anyone ever had trouble with a 6.0 lpop?

ghohouston · Dec 15, 2013

Yesterday I installed a new front cover gasket on a buddies 6.0 due to leaking coolant. This is not my first front cover gasket, ive done 10-15, but its been about 2 years or longer, anyhow, when I pulled the lpop, it slid right out like normal and like all other trucks ive worked on. When I went to re install the lpop, I COULD NOT get it back in, and once again, ive done quite a few 6.0 lpops due to lifter failure and front cover gaskets, so I know they dont just immediately slide right in, but this was different. I lubed it up heavily with oil like always, etc, and it would not slide in no matter what i did. Buddy said, just try tapping on it with a hammer, and it being his truck and money, I went along with it. I didnt have to hit it hard or anything, but it just didnt sit well with me, going against what I knew was wrong. Anyhow, the truck is running now just fine, and leak free. Has anyone else had issues like this? Fyi, I did verify all front cover bolts were on good and tight and the cover was flush, and before anyone asks, no I did not put the wear sleeve on before I tried to install the lpop.

DZL JIM · Dec 20, 2013

I have found that sometimes it depends on how the lobes line up with the housing, and by rotating the crank slightly you can re-align things and it slides in.
Other times a very gentle tap when you know things are lined up and they slide right on.

DEEZUZ · Dec 21, 2013

No. Slide the inner gear in first than outer. Right in.

ghohouston · Dec 21, 2013

CTC, I tried that, tried outer gear first too, tried them at same time, etc. even tried flipping lpop around, still wouldnt go until I tapped on it. If I run into this again, I will try rotating the crank and see what happens. Like I said, ive done a quite a few of these and never ran into this issue

DEEZUZ · Dec 21, 2013

Did you check the coolant for traces of fuel? The only time I've ever seen a front cover leak coolant was cause fuel in the coolant. Everything Swelled up. You can tell because the big fat O ring under the intake is eroded

ghohouston · Dec 21, 2013

Buddy bought the truck about 2 years ago, for cheap, because it had been pushing fuel into the coolant. I installed new head gaskets, studs, egr delete, the works on it. We sent the heads out to be checked of course, and the head shop installed new cups in both heads, and iirc, one head was cracked, so it was replaced. I also ended up replacing all coolant hoses from the damage the diesel did to em. I never honestly thought about it affecting the front cover, but it makes sense. Although, the other front cover gaskets ive done were trucks that had never pushed fuel into the coolant. ..

DEEZUZ · Dec 21, 2013

Its crazy how trucks vary around the country.

ghohouston · Dec 21, 2013

Very true. Of course, the guys that drive the trucks at my company have no respect for them, they literally idle all day long for no reason, go over on oil changes, get driven across creeks, etc. Im sure they have had green coolant in most of them at some point too