Ford 7.3 Diesel...only 185 HP
Hard to believe that the first 7.3 was only 185 horsepower. Was also IDI (In Direct Injection) and non turbo for those who were not paying attention to diesel powered trucks back in the late 80's.:...
Forum Discussion
ib516 wrote:Tystevens wrote:
Well, the simplicity did have some benefits. For a story ...
On the aforementioned 6.2 Suburban and 22 mpg trip from Oregon to Utah ... me, my girlfriend and a bunch of friends were driving the Suburban from So. Oregon to SLC, Utah. The route goes through Lakeview, Oregon and Winnemucca, Nevada, with about 220 miles of absolutely nothing in between. Moreso than hwy 97, this is truly the 'loneliest highway' in America IMO. We were driving all night. I've driven this route many times, you can go a couple hours w/o seeing another vehicle at night.
The Suburban lost a belt somewhere around 4 am, about 100 miles from Winnemucca. Fortunately, everything apparently was mechanical -- no spark plugs, mech fuel pump, etc. We went on the batteries for headlights until they died, fortunately just around the time dawn was breaking, so we kept driving. Got to Winnemucca around 6 am, nothing open, so we keep driving. Arrived at Battle Mountain just as Napa was opening and got the new belt.
So moral of the story, we drove over 250 miles w/o an alternator and dead batteries, and more importantly, 7 teenagers avoided being stuck in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night for who knows how long, due to the simplicity of the vehicle.
How did the water pump work?
If I remember correctly the early 6.2 was a multi belt system. One for the AC one for the Alt and one for the PS.
If I also remember correctly the fuel shut-off solenoid was a power on system. IOW's 12v held the solenoid open. When you turned the key off it would kill all juice to the pump and a spring would kill the fuel to the IP. :E
