IH T 444 engine.

D beatty

Well-known Member
Any body run one of these IH T 444 engines and any pros and cons for this engine. Are they a long or short life engine ?
 
Go to be a blue hundred thousand of those running school buses, also the parent engine of the 7.3 Powerstroke. It's a proven power plant to me.proper coolant maintenance is its biggest concern.
 
Essentially a 7.3 Powerstroke, usually rated at a little less power than the pickup engines. I have 300,000 on my Powerstroke with just regular maintenance, oil and filter changes, fuel filter. A set of glow plugs and a handful of glow plug relays (hard to find a good one anymore). She is needing injector O-rings now, so I'll tear it apart this summer and probably change the glow plugs while I'm in there. I've been also debating just swapping the engine with one that they have at a local scrapyard with 170,000 for $500. I'd have to change a couple things, oil pan, front cover, fuel filter bowl, etc, but not sure if I'm gonna do that yet or not. Mine had a VERY hard life its first 200,000, but now it just drives me back and forth to work each day (24 miles) and hauls most of the farm type stuff on a gooseneck along with gravity wagons and a load of logs occasionally. Good engines, a lot of people like them. Just think of how they get driven in the school buses. Stop, hammer it, stop, hammer it, all day every day.
 
It was also called the Ford 7.3 IDI. Pre power stroke engine. If I'm not mistaken, the 444T was for marine application
 
We bought them new in school buses. I think they was 444xt. Got excellent fuel milage. We got good service. The newer 6 L suck.
 
Don't buy it. Your putting a Briggs and Stratton in a peterbuilt. Nothing wrong with either but not good together. Probably same money buy the same truck with a 466. Much better setup
 
I am now kind of backing away from it and going to a truck with gas engine . I need something heavier to pull my trailer to pulls and tractor shows.
 
Good engines. We had 3 different welding trucks I was around that had them in it. Not exactly power houses, but ran forever. I remember one had a turbo die, but that's the only major issue I can remember out of the 3. They didn't have an easy life either. Trucks rusted out around them.
 
Just about NOTHING in common between a 7.3 IDI and a T444E. There was a marine version of the T444E modified by someone, can't remember who, but it was not designed as a marine engine initially. It was a light medium duty truck engine for wreckers and roll back trucks, school busses that used to use gas guzzling gasoline engines and used in millions of Ford pickups. The T444E used HEUI injection like the PSD but the programming was biased more towards heavier truck duty than the Ford PSD. PSD was governed to 3300-3400 rpm, T444E was around 3000-3100.
 

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