Installed Water/Meth - engine dead now

[drury]

I just put a CoolingMist Stage II Diesel kit on my truck with the mods listed in my signature. I got it hooked up on Sunday, and took it out for the first test drive Monday. I had the starting boost coming on too soon, so it drained the washer tank in about 20 minutes of highway driving. I refilled the tank, and adjusted the starting boost up to around 20 PSI, and all seemed good. The settings were Edge Juice = 5, EZ=1, CoolingMist 20-40 PSI, 100%. We took a 90 minute drive down to Disneyland Thursday and all was good. Came back with no problems until we got off the freeway about 9 minutes from home. I decided to crank the Juice up to 6 and see what a full power 0-60mph felt like. It felt good until around 56 mph when I heard an unnaturally loud thunk and the engine died. I coasted to a stop on the side of the road, and tried to restart the motor. The starter tried valiantly, but it couldn't get the engine to rotate, let alone start. As I type this, the truck is in the shop and the motor is being disassembled to see what went wrong. So far, all I know is that the flexplate seems good, there was no water in the oil, and the turbo intake is good, but there is too much play in the turbo shaft. The crank cannot be rotated manually in either direction. I probably went through 1. 5 gallons of washer fluid before the engine cratered.



Has anybody had similar experiences with water/meth injection? From everything I had read on this board, it was a very safe & desirable mod. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[Snoxracer]

Oh man, thats not good? I was just starting to think that I wanted to put a water/meth system on my truck? I wonder what happened, you will have to let us know? Did it not give you anything as far as recommened set up?



Thanks and good luck?



Snoxracer

 

[mattymac]

you cant compress liquids, maybe to much water got into a cyl or cyl's and hydrolocked? not good from the sound of it.

 

[drury]

They got the head off today, and the head, piston tops and cylinder walls all look good. No sign of hydrolocking. At this point we are guessing a spun bearing or thrown rod or something of that nature. We're going to pull the engine out of the truck Sunday and open it up to see what gives.



Based on what we can see, the problem wasn't the water/meth per se, it's just that I finally kicked the power level up high enough to reveal a weakness in the factory assembly. Maybe it was tequila day down in Mexico or something. I've never dynoed, but based on my existing mods, and what I see on this forum, I would estimate that I was in the high 500's or low 600's HP-wise, which shouldn't have broken the engine. Right now it sucks to be me, but I guess this is what they mean when they say you are your own warranty station.



On the bright side, I've finally got an excuse to go ahead and get my head ported and O-ringed.

 

[icman95]

If I'm reading your stuff right you have a 2006 which should still be covered under warranty. Federal law provides that the manufacturer (or dealer) has to prove that your mods were directly responsible for the breakdown. If they can't prove that and it was just an average every day factory screw up, they have to pay regardless of what mods you have. They will fight you on this, but that's the law.

 

[drury]

Yes, it's still under warranty, but trying to prove that doubling the factory HP had nothing to do with the breakage sounds like an impossible battle to me. If you know of anybody that has successfully fought that battle I'd like to hear about it.

 

[icman95]

No, I'm sure you're right that it would be a battle. In fact I don't know anybody quite in your set of circustances, but the law makes the burden of proof on them, not you. I'm pretty sure, however, that you'd spend more time arguing with them and the truck would just sit there getting nowhere fast. Good luck.

 

[Don Tanklage]

Right now it sucks to be me, but I guess this is what they mean when they say you are your own warranty station.

apparently it has a different meaning for you 3rd gen owners



sorry to hear about your truck. i hope the shop does a satisfactory job repairing it for you...



don



ps - i dont know how much your time is worth but you might want to hire a liar, i mean lawyer...



cummins sure is proud of that motor and mopar gets a buck an hour

 

[drury]

OK. It turns out it was the transmission after all. Apparently the CoolingMist water/meth puts out a decent amount of HP. The bump was enough to shatter my input shaft. Craig at Big Power Diesel has never seen a transmission break so bad that the torque converter locked up and the engine couldn't be rotated. He called guys at ATS, Scheid, HTS transmission, and Inglewood transmission, and Cummins, and none of them had ever heard of a transmission breaking in such a way that the engine couldn't be rotated. He said I could be proud.



Anyway, I thought you'd like to see a few photos of the shrapnel:



Bits of shaft:

#ad




Looking into the transmission:

#ad




Looking into the torque converter:

#ad




Oh well, now I get the full billet transmission I've been wanting. And since we initially thought it was the engine, the head is already off, and while it's off and the truck is down, it's going to Scheid for porting & fire ringing. And since I had to strip the injectors off the head, and since the truck is down for a couple of weeks anyway... must be time for new injectors. :-laf ... and while the truck is down I might as well send my fuel rail into T&C Diesel for modding.



Now if I could just start making some money...

 

[Motorhead]

Maybe you should pull the oil pan and check the rod bearings.

 

[RRees]

Drury,



At least you have a good attitude about all the carnage, or is that truckage in your case?

 

[JRussell3176]

So how long did your stock transmission last with those mods?



Powerwise, I think you were probably closer to 450-500 before. It sounds like you'll be closer to 600 when the next round of mods are finished though! Oo.

 

[drury]

It lasted 4 days once I put the water/meth on. It lasted for about an 1/8 of a mile once I turned the Hot Juice all the way up with the water/meth. Before that, I probably had about a year with the Hot Juice/EZ combo. I did have a Suncoast TC & VB, so the transmission wasn't quite stock.



JRussell, It looks like you've got some good things happening with your truck. What's the "Holley Aux" that I see in your signature? Are you getting smoke with your Flux 2's? I was thinking about going with the 2's, but I really, really don't want to smoke all the time.



Bob, I find life to be much happier when you see every broken thing as an excuse to upgrade. You worry much less. And I'm getting much less flak from my wife than if I tried to do these things while the truck was still working. Still, this pretty much depletes my savings, so I hope things hold together for a while.

 

[RRees]

Drury,

Good luck on getting everything resolved. I'm still contemplating what my next upgrade will be. Probably muffler, but there's so many choices.

I want good flow numbers, but don't really need the noise.

 

[drury]

Bob, I like my Rokktech Silent Might muffler. I don't get any drone, and the things is only slightly louder than stock. It won't restrict your flow any more than a straight pipe would -- because it is essentially a straight pipe surrounded by a resonator cavity. They are directional, so make sure you install it with the holes pointed in the right direction.

 

[RRees]

Drury,

Thanks for the insight on the Rokktech Silent Might muffler.

 

[Jefff929]

With all the build up for the story, I thought you were gonna say it was the first 3rd gen KDP:-laf

 

[JCasper]

Now you say that you have a Suncoast converter, but it's purple.



I thought the ATS Converters were purple.

 

[monkeyman]

I have had methanol injection on for over two years, have a six gallon tank in my bed. You should have starting boost for about 15psi + and rest for full boost above 20-25psi. To soon will cause hydro lock.

Six gallons last me about two to three months at 400 miles a week.

Rick

 

[drury]

Yeah, I tried starting the boost at 10 psi and the washer tank was drained in about 20 minutes. The knobs aren't very precise, but I have it somewhere around 20 PSI now. I can hit 17 psi cruising on the highway, so I think 15 PSI would be a little low for me.