Emerson80
SDD Junior Member
Here's the situation: We bought a 1996 F-350 7.3L 4x4with the full back seat There is a second battery. There is a 25 amp fuse for the radio. It calls for 15 amp. The dimmer is kinda flaky. The tranny is an old Jasper and the turbo is not stock but sounds better than okay but not optimal. The engine has 390k miles. The last 40k was a guy that let his kid drive it without maintaining it. I perhaps have the opportunity to pull the engine and work on it. There is seepage around the oil pan gasket. I would like to take care of that. I have saved up a little bit so that I could buy parts. I have started learning about diesel and have changed the oil; it was pretty dark but not crusty or anything. The transmission fluid was dark but it sounds good. It lagged a little when it hadn't warmed up but that seems like standard operating procedure for this machine. I have shifted into 4 wheel high but come to think of it, haven't shifted into 4 Low. I have never owned or driven a diesel long term. I am an adequate enough mechanic with a chevy 350. I grew up around them. I am not a mechanic but have worked on some fine pieces of equipment and some pieces of junk that ran well with extra maintenance. I plan on driving this thing across the country and really want to fix 'that one thing' that might go out while i have my family furniture in the trailer. It looks to me like an old farmer had the truck for the first 350k then this kid ended up with it. His dad maintained it in that he got it ready for the kid. They did put some other parts on there. I suspect the kid bought the radio. So I guess what I a asking is if I can spend a little on parts, what components would i change or add? I plan on replacing all gaskets and o-rings. Everything looks pretty straight-forward. I'm trying to wrap my head around this like a familiar tractor. I have a pretty good manual for the diesel engine. I could not find which haynes book applied but i bought one pretty close. You-tube has some videos. I refer to those alot. Go easy on me, this is a first post and first diesel. i bought this truck because no engine gets to 350k by being poorly maintained and i'm making the gamble that the kid didn't rag on this truck too much so that I have a decent infrastructure for a long time to come.
