Dan, I did speak to Jay there, and you seem to be right about them. Very pleasant experience. He said if I order through Rock Auto it would end up saving me some money, and even offered to check stock for me before I order, then "babysit" the order for me to make sure I get a crank that's only been ground 0.010"/0.010". That's pretty impressive, in my opinion.

Told ya so...

Whatever forces bent the crankshaft, did so while it was being rotated by forged rods.

I wonder if PMRs would have given in before the crank bent under the same circumstance?

I don't really know. They're going to get checked for straightness/twist and be magnafluxed before they go back in though!

Any signs that engine hydro locked at some point during its life?

Nothing obvious, no.

Now that does make the most sense out of the most likely scenarios! Crazy tow truck driver is possible, but seems less likely than a motor that hydro locked, was minimally repaired, but never ran right again.

If oil got into one cylinder when injector service work was being done, the owner may not have been informed about the actual cause of the motor failing. "Sir, we checked out the motor, attempted to repair your injectors, but found other more serious problems. Do you want to spend $XXXX to repair this motor?" I can imagine that there are motors out there that have been damaged in exactly this way, especially by minimally trained "diesel specialists".

Larry

With the mechanical condition the injectors were in, and the fact that it still had 8 ADs in it, I seriously doubt any of them had ever been removed/replaced.

So, these engines ship with all AD's; then when later work is done, an AC is included at #8 to reduce cackle?

My thoughts were more along the lines of a Katrina victim donor truck.

An AE injector for cackle.

I just read this thread today, but when I saw the pitting in the side walls in one bank my first thought was water. Then later you had a bent crank in this write up. And now just at the end here I think someone just nailed it Katrina or some other type flood/water damage. And here is why I think so. Water made the walls pit. Some prolly was not bad enough that it has wore away and is now unseen. But who ever restarted the engine had a few drops of water in the engine yet. Now when cranking some got out EX. But when the engine fired we had that nice 100:1 thermal expansion of water take place. And bam thats why a slight bending on that portion of the crank and not the rest of the engine. It ran and that person most likely ditched the engine cause the truck was "SLAVAGED" as the title would state. So why not get rid of the parts on it and scrap the truck is what someone was thinking.

Could the crank be ground down and get things on center sure. Most are fine all the way to .040/.040 ask those guys up in the twin cities. I would ask your machine shop how far out it is. by grinding those mains you get things back in to alingment. even your shop would be able to fix a slightly bent crank by grinding it. Look at the power put down on the small journal sizes today. And its not a cast crank made way back in the time machine. This is a new steel crank with alot better metlurgey. I would not fear .020 -.030 cut at all. I would also chamfer those output holes to the rods and main hole of the crank to help oiling. Every bit helps. I know on FE 390/428 stroker engines we go down to a BBC bearing size and that a .100 smaller!!!! On a cast crank. And you all know a GASSER spins way way more RPM than a diesl. Just trying to give you a perspective here and calm your reservations.

That cam you have I would also have pilioshed up to remove that crap on it and start with a fresh surface. Just like crank polishing it will be good as new. Lifters can also be done the same way. One of the advantages of roller cams.

Lots of "deals" have been foisted on people in the wakes of Sandy and Katrina. Oftentimes, the flooded vehicles from these storms are trucked all the way to Arizona first before selling is even attempted. People believe that Arizona, where Sandy and Katrina are the furthest thoughts from unsuspecting buyers minds, has the best climate for vehicle preservation. And they would be right, but for the fact that enterprising profiteers realize this bias also. Buyer beware.


Close, but not quite. The early 99 through 2000 model year 7.3L engines were fitted with all ADs at the factory. But 2001 through 2003 7.3L engines were fitted with 7 ADs and one AE injector in #8 at the factory. The exact changeover point does not necessarily occur at the 2000-2001 model year break, but the change did occur at some point in calendar year 2001.

Simultaneously during that time period, Ford issued a TSB to address customer complaints of regarding a "cackle" concern (hot idle knocking sound) for which a retrofit of a Long Lead AE injector was prescribed. That is why the AE can sometimes be found in a 99-00 truck, and sometimes not. A lot of folks ran out and had the AE injector installed on Ford's dime. And some folks didn't. I chose not to, so I still have all my original ADs in my 2000.

Someone with a 2002 model year, on the other hand, will have the AE injector as installed by International at the plant, not a retrofit by a dealer.

All vehicles in and around the areas hit by Katrina were "marked" by insurance companies. That can easily be looked into.

The patches on the cylinder walls are too random to indicate water ingestion/standing water in the cyliners, IMHO. I think it's far more likely just from sitting for a year. The truck it came out of was totaled by an insurance company as a result of a cab interior fire, and a relatively minor one at that.