Is this a good purchase?

[cao428]

My husband just bid on a 1994 Ford 350 diesel 7.3 retired ambulance to be used as a utility truck for his tools since we own some rental property. It has 124K miles on it. i have a mechanic friend that claims these vehicles have tranny issues and frame problems, and he made a poor choice. Now I am a bit scared, but we haven't paid for it yet...Any feedback? I was under the impression these were good vehicles and lasted forever. Please help...he isn't the type that will have time to work on it.

[Chiller]

Dont know much about the obs but heres a bumb

[Black&Gold]

The 7.3L Power Stroke is a great engine, it is very reliable and if you do some searching here on the ORG you will see some members on here with over 300,000 miles. there are a few problems with the 4r100 transmission, if it is not slipping or acting up yet it would be a very good idea to install a shift kit, this will up the line pressures at which the transmision shifts at, allowing for more firmer quicker shifts, and limiting the slipage that will inevitability cause transmission failure. the O-Rings on the High Pressure Oil Pump (HPOP) are also know to fail causing an oil leak, but good new is the parts are only 10 dollars and it is a quick 30 minute fix. please do not let this scare you, this is still a very strong running and reliable engine. things you should do when/if you pick up your amazing new purchase are, change the oil and filter, check the air filter and change the fuel filter. as for the frame, i am not too sure on the ambulance's but i know it should be the same or even more reinforced then stock and that is to say the least. I am sure some one else will chime in about the frame. good luck and Welcome to POWERSTROKE.ORG!

[ridiculously_necessary]

should be fine if its been cared for. the transmission is an E40D, similar to the 4r100. they have similar problems but a valve body upgrade helps. in either case, if hes not pulling anything it might be just fine. i havent heard about the HPOP O-Rings, but the injector o rings can be issues. no biggie on that though. havent to heard about frame issues, maybe that just an ambulance thing?

lastly when you say 94, is it a powerstroke or IDI? they are two very different engines. If it's an IDI not much of this applies. 94.5 is when they started making powerstrokes.

mainly the trannies are a bit sloppy, but in all these are great trucks. welcome to the org! if you have questions ask here or a diesel mechanic, not a gasser mechanic.

[cao428]

Thanks so much for all of your help. I forwarded this forum and comments to my husband. our only concern is could be a vehicle with a transmission on it's way out from what I am hearing, since we grabbed it off of ebay. Ebay claims to offer protection on purchases with anything wrong costing over $1000...

[Black&Gold]

sorry i read to fast, yeah, that will have the e40d, and i am not sure if the OBS's have problems with there HPOP O-rings. i will let an OBS guroo take it from here.

[ryandamo]

ill give it a shot. first of the tranny, i have 200k on the original e4od tranny however my truck is much lighter than an ambulance, but i wouldnt let that scare you. if it ever does blow out, you can get a rebuilt one or have it rebuilt for not a crazy amount. the thing you want to do is change the fluid in it regularly, and a big empasis on the shift kit. inside the tranny their are clutches that slip when in between gear changing. stock trannys do it slow and smoothly for ride comfort. what a shift kit does is make the tranny shift faster resulting in less slippage and less parts wearing out.

as far as the frame, they are rediculously strong i dont think youll ever have a problem. I know a few people who have bought ambulances and have worked on them, and theres one problem that should be addressed. you NEED to make sure that when you take off the wheels and put them back on that you torque each bolt EQUALLY and in a star pattern, my freind slapped the wheel back on his ambulance without a torque wrench to make it precise and broke 7 out of 8 studs off from over tighening.


if its a powerstroke motor (direct injection) then there a few things that may leak but are pretty easy to repair in a few hours. Hoever im about 60 percent sure they didnt drop powerstokes in vans in 94 for some reason. i might be wrong. if this is the case then you have a 7.3 idi engine, which is also a very good engine which will get high mileage. the one thing you have to worry about with this engine is the coolant. Diesel engines need a speciall additive in the coolant to prevent cavitation from the high compression. test strips and additives can be found at any auto parts store, just ask for diesel coolant test strips.


the plus side is, if its an ambulance, its probably been maintaned and whenever something has broke its been fixed correctly since they invloce life and death situations and are usually owned by either a wealthy company or a town that has plenty of taxpayer money to spend.

if the price is right go for it, youd be suprise how much equipment you could fit in one of these things. and if you ever run into any problems, we will be glad to guide you in the right direction

[cao428]

Thanks so much ryandamo...great info. Question: I am a little confused Black&G. What is "OBS"?

thanks

[Jarrod B]

only owned a obs for a year and a half. my front frame horn was cracked. dunno how that got there. it was welded sometime ago from a po. had it welded since it broke the weld and was flexin. but it was a company truck for like 250k. and i sold it at 334k. the engine is a solid engine that will last a long time. and the e4od it had wasnt bad. it needed rebuilt but was still drivable.
the one you found seems like a nice buy. i would imagine the ambulances were fleet serviced so it should have been kept up.

got pics of it?

and welcome to the org!

[cao428]

Hi bockhold, Thank you!

I still don't know what an OBS is..My hub also has a, 86 Ford F250 heavy duty pickup with plow package (but no plow...was stolen). Not currently running as needs minor repair, but been garaged for 20 + years. only about 30K miles on it. Anyone know what it's worth? Antique now..

Here is a photo of the ambulance. Hope we didn't pay too much for it.

Ford : E-Series Van : eBay Motors (item 250565515041 end time Jan-24-10 19:26:09 PST)