i have a 2000 dodge cummins and i love it but i cant afford to keep it much longer, so im thinking about getting a idi. my question is which is better, the 7.3 or the 6.9. its gonna be a daily driver and not see too much heavy pulling but i love diesels and lost interest in gas. plus the idi, from what i can figure is pretty easy to work on and simple to understand. does anyone have any suggestions?

 

The old idi engines are very good reliable engines as for which is better I don't know. I would probably buy a 7.3. They are easy to work on have minimum electronics and are cheep to maintenance. The only problem is after market performance parts are almost no existent but if you are not going to turn it up that doesn't mater.

 

The IDI engines were introduced to ford in 83-92.5 the from 92.45-94.5 the factory turbos came out. The IDI engines are my favorite diesel engines out there. The it goes the ol 12 valve. The IDI's are simple to work on. But performance mods you are pretty much standing alone on them. You pretty much have to build most of the performance mods you want, or good companys like ATS and Hypermax and Banks do make good turbo kits if you want to spend the thrifty nickle. They get good gas mileage some were around 11-22 at max. The one concern of the IDI's are the Egt's, if you pull alot they do tend to climb quiet a bit. The 7.3 is a bored out 6.9. If you can find a IDI with a good body and a well taken care of motor she will last you a life time.

 

Get a 6.9L. Everything is simple on the engine. I bought one a few months ago and have learned so much about them. This is my first diesel.

 

The only real issues you will run into regarding the 6.9 vs the 7.3, is the 7.3 is more prone to cavitation. The 7.3 has a better glow plug system though. You can get the best of both worlds if you find a 1987 truck. It will have a 6.9 with the 7.3 GP system. If you go to check out a 7.3, ask the seller about the SCA history. If the truck has more than 150k miles and he doesn't know what you are talking about, best to walk away. Cavitation usually shows itself within 120-150k miles if it never gets the additives. If you do get a high mileage truck that shows no signs of cavitation, just get the cooling system flushed and the proper coolant/SCA's added and you can stop the cavitation from happening. Maintained, these motors will last as long as any cummins.

 

and sound better to IMO.

 

What is cavitation in general? And to answer your question sir I have a 1990 f350 7.3 and it has held up really well, for 23 years it has 95,000 miles on it, And what coolant would you guys reccomend besides the Cat. How does Evans coolant hold up? What would the SCA levels be and if the coolant doesnt have them in it how would I get it and how much to add?
My coolant still protects great and looks like brand new.

 

Cavitation is the errosion of the walls of the cooling jacket surrounding your engine. The last cylinder on each side was bored just a little larger than the other four. This made the cylinder walls thinner. Imagine a pin ball machine, as the ball bounces back and forth across the surface of the screen, so does the water in the cooling jacket of a 7.3 engine. As the water hits one surface wall back to the other side it errodes. Some speculate that since these engine blocks were sand poured molds, that this is also a contribution also.

The 6.9 engine doesn't have this side effect due to the thicker walls, but would not hurt in using the DCA additives. Fleetguard is a coolant that already has the additive in it. Napa sells a additive named Kwikkool also, just add one bootle to the 7.3 cooling system. Some, including myself have incorporated a cooling system filter to their trucks, you can purchase coolant filters with the DCA additive already. That system is added to the heater hose exit of the engine, before it travels to the heater core and back to the inlet of the water pump.

I have heard that Svans is a superior coolant that does not require water to be added to the mix and has a no boil over temp.

Once you start using DCA's in your coolant system, Napa sells coolant test strips for test the level of the additive.

 

I got your message and you said Napa has the additive?

 

Meant to say NapaKool, and yes Napa carries it.

Sorry my thoughts were quicker than my typing in the proper post.