Good diesel mechanic needed for diagnostic

[opie011]

I think my truck is having some bad blowby and I also lost quite a bit of oil while driving the other day. I washed and cleaned the motor up and the leak doesn't seem as bad but difinetly a leak on the driver side of the block. Anyway, I need someone to pull the head and diagnose the problem so I can make my next move.

BTW: 2003 Dodge Cummins with 192xxx on the clock.

[DFBrews]

I am stripping to a bare block and building a 2010 15 liter cummins as we speak... But i have never been into a cummins 5.9 newer than a 98 so no 24 valve. I am know i can handle it if you need me too. but hopefully someone with more 5.9 exp will chime in. give us an idea of where it is leaking from if you can sometimes a leak will just pop up and the only way to truly condem blowby bieng the issue is to have it run on a dyno and see if the blowby is out of spec. On the big boys 12 inhg is the max on a cummins. which is a metric F ton compared to a caterpillar.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/7219503372_61d08eb420.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34834090@N02/7219503372/)
IMAG0706 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34834090@N02/7219503372/) by post_james86 (http://www.flickr.com/people/34834090@N02/), on Flickr



ETA been waiting all week for an excuse to post that pic

http://www.smilys.net/riesige_smilies/smiley6906.jpg

[TFOGGER]

Think we can mount that in my MR2? [Tooth]

[tmleadr03]

Why would you pull the head to diagnosis an oil leak or am I missing something?

RIF. You think you have blow by. What you need is a compression and leak down. Head doesn't need to come off yet.

[DFBrews]

Why would you pull the head to diagnosis an oil leak or am I missing something?

RIF. You think you have blow by. What you need is a compression and leak down. Head doesn't need to come off yet.



http://img.izismile.com/img/img5/20120224/640/soon_meme_collection_640_04.jpg

K i am done going to bed
And I agree with tmlead lets get the leak diaged before we yank a head


Unless you wanna fire ring for the plans of building it up

[DFBrews]

Think we can mount that in my MR2? [Tooth]

UMMMM 1850 ft lbs of torque might be a bit much but we can give it a hell of a run.

[opie011]

Why would you pull the head to diagnosis an oil leak or am I missing something?

RIF. You think you have blow by. What you need is a compression and leak down. Head doesn't need to come off yet.

True I don't need the head pulled right away I was just thinking I would like to see how the pistons/walls and rings looked. I have a little rough idle and and when I did the blowby "test", idle with the oil cap off, I saw a little bit of bluish gray smoke almost like steam coming from the fill hole....not too bad as I've seen worse.

[ray1970]

I thought diesel mechanics just replaced clutches and brakes. [Coffee]

[opie011]

Here's some pics of the oil splash. I had grease monkey do an oil change last Wednesday and didn't drive it Thursday. Friday I drove up to Greely and noticed oil everywhere. I know grease monkey but I get my oil changed once a month from all my driving and I don't want the oil just chillin in my garage. I do all other maintainance. Anyway I thought they overfilled it but there's oil in front of the crankcase vent tube so kinda ruled that out. Also, I thought the gear case/housing or maybe the front crank seal but there's no oil on the front of the block. It seem to be coming out the driver side of the block. Thought maybe tappet cover gasket but I can't find that so maybe the CR blocks don't have one?? I have been looking for a reason to get a new truck, maybe this is it.

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq75/opie011/ba9e8914.jpg
Front of the pan
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq75/opie011/51fb543f.jpg

[samoht517]

Common rails dont have tappet covers. Could possibly be the seal on the cam gear or the font cover seal but if its been running rough probably something worse. Degrease it and take it to the dealer for trade in if all else fails. New 6.7s are really nice

[HandKBRad]

I'm a fleet Mechannik..Mecanic..mekanik.... I fix trucks! But like DFBrews I mostly work on the big stuff. However sometimes I do get stuck working on a hostler.

I wouldn't start by pulling the head. Lots of other things to check/test before doing an in-frame/ swinging an engine. A well maintained 5.9 should still be running strong with only 192k. Barring any unforeseen circumstances.

How much oil loss? In how many miles? What kind of driving conditions? Dose the external leak leave puddles is the bottom of the truck oil soaked? Have you checked your turbo for leaks yet?

[HandKBRad]

I thought diesel mechanics just replaced clutches and brakes. [Coffee]
Yes if you are a fleet mechanic like me and trouble shooting requires the parts shotgun! [Coffee]

[opie011]

I'm a fleet Mechannik..Mecanic..mekanik.... I fix trucks! But like DFBrews I mostly work on the big stuff. However sometimes I do get stuck working on a hostler.

I wouldn't start by pulling the head. Lots of other things to check/test before doing an in-frame/ swinging an engine. A well maintained 5.9 should still be running strong with only 192k. Barring any unforeseen circumstances.

How much oil loss? In how many miles? What kind of driving conditions? Dose the external leak leave puddles is the bottom of the truck oil soaked? Have you checked your turbo for leaks yet?

