Any opinions on the 1986 Ford F350 Diesel engine?

[Southbound]

My friend is considering buying this truck. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=194665326&dealer_id=57343533&car_year=1986&search_type=both&make=FORD&distance=100&model=F350&sponsorModel=&address=80305&certified=&advanced=&max_price=3000&bkms=1142194509934&min_price=1&end_year=2007&start_year=1981&isp=y&lang=en&cardist=15

 

[David*BJ70]

Ford built very strong diesel engine.

 

[crushers]

i had a 1995 for a few years and loved it, 5 spd and 3.55 gears. excellent fuel milage and very reliable.

on the Canadian models you have to be careful because some of the elec odometers had a fault and it rolls back from 400,000 to 300,000. when i sold mine to "Behemoth" with 387,000 km, his rolled back to 300,000 km instead of up to 400,000 km like it was supposed to. i bought mine at 312,000 so now i am wondering how many km it actually had on it.

 

[roscoFJ73]

These also have a strong following in oz athough there is not many older versions around.
Are they actually made by Ford?

You would probably pay 4 times that in oz

 

[Advent]

Are they actually made by Ford?

No, they were made by Navistar/International.

 

[Greg_B]

My friend is considering buying this truck. Any advice would be appreciated.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=194665326&dealer_id=57343533&car_year=1986&search_type=both&make=FORD&distance=100&model=F350&sponsorModel=&address=80305&certified=&advanced=&max_price=3000&bkms=1142194509934&min_price=1&end_year=2007&start_year=1981&isp=y&lang=en&cardist=15

Your best bet will be to attend some websites that deal mostly in North American diesels such as: http://forums.thedieselstop.com/ubbthreads/

Wet sleeved diesel engines can develop pinhole leaks in the piston wall sleeves if they have not had the proper additives run duing the life of the engine. This is from cavitation. Here are some links that may impart more information to you, as I have not more then the basics myself:

http://www.thedieselstop.com/contents/getitems.php3?Cavitation Analysis Good info but slighty biased as he assumes all diesels have wet sleeves. Our Toyota diesels are not wet sleeved.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-148.html
Discussion on years and models...might be newer then you need though.

http://www.intellidog.com/dieselmann/powers~1.htm
Good general info if you are looking at a Ford or own one.

This was from a quick search.

hth's

gb

 

[FL cruiser]

I had an 84 F250 with the 6.9. It was ok, but only got 12MPG at best. It was slow and sluggish. It might have been the automatic transmission. i didn't feel it was matched well to the truck.
At my work we had a couple 87 F350's with 5speeds. Even though the trucks were bigger and heavier, they would run circles around mine and got better mileage. Maybe they got better as they got newer, or the 5 speeds made them that much better.

 

[Eric Winkworth]

I know they are good, but they are a V motor aren't they?

 

[brownbear]

the old 7.3 idi models also had aweful mileage.

I have a F250 with a gasser 460...was thinking of trying to find a diesel to swap in.... well I found out the mileage on those vintage engines is not so hot. I expect 20 percent or 30 percent better MPG. but not the case here. SO I abandoned the idea. In fact with diesel more expensive it didn't make sense to fix up the old truck.

Now if diesel was 60 cents a litre....maybe.

by the way a 460 gets around 10 mpg. Can be better if you install better exhaust and intake, headers etc.... also ignition. I didn't bother. Its for sale, wife thinks its too big for a town vehicle......since nothing goes in the back it goes.......

 

[crushers]

the old 7.3 idi models also had aweful mileage.

I have a F250 with a gasser 460...was thinking of trying to find a diesel to swap in.... well I found out the mileage on those vintage engines is not so hot. I expect 20 percent or 30 percent better MPG. but not the case here. SO I abandoned the idea. In fact with diesel more expensive it didn't make sense to fix up the old truck.

Now if diesel was 60 cents a litre....maybe.

by the way a 460 gets around 10 mpg. Can be better if you install better exhaust and intake, headers etc.... also ignition. I didn't bother. Its for sale, wife thinks its too big for a town vehicle......since nothing goes in the back it goes.......

in my 1995 i got 28 mpg empty at 90 km/hr and 19 mpg towing a 60 series at 140 km/hr for 20 hours...
cheers

 

[brownbear]

Thats pretty good. I heard on the old idi models got only 14-15....was there a turbo difference maybe..

 

[crushers]

it was the only one i drove, my boy has an auto 95 and he is about 3 mpg less across the board. he has 4.11 diffs. identical trucks...