Experienced help needed, please!

Roccafellas

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This was posted on the .org as well*
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Hello fellow forum members. It’s been a while since I have posted. I have an engine problem that I require experienced expert opinion. I know this is long. I tried to be very thorough, I really appreciate the time you take to help..

Engine;
6.4 powerstroke .20 over
.20 over ceramic coated mahle pistons
Dynamic diesel stage 1 kit (stage 1 cam, mahle clevite bearings, HD lifters, all gaskets etc..)
River city diesel high rev valve springs
River city diesel chromoly pushrods
6.0 manifold w/ custom up pipes
Arp studs torqued to 275
NL air intake
cold side pipe
Pusher intake elbow
******* tuning
Been running the 325hp tune since 10,000km on after break in. Currently the engine has 35,000km

Background;
Engine was built two years ago, the long block (minus turbos and intake)was assembled by a reputable machine shop. They charged me $2200 CAD for the work.
They said they magnafluxed the heads and checked for cracks. I had a used block brought to them I assume they also checked for squareness and cracks, my original engine trashed the block. Trucks got an 8” lift and 37s on 24s

Problem;
Truck was originally a summer vehicle. I built it two years ago. For those who remember my post was probably the longest thread and had the most views from me being incoherent to others. Which again I apologize for. ANYWAYS.
My trucks only got 35k, I ran into some financial issues lately and I was forced to drive it in the winter. Long story short. I haven’t had heat since the beginning of this winter. On -35 days up here in Ontario Canada it IS brutal. I’m tired of my fingers freezing. I assume I blew the head gaskets. I can’t keep coolant in it. Pushed out the bottle, My rad is blowing apart along the bottom. And I have no heat.
One day I was driving during the summer towing an empty 14x9 (Aprox) trailer on the 325tune, I got on it for about 100ft 3/4 throttle (hot day out as well) when I came to the end of the 100ft which was a light so full stop. A puff of white smoke came out the exhaust. That was probably at around 15,000km and since then 15,000+Km later, I have never ever seen another puff of white smoke come out of the exhaust. Even towing my 30ft 12,000 fifth wheel. I started researching and came up with; steam out of the inter cooler or coolant in exhaust. I never saw anything about fuel or anything else.
1.) do you think it’s normal to blow hg’s at 35,000km when built/studded with proper(assumed) machine work done, running the 325 hp tune? Again I won’t be surprised nor upset if a yes I’m just asking.
2.) do you think I should of o ringed the heads. I honestly totally forgot about oringing and I could of had it done. But completely slipped my mind. What an awful awful mistake. I read somewhere @toren302 had only his truck oringed and he built one similar to his without them and that customer beat his truck and it’s been fine (which I don’t really beat mine but yeah I’m on it a lot and I see 40+ lbs a lot.. I won’t lie when lockup hits..this thing pulls like absolute crazy). Anyways. For the experienced guys.. was it bad machine work? Or should I oring them.. and is there anyone who is willing to help me out with this? I’m in Ontario but I’ll ship. There’s no reputable shops around me and I want this done RIGHT. Is there anything else that can cause this? Or no remedy for an idiot with a heavy foot? Minus an expensive bottom end and fully built bottom end which I can not afford.
3.) was that puff of white smoke the entry sign of a blown HG and then just sealed?. I don’t know. What else could it of been? Cracked heads? I’m just asking because I have friends with built diesels and they are stumped as well that’s it’s not-on going.

Next problem, I’ll be on it let’s say leaving a light and with traction I floor it. The truck cuts out. Like no power rpms just drop. If I let off the pedal for a second and get back on it. It’s there. I don’t know how many races I’ve lost because of it and I’m wondering if it’s transmission related. Yes it’s a stock transmission with 160k. I don’t expect it NOT to be a tranny problem. Or tuning problem, but upon a lot of research I can’t find any other guys having this problem. If it’s tuning then WHO is the best and who should I run? Again I’m just asking for the experienced guys.

