Spotted the camper I've been looking for on Craigslist, but the guy wouldn't separate it from the '89 F-250 Lariat it was strapped to. So I've added a pre-Powerstroke 7.3 to my fleet of three ninth generation 7.3 Powerstrokes. Figuring the value (to me) of the camper, I'd say I gave about a grand for this new truck. It's loaded with camper-related stuff, including a 50 gallon rear tank (spare is on the front receiver hitch bracket), very heavy duty tie-downs, the nice wide mirrors, and removed rear seating to accommodate another tank. Odometer indicates 150k miles, but no way to verify. Dark grey over light grey paint in pretty good shape. Couple of small dents and no rust. It runs great and looks pretty darn good for an '89. Has a small oil leak I haven't traced. It does have a turbo, but I don't know what type. It works, as the boost gauge shows about a 5 psi boost when i get into it. EGT gauge is in the same dash-mounted instrument.

I have to decide whether or not to negotiate with my bride about adding a fourth diesel to my collection, but I don't know anything about these rigs. My three PSD's are all stock and pristine with low miles (my '95 250 2WD XLT has 72k miles on it and looks brand new - the others, both 4X4's, are right at 100k). The great thing about multiple trucks is they age more slowly.

Questions for Ford fans:

How can I identify manufacturer of turbo, and is there one that would indicate I should unload this rig?

General thoughts on these trucks compared to the PSD's?

Worth keeping if a checkup reveals no major work required?

Thanks.

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Belay that. Sold to a very happy buyer.

 

ATS and BANKS are the only maufacturers of turbo units for these trucks that I am aware of. The both produced similar results and neither is known for having any serious problems. The only difference is some are wastegated and some aren't.

With a turbo properly adjusted and the fuel turned up a bit, the IDI will make just as much power as a stock early PSD. A major benefit of the IDI over the PSD is the lack of things to go wrong. No electronics, no sensors, everything is driven mechanically.

If you can make use of the truck then there is no real need to offload it in a hurry. Keep the coolant SCA's up to spec. and it should last for a couple hundred thousand more miles.

 

it's back in the driveway, so this is an extremely pleasant read. it's a very good looking rig and i may just tweak it back to shipshapeness and hang on to it as a pre-powerstroke sentimentality. thanks, sycostang67

 

Yeah these trucks are real hard to kill man ... there real easy to up keep and just a pleasure to work on ..... unless you need to do head gaskets ... like I'm doing ... but they did last 25yrs ....

 

with three powerstrokes in the driveway, i went looking for a camper. my patient bride allowed the purchase of the combo with the soon-to-be-broken promise that the non psd rig would soon get gone. oh well, it's a big driveway.

 

What do you mean by a properly adjusted turbo ?

 

boost 'em too much and the head gaskets'll go, among other things. 5 psi max recommended

 

Could always shave pistons to lower compression then stud the heads to allow for more boost

 

So by " tuning up " the Turbo...you actually mean turning up the injector pump screw right ?

 

In a sense yes, you have to compensate the fuel for the extra air being forced into the cylinder