take responsibility for not seeing it. I ran it 5k miles changed the oil and in 100 more miles it was HydroLocking. We took the glow plugs out and turned the motor over and water came like a rocket out of No.4 Cylinder. We tore the top end down and had the head for the side Hydrolocking MagnaFluxed and Milled .004, put new gaskets on everything too Service manual specs., went 300 mile about one week and it was HydroLocking again. Took all glow plugs out water on No.4 Cylinder. Couldnt work on it that day but a couple days later we took it apart and had water on all even cylinders, 5 and 7. Sent both heads off, MagnaFluxed and Pressure Tested, no cracks however both were warped and needed to be milled .003. I have been around IH diesels 6.9 and 7.3's since I was born and this is the first time we have ever had this trouble, all the rest have been tough. This one is, plenty of power and it sounds great, and a friend of the family worked for the local IH Heavy Truck & Construction for 20 years and says that this engine runs like a champ, even when it is dumping water on a cylinder/cylinders, he has been assisting me from the beginning. We are now pulling the engine to have it sent for cleaning and pressure testing. And if need be bored and sleeved, then rebuilt. Unless purchasing a new engine becomes a cheaper opition.
Eggrole

*oh and please spare yourself, I've already heard every reason why I should put a Cummins in or whatever, I'd rather you not waste the effort telling me something I've already heard.

 

Hope it works out for ya!

 

thanks bud

 

heck yeah, i love the red and black also. I have no complaints on the old powerstrokes with the 7.3 and the 6.9. Reliable trucks. I had an 01 with the 7.3, adn wish evryday I still had it. First and only vehicle I bought brand new. If i still owned it today, it would be paid for.

 

Sorry to hear that! I'm sure you are aware of the block cavitation problems with the 7.3's if the additive is not kept up to strength. If that's the case, you may be better off with a reman shortblock, or resleeving all the jugs in yours.

I've had both a 6.9 and a 2001 PSD 7.3, both treated me well.

 

I hope it gets right for ya Ed, I just called your cell phone, I'll catch up with you later on.

 

since when have u been a member of this site Ed? good luck

 

I almost bought a 98 F450 that had the same problem. It ended up having a pin hole in one of the cylinder walls. Antifreeze was hydro locking the engine. The engine ran great, but if you shut it off it wouldn't restart. The engine ended up being sleeved and rebuilt. Good luck with your truck.

 

Well, I kidda spit in the wind when I had the head tested the first time, and they didnt Hydro/Pressure Test it like usual policy is unless the customer specifically asks for it to not be done. But I dont remember having asked that. But I was hoping that when I sent it back there would be a crack in the Lefthand head. But both checked out ok except for the milling, which by the way a head gasket should make the difference. But when I got the call saying the heads were fine, I/we decided that a the block need to be tested because of the cavitations that were common in cylinder 7 and 8 when casting the block. But also because No.4 is just being a straight pain. We suspect either a pin hole crack or Hydrolysis. Anyway to have the block bored and sleeved it will be $185 a hole, then about $3k for the overhaul parts. I still havent decided on whether or not to get a Remanufacted from IH/Ford, or one from Jasper, or if I could find one out of a salvage yard. I just dont want to flush too much more of my money on the nightmare. I appreciate yalls support.

 

nice thing about both engines is sleeving isn't a heroic unheard of effort. Ask your toyota dealer about sleeving and he'll tell you where to wipe your nose

 

alright I just wanted everyone to know that I ended up putting in a remanufactured engine from Jasper. Cost was $6966.30, but core charge and skid was $1500, so $5466.30 in the end. Thanks for all of the support.

 

So how is she running?
Sounds like the last couple months have been fun for ya.
Hope all is well with the truck.

T398

 

She's runnin strong, like a raped ape. Got alot more power than the old one. Low end torque is fantastic. I've let a couple of people that have owned or driven alot of these IDI's and they say its one of the peppyist ones they've ever handled. But i guess it being fairly new has something to do with it. I've had 3in straight exhaust run on it with Flowmaster. It just what I wanted, not too loud to attract attention from the law, but itll make some when i want to pipe it off. I'm think about lifting it 6" and putting some 35's under it. This summer we completely tore the old engine down, top to bottom, I guess to show that we could do it and for the experience, and then reassembled it and sent it to jasper. I am very pleased, I will recommend Jasper motors until the day I die. Ill try to locate some pics of the teardown and put them in my profile. But I'm very pleased. I have always liked the 92-97 era of Ford Diesels, no matter if it was IDI, IDIT, or PSD. So like I've said a million times, I am loving it.

ed

 

Glad to hear she's makin some ponies for ya.
Pic's are allways great!!!!!

I hear ya on the 92-97 fords, they are my fav era of fords also.

T398

 

ok some pics are up of the tear down.