are engine oil leaks difficult to fix on a 7.3 l idi diesel

Excess oil in the crankcase of any engine can cause problems by creating too much oil pressure or interfering with optimal lubrication.. The best thing is to remove all the oil and measure what you put back, just to be sure, as it's possible that in an engine that old, something might have happened to the dipstick so it no longer reads correctly.

Thank you for the information. I just bought the truck a couple of weeks ago, so I am just becoming familiar with it. It ran fine coming home (about 100 mile drive), and after it sat in front of my house for a couple of days, the battery was dead. Since it has parallel batteries, I was worried that jumping the truck with my car would be a bad idea. I actually had it hooked up and tried the truck two or three times, but then decided it was too much drain on my car and would damage my alternator in my car. So, I bought a battery charger and charged each battery separately (took about 18 hours to charge both). My question is this, I read that I can hook the positive clamp on the charger to the positive post on one battery, and hook the negative clamp of the charger to the negative post on the second battery and charge them both simultaneously. I have not tried it, but would this work?

That's a good way to charge batteries that are wired in series. where you have a joining battery cable running from positive on one battery to negative on the other. That's not common in cars because that will double the battery voltage: 2 12 volt batteries would push 24 volts into the car's electrical system. Parallel 12 volt batteries which is how cars are usually wired push 12 volts, but at double the capacity and have the ability to run individually when there is a disconnect switch. Dual unswitched batteries is the system you find in Diesel trucks like yours because the starter sucks up so much juice. You likely need new batteries. Have them tested, and you may charge both by connecting cables to just one battery.

Hi There, Thank you for taking the time to answer. So, when I charged the batteries, after about eight hours, the charger indicated the first battery was charged and the charger was maintaining, so I switched the charger to the second battery. I'm not sure it would have charged the second battery if I hadn't switched, since the charger said it was maintaining and not charging, but perhaps if I had just left it, both batteries might have charged. BTW, thank you for explaining the difference between batteries hooked up in parallel, and batteries hooked up in a series. That is completely new to me. I drove by the shop where my truck is yesterday, this was after a woman at the shop promised me the mechanic would call me letting me know what he found on the truck, but he never called. Unfortunately, it gets worse, when I drove by the shop, my truck was actually parked across the street from the shop with a broken wing window on the drivers side. Despite the broken wing window, the truck was locked, so I assume the shop is aware of the window. The keys were not in the truck because I was able to reach in the wing window and open the door, because I was looking for the codes attached to the edge of the door, which among other things, tell me what the towing capacity is. I think one of two things occurred. Either the mechanic locked the keys in the truck and broke the window to get in, or there was some vandalism in the area. I guess in the first instance, the shop has to either fix the window, or pay to have it fixed, but in the second case, I think it would on me. The whole situation is really tiring because my truck shouldn't even be there, if they would have taken care of the truck in a timely manner! The truck should be parked in front of my house, not across the street from their shop.

Again, being a "94, it precedes OBD-II, which is all mechanics today actually know. OBD-I appeared in "91 and this semi-useless diagnostic system is what's on your truck. You will have a difficult time finding any mechanic who will work on this truck, but you should diligently try to find another and get the truck out of the hands of that fraud..... Find out what he drives, drive by the shop and when you see his vehicle, he's there. Discus all this with him, especially about the broken window; not that he'll be truthful,.... Contact Ford and Ford Truck owners clubs. They are a wealth of information and advice: they should know of better shops that can really help you..... I've been in race cars since I was ten. I can tell you that if you don't know how to work on vehicles yourself, you should never own an older one. You have to rely on service from others and there are almost nothing but fakes & gougers out there. This truck might end up costing more than a new one.

Hi, Thank you for your advice. I will never go to that mechanic again. I have not gone to anyone else. I'm heeding your advice and digging into the truck on my own. The charging system seems to be working...it's just the truck is so hard to start at times, I end up running the batteries down, but that's only happened a few times, cause sometimes it starts right up, or with patience and TLC, I manage to get it going. My fuel system seems ok (hopefully airtight), but I do have a question about it - if I open the schrader valve on top of the fuel filter and I get a flow of fuel and no air, my fuel system should be pretty much air tight, correct? I am now convinced that my starting issues are glow plug related, so that's next. Luckily, I have a couple of nice manuals and one of them has step by step directions to test the controller, harness, and glow plugs. I can't hardly wait to get this done, cause I really think it's going to help. I have a quick question about glow plugs too. When I bought the truck, the guy told me he installed a manual glow plug switch. The thing is, when I turn the key on, the Wait to Start illuminates for a short time, and then starts cycling on and off (clicking) for another 10-15 seconds because of bad plugs...then it turns off. At this point, I don't know whether to push the manual button or not, and believe me, I've tried both, and one method doesn't seem to be any better than the other. My question is - could these glow plugs still be automatic with a manual option, cause that's sort of the conclusion I have drawn, but maybe I'll find out when I work on repairing the system? Hoping my controller and harness are fine, and I just need new plugs. In summary, my questions were about the schrader valve on the fuel filter and whether my glow plugs could be both auto and manual. Thanks, all! Appreciate it!