Last problem!
My delta temps!!! Damn I have heated this thing up to the point my ******* dash daq was at the Beeping warning for coolant temp AND oil temp.. Max like 20 minutes till I just coasted home. I pray I didn’t crack the heads (if they aren’t already) or do any other damage. The oil cooler to be honest was another item I FORGOT about when I built the engine.. I bought a new hpfp but not a oil cooler.. i know idiot move.
This is going to sound crazy.. but I forget if I brought the old engine to them. Or just the new pistons and stage 1 kit and bare block and new rods and if they assembled it without an oil cooler? Is this possible?
If I did bring it to them and I just have a horrible memory..could this be clogged even tho it was cleaned? (assuming they machine shop did IF they had one..haha) could the hg’s cause this issue or is the oil cooler causing the hg issue?!

Last but not least. While I redo this mess up.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD I ADD.
Lift pump?
Coolant filters?
Potted rails?
Remote oil cooler?
What else did I miss building this engine. I’m looking for the most reliability at the highest (stock fuel and air) hp point. I drive my truck. So I want honest answers for someone who uses there truck.. I spent $15,000 on this engine and I know that’s a fraction of what can be done. So hit me with everything I should do to make this a future reliable daily driven summer and winter 800-1000hp truck. Minus fuel and air. I’ll ask them on another post. Just supporting mods now.

Thank you for reading this novel! Please if I didn’t make it clear, have mercy!
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jordysoso

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You said you're losing coolant, out of a cracked radiator AND puking out the degas bottle? If you pull the oil fil cap, how's your blow by? If you have a major failure of some sorts I would think the cap would blow out of your hand when you go to take it off. Have you tried switch to a lighter tune? I read in some places the 325 tune was causing high boost at cruising with high egts (now that that company is out of bidness there is no way to get ahold of them). With your dashdaq, you should be able to pull a lot of diagnostic data off of it. Any codes that you are throwing? Also, where is your EBP sensor located, don't see it in the pictures, nor can I make out a pre turbo egt sensor.
 

Roccafellas

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You said you're losing coolant, out of a cracked radiator AND puking out the degas bottle? If you pull the oil fil cap, how's your blow by? If you have a major failure of some sorts I would think the cap would blow out of your hand when you go to take it off. Have you tried switch to a lighter tune? I read in some places the 325 tune was causing high boost at cruising with high egts (now that that company is out of bidness there is no way to get ahold of them). With your dashdaq, you should be able to pull a lot of diagnostic data off of it. Any codes that you are throwing? Also, where is your EBP sensor located, don't see it in the pictures, nor can I make out a pre turbo egt sensor.



Blow by is good. I can set it in the last threads and it won’t blow it off. I have not tried to take it off lol I built it in hopes I could run it like that. I’m only throwing glow plug codes because of a bad GPCM
MY EBP IS on the driver side exhaust manifold 6.0 manifolds


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jordysoso

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When you did all the work, did you put a new thermostat in? Wondering about vapor lock, bad tstat, or bad water pump. Not saying it would cause all the issues but this might be multifaceted instead of a single cause. Just trying to look at probable causes assuming that there is no problem with the block or heads
 

Roccafellas

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When you did all the work, did you put a new thermostat in? Wondering about vapor lock, bad tstat, or bad water pump. Not saying it would cause all the issues but this might be multifaceted instead of a single cause. Just trying to look at probable causes assuming that there is no problem with the block or heads



No the stock thermostats. My gauge if I’m driving will drop when I come to a stop if it’s really cold other than that it stays in the middle mark so I assume they’re working correctly. And how would an impeller fail on a water pump? Or you mean cavitation? No oil in the coolant and vice versa..I just tried to AIRLIFT my system and it couldn’t hold vacuum I assume because of the rad. But it was warm in the cab for 5 minutes! Till I put it in drive and started driving and then back to cold and puking coolant. It was so bad the cars behind me were clouded out (was at night)


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Petro

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I'll bet 1000 dollars that the heads are cracked. Not saying that they were when it was put together, but I bet they are now.
 

