Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) 'nuther headgasket story

[TStinson]

Today I joined the headgasket club. After 218000 trouble-free miles, ol' Red done it with style.

At the end of my daily 100 mile trek home from Houston, oil pressure dropped to ZIP and red lights started flashing. Before I could react, pressure came back to normal? Got to the house, raised the hood and beheld the nastiest mess I've had the displeasure of having to call mine in quite awhile.

Checked the dipstick - had maybe a quarter of an inch of oil on the very tip.

(probably why the pressure bottomed out when I made the turn off the highway)

Yep - approx 5-6 quarts had gone from the lubrication system into the coolant system and then out the overflow bottle all under the passenger side of the truck from the radiator back to the rear axle.

Even had a few bubbles make their way thru the goo into the radiator neck.

Drained the crankcase and found nothing but oil.

Pulled the oil cooler 1st, pressure tested it to 40 psi and found no leaks.

Pulled the head next - looks like good seal going on around all cylinders - but noticed small piece of gasket material missing between cylinders 3 & 4 on pushrod side.

Close examination of the headgasket reveals small channels in the gasket material (gasket material looks like it has cracks in it) that appear to have allowed pressurized oil to migrate from one of the rocker arm oil feed holes to a water jacket hole.

YEP - the truck is mildly BOMBed, and

YEP - it does see a little action at the strip, but none in probably 6 months or so.

BUT - this showed up after many daily trips on the highway - and NOT due to any recent help from high boost, hard pulling, or any other such fun activities.

Just goes to show that Murphy is alive & well..... and that the mighty Cummins is susceptible to wierd stuff happening for no apparent reason other than bad timing.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Probably not much doubt that earlier activities laid the groundwork for what eventually raised up on it's hind legs and bit ya...



OTHERWISE, it's sorta like the guy that sez "I was a heavy smoker for over 40 years, I quit six months ago - and just today was told I have lung cancer - it don't pay to quit!"

 

[TStinson]

I really can't draw any connection from BOMBS and this event... . there is no sign of combustion pressure leakage, and no external visible oil/coolant leakage except through the coolant system. All around the perimeter of the head/block was dry and clean. It really does not look like the head lifted,warped or anything like that. The highest boost has been 35psi - which from other posts I've read, does not seem to be high enough to cause problems anyway.

Looks to me more that the headgasket material started deteriorating for whatever reason.

 

[GIT-R-DONE]

Regardless of what some people think, these motors are not indestructible. To look on the positive side, at 218,000 miles, if ya put another one in, you should be good to go for another 200,000.



Don

 

[krs]

"Regardless of what some people think, these motors are not indestructible. "



That's right. The life expectancy they publish is an average taken from ALL of the records they have. The average life may have nothing to do with any individual truck, or person.



The surgeon who performed the first heart-lung transplant at Stanford and never smoked died of lung cancer at age 55. Like Gary, he probably thought he had everything figured out until then.

 

[DRAG DIESEL]

TStinson,



Were you running a timing box (ie: edge ez, van aken, ect)



what year is the truck?

 

[TStinson]

Gary, Git-R-Done, KRS: Whoa Now Big Fellers - Don't misunderstood me... ... I'm not downing the Dodge and/or Cummins ..... I've never had a bad thing to say about it..... fact is I had to remove the ORIGINAL fanbelt and disconnect the ORIGINAL hoses to pull the head - at 218000 miles... . in fact if'n it weren't fer maintenance and curious bystanders wanting a look-see, the hood hinges would probably be froze-up from lack of use!... . with what I've put this truck thru, it really has not been any problem..... other than the A/C replacement, 'bout all I've done is bolt-on BOMBs & do regular maintenance purt' near from day one.

What I was getting at is that all it takes to cripple one of these fine engines is for some part to come un-glued - even under normal operating conditions.

 

[TStinson]

Drag Diesel,

Check out my profile for all the info, but in the meanwhile, it's a '99 with the Diesel Dynamics UFM box (with the \drag) upgrade and stage 3 injectors.