Well this sucks! A month or so ago I was turning to get on the freeway and just as I started to accelerate I hear this WHAP-WHAP-WHAP-WHAP sound from the engine. When it happened it sounded to me like it dropped a valve. It took me a few days, but I finally got everything off the front of the truck and got access to the motor. The kid next door gave me a hand pulling the motor and that's when I got my first glimpse of what happened. That big lump on the side of the oil pan was my first clue. Once I got the pan off, (what a PITA that was), I confirmed what I already knew, I threw a rod. (Actually, it looks more like a rod bolt broke). Now I had to take the rest of the engine apart to see what else got damaged in the melee.

This is kind of a slow process for me since I'm old, fat, in poor health, and generally slow to begin with. but I finally got the heads off and started pulling pistons. The hole with the broken rod, (#4), had a couple of nice smiles on top of the piston where the valves hit, but it doesn't look like there's any visible damage to the head itself. Gonna have to change the two valves of course. What I was most worried about was block damage. Fortunately, it looks like I dodged a bullet. There's a minor burr on the bottom of the cylinder, but I wouldn't characterize it as much more than a scratch. It probably happened when I tried to re-start the engine and it locked up. I'm going to magnaflux the block anyway, just to be safe.

Here's what the bottom of the rod looked like:



The crank journal looks a little scarred, but nothing that won't grind out. All in all, I think I got lucky. I certainly could have totaled the entire motor. Looks like I can repair it.

Here's what's broken:
#4 Piston/Rod
#4 Crank Journal
1 Rocker Arm
#4 Int/Exh Valve
Both Pushrods, (I'm sure, though I haven't checked yet.)
Oil Pan

What I plan to do:

Magnaflux the block and the one head
Hone all Cyl's
Replace the two valves
New valve seals, all valves
New Rocker arm and two pushrods
New Piston/Rod/Wrist Pin
ARP Rod Bolts, × 8 cyl's
New Rings × 8 cyl's
New Main/Rod/Cam Bearings
Full Gasket Set
New Oil Cooler
New Glow Plugs
Oil Pan (Anyone have a used one for sale?)

Possible parts to replace:
All injectors
Low pressure oil pump

I've built a lot of gas engines but this is my first diesel. Is there anything missing on my list of things to do/replace?

Any advice, gotcha's to watch out for, shortcuts I should know about? I really can't afford to do this wrong. I'd really appreciate any input.

Thanks,

 

Wow, a lower end failure on a 7.3 is pretty rare. I would do up pipes as well since the motor is out. Do you have any aftermarket tuners in the truck and how many miles are on the truck?

 

Actually, I just rebuilt the turbo and installed new up pipes at that time. There's less than a thousand miles on them. I also just put in a new water pump and cooling fan clutch. Just did the fuel bowl rebuild too.

The truck itself has about 230k on it, but the really sucky thing is, the motor is relatively brand new. It's a factory rebuild long block, dealer installed, with about 45k miles on it. This is a really sore subject for me since I went out of my way to buy an early 99 truck because they have the forged steel rods. Turns out this one doesn't. Powdered metal rods. Dammit!!! .

I do have a PHP Phoenix 6 Position Chip, but the truck is otherwise stock as far as I know.