ford f250 w/6.9 diesel

been looking for a new old work truck. I'm gonna have to take my 85 chevy 4wd off the road until I find time to replace a crossmember and cut out and weld a couple rusty places in the frame. looked at several trucks from late 90's thru 2006 and the frames were far more rusted than my old 85. found a 1986 f250 in North Carolina its a heavy duty thing... 6,9 diesel,4 speed,4wd,16 inch steel wheels w/10 ply tires,heavy springs,etc. its been worked but looks to have been well maintained and not abused. The interior is pretty nice and the best part it has no rust to speak of. The guy has receipts for all the work hes had done to it also. He wants 3500.00 for it. I like the fact it hasn't been rigged up with mag wheels sunroofs fat tires no little bitty steering wheel and all that other crap everyone seems to do to older trucks.I know the idi diesels are a little slow but are quite reliable. Just looking for thoughts or comments about these model trucks before I go and buy it. thanks,Mike

Well, 3500 dollars, while it is a pile of cash, is not a lot of money when your looking at trucks. Everyone knows anything with wheels and a motor are gonna be trouble sometime. Even new ones are found along the road dead. Sounds like the truck should be in your driveway. If the inside has been well maintained and the underside looks good, probably everything has been. Buy the truck. gobble

$3500 jump on it that motor is a keeper if in no hurry, boy down the road had a newer ford f250 6.0 spent over 10k on motor repairs

Simple truck. Non turbo diesel with a manual transmission. Jump on it and drive it until the body falls off it.

I had my 85 for 23 years. The body finally pretty much fell apart. Mine was non turbo. It was always a gutless thing,but tough as nails. My Ford 5.4 gas that I have now has more power,hands down going away. The last several years that I had it,it would loose its prime and I had trouble starting it. I'm sure somebody who knew what they were doing could have fixed that.

As an old Bull-hauler told Me and my Dad over 50 years ago, "Some things in trucks wear out with miles, Some things wear out with time, But this truck was well taken care of, Should last me a long long time."

Last truck the guy ever bought, was a 1963 Emeryville, spent more time and money on it at the dealer than any other truck he ever owned.

There will be rust in a 1986 F250 in places you can't even imagine. North Carolina doesn't have the snow & ice I have in Wisconsin, no salt and brine solution like we have but N. Carolina isn't Arizona desert either.

You don't mention how many miles are on this truck. Does it have a gooseneck hitch on the bed floor? Or a big receiver hitch under the rear bumper? Need to find out the axle gear ratio. I bet it has 4.10's. That old 6.9L will sound like pistons are swapping holes at 55 mph. I put 300,000 miles on a '96 F250 5-speed, 3.55 gears and 5th over-drive, and bet I tried to shift into 6th gear a Thousand times. That truck will move almost anything but will not be a highway cruiser, also won't get very good mpg either. Those V-8's don't get very good mileage running over 2000 rpm.

My '96 developed some issues, problems, after it got about 12 to 15 years old. Chronic over-heating only a new radiator, fan clutch, water pump, fan belt, belt tensioner, and coolant flush & new coolant fixed. There was a steel tube between the exh. manifold to a pressure sensor at the front of the engine to control the engine warm-up valve in the turbo, tube plugged solid, sensor shot, it defuels the engine in this condition, new sensor, tube, half hour of labor, engine now makes 16 psi boost, 1100-1200 degrees EGT, 55-60 psi oil pressure, 194-195 degrees coolant temp., just like a new truck would.

Son's spent a lot of money on my old truck I gave him, but he's close to having a 22 year old truck that runs like new after over 300,000 mostly all highway miles. Most of the times it was started it ran at 65-75 mph for an hour.

Currently I am running two trucks, '86 460 and the '87 4X4 C-6 Auto 6.9 diesel. The '87 6.9 showed up for around, I believe, $1600. When I showed up to look at it, the PO had it running. Not a good sign. I turned it off, he came out and it was not a real easy restart for a diesel that had been running. Took it for a drive and the steering column wobbled like a fish outa water.
I worked the 4WD and it seemed okay, the trans fluid was clean and I had it towed home with no batteries. The PO had another truck for sale and the batteries were not new. Hence, another drop in his asking price of $2700. I did notice the engine in the truck has reman stickers on it from Ford, slightly covered in oil and the ODO was reading 33K. I suspect 233K as the 133K the seller of the deceased brother was talking about just didn't add up.
It came home, new batteries and no start. Drivers door hinges were shot and a few other problems. Then I learned basic diesels. Glow plugs should be Motorcraft. NOT Autolite or other. Others might swell and not be removable. You might want to at least pull one and make sure it is not a cheap unit, unless you desire to pull the heads in the future to get them out. The early 6.9 diesel had a controller upgrade to the mid '94 7.3. After mid '94, the 7.3 was totally redesigned and the 7.3 Power Stroke came out. The difference between the 6.9 and the 7.3 pre '94 is 20 HP and 20 Ft Lb Torque.
The 6.9 glow plugs are no longer available and the upgrade is the 7.3 with a bullet end instead of the 6.9 spade. Slide on electrical connectors will need to be installed on the harness. Also, over by the passenger side battery might be a rectangular connector and (2) 8 Ga wires running through it. That connector is a good failure point for that harness.
That International 6.9 won't pass much going down he road, but might also run 400K.

The 6.9 is a IH motor. Never much liked them but never owned one.
My experience with them was having a stall at a Ford dealer next to the guy that worked on the 6.9 when they first came out in about 1984.
That mechanic had about a full time job just replacing head gaskets on new 6.9's still in warranty.
They may or may not have got the problem fixed but I really do not know as a moved on to a different job.

