My truck is a freaking money hole, just so everyone knows.

So, 1 year ago, my truck starts belching white smoke and running rough. 450 bucks later a little push rod was nice and bent, and that solved the problem.


6 months ago, the same story happened. White smoke and running real rough. This time I was on a trip . . . 18 wheeler mobile mechanic gets me into his shop where there are two guys. a 65 year old mechanic, and a 25 year old mechanic. 65 year old only knows 18 wheelers . . . the 25 year old is FORD certified and has a laptop diagnostic fancy setup. 25 year old tells me that his computer says I've got a bad injector, so that is what needs to be replaced. Push comes to shove and everyone online also agrees that if one is bad, I should replace them all. So 8 new injectors are shoved into my engine, costing me over 3 grand in parts and labor . . . low and behold, when the 25 year old actually got his hands dirty, there was another bent pushrod on the cylinder that had the ''bad'' injector. 65 year old whispers to me afterwards, "you ask me, that was the problem." Well, whatever, so I have all brand new injectors in my truck . . . sucks that I spent the money . . . but I agree, the injector was probably perfectly fine, just another bent pushrod.

So yesterday, 5000+ miles later . . . same symptoms. So I'm guessing another push rod. So really, my thread is asking . . . WHY ARE MY PUSH RODS BENDING? And what I'm really kicking myself in the teeth for is: Why didn't I replace all 16 pushrods when they had the damn valve covers off? Is it my driving habits? I've heard that downshifting to high of RPMs can bend the push rod . . . I don't downshift into the red zone, but I definitely engine break with my truck.

Who here is betting with me that it is another pushrod considering my injectors have 5000 miles on them? Who also thinks I got ripped off by the high tech 25 year old who calls out a bad injector because a cylinder isn't firing rather than getting dirty and looking?

So, I've ordered 16 pushrods . . . and I plan to put them in myself. Does this sound like too much work to anyone? Anything I should consider before taking everything on top of the engine off for the first time in my life?


Thanks

 

Was it the same pushrod both times? If so I would look at a lifter or valve problem.

 

Do you have a chip or tuner in your truck? Is there a common action that you are doing before this problem starts? (ie downshifting and over revving the motor, hard acceleration, etc.?) Is it always the same push rod that keeps bending?

 

If you've never done this before you should have someone help you. its not that bad but there are alot of little things, placement, oiling, alignment and torque that have to be done properly for it to be a good job.

what can bend a push rod?

bad con rod bearing or wrist pin. unlikely due to miles since first problem.plus lack of slap or smoking issues.

bent con rod, caused by hydrolocking or ether use. unlikely again other issues would have showed up by now.

heavily carboned piston, from bad injector, bad rings, head gasket. again unlikely due to miles and lack of other issues.

timing gear wear, slop. should have hard staring or poor running issues that dont go away. unlikely

over speeding the engine, most likely. to much rpm causes valve to "float" hits piston, slams rocker something has to give. need push rod. most times need valve, valve job and piston plus push rod. you should be able to see evidance on the rocker of excessive forces.

key info/questions. is it the same push rod? are the all on the same head? where did they bend? has anyone else had this issue with your series/year engine? has the engine been rebuilt? what has an experienced international t44e mechanic told you?

engine breaking is not accomplished by gearing and normal engine compression. engine breaking in a diesel is accomplished through an engine retarding system usually tied to the exhaust system and the fuel system. gearing down and over speeding the engine will cause it to slow the load and do damage as well if you are at the red line you dont have to be in the red to do damage.

good luck

 

What kind of power adders to you have? Chips and so on. Bent push rods do occur, but it's not that common at all.

 

If it is the same pushrod then I would suspect the valve spring. JMHO

 

well in his defense he was prolly looking at cyl contribution on the ids and that will show "possible" causes as inj. issue, pushrod, valve, etc. soo going by that the inj. is the most common issue. he could of dug a little deeper i agree but if your seing a bent pushrod on the same cyl, look towards the lifters,valve issues.

 

Well, thanks for all the replies.

