7.3 IDI - 3900 miles on Delo 5w40 CK-4

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 29, 2017
Messages
29
Location
Southern Indiana
Blackstone is saying the engine is showing a slow and painful death basically.

I find it odd that all of this came up after switching from Delo 15w40 CJ4 to Delo 5w40 CK4.

Thoughts?

I'm also showing a slight coolant leak (likely oil cooler or head gasket).

We're hunting for an engine at the moment to have on hand just in case.

UOA.jpg
 
Like I said in the other thread-are you inexplicably losing coolant? Any white goop in the oil fill cap? Potassium & sodium both going up, in concert with lead, aluminum, & iron-it might be time to start looking for another engine for it, which might be challenging for a 7.3 IDI, too many of them dropping due lack of SCAs causing cavitation & perforating cylinders, plus age. Believe me, if I had a donor 12V Cummins available, I'd make you a great deal on the 7.3 out of my '89, powerless lump!
 
Looks like you're only averaging about 4,000 miles per year? Even if it's getting tired it will keep going for years if you're not driving it much.
 
Originally Posted by DoubleWasp
What was the oil you changed at 274,125 miles?


That was the change over to CK4 5w40. Thought it was a fluke so we let it go another interval.

This truck doesn't get driven a bunch.

As far as coolant loss goes... nothing noticeable. No drop in the radiator other than when the water pump went. No sludge on the cap even with short trips during winter.
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Like I said in the other thread-are you inexplicably losing coolant? Any white goop in the oil fill cap? Potassium & sodium both going up, in concert with lead, aluminum, & iron-it might be time to start looking for another engine for it, which might be challenging for a 7.3 IDI, too many of them dropping due lack of SCAs causing cavitation & perforating cylinders, plus age. Believe me, if I had a donor 12V Cummins available, I'd make you a great deal on the 7.3 out of my '89, powerless lump!


If you aren't happy with the power... visit www.IDIPerformance.com

Justin Anderson specializes in IDI goodies... His current rig is making over 475whp (900+ lb. ft.)

I've got a Cummins in my Tahoe... I love the power.. but I also like the fact that the old IDIs will drink just about anything for fuel. We run centrifuged and thinned waste oils on the IDIs... ~$.15 / gallon to produce. The Cummins cokes up injectors quickly on anything heavier than 40% blends. I run the IDI on 100% W80 when at temp without any power loss or issues. Boost definitely helps matters in the power department.
 
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Looks like an old, tired, engine.


I do agree that it's getting tired... but the spike with the different oil is what is bothering me.
 
Originally Posted by Mr4btTahoe
Originally Posted by DoubleWasp
What was the oil you changed at 274,125 miles?


That was the change over to CK4 5w40. Thought it was a fluke so we let it go another interval.

This truck doesn't get driven a bunch.

As far as coolant loss goes... nothing noticeable. No drop in the radiator other than when the water pump went. No sludge on the cap even with short trips during winter.


It has an immense slug of phos and zinc for what I would expect from a CK-4 oil.

Whole thing could be coincidence.

If you want to go back in spec, Mystik JT8 in 15/40 or 50 is a good cheap CI-4+ oil.
 
Originally Posted by Mr4btTahoe
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Like I said in the other thread-are you inexplicably losing coolant? Any white goop in the oil fill cap? Potassium & sodium both going up, in concert with lead, aluminum, & iron-it might be time to start looking for another engine for it, which might be challenging for a 7.3 IDI, too many of them dropping due lack of SCAs causing cavitation & perforating cylinders, plus age. Believe me, if I had a donor 12V Cummins available, I'd make you a great deal on the 7.3 out of my '89, powerless lump!


If you aren't happy with the power... visit www.IDIPerformance.com

Justin Anderson specializes in IDI goodies... His current rig is making over 475whp (900+ lb. ft.)

