wow that sucks.

 

Yea rains it pours usually gremlins you got elephants

Did you get my pm??

 

I won't be kind here. Sorta sounds like the broken brake line was the first hint. Ain't no way you ought to be blasting down the freeway at 80 MPH with no front brakes, having only about 1/4 of your braking power! That just isn't fair to the other drivers out there, people get KILLED that way!

Sounds like you need to sideline it long enough to fix those brakes NOW and while you're at it stick in a new head gasket. Regardless, the brakes aren't something to take so lightly just because you were able to get away with it. I mean think about it: how would you feel if you knew that all those other vehicles around you didn't have any brakes to speak of? Would that make you feel real good all over? I doubt it...

Please, fix that right away for your own sake as well as the sake of other drivers!

 

Brakes we're fixed first thing I fixed. Lucky the driving was at night and the roads were pretty empty. If I didnt have oversized brakes i wouldn't have done it. It was like driving an old army truck with a trailer. It stopped alright, no where near as well with front brakes.

Pulled the transmission out and looked at the oil. Hopefully only a few bearings are trashed and nothing major. The only was nothing but metal shavings looked like mercry comming out.

 

It stopped alright, no where near as well with front brakes.

You missed the point... Bombing along at 80, in the dark, with only rear brakes... Fix your junk BEFORE you get back on the road. It's not like you are in the middle of BFE and don't have access to parts.

 

Totally!

 

Sound like the power of that 4bt is starting to take its toll on parts. Unless you're really over boosting the head gasket shouldn't blow. Maybe it was just it's time. Sounds like it's time for a complete tear down. Check the bearings, pistons, head, block deck, etc. Are you still running on the SC alone or is the turbo in there too? Running at those speeds with a blown head gasket could do a lot of damage. Time to call AAA.

 

Was it stupid yeah it was. I didnt like the idea of driving like I did but I did and I was very fortunate to make it safely to colorado. Would I do this under normal situation hell no. But it happened and I'm glade it worked out. As soon. As I got to colorado I pulled it into my sisters garage and tore it apart. Its not going on the road until its fixed even if it means I'm leaving it here. But at least I'm now in a situation where I can leave it.

Transmission 1k rebuild get it back monday

brake line 50 bucks. I honestly tried to get it fixed on the way and I got deer at head lights everywhere I asked.

Turns out it wasn't the head gasket. The rear piston rings scored up the cylinder wall so it wasnt a gasket..

Now the engine needs a rebuild....... not sure if it can be polished out, sleeved or bored over and use bigger pistons.... any advice?

 

not sure if it can be polished out, sleeved or bored over and use bigger pistons.... any advice?

If the rest of the engine is fresh and known healthy just bore and sleeve that cylinder and reassemble. If she's a worn and weary engine and you want to continue to tinker with the HP, nows the opportune time to make everything right and give it a solid foundation with head studs and the best combustion sealing you can provide (new rings, honed walls , valve job, head studs and a quality gasket) Then let the games begin or drive it for the rest of your life knowing she's tight and right!

 

I had a valve job not to long ago, upgraded valve springs new seals.

I don't get why the ring went I wasn't pushing the engine hard. The engine had a blown turbo when I got it so who knows. ,its going to get honed and new barrings, I was thinking maybe lower compression pistons or something. But at a min the engine is getting rebuilt.

I want to add another turbo later on and make it scream. Im just kind lost and in don't really know best way to go from here I don't want to spend a grand or so now and rebuild it again on.

Any ideas on what i should do?

 

Cummins says you can just run one bigger piston if you want. or my vote just do it right.

 

Seems to me the first thing to do is get some extremely accurate measurements to discover exactly what you're dealing with. Measure the bores at various heights from top to bottom, and at 90* angles to check for ovoid and taper. Find out true exact bore meaurements, then true piston measurements. Find out what sort of oversize parts are available such as rings. A top quality hone job and some premium rings might give you a very good basic engine.

Thing is it was a well worn entity before the recent disaster but was considered as worthwhile of the time, labors and investment. In fact it wasn't, but found out the hard way. So maybe by doing a premium hone job, new premium rings, possibly new pistons but doubtful, you can end up with a good, tightly sealed diesel engine much better than what you started with. Ten carry on with whatever other mods you want to do for fun.

 

So sleeving that cylinder, new rings, barrings, head studs and gaskets the right way? I would like to bore the cylinders over with a little lower compression so I can run more boost but that's going to be another 1000 in poistons.