Unfortunately, and stupidly . . . I never asked them which pushrod had been bent. Excellent questions indeed. So I have no frickin idea, and the paperwork doesn't say. All they ever did was give me the bent rod to show me.

Ummmm . . . yeah, my truck has a PERFORMANCE TOW tune on it. But I've stressed before on the forums that I drive real conservatively. I mean, I'm never trying to redline, I always shift under 3000 . . . I drive highway at 75 mph . . . like a little less than 2500 rpms. I never am towing . . . in fact, the tune is probably useless I guess. I figured it would get me better gas mileage.

HOWEVER, the first push rod that bent was UN-tuned motor . . . as well, the second push rod that was bent with the " bad injector " was also untuned because I always untune when I do a long trip. This time however, I have been running performace tow tune. With the SUPERCHIPS 1705.

I've got a 4 inch straight pipe from the down pipe all the way to rear end. I have a nice big SB air filter. I mean, I'm moving air plenty fine to avoid any trouble I think . . .???


My only thought to what I may do wrong is down shifting going too fast. Like being around 2500, or sometimes 2800 when I down shift. I'm never past 3000, ever.



MOST IMPORTANTLY to me . . . I'm almost 100 percent certain I will find another bent rod. Should I really not do this myself? I mean, I'm pretty decent at stuff, but have never been inside a valve cover before. I don't want to F my engine up due to not knowing . . . but what precautions should I take? I don't have any change of getting help from someone who knows . . . that's you boys here online.

 

All that considered . . . his dirty hands would have been the difference between 1500 dollars for injectors + their install, or 50 odd bucks + an easier install to change all the pushrods. Big difference. I really believe he should have eliminated the other differential diagnoses before going with the worst and having me buy 8 brand new injectors when possibly I never had a bad one to begin with. Such is life.

Oh yeah, so is the general consensus saying that it is pointless for me to replace all 16 pushrods? If I should be looking at a spring instead . . . what am I looking for to figure out what the problem is?

I am pretty determined to open her up and have a look at everything unless more than one of you think that sounds like a really bad idea. Is there a way to figure out what is going wrong by looking at the springs/ lifters things . . .etc?

 

I did all 16 of mine without ever having replaced a pushrod in anything before. It's not really technical just time comsuming. A whole lot of bolts to remove and replace. Just be sure you have the pushrod in the lifter when tightening down the rocker bolts. Torque spec on the rocker bolts is 20 ft/lbs. While you're in there tighten the injector hold downs to 120 in/lbs or 10 ft/lbs.

Check the UVCH connectors and all under valve cover wiring as well.

 

should of asked this earlier are you even hearing any knocking,pinging etc?

 

Hope you get it figured out.

 

Can someone recommend a place online to buy the springs at?

I have the Hanes manual, or whatever it is called for the truck . . . is that sufficient to get in there and change/check the push rods, or should I have a more specific and accurate, step by step process written out?

Someone mentioned oiling things . . . where can I find info on what to oil and how to do it?

Is there any particular step I should be worried about or place where extreme caution should be exercised? For example . . . what if it starts to rain while I'm in there and some mist blows around . . . is that bad?

 

When you suspect mechanical damage to the engine, you can always do a compression test to rule things in or out. I realize that pulling all the glow plugs (to insert the tester) is no fun, but 'guessing' what's wrong (injectors) without testing first gets expensive. A bent pushrod would have shown up in a compression test. I'm not sure I'd just replace all the pushrods as a preventative measure.

 

What would I be trying to rule out with a compression test? I realize that there will be low compression on which push rod it is . . . but a compression test wouldn't really say why the push rod is getting bent would it?

I mean, my theory is that somewhere down the line, something happened. And I figured that maybe more than one push rod got tweaked when that happened . . . and then over time something pushes them over the edge and I get my symptoms . . . so my thinking was if I put in all new ones(pretty cheap) . . . then if one bends . . . I know it is because something is weird. At this point I'll only know which cylinder I pull it out of this one time . . . so I will need another failure to check if it is the same one.