I've got a Cummins in my Tahoe... I love the power.. but I also like the fact that the old IDIs will drink just about anything for fuel. We run centrifuged and thinned waste oils on the IDIs... ~$.15 / gallon to produce. The Cummins cokes up injectors quickly on anything heavier than 40% blends. I run the IDI on 100% W80 when at temp without any power loss or issues. Boost definitely helps matters in the power department.
You're right about that, the F-450 IDI will run on almost anything, I've mixed in clean used (non-syn) motor oil, ATF, even clean used mineral refrigeration oil. I could turbo it, but I'm afraid the head gaskets wouldn't like it much. The truck weighs north of 12,000 pounds (all steel Reading steel service body, Lord knows how much weight in parts, and sometimes pulls a trailer to deliver ice cream machines), so nothing is going to make it fast. If I trip over any decent 7.3s, or even a 6.9 IDI, I'll PM you, I'm always on the lookout down here in SW OH & northern KY. If you have Rural King near you, they have Harvest King 15W40 HDEO for $37.99/5 gallon pail, I would run that if I ever run out of Delvac 1300.
 
PM me if you're ever in Cincinnati, you can have some of my closeout Proline/Pep Boys oil filters, I have more than I'll ever use on mine. Then you could change out cheap 15W40 every 2K if you want to (which was Ford's recommendation on them back when they were new).
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
You're right about that, the F-450 IDI will run on almost anything, I've mixed in clean used (non-syn) motor oil, ATF, even clean used mineral refrigeration oil. I could turbo it, but I'm afraid the head gaskets wouldn't like it much. The truck weighs north of 12,000 pounds (all steel Reading steel service body, Lord knows how much weight in parts, and sometimes pulls a trailer to deliver ice cream machines), so nothing is going to make it fast. If I trip over any decent 7.3s, or even a 6.9 IDI, I'll PM you, I'm always on the lookout down here in SW OH & northern KY. If you have Rural King near you, they have Harvest King 15W40 HDEO for $37.99/5 gallon pail, I would run that if I ever run out of Delvac 1300.


Thanks! You can turbo it for sure... keep boost down to say ~10psi and don't max out the pump. Headgaskets will be happy and it'll make it run MUCH better. BIG decrease in EGTs and overall drivability goes way up. Not a BIG power gain but puts it up with stock 7.3 powerstrokes or early 12v Cummins. You can get stock ATS093 kits for around $500-700 complete and its definitely worth it.

We had already changed the oil before asking questions. It now has Delo 15w40 back in the case (semi-synthetic this time though). Will look at the Mystik JT-8 for sure.

Since this has come up, I'm tossing around Amsoil Marine 15w40 (designed for CI-4 specs) in my other IDIs and my Cummins. Doing some reading on it. Not worth it in this engine but have several others in much better health that I'd like to keep that way.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Switch back to a 15w-40 before you condem it. Walmart supertech works great in these engines as does tractor supply Traveller oil.


Has 15w40 Delo back in it now. We'll run it 1k-1500 and send it off again to see how things are going.
 
For the coolant leak, put some Bars Leak Tablets in the radiator.

This is ground up walnut shells, they do a good job on small leaks.

Shell Rotella T6 now comes in 15W-40 full synthetic.
I would try a run with this....
 
Last edited:
For some reason, this specific engine drinks all things Rotella. I'm talking 1gal+ per 2500 miles with no leaks. Delo and the problem went away. No idea why.
 
Originally Posted by Mr4btTahoe
For some reason, this specific engine drinks all things Rotella. I'm talking 1gal+ per 2500 miles with no leaks. Delo and the problem went away. No idea why.
That's why I mentioned the cheap stuff-the '89 actually doesn't burn it, but the RMS & oil cooler leak a fair bit (CDR is good, zero blowby). I consider it a continuous oil change with the older M1 filters I've been running, just dump in a couple quarts when it hits the add line.
 
You have no idea at this point if the oil switch was the cause of the escalation, or something else coincidental.

First, on your next OFCI, go back to the Rotella. See what happens.
For you to be able to blame the CK-4 Delo, you'll have to prove that the bad results are repeatable; going back and forth a few times.

Next, you need to understand that the wear even pre-Delo is really high; 95+ ppm Fe in 3500 miles. That's not good at all. Your Pb and Cu are on the way up, along with the Fe. You've got major bearings going out; that's my assessment. You wear rates are (rough estimate) 10x higher than a normal expectation.

As others have mentioned; coolant leak most likely part of the concern; possibly root cause.

No oil is going to put off the inevitable here; there's failure in the future. Syns are not going to stop it. Thicker lubes won't stop it.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top