I'm in a bad way right now and I need some info.It is a 87 F350 with a 6.9 with a HyperMax turbo on it. I was driving my F350 and looked out my mirror to see my engine blowing huge clouds of black smoke. The pump was adjusted to a point just before it blew black. It died in the street and cranked extremely slow. My gauge was reading over 210 when it died. I wanted to shut down sooner but I was trying to get off the road into a parking lot. I pulled my engine down to the intake and heads tonight. I will say now she got hot. The glow plugs all came right out.(gotta love Beru plugs) I cranked the engine over and it turned okay with no compression. I was low enough on fluid that when I pulled the gooseneck off there was no fluid that leaked out. I'm wondering if it might be saveable with just a head job or should I hunt for another engine. I have to change my trans so I'll pull the engine out to make the head gasket job easier and fix the leaking oil pan gasket. The oil was not milky which sounds like the cylinders were sucking in the antifreeze and blowing out the exhaust. I saw the area around the starter looking wet. I'll pull it the rest of the way down tommorow and see what I find in the cylinders and how the gaskets look. I'll send the heads out to be pressure checked without a doubt. I'm curious if an older 6.9 will fit the truck. I found one on Ebay with a spun rod from an 86. They say it was rebuilt once already. I'm curious if the block and heads will interchange with my 87. My crank is still good and if it just spun a rod I'm thinking I can mix and match rods and use the two to make one. I'll probably mill the pistons while it is apart using the factory pistons unless someone tells me it's not a good idea. Right now money for parts is an issue. Machining work isn't I have enough friends with machine shops I can swap favors for work. I would also like to know where to get a set of head studs. I figure while it's down I should stud the heads and be done with it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I need to get the my rig back on the road.

 

Diesel engine coolant temperature at the top of the radiator where hose attaches after high rpm or under load condition for 20 minutes should be (195-237*F) 91-114*C nice time to have a temperature reading point and shoot tool.

"I will say now she got hot" what is the indication for you knowing that.....

 

When I opened the radiator cap and smoke came out of it. I can smell the tell tale scent of a blown head gasket also when I put my nose anywhere near a open cooling passage. I say she got hot partly because of this and partly because I had a strange connector for one of the glow plugs and it was melted. External engine parts melting have always told me the engine got hot. I also burnt my hand when I touched the intake manifold to look at the melted connector.

 

I finally got my hands on a new compression tester after my original wandered off. I'm going to check the compression today to at least pin point the dead cylinders.

 

A glow plug hole to air hose adapter makes it easy to find the problem cylinder.

First remove all the glow plugs.
Then just put air into every cylinder till it starts blowing out the radiator or some other place it shouldn't.
I usually fill mine with water before I do it this way, when the radiator starts running over you have found the problem cylinder.
Do be careful though, when you apply the air the piston will go to bottom dead center.
It don't rotate far, but enough that you could get hurt if you were not expecting it.

This is also a good way to check for cavitation since it tests the whole cylinder.

 

I'll screw the injectors back in tonight and try that. I pulled it almost all the way down and found two injectors showing carbon just under the threads. When I got the valve covers off everything looked nice. I'm going to pull the heads and replace the head gaskets since I'm as far in as I am. I found I can get the head studs from ARP for 250 dollars. I also found I can replace my melted glowplug harness for 80 dollars from my international dealer. I'm also going to reseal the entire turbo oil delivery system as it has a small leak in the oil supply line.

 

I right side cylinder head off tonight. That is the first time I have ever had a problem lifting a part out of a vehicle. Those heads are heavy. Now for the sickening part. I pulled the head looking for anything that might indicate a bad head gasket and didn't find anything. I started to feel along to edge of the block looking for a crack or something only to find a gaping hole. The %^&%@#@!@$ block heater came out of the block and that is where my leak was. Since it got so hot that it melted the plugs for the glow plugs and the injectors showed some carbon at the bottom of the threads I'll be pulling the engine the rest of the way out and putting in new bearings and seals all the way. The truck only has 168000 on it. I finally looked at the odometer tonight. I figure with new bearing in it and new seals I should get another 200000 out of the engine without a problem.