Just wanted to let the people who are following Kenny and mine adventures into his engine, know that we have found the problem and we are ordering parts when he gets money on monday. I discovered two cracks in the block, mirror images of each other, on cylinders 3 and 1, at the very bottom of the cylinders in between them where the water jacket is, it is very apparent that's where the water is coming from. All of the crack on 1 was below where the rings travel on the cylinder walls, but about a half inch of the crack was above the rings on cylinder3, so he was burning some water, anytime he wasn't under boost. BTW the headgaskets were perfect when we removed the heads. So, now the block is a boat anchor, he is going do do a rebuilt short block. Instead of me buying the parts and him getting the block machined, i found a killer deal on ebay for a remanned short block, including forged rods, oil pan, oil pump, (oil cooler which i need for a small charge, gasket kit, front cover and mahle pistons for $2500 not including shipping. I am getting him RDS "premium" rebuilt hybrid injectors, which include mostly new parts. His stock injectors are well on their way to self-destruction, so get new internal parts, the top halves, and the fuel parts of the injector are fine it's just the oil side is messed up. I found a great deal for him on a silver-chrome Powdercoated H2E and kit, plus on the list is a RacerX torque converter and valve body, Head studs, comp 910 valve springs, Pushrods, and a DP Tuner chip reburn.
Today we lifted the front of the truck up with the handy yellow engine hoist, rolled the truck outside, used up two bottles of simple green, lightly pressurewashed everything in front of the mirrors, and it's looking GOOD. We are going to paint the framerails and cross member, and where ever he wants sometime later this week. I have all the parts cleaned, i disassembled his heads today. He took the heads and both manifolds today, going to his machine shop to get them decked and possibly a valve job.
There you go.

 

I could have sworn head gasket but then again I'm no world class mechanic. I would have never thought the block could have cracks in it. What could cause that? Faulty casting?

 

Well that sure is an expensive fix, how many miles did he have on his truck and what could have caused that? Well atleast now he'll have a well built PSD to run the streets with I am suprised you didn't get him hooked up with a cummins.

 

Ouch. Im 3 weeks without a turbo and i cant handle it. No vehicle = no money. Whats your expected timeframe?

 

Seems to me in the other thread on this subject someone guessed a broken block. But I sure would like to know what caused it myself, even a guess would be nice.

 

A guess, possibly a faulty casting. He is still running stock injectors when it was running so there's no possibility of "overpowering" the block to the point where it could crack. I dont know, anyone could WAG about maybe a hot spot in the block, (air pocket) and the metal heated up to the point where it started forming a crack and over heat cycles it eventually cracked? Who's to say. The truck has 133k miles. He and I both know it's rather easy to get to 500hp on a 7.3, any more than that you are spending money more wisely on a cummins conversion. He said if he was shooting for more then what he wants now then it would defanitely be a CommonRail, but due to his budget (started out as 5K, now its up near 11k), an engine swap is not in his plans until this one blows up, if/when it does. He eventually wants to be into the 12's with 38" tires, i told him not with a PSD, (without 40K in mods to the drivetrain), so i told him to shoot for high 13's with what he's getting. If he gets me the money soon i could have all the parts ordered by middle of this week, we could have the engine back in the truck early as the following weekend. We are doing some cosmetic things such as painting and stuff that will occupy us until we get some stuff to work on. He wants to have it back by at least August 7 so he can take it up to Carlisle PA

 

Kris,

Thanks for the follow up. Tried to rep you but I must spread it around.

 

I did it for both of us Robin

 

Well start spreading it around.

Useful posts only...

 

That sucks. I had a feeling he was getting all of it into the pan and it seems I wasn't far off. I too wonder what may have caused the cracks. Bad coolant and a freeze maybe?

 

Nice work Kris, you should open up a speed shop to service the north east. At least if and not when your not running your folks company

 

No i still have alot to learn about running a business before that happens. For now im just one of the laborers, but i get to drive the truck

I guess you could say im a part-time powerstroke mechanic, i dont work on much anything else because i dont know much about anything else. Ive done alot of work, some for members on here too. Stroken, Greedy737, Mallo, Ernest Eugene to name a few just right now off the top of my head.

 

what coolant was he running?


kurt

 

Near the end, it was pure water. It started out as green coolant, but over the course of three weeks and 20 gallons of water added, it ended up being all water. You should see how clean that piston and valves were though!

 

Kurt, check your sig, what is a PDS? BTW, how do ya like coonhunter Joe's tranny mod. I almost went that route. Sorry for the Jack.