Blow by concerns

[TMutziger]

I have some questions regarding blow by on the truck in my sig. I bought it used in Oct. of '07 with 65,000 miles on it. It had an Edge EZ and a K&N open element intake on it that the owner said, and verified by the date on the receipt, had been on for about a year and a half. Since I've owned it, I have done the mods listed in my sig and have done all the maintainance myself. Oil changes at 5,000 until the fs2500. Now when analysis says so. Injectors were replaced under warranty at 75,000 mi. and CP3 at 85,000. I now have 122,000 mi. on the truck. It does not use any oil that I have noticed between changes, starts great and seems to have plenty of power. Idle is maybe not quite as smooth as other cummins I've compared it to. My concern is with some blow by that I have noticed. The bottom of the breather tube is wet with oil, but it never seems to leave a drip spot. The other night when I got home, I could see a bit of a haze coming up into the headlights when I parked. If I crawl under the truck, I can see some smoke coming out of the tube, not a lot, but a slight haze. You can smell it in the cab if the wind is right and you're not moving. I seems like its done this to some extent ever since I've owned it. Maybe seems a little worse now. It also is not as bad right away after a new oil change. Like it gets worse the longer I run on the oil. How much blow by is acceptable or normal? When should I be concerned? Are there some tests that can be done to determine if its excessive and/or what could be the cause? It makes me really nervous cause I love the truck and don't want to have to dump it and start over again. Am I just being paranoid? I know that K&N's have a bad rep for dusting engines, but it was only on there for probably less than 30,000 miles. I drove an '02 Powerstroke for 200,000 miles with one and it never had any related issues. If the rings are worn/bad, what am I looking at for repair costs? New engine, or can you just do pistons and rings? Sorry this is so long and for all the questions, I have no experience with this.

 

[HBarlow]

My guess is the air filter caused the problem but if it is not actually consuming any noticeable amount of oil I'd ignore it. Even if it uses a quart of oil between oil changes oil is cheap and overhauls are not.

 

[sag2]

As a general rule, if you remove the oil cap and it is "huffing" smoke out it has too much blow by. If it's dusted it depends on the severity. If there is still a little cross hatch visible you can get away with a set of rings and a hone job.

I'm with Harvey on this one, wait until the performance suffers or it starts blowing oil out, unless your dying to tear into it.

If you do it yourself your probably looking at $1000 tops. All you need are gaskets, rings, and fluids. The bearings will still look brand new at 122,000.

 

[TMutziger]

Thanks for the info. That makes me feel a little bit better. I will check the blow by with the oil cap off to see what thats like.

 

[AH64ID]

On a similar note, have you upgraded the filters on your FASS 95/95? The filters FASS sold with the FASS 95 were less efficient than stock, and the EZ is a pressure box.

 

[TMutziger]

And if it is dusted, I can't believe that K&N air filters can be that bad and still be in business. Seems hard to believe it could have happened in such a short time that it was actually on the truck before I wised up and got rid of it. Thank you TDR! I thought they were good filters until I got on here. I've been running a factory air filter ever since.

 

[macdaddy]

Dont trouble the trouble, unless it troubles you. You are not there. Mine does everything you mentioned. I feel it's normal.



My stock 05's crank case tube "sweats" the same amount as yours. I can see the same amount of "lite" smoke emitting from the crank case tube. My motor has never been "dusted". I run a PG7 air filter and check the turbo inlet each oil change (5K) for any dirt that may have slipped by.



She just turned 98K



Mac

 

[TMutziger]

On a similar note, have you upgraded the filters on your FASS 95/95? The filters FASS sold with the FASS 95 were less efficient than stock, and the EZ is a pressure box.

I have plumbed the fuel line from the FASS through the stock filter housing and I'm running the better baldwin filter in that ever since you pointed out to me that FASS falsely advertised their systems as filtering better than stock. What a joke! I would like to return this POS unit to them under their lifetime warrranty for the better platinum series, but I'm not gonna hold my breath on that one. Also, I ditched the EZ when I got my injectors replaced. I know the Banks economind adds pressure too, but I don't think as much because it tunes timing and pulse width to get the extra hp. Guess I shoulda got a Smarty. Live and learn.

 

[AH64ID]

For a couple of bucks you can get an adapter from FASS to run the same filter as the Platinum, put a BF1275 on the f/w sep side and your golden!



Good call on ditching the EZ.

 

[rscurtis]

And if it is dusted, I can't believe that K&N air filters can be that bad and still be in business. Seems hard to believe it could have happened in such a short time that it was actually on the truck before I wised up and got rid of it. Thank you TDR! I thought they were good filters until I got on here. I've been running a factory air filter ever since.

The issue is not so much that the K&N is a bad filter- it's that if it isn't serviced properly, it's basically no filter at all. Having said that, I wouldn't own one. I spent many years in the tool rental business. An improperly serviced air filter on a small engine in a dusty environment will ruin a set of rings in a matter of hours.

 

[TMutziger]

For a couple of bucks you can get an adapter from FASS to run the same filter as the Platinum, put a BF1275 on the f/w sep side and your golden!



Good call on ditching the EZ.

I did not know that. I will be contacting them ASAP for one.