What do you guys think the average cost should be for a shop to rebuild it, $1500-2000?

 

So sleeving that cylinder,

Take it to a diesel machine shop and ask them if you can get away with cleaning up the bore and what condition the other bores are in. If it won't clean up and has to be bored, you may come out even money by just boring all 4 and getting oversize pistons. Or it may be cheaper to just bore and sleeve this one back to stock if the other bores are in good shape. You won't know until you get a professional exam done and decide from there.

But while its apart have them do the full meal deal. Check all the journals to see if they need to be turned down so you can get everything back into spec. The parts aren't really that expensive and they aren't any more expensive than stock sizes that you'd want to replace anyway. Check your cam-now would be the time to put in a hi-po version if needing replacement or you already know you want to go a little nuts.

Your budget really will determine what you get to do-but I'd definitely go through and replace every single wear component back to factory clearance specs while you have it apart. You will essentially have a full-on recon engine at that point with 0 miles and wear!

 

You can either buy or rent the proper measuring tools for the bores. There's tons of info online about how to properly use the tools to measure cylinder bore for oval or taper etc. Measuring all that ahead of time can be a good idea if dealing with an unknown machine shop. You don't have to let them know ahead of time that you've already fully measured everything and know the exact condition of your cylinder bores.

Once you know where you're at on the individual cylinders then you'll know whether a full rebore or liners or whatever is needed or not. That or you can make a decision now that what you want is a fully rebuilt engine regardless and just pony up for the machine work, parts and materials. No idea what your budget is but of course that's the bottom line with whatever course of action - $$$$ ????. Got cash???

 

The problem is this was totally unexpected, the truck was running great and I didn't think I've been pushing the engine to hard.

I can only spend $2-3000 on the engine, not sure what this is going to run. Just sucks I still have another 1400+miles to drive to fort Stewart.

At least when it's said and done both the engine and transmission are rebuilt. My t case and axles were already rebuilt.

 

Yeah, that's a major bummer for sure. I guess what I'm suggesting is you might consider trying to find out if it's possible to get by el cheapo for now, to get you on home to Ft. Stewart. No, maybe not a topnotch full-on rebuild but just enough to get it running pretty darned good, at least as good as before. Then when you get to Ft. Stewart use their Auto Hobby Shop sometime later to tear it down and do the mega-build after you've accumulated some more dough to finance it?

 

sleeving is another kettle of fish...done improperly,could be more trouble than it's worth.not every machine shop has sufficient experience to sleeve blocks.

my 2c ?...get the block magged and bore and hone all 4.try and save a buck in other ways...not on the machining.

 

Not to be hard headed here but I guess I will:

There's no good reason whatsoever to bore a block that doesn't need boring!

The only way to know that, the true condition of the individual cylinders, is to very simply measure the individual bores, properly so as to discover any taper or oval or depth of scrathces. Then a person will know for a fact whether any boring is required at all. That's my 1c's worth....

 

Thanks guys, I'm going to take the motor over first thing Monday morning and let Peterson diesel inspect the wall and see what they say.

I just hope there isn't anything else going on with it

 

Like you said, don't know how that thing had been treated before you got it. If you want to go lower compression pistons they are out there. One popular model is the marine versions. If you get the CR too low you'll wind up having to use starting fluid like the racing diesels. Might consider having the bearings and pistons treated by Polydyn Coatings. Those guys do great work, fast turnaround, and prices are not excessive. Like the others have said since it's down now's the time to fix it right. Might even consider having the rotating assembly balanced. If you haven't already, might have the cam reground for a better performance. The repair shop will determine whether you can get by with a simple overbore or need a sleeve. At least you're not stranded in a nowhere place.

 

I might take it ats diesel on Monday, I've been talking to them about my controllers so maybe I can meet them and get my engine fixed at the same time.

Anyone know the CR of 3926632.? I looked up my sn on quick serve and that's what came up. I was thinking if it was 17.5:1 I should drop it down to 16.5:1 or if it's the 16.5:1 drop it down to 15.5:1.

Looked an engine overhaul kit, seems everyone sells the around the same price $500-800 depending what you want. I'll most likely send another $1000+ in machining and labour

I just hope I can get it fixed

 

If you drop the CR down near the 15:1 ratio the engine is probably going to be a bit hard to start, especially in cold weather. Might want to talk to the guys at Mahle. Seems like the stock P pump pistons are around 17.0:1. 15.5 might be livable and is probably close to what the marine 370 Cummins pistons are rated. There are competition models down to 12.1:1. Have to run a huge amount of boost with those to even get it to run. My Ford Torino 429 was higher than that.

