Let's talk strange here: I did a valve adjustment on the 4BT a couple of months ago. I forgot to tell y'all about the most peculiar part of it. I had put up with an oil leak since I got the engine, apparently from #3 or #4 valvecover. Other than that only the blown TH465 tranny and worn out steering caused the donor truck to come up for sale when it was let out of commercial service.
Strange part: pulled the valve covers and worked through the valve adj. sequence and went to clean up oil leakage. WHAT!!???!!! At the front edge of #4 valvecover sealing surface on block, dead center right-left, was a 1999 Lincoln head penny!
I thought long and hard. My conclusion: it couldn't/didn't get there accidently. There were 'shelf' areas formed as part of the donor truck's body, next to the doghouse that covered the Cummins, but these all had a 1" or taller lip around so nothing could fall into engine by accident. No need to climb up on top of engine when valve covers are off to adjust anything or whatever, and there was nothing above engine area in truck that would need servicing in any way, so no opportunity for a penny to fall out of a mechanic's pocket onto engine block. The tranny was rebuilt but still blew again from a bad front seal and lost reverse [probably due to valve body]. The steering was so bad it was unbelievable, worst I've ever driven over a lot of years.
So, I'm thinking a mechanic in the Service Department wanted to buy THAT Cummins powered truck when it was retired, and decided to hurry things along? I'm guessing the tranny was sabotaged along with the steering being mis-adjusted and an oil leak added, while still leaving engine unharmed? Got any other explanations?
Strange part: pulled the valve covers and worked through the valve adj. sequence and went to clean up oil leakage. WHAT!!???!!! At the front edge of #4 valvecover sealing surface on block, dead center right-left, was a 1999 Lincoln head penny!
I thought long and hard. My conclusion: it couldn't/didn't get there accidently. There were 'shelf' areas formed as part of the donor truck's body, next to the doghouse that covered the Cummins, but these all had a 1" or taller lip around so nothing could fall into engine by accident. No need to climb up on top of engine when valve covers are off to adjust anything or whatever, and there was nothing above engine area in truck that would need servicing in any way, so no opportunity for a penny to fall out of a mechanic's pocket onto engine block. The tranny was rebuilt but still blew again from a bad front seal and lost reverse [probably due to valve body]. The steering was so bad it was unbelievable, worst I've ever driven over a lot of years.
So, I'm thinking a mechanic in the Service Department wanted to buy THAT Cummins powered truck when it was retired, and decided to hurry things along? I'm guessing the tranny was sabotaged along with the steering being mis-adjusted and an oil leak added, while still leaving engine unharmed? Got any other explanations?