"04.5 KA-POW (Now What)

[wyosteve]

I have guages on my stock 600. Pulling my 4 horse gooseneck loaded to about 12k, I've seen 1450 very easy. Needless to say I back out of it since I'm not even at WOT.

 

[CAgnoli]

I was under the impression that Aluminum melted at 1400+ degrees???? Is that correct? I'm glad I subscribe to this forum though, I learn a ton from the people in the know here, and really appreciate you guy's experiance!



C

 

[HBarlow]

wyosteve:



Thanks for that info. Your report (and my own experiences) makes me wonder if Cummins didn't design, test, and market these engines knowing full well that EGT will reach 1500 degrees and will not cause damage.



ceaman: I guess I should have posted this in another thread. I apologize for hijacking your thread.



Harvey

 

[Yo Hoot]

For short spurts you can get away with 2000 degrees.

 

[ceaman]

I had a 03 with the 555 motor... . it ran 200º to 400º cooler than this 04 did. Thats why I was suspicious of these temperatures enough to tell the dealer.

 

[CumminsBu]

Ceaman, is the dealer doing anymore testing or inspections on #5 injector to see how the injector failed?

 

[supersonic]

Definately a failed injector. Excessive heat took out the top of the piston and caused the ringlands and rings to break. Betcha if they pull the piston the far side of the skirt and the ringlands will be gone. Did it make any stumbling or sharp viberations before it let go or was it real sudden? look at my readers rigs to see what happened to the #6 piston on the pulling truck. Not from a failed injector, but from having a bad set of stock rings that caused the side of the piston to be torched off and the ring lands to break. also very sudden. This concerns me too because we just bought a new 05 610 and we will be working it for a living. DOWNTIME SUCKS! agreed?

 

[ceaman]

They arent testing further... but when the parts come in they will be putting in a long block, new turbo, and 1 new injector. Also installing a new Goerend Bros Triple Disk Torque Converter and Billet Kick Down Lever.

 

[Briman]

For short spurts you can get away with 2000 degrees.

Not on my truck. The other day I was pulling my 10K lb trailer up Parleys Summit east of Salt Lake City. I could have run 75, yet to keep temps below 1200 I had to slow to 62 mph. This was at 7000 feet above sea level. There is no way I would run at 2K degrees even for a little bit. This is not a flame YaHoot. I simply dont believe this would be in anyones best interest.



I'm with Rbattelle on this one. These injectors kind of make our engines a crap shoot. One could go at any time; burn down the house so to speak.

 

[ceaman]

Was told by a reputable source that there was a bad batch of injectors in motors built January 04..... and it is well known by Cummins/Dodge to be a problem.

 

[driverno8]

2000º? Not in my truck. No way. I once hit 1600º before and left it there for a few seconds at the drag strip. Freaked me out for a few days after that. Never again. 1400º is as far as I like to see, and even then, it's rare. I've had my motor let go already. Paid for it out of my own pocket. Don't need to do that again. It hurts bad.

 

[CumminsBu]

Was told by a reputable source that there was a bad batch of injectors in motors built January 04..... and it is well known by Cummins/Dodge to be a problem.

What was the build date of your engine? Good oh quality control.

 

[ceaman]

dont remeber the exact date but it was the first week of january..... truck as built jan 15

 

[Sarge]

Remember why Cummins pushed up the high temp limits on the 04. 5 It was due to having oiliers under the pistons squirting oil up from the bottom to alledgedly cool the pistons. I don't recall if all the 3rd gens are built the same, or if it started with the 600's. Either way, it didn't stop ceaman's from grenading.....

 

[supersonic]

Actually the 12v engines had the oil jets in them too. I think they started it with the storm block in 97. I know every 98 12v i've torn apart had the little green nozzles protruding from the upper main area. Even loosing an oil jet on one cylinder wouldn't cause that kind of damage though. I could've shown ya a couple pistons out of our Kubota lawnmower from when I got a little stupid with injectors :-laf but dad wouldn't let me keep em anymore, said they reminded him of things he let me do that was trying to forget :{

 

[JKloppe]

2000º? Not in my truck. No way. I once hit 1600º before and left it there for a few seconds at the drag strip. Freaked me out for a few days after that. Never again. 1400º is as far as I like to see, and even then, it's rare. I've had my motor let go already. Paid for it out of my own pocket. Don't need to do that again. It hurts bad.

Its harder than you think to melt a piston. Pullers and drag racers dont even look or care how hot they get because it only lasts 15 seconds or less. Its all about sustained temps and spikes.

 

[ReevesRacing]

I feel for ya Ceaman. My situation is not as bad as yours, but my truck has been in the shop for over a week now because of leaky front axle seals! They broke the hubs trying to get it apart and are waiting on new ones.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Actually the 12v engines had the oil jets in them too. I think they started it with the storm block in 97. I know every 98 12v i've torn apart had the little green nozzles protruding from the upper main area. Even loosing an oil jet on one cylinder wouldn't cause that kind of damage though.

I think all Cummins engines installed in Dodge Ram pickups back to 1989 have piston cooling nozzles, but I don't know for certain. What is different starting with the 555 engines is in addition to the typical oil cooling nozzles, the pistons have gallery cooling, meaning oil travels through a passageway not far from the piston crown to carry additional heat away. This is the design I'm thinking allows the engines to withstand higher EGTs, but any sustained operation over 1200F is asking for trouble IMO.



You can spike your EGTs pretty high for brief periods of time and "get away with it," but it will take a toll if it becomes a habit, primarily rapid piston & ring wear. Read Don M's post here (page 2):

http://www.webpowerplus.org/~pwrwagn/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=3;t=10829

 

[DPKetchum]

I thought the cooling nozzels were a H. O. thing. its advertised that way somewhere.

 

[rbattelle]

I thought the cooling nozzels were a H. O. thing. its advertised that way somewhere.

I think the SO engines also have cooling nozzles, but they're not as "beefy" as the HO engines. I could be wrong...



-Ryan