Wife has removed all razor blades and weapons..need help!!!

[1tony1]

Short version: Truck using water for over 12 months with no external signs and no water in oil. Occasional white smoke at start. I finally ran the truck hot and burnt up the motor (pistons seizing to block). Rebuilt motor, bored block, block and head decked, head pressure checked, crank turned, all the usual. All machine work done by the same folks that Cummins south at Chattanooga Tn uses. They are real familar with diesels. They could find no cracks. The truck is still using water( 1 gallon = 300

miles) steam or blowby out the tube, small water particle in oil but not milky and no raise in the oil level. 200 miles Into a 650 mile round trip towing 15k the bearing in the turbo let go. It was a new reman from Dodge total miles on it and engine are 850. This rebuild was a 3 month ordeal and needless to say i'm in disbelief. Total machine work was $1700, parts total including turbo was about $2900 and thats at dealer cost so it seems I now have a fresh $3600 anchor. Block seal is first and when that doesn't work how do I start locating the crack?

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

You didn't give enough detail... did any pistons show signs of coolant erosion? Which cylinders? Did you reuse the head, and did you magnaflux it. It tends to crack between valve seats if egt is high. Did they resurface the head or block, or just check for flatness? How rough was the surface and how clean did they get it? Two likely spots are the oil cooler behind the oil filter pad, and the head.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I think that my truck is using coolant too... . I really need to let someone dive into it and tell me what needs to be done and what's normal for this thing.....



Matt - cautious, yet very enthusiastic/optimistic.

 

[JJW_ND]

Oil Analysis will identify coolant

Anytime their is suspicious coolant loss, an oil analysis will shed alot of light on what might or might not be happening. Even very small leaks can be detected by the way other measusred parateters change in the presence of coolant even when no coolant or water are detected.



Coolant/water in oil is very bad!



jjw

ND

 

['956Wheel]

Got dye check?

Tony< You said "they could find no cracks". Did they magnaflux, dye penetrant check or simply go with a visual? Lets face it, when an engine is gone over all gaskets are replaced so whats left? How about pressure testing the oil cooler. Hope I gave you a few ideas. I would check the oil cooler first as it is the easiest to check.



Good luck



Mike

 

[1tony1]

I will have to check to be sure but I think only a pressure ck was done on the head. The block and head were both surfaced, had to use the thicker head gasket. The block was bored and supposedly this would show a crack audibly if there was one. I pulled the oil cooler this afternoon to have it checked. It was using water when totally stock so egt's should've been ok in the past. Also did a coolant pressure test and of course it lost pressure. Cummins said to also do a combustion air test on the coolant system... . i'm not familar but its some kind of sensor or detector that is at or replaces the radiator cap and will let you know if a leak is in the combustion area or above the piston. A few things we have thought about was pressurizing the coolant and spinning the engine with the injectors out and exhaust manifold off looking for signs of water or doing a dye check before pulling the head and also pulling the pan to look for dye. It would help if it could be narrowed down to one cylinder. Also what could oil analysis show besides that water is in the oil? p. s. the turbo shaft had broken in two. . horrible noise!! thanks guys, Tony

 

['956Wheel]

Originally posted by 1tony1

I will have to check to be sure but I think only a pressure ck was done on the head. The block and head were both surfaced, had to use the thicker head gasket. The block was bored and supposedly this would show a crack audibly if there was one.

Tony, Someone is telling you a tale, there is NO WAY that a cracked block can be heard while boring it... sleeved or not! How would a pressure check tell you anything short of a yes or no on leaks? I hope that the cooler is it, sooo easy. The test they are speaking of is to tell if combustion gases are in the coolant, you stated in your initial post that you had steam in the blowby and traces of coolant in the oil, that would generally mean your leakage is from coolant to oil not to combustion.



Mike

 

['956Wheel]

Hey Tony< what was it..... enquiring minds wanna know!

Mike

 

[Extreme1]

Umm.... Uhhhh..... Hey Guys...

Isn't the block mounted oil cooler just for the trans fluid?



A gallon of water in 300 miles would overfill the crankcase by 4 quarts in half a tank. Of course, if you didn't replenish the radiator, you might generate enough heat to burn it off.



Tony, I hope that turbo is covered by warrantee. I would look for a sign of water leaking externally or into an exhaust port. The small elbows below the oil filter and at the trans cooler can leak without being easily detected.



1 gallon in 300 miles can't be too hard to trace!!! That's a lot!

 

[1tony1]

All I have done is recheck the oil cooler and its ok. I've been to bumed out to mess with it. Next on the list is a combustion air checkand if it shows combustion air in the coolant then I think I can also isolate the culpret cylinder by doing the same test over with the injector line off of each cylinder, one at a time. The coolant system has to be purged in between each test if it show combustion gas. After a cylinder is isolated then pressurize the cooling system and visually look for leaks with the pan, exhaust manifold and intake cover off, also do this if I can't find a problem in one cylinder. To extreme 1: the oil cooler is for engine oil and its cover doubles for the filter adapter, even a stick like mine has the oil cooler.