1989 7.3IDI Diesel Ambulance Cold Start

My daughter Aryssa made this ‘cold start’ video of my 1989 International Harvester powered 7.3IDI diesel ambulance.

For most of the 1990s it was used by at least two ambulance services in the Salt Lake City area of Utah.

You can barely see the residue from the Idaho State University logo on the side of the ‘box’.

Then it was used by my Alma Mater (Idaho State University) as a ‘static’ vehicle (because it did not run) for EMS training from about 1998 to 2012 or maybe 2015, then was left to rot in their vehicle maintenance yard. I bought it for $750 in 2019. I replaced the fuel, engine oil, fan belts, found an air cleaner assembly (the original was missing), bought a new expensive oil dip stick (the original was broken in half), new batteries (it takes two), and new tires (6 expensive tires that cost more than what I paid for the ambulance). It runs strong, and several diesel mechanics told me the 50-thousand miles on the odo-meter is correct.

I also replaced the forward facing red lenses with amber lenses. I’m still struggling to figure out why the tail lights suddenly went haywire after I got the new tires (they come on, but randomly and they do weird things when I step on the brake pedal and have the turn signal on). Replaced two flashers, checked all the bulbs, fuses are good, tearing apart the steering column now to see if the wiring in there is still good.

Pandemic 2020: SOUTHEAST IDAHO PANDEMIC ROAD-TRIP