New member here. I just traded my 89 F250 gasser for an 89 F350 w/ a 7.3 diesel. My first diesel. I took it out today with my toy hauler and was totally disappointed with the power. The truck has 188,000 miles on it. What should I look for to try to get the power output up to at least to what my old gasser had? Also the motor has a knock that sounds like it is coming from the bottom end, is that common? I have read the threads on the forum and if I need to install a turbo, which one would you suggest? Banks, ATS? Any and all info is greatly appreciated. Thanks
You might have bad injectors in my haynes manual it say there will be a rod knock sound if the injectors are bad.
I had an '93 non-turbo and put the Banks Sidewinder turbo pack on it. let me tell you this made a huge difference in power, like night and day. Don't give up, this TV is one of the toughest light-duty trucks built...waytogo
Be tough to diagnos a knock from here. Big thing, is you are used to a gasser, which is quiet, and you may very well be hearing a normal diesel noise. Or you could have an issue. I really don't know. Where in Or are you? I should be passing through the I5 coridor in the next week or 2. As for a turbo, YES! Turboed 7.3's have more than plenty of power potential and will still get awesome mileage. I thnk either the ATS or the Banks kit will work great. I don't deal with Hypertech cause they are just too damned expensive for what you get. I'll work up a price quote for ya! Did you get the 5 speed or auto?
Well as a farmer who has run a few NA diesels since first available on light duty truck chassis about 30 years ago, I have never had any trouble towing or hauling with my trucks. If you're expecting a speed demon, be prepared to spend some money or just go to a newer truck. There are those of us who are quite happy with the performance (and mileage) we get. Then again, I do all of my own repair and tuning so I know what I have down to the bolt.
I had a 90 F-250 with a NA 7.3 and 5 speed. The first thing you need to do is learn how to drive this truck because it does not react the same as it would with a gas engine. When you are pulling a hill run it hard and you have to look farther down the road and have to react sooner because they do not recover well when you have to slow down on a hill. I could out run most others on a hill unless the traffic prevented me from maintaining my speed. Then your are looking for a lower gear. The power band is narrower than you are use to but when you stay in the power band you will be surprised at what it will do. They run very well at 2200 to 2500 rpms. While I had mine I replaced the injectors, and the injector pump and when I replaced the pump it had an air leak and bought the highest horse power pump for a non turbo engine. I also had dual exhaust put on mine, the stock exhaust had 8.5 pounds of back pressure and NV designed that engine to opertate with 1.5 pounds and the most. I use to drive that truck all over the western US on the interstates and over mountain passes in WY, OR, CO, NM, AZ, CA and WA. One year I had it on both coasts twice. But once you learn how to get the most out of it they are hard on drive train, mine was on its 3 transfer case and the transmission went out. On one trip East to Long Island I out ran a Power Stroke and I had more weight and it was because I learnd how to get the most out of it.