Recently I was talking to an former co-worker who purchased one of these new back in about 1988. The first thing he did was to install a Bank turbocharger on it.
Anyway, for no particular reason, I asked him how long he had his truck before he sold it. He told me that he still has it and has never done anything to the engine or transmission.
He works it pretty hard by hauling wood with it.

Hello John in La,

That was the only problem as I recall. The 7.3 with bigger heads and cooling system fix that,

Guido.

Hello graygander

Head gasket issue with the 6.9 IH engine. A 7.3 would not have that issue, with bigger heads and cooling system,

Guido.

Sold my '86 F250 a couple years ago with 317,000 on it, still started and ran nice but steering was worn out (again). My son saw it next town over couple weeks ago and it's still running well with 345,000 on it. The New Holland dealer I worked for had that truck since a year old until we bought it from them in '99, and a '89 7.3 IDI. The 6.9 always started better in the winter than the 7.3 did. Put injectors and glow plugs at 285,000. I did have a head gasket go bad AT 316,000. When the mechanic did the compression check it had 7 cylinders at 400 PSI, new is 425. It had Lucas oil treatment every oil change since 35,000 miles.

I bought a 6.9 early in their production run . Put maybe 50,000 miles on it. Rear end, 3 transmission input shafts, 3 injector pumps, water pump, fuel pump , head gaskets, lifter set, and 2 sets of glow plugs during that time. Last time it went down I sold it as is and went back to the big block gas. Yes, I pulled it hard. Thought that was what a diesel was as built for..I now have a 7.3 Powerstroke I bought in 2003. Excellent truck.

The 6.9 was supposed to be comparable in performance to the 351 gas. That was before everybody needed a trailer hauler. Dad bought one to replace the 79 Chevy C20 with 350 gas and automatic. He used it like he had the chevy. He had pretty good luck with it. His next truck had the non turbo 7.3, I believe. He still has his 3rd Ford with a diesel. 1996 7.3 powerstroke. It doesn't hardly get used any more. He is 90 and has a 4 door half ton. I don't think he had any engine or transmission issues with the diesels. He kept them stock and didn't abuse them. He had a 7 1/2 x 24 stock trailer and hauled quite a few hogs and a hay trailer.

7.3 needs the cooling system additive that 6.9 does not. Most diesels appear to have head gasket problems if the cooling system is not cared for.

I had an '86 F250 6.9 auto 2wd. Got it with 180,000 miles on it. Everyone said they were designed to run 300K. At 302K the motor was done.
In the years I had it I had to put an injector pump on it, and a rear hub. And had to replace the heater core. Those were the only problems I ever had with it. Mileage wasn't bad. I got around 17 on the highway, and 12 in town hauling a load.
Very good trucks for the time but they rusted badly.

OK I'm gonna tell you the truth about the 6.9 motor. I bought 1-34 ton to use for a tire service truck. It was a Hugh mistake. It had new injectors put in it before we got it. We put at least 2 water pumps on it, several torque converters, at least 2 tranny's, a complete new motor, numerous glow plugs and glow plug controllers. Ford uses 6 volt glow plugs in the darn thing, 12 volt Oldsmobile glow plugs are the exact same size and will last 2 or 3 times longer. They make 2 different brands of starters for the darn things, the cheaper one lasts as long as the more expensive one. It got to the place where I carried 1 behind the seat. It was cheaper for me to replace it along the road than call a tow truck. They were head crackers, we put at least 2 on the original motor. The ford dealer did all the work on this thing. You could not give me another one. Oh they are gutless, if you are figuring on pulling a trailer, it will be a very slow trip. I sold it to a guy after the new motor shelled out. He converted it to gas.

The old 6.9 only had 150-175 hp from the factory with peak torque around 315 ft pds. It also weighed in at 860 pounds - which why the steering wore out on the trucks with them in it. The 1987 300 I6 had 145 hp and 265 torque and weighed a little more than half what the 6.9 weighed. I'd a take an F250 or F350 with a 300 6 in equal condition to one with a 6.9 every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Save your money and find a 7.3, much better.

I've had an 83 and 86 with the 6.9 and four speed, and an 86 with a 6.9 and three speed automatic. None of them were overly powerful, but that automatic sucked what life the motor had. I was pulling a wagon with 200 small squares on it up a steep grade with the automatic - ran out of go in first gear and had to drop down to low range. The exact same load and hill with the four speed, and it pulled it in second gear
I loved them otherwise - they were very reliable for me
Pete

Back in the day, they where the best thing going. got an '85 still with 90k on it, but its got a welder on it and sits in the barn.. had an 86 and ran it around 325k before it got pretty tired. By todays standards, they are gutless. but back then they beat everything pretty much in that category....

weaknesses
Fuel water separator would rust at bottom drain valve and let truck loose prime..

Orings on injectors at return lines would crack and leak diesel and loose prime.

Control for Relay for glow plugs could go bad.

On borg/warner trans, the throwout bearing could gall on the pilot shaft and drag when releasing and cause premature clutch wear. Greasing it solved the problem as it was not greased at the factory. Not a problem on the new process tranny.

The rosamaster pump had a teflon govenor ring that deteriorated from diesel fuel and would come apart at 60k miles, but I paid 30 bucks extra for a brass ring and never touched the pump again.

Headlight switch overload would go bad and need a new headlight switch. Head Lights would start blinking off and on..

They only fueled for 8000 or 9000 lbs. I tried pulling my 25k gooseneck and could barely hold 50 mph and you could not see the hyway behind me. So remember the ratings were a lot lower back then. Truck would do around 92/96 mph, empty, at redline limit of the injector pump. iirc.

Really really ran good with new air filter.