I know my mileage isnt a lot and the truck has lots of life left. It's actually weird that the bottom of the truck got/is soaked with oil but the level is fine leading me to the overfill maybe. I use this truck to tow my work trailers all over the state so 85% tow the rest highway/city. Haven't checked the turbo although I have a new one sitting on my bench waiting to go in but the leak is on the opposite side, the drivers side!

[samoht517]

If the level isnt going down are you sure its engine oil. The power steering pump/reservoir are over there. Also the transmissions have some fittings in the heat ex-changer on that side. I work at destroked so i usually just put the engines in not fix them.

[opie011]

If the level isnt going down are you sure its engine oil. The power steering pump/reservoir are over there. Also the transmissions have some fittings in the heat ex-changer on that side. I work at destroked so i usually just put the engines in not fix them.

Pretty sure it's engine oil. I've redone my power steering and new tranny and have checked all those lines. This one has me baffled as I'm not sure where the leak is besides the drivers side. I'll take it to a shop I guess and see what they have to say. I can't have my truck down for long as its how I make my moolah pretty much

[HandKBRad]

I know my mileage isnt a lot and the truck has lots of life left. It's actually weird that the bottom of the truck got/is soaked with oil but the level is fine leading me to the overfill maybe. I use this truck to tow my work trailers all over the state so 85% tow the rest highway/city. Haven't checked the turbo although I have a new one sitting on my bench waiting to go in but the leak is on the opposite side, the drivers side!

I brought up the turbo because I misunderstood what you were saying, you were talking about blow by. So I was thinking you were loosing oil that you could not account for. Among other bad things, a worn out turbo can pass some major oil. What nasty mess to clean up, exhaust side (cool trailer paint job) or intake side (not good, if your lucky you will just be pulling the intake to clean, and sending the air charge air cooler out to be cleaned/ repaired in the likely event it has a bit of a leak)

Over filling is defiantly a possibility. I have seen drivers (and some times techs too) over fill engines(and every other fluid on the unit they check) at work. The tractor will puke oil all over the yard, and sure enough you will have to stop working(I mean coffee break) to go check out the unit.


As for the oil I would hotsy off the oil, make sure the drain plug and filter aren’t loose, run the truck and keep an eye on the level and see if it leaks again.

As for the ruff running lots to test there too. Have you ran the overhead? Not sure if the new 5.9 need an overhead done or not? Not having a ton of 5.9 exp myself, one of the first things I would do is find some one that can hook it up to their computer to do a cylinder cut out test and or see if the ECU can tell you what is going on.

[revor]

There is a big cover on the drivers side of the engine block under the turbo etc. My father in law just went through this leaking issue, this looks the same. The cover just needs to be resealed. A shop did it for him for $300

[rockhound]

There is a big cover on the drivers side of the engine block under the turbo etc. My father in law just went through this leaking issue, this looks the same. The cover just needs to be resealed. A shop did it for him for $300


ummm the turbo on a 5.9 liter is on the passenger side of the vehicle????


it looks like the leaks is presenting in front of the motor and drippping on the front diff.

on my 2005 i had two leaks that presented the same way. the first was the seal behind the balancer, this is an essy fix you can do it yourself

you could also look at the timing chain cover gasket

the next was a the gasket that sits between the block and the timing plate, the timing chain sits inside a two part system, the first is the cover, pretty obvious, but the cover bolts to a cast pan that is actually bolted to the front of the block, there is a gasket that sits between the block and the plate, from what I understand it fails fairly regularly on the 3rd gen motors. the replacement gasket has been redesigned by cummins, they know its an issue, but they have not issued a recall,

this is a pricey repair for a $15.00 gasket, the entire top end of the motor has to come out, cam shaft and timing set has to be removed, radiator, front clip , a/c condenser etc. $1400 to fix mine, and don't take to any hack, your motor will be completely apart on the top end.

[waxthis]

I think my truck is having some bad blowby and I also lost quite a bit of oil while driving the other day. I washed and cleaned the motor up and the leak doesn't seem as bad but difinetly a leak on the driver side of the block. Anyway, I need someone to pull the head and diagnose the problem so I can make my next move.

BTW: 2003 Dodge Cummins with 192xxx on the clock.


Give Rocky a shout at Clickme (http://www.rspdiesel.com/contact.php) ......Great guy, Awsome work. Won the Diesel Power Challenge last year with a 97 F350 sportin a cummins...You wont be dissapointed.

[samoht517]

Give Rocky a shout at Clickme (http://www.rspdiesel.com/contact.php) ......Great guy, Awsome work. Won the Diesel Power Challenge last year with a 97 F350 sportin a cummins...You wont be dissapointed.

X2 With Rocky. We do alot of work with Rocky and he is an awesome guy and great mechanic. Last week he was at our shop rebuilding his engine 3 days before the diesel power challenge.

[tmleadr03]

I say first step is get it eyeballed, then get a leak down and compression test. I have yet to invest in a bitchen bore scope (good ones are pricey!) but you could use that when the compression test is done to see the cylinder walls at least.