 

18* of timing, 4,000 RPM govern (even on a p7100) 7x10 injectors, stock valves... pushing Dana 60's and 70's..... on twins... (which was once supercharged/turbo'd.... and also had a turbo blow up on the same motor before)............

Can't say I'm all that surprised on the engine reliability issue.... nor the Getrag360 being upset (as your probably WAY above HP/TQ #'s of the stock 6BT that came with the 360 originally...pushing huge tires).

High horsepower usually comes with the detriment to reliability and powertrain failures.... welcome to the party!



As for the brakes... I'll be x2..... brakes are cheap.... no matter what the repair relative to what we spend on HP goodies. lines, masters, calipers etc are cheap and most can be done on the spot with a little help. (bleeding etc)


Prepare your wallet... its about to buy a G56 or NV4500 (unless you want to fight the getrag again in 5-15k miles)[read when it blows up the 2nd time... it would have been cheaper for the G56 right off the get go]

Start factoring an engine rebuild and a new trans cost....

Maybe bring it back to stock cheaply as possible.. sell the go fast goodies...and just buy a newer diesel? (I know I'm math guy.... if your going to spend $6k+ on repair/upgrade.... or you could spend 2k... get it running... sell the truck for 10k... you have 8K in your pocket cash.... along with the remaining 4k (6-2 for stock repairs.) you would have spent on upgrades.... take that 12k and go put money down on a newer dodge CC 4x4 manual.... it'll have the same HP as your current 4BT setup... capable of the same MPG... 10x the reliability.

My other recommendation from the car guy part (no math).... 4bt.....2 turbos and supercharged

 

Did you pull the pistons out of the bores yet? Did just a ring fail or did the ringland fail?

If the scoring isn't too deep, hone/rings and go... if its deep... bore the block.. new pistons/rings/bearings and go. Boring isn't an expensive operation... and depending on the condition of the cylinders and if they have been bored before, may be the best route to take.

I wouldn't sleeve it... at that point, you would be better off finding a different block IMO which could end up being cheaper yet.

Good luck man.
-Chris

 

I don't think I pushed the engine hard, from what I read it seems a piston oil squirter might of clogged up on that cylinder.

The top of the piston looked good just the wall on number 4 was scored all over. I'll be taking it to a shop tomorrow and I'll see how it goes.

 

I don't think I pushed the engine hard, from what I read it seems a piston oil squirter might of clogged up on that cylinder.

I think the 18* of timing, twins, pushing dana 60's & 70's.... on a 12" suspension lift (aero of a breadvan) on huge tires.... at 80 MPH.... is probably 'pushing' the motor hard... all the time... to be honest. (your simply making up the issue of Cubic inches in PSI... which in turn is a detriment to reliability after a certain point.. which you are indeed way past)

If this was a trail only rig... no big issue... but with putting on the mileage you are... in regards to being a DD.... this won't be your last time doing this I suspect. (in regards to the motor or the getrag 360)

This is part of the hobby and hot rodding.... (unfortunately does NOT bode well for making your hobby vehicle your daily driver)

 

Yow! I didn't even catch the 18* timing and 12" lift. What size tires you pushing? I hate to add more rain to your parade but I think you've outgrown this vehicle for your performance desires. Its time to step up to a 6 or 8 cylinder and maybe an automatic, so it can reliably provide the scene you are wanting to travel in. Keep most of your mods and step up to a 1st gen ext cab Tundra/T100. Put your 1 ton running gear and tires back under it and put some pre runner fenders to help clear the tires and keep the rig a little lower for better cog and aerodynamics. Those 1st gen yotas are CHEAP and pretty well built if not rusted. There are always crawlers looking for Taco body/chassis to make truggies out of. Or maybe a member here would like a truck already set up for a 4BT-sell'em your mounts and all-you're gonna need new ones anyway!!!!
Just another point of view and option to consider.

 

If a piston cooling nozzle failed that would certainly have caused a problem. The #4 cylinder is the hottest one in the engine and many times you see that one with a rod sticking out the side of the block from a seized piston. You can now get billet aluminum squirters which are supposed to be improved over the factory ones. Not very expensive. http://www.ebay.com/itm/250801259947?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648Here's a link.