'05 Budget Engine Rebuild

[Dysfunctional Vet]

Has anyone else removed the trans heater unit? Not sure if that's the exact name. It looks like a 4X4X6 inch block on the driver's side of the block near the fuel filter. I live in central Texas, not much need for a transmission heater. Does anybody have a hack to deleting the heater and using reliable hydraulic connections?

 

[BigPapa]

It’s not a heater, it’s a heat exchanger. Cummins calls it a torque converter cooler. Yes, it will warm the fluid to operating temperature but it will also cool the fluid when the transmission fluid is hot. For functionality I would suggest leaving it. However, the 3rd Gen units are known to fail, mixing coolant and transmission fluid which will cause transmission failure before you realize there’s an issue. 2nd Gen units are pretty much bulletproof.

 

[AH64ID]

On a stock, or stockish, truck I wouldn’t bother with a bypass. I would possibly use something like this, but also probably wouldn’t bother.

https://puredieselpower.com/dodge-p....7l-cummins-rear-block-freeze-plug-plate.html


As for EGT’s if the motor is stock and in good working order the EGT’s are fine. The factory programming on the 05 gets the EGTs up to 1450° and it’s a safe continuous temp due to the injection timing. Less heat is absorbed by the piston than a properly tuned 05 at 1300°.

 

[Darkbloodmon]

On a stock, or stockish, truck I wouldn’t bother with a bypass. I would possibly use something like this, but also probably wouldn’t bother.

https://puredieselpower.com/dodge-p....7l-cummins-rear-block-freeze-plug-plate.html


As for EGT’s if the motor is stock and in good working order the EGT’s are fine. The factory programming on the 05 gets the EGTs up to 1450° and it’s a safe continuous temp due to the injection timing. Less heat is absorbed by the piston than a properly tuned 05 at 1300°.

and to think 1200* made me nervous.

 

[AH64ID]

and to think 1200* made me nervous.

You have an 03, different motor and EGT parameters. 1200° is fine on an 03 and it shouldn’t push 1450° stock. It’s easy to add a few psi of boost to an 03 thou and cool off the stock temps.

 

[bcbender]

I thought the 03-04 engines could drop valve seats if used above 1400* for extended periods and the 04-5 up had different seats? I had my TST set to begin de-fueling at 1250* for that reason.

 

[AH64ID]

I thought the 03-04 engines could drop valve seats if used above 1400* for extended periods and the 04-5 up had different seats? I had my TST set to begin de-fueling at 1250* for that reason.

The 03-04 are not designed for the added heat like the 04.5 is. They also didn’t need it since they ran more advanced timing and had cooler EGT’s.

 

[bcbender]

Thanks John for the clarification, Yet another reason I should've kept my 04!!

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

Got it down to the bare block. Cam shaft and crank mains looked good. This weekend I plan on honing the cylinders then taking an emory cloth to the crank-to-rod journals. Hope the ring end gaps meet specs when I'm done.
Appreciate the heads up on the heat exchanger and the coolant bypass. Looks like I have more research to complete.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

The reason I was looking at the coolant bypass (CB) was because of the discrepancies in cylinders 5 and 6. This led me to research that stated 5 and 6 heat up and the CB would help.
As for EGTs I've read that aluminum melts at 1250 F. This is why I try never to go past 1150 F, 1200 at most if only for a brief time (1 minute or less). I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[AH64ID]

The pistons are not pure aluminum, but rather an aluminum alloy. Either way the temps at the time of combustion is much higher than what you measure on the pyro.

The pistons are cooled and won’t get as hot as the air in the cylinder. It’s a stock truck with stock programming. There are hundreds of thousands of them running without any gauges and they don’t melt on non-malfunctions engines, so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Also, the timing is heavily retarded on 04.5-07 5.9 so more heat goes out the exhaust and the pistons see less heat. You would have much higher cylinder temps on a 03 at 1150° than a 05 at 1150° on the pyro.

Even with my tuned 05 running a LOT more timing than stock I wasn’t concerned about sustained 1250° EGTs.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

All good info AH64ID. Appreciate the detailed insight. If I had more of a budget I'd like to over-engineer the engine to bullet proof it for towing. Your info gives me peace of mind.

 

[bcbender]

I'd like to over-engineer the engine to bullet proof it for towing.

The 03-04s were pretty much there from the factory.... (sans proper filtration)

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

So I honed the cylinders today.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

View attachment 1309 81[/ATTACH]

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

Wondering if it spec'd out? Yah, me too. I did know. Turns out the rings weren't in the kit.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

I don't know. Thought I had the rings, but the kit was incomplete. Thought I was just missing the oil pan gasket.
Finished all the cylinders, went to grab a ring to check the gap and see if my budget rebuild was still on track or gone off the rails.

 

[Dysfunctional Vet]

Surprise! Rings weren't in the kit I had. Thought I was only missing the oil pan gasket...wrong.
So now I have to wait until tomorrow to call up Utah and see what gives.
The smart guys out there are saying, "hey, Dysfunctional, go grab a micrometer (or was it an abicus I always get those two confused). Anyways I don't have either and I was just trying to see if this block could avoid the machine shop and putting a second mortgage on the house.
At this point I have no idea. Will continue the saga as soon as I have an update.