I'm about to work on my truck again. Sold one of my Toyotas so have a little pocket money, but not much. Need to get my truck running right so I can get back on the road now that the weather has cooled.

Not sure what to do though. Recall that the truck has a little stumble as I come to a stop, but idles fine. And I've worried about the delta for awhile now - runs 14-18 during the summer, with oil temps usually in the high teens, but it can get into the high 20s going over the Rockies pulling a trailer. But, during the winter, it's usually running a low teens delta and temps in the 208-214 range. However, all of that is at speeds of 55-60mph. If I go faster those temps (but not deltas) go up quite a few degrees.

I understand that's not necessarily terrible since this is a heavy 450, and I'm always pulling 8000-12000lbs. I don't guess the 450 gear is even designed to go much faster than that consistently.

The other problems are an oil leak in the back, which I'm pretty sure is just a passenger-side valve cover gasket, and another leak in the front that I think is coolant, probably a water pump, but might be oil (front seal?). And, recall that it recently did a crazy after it'd not been driven in a month - started fine, then, right after the RPMs went up as it idled (I assume that's a normal warming up process, maybe the turbo coming online?) it almost died and very noticeable, but not heavy, smoke came out of the air intake between the filter and turbo. It stopped and has never done that again over the course of two short trips of about 1200 miles total. It also screeches for a few minutes at start up, and I've assumed that the wet belts drying off.

Sean suggested the cylinder walls might have been dry and that I should get a contrib test. I haven't done that yet.

So, all those symptoms, plus an A/C that had repeatedly lost a can or two of freon every 2000-2500 miles, but didn't lose it while sitting up for two months and worked throughout those 1200 mile trips???

I don't have enough money to throw all the possible parts at it, so I'd like to narrow it down. I figure the leaks get a lot of the top of the engine off, and just on general principle I might take the opportunity to replace the oil cooler and delete the EGR. I've wondered whether the turbo could be the source of the shudder and smoke - the last time I had it off, the back of the fins were rusty bad, and IIRC, some had nicks on the leading outside edge. But I should take Sean's advice and confirm it's not a bigger, cylinder-related issue. If it is, I might just sell the truck - I got my money out of it long, long ago and don't have the capability to tear it down to the short block or swap engines. I downloaded Forscan years ago but have never used it. I think I've read that it does the contrib test. I would need to buy a hard cable to connect my PC. Maybe it'd be easier to just pay a tech to do that test.

I've never rebuilt a turbo, and not sure I should try with my history of screwing up. But then, the only time I tried a basic oil cooler/EGR delete left me with the non-running ambulance that's still in my back yard.

Welcome any suggestions as to what y'all do if, heaven forbid, you were me. Otherwise, invite Orville Redenbacher over and enjoy the show.

 

I lost your number, but if you're still in Houston, I have an IDS and can help save you a few steps.

 

Oh man, that would be awesome. Sent PM

 

Well if you are shy of digging into the turbo a new stock replacement with a warranty can be had for under $1k. AS far as the deltas, might be time to address that. I am sure you could get a local shop to do a leak test for a a/c check charge. They should do a sniff test on the system along with a pressure and vent temperature test.

 

Thanks, Restless. Roger (Torreador Diesel) was awesome enough to hook me up to his IDS. My block checks out OK, but my turbo is sticking and one of my injectors is a little weak. On the way to his house, since I wasn't pulling a trailer, I drove at 65mph and my delta stayed between 14-16, which is where it runs when I'm pulling a trailer, although I only drive 55-60 then. It's been about the same for the last year, ever since I replaced the thermostat after the delta was getting into the low 220s.

I have that leak in the front that is thin like coolant, but black like oil. I assume it's coming from the water pump weep hole, so i want to replace that. And, I want to do an EGR delete since I'm taking the turbo off anyway - Roger is going to rebuild it for me. With all that stuff off, replacing the oil cooler is just a little more work; but, it's another chunk of money, and I'm pretty tight right now.

Roger recommends that I just do a backflush with one of the "newer" backflush products rather than replace the oil cooler. What do y'all think? I've read here that a backflush can loosen up crap that will clog up a cooler, and if you're going to replace the cooler, do the backflush first so it doesn't clog up the new one.

Does it make sense to just do the backflush, before tearing anything down, to see what it does for my delta? If it's no help, then replace the cooler while I have all those other parts off? Or if it does seem to help my delta, but since it could take a while before the backflush crap clogs up my cooler, maybe I should wait on the EGR delete and cooler - just swap in the rebuilt turbo and water pump for now and see how it goes with the delta?

Of course, if money was no object, I'd just replace everything. But when I'm through with all this, I still need enough cash to finance my first working trip (fuel, hotels, etc. until I can get paid for driving across the country), so money is going to be an issue - unless one of my other cars sells real quick (I have 3 listed right now - https://www.facebook.com/jinwanmotor...dmin_todo_tour - anyone need a good cheap car?)