Competition Blown freeze plug

[RyanB]

Jim- are you talking about the little plugs ontop of the head by the injectors and the valve covers or are you still talking about the large rear plug on the head that you blew? If you are talking about the rear large plug... what are the small plugs up top for? are they coolant plugs or no? I was just looking at my engine (just actually left this morning on a trailer for Haisley's!!!) yesterday about this and wondered about some sort of valve up top if they are in fact coolant plugs.

 

[walexa07]

RyanB,



Jim had the big one in the back of the block let go.



Jim, some calculations reveal that 58. 06mm at 80 psi would equal roughly 328 pounds of force pushing on the plug. The smaller ones look to be 3/4" diameter, and the force on them at 80 psi would be roughly 35 pounds, so you are exactly right... ... . no real worry with the smaller ones. There's also one on the front of the block the same size as the rear... ... but it looks like it is partially covered by the front case, so it should be ok.



I think I'm just going to trim a couple vanes off the water pump impeller and see how that does. Might look at a water pump for a gasser for comparison. I DON'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN AGAIN!!!LOL.



What's even more surprising is that in all the threads I've read on different forums, I've never seen this mentioned before it happened to me. I like to be up on problems that are common to my cummins, and when mine blew I had no idea what had happened. When I went to refill with antifreeze and it started gushing out the back of the block I even thought I might have busted a hole in my block. Before that I thought it was the head gasket. At least that plug won't be coming back out on it's own.



Waylan

 

[AndyMan]

What's even more surprising is that in all the threads I've read on different forums, I've never seen this mentioned before it happened to me.

Waylan

I KNOW! What's even stranger to me is that I didn't hear about a lot of the fixes that are mentioned in this thread back several months ago when I put up my thread regarding the issue.



Would've been nice to know about that high-pressure by-pass before I bought parts.

 

[walexa07]

Oh well, live and learn. The main reason I've posted ALL progress is so that it will be an informative post for others that may experience this in the future. Currently I'm running my truck 3K rpm and below until I modify the water pump... ... . just as insurance.



It all makes sense though... ... ... soon after installing my 4kgsk, I was getting coolant leaks at different hose connections, especially where the heater supply hose comes out the block. I just thought the hoses were leaking so I replaced them. The only way I got them to seal back off is to use hose clamps and get them very very tight. Now everything is very clear.



Waylan

 

[walexa07]

Can anybody tell me which water pump is for my truck... ... . looks like they have different vane configurations. Here are photos of the different ones I have found:



Waylan

 

[crawler]

The bottom one.

 

[AndyMan]

Yeah, the bottom one looks like mine.

 

[RacinDuallie]

Same here- the bottom one... .

 

[walexa07]

Here is another pic of the bottom water pump. So do you have to remove that cone off the impeller in order to trim vanes off?



Waylan

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I've done 4 or 5 pumps in various trucks and they all looked like that one in the bottom picture.



I'd imagine you'd have to carefully remove that cone and then remove the two blades. Whether or not you put the cone back on is up to you. I'd put it back on... it would seem that it could reduce cavitation quite a bit.



Matt

 

[BigBadDodge]

So do you think that the NPG+ would help reduce pressure as its waterless and therefore reduces pressure? just a thought as its not just related to high RPM's correct? I have been thinking about adding this to my motor or just the regular antifreeze and water weter not sure wich is the better way to go. Idea's ???



Good info here:

NPG+



Looks like that cone might be tig welded on.



BBD

 

[walexa07]

Any fluid is basically incompressible, so you won't be any better off with NPG. If you want to figure out you will have to base it on which coolant you prefer. I like the NPG, but cost and availability prevent me from using it. You really need a hotter t-stat to take advantage of NPG as well, and I haven't read of one available for the cummins. Although the plugs coming out can happen at any rpm, it looks as though high rpm is the root cause. If it happens at a lower rpm then there's a high chance it was already weakened/almost pushed out by previous high rpm operation. I believe that as long as you stay stock this would never happen unless the coolant system was neglected and corrosion caused it.



Update: Some guy at EEP quoted me $225 for their pressure regulated kit a few days ago on the phone. Before I called, I had sent an email to EEP and got a response yesterday that their kit is $150, and it includes instructions for modifying the water pump. So it looks like I was over-quoted by the guy on the phone.



Waylan

 

[walexa07]

Water pump trim

I got around to trimming a couple vanes off my water pump. I should've taken a photo but I'll do my best to describe what I did. First, I bought a new water pump in case my stocker didn't survive the modification..... plus I wanted to have a spare anyway.



I started by cutting the outer cone off. I didn't have the tools to remove it to where it could be reused, so I just plasma cut it between each vane attachment point and used pliers to tear the pieces off. Then I plasma'd 2 opposing vanes off... ... . just the part that sticks out. There's another cone attached to the back side of the vanes that I didn't want to mess with. After this, I ground everything smooth and cleaned it all up good and reinstalled. No problems to speak of after half a tank of running. Comes up to operating temp fine and doesn't really do anything any different. Since there are 5 vanes, I would guess that (3/5) x 80 = 48psi max operating psi? This is basing it off someone's post that they noted 80psi on the coolant system at high rpm. This should reduce the force substantially, hopefully low enough to prevent them from blowing out. If anybody has any questions just ask.



Waylan