Shafer171

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I would follow Shane’s advice, god knows he has held my hand a ton with my build. Was your block decked? It may be worth putting air to your cooling system and seeing if there are any obvious leaks also. IMO your head studs are torqued way too high I’d check the block also, I am speaking from experience.
 
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Roccafellas

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I'll bet 1000 dollars that the heads are cracked. Not saying that they were when it was put together, but I bet they are now.



I would say your odds are pretty good as that’s what I think. For the next build other than o-ringing what else can prevent that, just better tuning?



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Roccafellas

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I would follow Shane’s advice, god knows he has held my hand a ton with my build. Was your block decked? It may be worth putting air to your cooling system and seeing if there are any obvious leaks also. IMO your head studs are torqued way too high I’d check the block also, I am speaking from experience.



That’s awesome info.. but I don’t know who Shane is? Which “handle” is he. And how would I put air to the system? I have a air lift that I can put vacuum too and it doesn’t hold because my rad is leaking I assume I’d have to fix that first? What do you mean by adding air? And how would I tell if the heads are cracked with them on? Or can you?
I know the heads were decked and magnafluxed. But I don’t know about the block. I hope so.
And the original torque spec sheet said 325! Ft lbs. I read multiple threads about cracking blocks and I told them do 275. What do you recommend? How many times can you reuse arp 2000’s? I should of gone H11.


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Roccafellas

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Shane is white monster. Get an air compressor and put air to the system through the degas bottle.



Oh.. haha yeah I know him ..
I have a coolant pressure tester kit that can go up to like 50psi but I only usually do 16-20 depending on the cap. But yeah if my rad is leaking there’s not much I’ll find otherwise until I fix that..right?


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gostrider

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Don't over pressurize the system with that cooling system test or you'll be changing a water pump for sure. If you go higher than the system is rated it will roll the inner seal on your water pump and you'll be breaking out the wrenches...experience has spoken and I've got the tee shirt lol


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kleake

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My ARP instructions said 250ft/lbs. I ended up doing gaskets a second time. After a phone call, they said take them to 275ft/lbs. So far, no issues but I was sweating while taking them that high when others were down around 200.

I am also curious about the loss of power. Mine does that pretty regularly and I attribute it to a sudden drop in rpm during a shift and the computer thinks something is wrong and cuts power. It comes right back, and after a few shifts it seems to not do it as often, but every once in a while it does it.
 

Roccafellas

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My ARP instructions said 250ft/lbs. I ended up doing gaskets a second time. After a phone call, they said take them to 275ft/lbs. So far, no issues but I was sweating while taking them that high when others were down around 200.



I am also curious about the loss of power. Mine does that pretty regularly and I attribute it to a sudden drop in rpm during a shift and the computer thinks something is wrong and cuts power. It comes right back, and after a few shifts it seems to not do it as often, but every once in a while it does it.



Hmm well I’ll try 275 next time again and just cross my fingers.

Yeah my experience with loss of power is the exact same as what you’re saying yeah it’s once and a while. But when that once is..Is it ever frustrating lol. Especially tryna pull against a new Duramax that should be dragged like a distracted dog.. and my front end just drop down cause my rpms just fell off the face of the earth lol.


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kleake

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Hmm well I’ll try 275 next time again and just cross my fingers.

Yeah my experience with loss of power is the exact same as what you’re saying yeah it’s once and a while. But when that once is..Is it ever frustrating lol. Especially tryna pull against a new Duramax that should be dragged like a distracted dog.. and my front end just drop down cause my rpms just fell off the face of the earth lol.


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I'm not saying 275 is the right spot, but so far it's working on mine. I've got about 15K on it since that. It tows a lot, but isn't hammered on too much otherwise.

I hear ya on the power loss. Drives me nutts when it does it. I've heard others complain about it once in a while, but then it seems to cure itself after a little bit on their trucks. I'm running a Mini-max and gearh--d, but it has done it on the canned tune as well.
 

Shafer171

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fyi my last block was cracked at all 4 inner studs when torqued to 250. That was a .30 over block however and h11 studs. My current engine is .10 over and studs where torqued to 205 no issues.
 

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