BigGunZ

Yup. It was an ATS turbo as well.
To test the glow plugs, hook a test light clip up to your battery then touch the probe to the glow plug end. If the test light lights up...the plug is good. I may even have a few spare glow plugs in my garage.

mr T

well its also a northern truck...its an older ford truck...from my endless observations the older fords and HUUUUGE rust issues up north here ....far worse than any other brands....all of the fenders and inside the doors...under the floor ive seen holes...then there's firewall issues......i just find pre 99 fords to be huuuuge rust buckets so i would never buy one up north here....if i was down south then id love a solid old superduty that i could molest...but its just not the case.....the body doesn't stand up to the northern conditions

mainer

Alright, looked at it today...The guy who has it isnt' all there, if you know what I mean. He said it had a plow and it didn't, he also gave us totaly different directions we had to call him on his cell. Than he said that someone offered him 2k for it when he was only asking 1k.

It needs 2 fenders as he told me. The cab corners can be saved with bondo. The bed needs some help, but the body work is no big deal. but has to get done. The rear tank has a leak in it.

She started right up in 35degrees. Went down the road good, it was nutless but its a ferd. It had eletrical issues, The tach worked good at frist and went up and down as it should have. But after I shut it down and restarted it, it was reading about 250 for idle and when i gave it fuel it would only come up to about 800. The voltage meter was only reading 10volts, he said he had it all checked out and it was fine. All the lights and other gagues worked fine. The clutch felt fine, it was right at the bottom. The overflow for the antifreeze was empty, and there was a gallon of antifreeze in the bed. I tryed to look for a head gasket leak but couldn't see one. Were they known for head gasket problems?

I've got some pics I'll up load in a few minutes and post up. I'm gonna let the guy sit on it for a few days and call him and make an offer.

COop

mainer

more in a bit

mainer

rammtuff

I'd probably be a water pump before head gaskets. The tach runs off a pickup top of the timing cover (2 black wires going to it) Should be easy fix.I still have an old one in my garage along with a bunch of glow plugs. Fender rust looks typical as does the cab corners. Looks like a factory turbo (badges anyway) The alts can be rebuilt cheap. My '03 had an external regulator. Brushes and bearing were about 12 bucks. Did it have a round air filter or a square one?

mainer

looked like a square filter. It was piped to intake right above the driver side head light, than the filter was on the driver side of the turbo.

Coop

rammtuff

Then I'd almost be sure it was a factory turbo.

BigGunZ

Almost forgot....some of those older 7.3's had a recall issued for a problem with the blocks. Certain block castings had problems with antifreeze passing into the crank. It was not a head gasket but a block casting problem. I believe certain internal areas of the block (didn't affect strength) were so thin, that corrosion would open up pin holes that allowed antifreeze to pass into the crankcase. Fords bandaid fix was to add some sort of Ford additive to the antifreeze to prevent these areas from corroding through. I remember receiving the recall in the mail back in 97 or 98. I never took mine in for it and didn't have any problems but I'd be very leary of a 7.3 that eats antifreeze...once it starts, it can't be fixed.

rammtuff

Cavitation was a well known and documented problem with the early IDI engines. As posted earlier they would run forever if the coolant additive was used. Cavitation wasn't so much a thin block issue but a vibration/coolant issue. It was not a bandaid fix. It worked. When a cyl would cavitate, coolant would usually cause a hydrolock situation.

Cavitation is a localized low pressure zone that forms adjacent to the outer wall of the cylinder. It is caused by by the flexing of the cylinder wall due to the high cylinder pressures experienced in diesel engine ignition. Gasoline engines don't typically get this failure mode due to lower cylinder pressures during ignition. Basically what happens is the cylinder wall quickly expands due to ignition then returns to its original geometry. This expansion of the cylinder wall is more pronounced as you increase the demand for power. Bascially when you increase your demand for power you are pumping more fuel into the cylinder. If you have a turbo charged unit you are also increasing air charge. This increase in fuel and air causes a more violent ignition which further increases cylinder pressures and thus increases the flexing of the cylinder wall. This fast cylinder wall movement causes a low pressure zone to be created in the coolant adjacent to the cylinder wall. When this pressure zone drops below the vapor pressure point (temperature, coolant ratio, and additive dependant) a vapor bubble is formed. When this low pressure zone returns to a high pressure zone, the vapor bubble collapses, causing an implosion, or pitting phenomena on the cylinder wall (like hitting the surface with a microscopic ball peen hammer). If left unchecked, it will eventually eat all the way through the cylinder wall. Ford FW 15 additive at 15k intevals is the "bandaid fix"

BigGunZ

Yup, you're exactly right. I couldn't remember the exact problem but now that you bring it up that sounds familiar. The recall notice said it was a cavitation problem.

mainer

So how do I tell from looking if it is doing this. I dont think the guy will tell me if it is loosing antifreeze or not, who would when your trying to sell something?

Coop

rammtuff

If it doesn't hydrolock that is a good sign. Pull the oil drainplug and if any 'freeze is there it will be in the bottom of the pan. Other than that ask him if he knows how much coolant additive he put in it.

grantx5

I just sold a '93 with 108K on it but it was a 460 V8. Pretty good truck but didn't tow worth a darn (7200# 27' Sunnybrook TT).

Other than towing I liked it, pretty dependable. Guy who bought it gave me $6K.

... seats kind of sucked, not real comfortable.

mainer

I'm just going to let it go. Its not worth fooling with.

Thanks For the help
COoper