US Diesel Engines

[William Fullington]

Any one ever dealt with US Diesel Engines out of colorado?

My dad had a reman engine from them put in my truck before i bought it from him. Im getting excessive oil consumption and have been trying to talk to them about sending it back.

they said they tell people to drive it for 20000 miles for the piston rings to seat. but its a 1 year warranty. now the one guy who handles warranty/tech support doesnt answer the phone or return my calls.

[dslpwr]

I bought set set of injectors from them. One was bad and never did get anything out of them.

[markrinker]

How much oil is it consuming? What brand of oil are you using? Is there lots of blow-by evident at the oil filler tube while the engine is idling with the cap off? What type of air filter do you run - and do you keep it clean?

My #2 truck below has a '98 motor with about 90K miles on it. Last spring it was gulping oil - about 1 quart every 1,500 miles. Like you - I was concerned that I had internal hard part problems brewing.

The first culprit I found was a salt-encrusted OEM paper air filter. It looked clean, but was nearly rigid from all the salty air it sucked in all winter through the fender while plowing snow. I replaced the whole assembly with a free flowing cone style oiled gauze filter, sucking air from under the hood instead. If your air filter cannot keep up with the demands of your chipped pump and turned up turbo, your CDR may not be functioning properly, contributing to the oil consumption.

I also replaced the CDR (possibly unecessary), switched from Rotella to Delvac synthetic, and turned the boost down from ~12 (nominal) to ~9 (nominal) with the intention of taking it easier on my rings and oil seals. Of these changes, I would say losing the Rotella was the biggest fix. I no longer burn it in ANY of my trucks.

After a few thousand miles, I observed that oil consumption had greatly declined - less than 1 quart added every 5,000 miles, instead of every 1,500!

Also, since you live in a hot climate, your oil may be getting too hot and breaking down - vaporizing rather than blowing by the rings.
Check your oil cooler to make sure that it is not blocked with bugs and you might consider a larger one mounted clear of any obstructions.

Same for overall cooling - too hot engine will consume oil. Radiator clean? Heavy duty fan clutch? What are your average temps running down the road?

[ 11-22-2005, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: Mark Rinker ]

[William Fullington]

I'm using the rotella-T right now, i was planning on switching to the delo 440 or a synthetic 10w40 maybe 5w40. Air filter is a K&N cold air intake i got through SSDiesel Supply. It is brand new. There is not huge amounts of blow by, but there is some. It is not even there all the time, only once in a while. Seems like its there only on longer drives or when ive done alot of driving that day. It is eating about a qt every tank of gas or two, every once in a while 3 tanks.

I have no smoke out the tail pipe except for normal smoking at start up. I can barely even get black smoke by over fueling.

I replaced the CDR, i also think it was unnecessary, but just in case.

Also, since you live in a hot climate, your oil may be getting too hot and breaking down - vaporizing rather than blowing by the rings.
Check your oil cooler to make sure that it is not blocked with bugs and you might consider a larger one mounted clear of any obstructions.

The oil cooler is clean. i hose it off every time i wash my car. Average running temps down the road are 180ish. I have the stock fan and clutch. I am using the dexacool which trucks wern't rated for till 1995, but everyone ive mentioned it too said that shouldnt be a problem.

if i was running that hot it would be showing on my coolant temp on the instruments right?

[markrinker]

Thanks for all the info.

Try switching from Rotella. With that much oil consumption, its doubtful that oil brand alone will solve your problem, but I am certain the oil use will go down significantly.

If you pull the intake, is your intake manifold dry or oily?

[LanduytG]

The last engine I had drank oil and had bad blow by. Tried to get the builder to address the issue. They kept saying it will stop. Well after 30K miles and a cracked block I took it apart and it would have never stopped using oil. Five of the eight cylinders were scored very bad. Just installed a new engine I got from JK and it has over a 1k miles on it. Changed oil the first time at about 100 miles and getting ready to do it again tomorrow when the son brings it home. The oil is still hard to see on the dip stick because its so clean. Also its not used a drop of oil. When it comes to engine building I will be very careful who I pick to do it from now on.
So in short if its not stop by now it most likely won't.

Greg

[William Fullington]

the upper intake manifold is dirty, but oil is not dripping off. its like its just never been cleaned since the truck was built. the turbo looks dry and the air intake does not have alot of oil in it either.

what oil do you recomend? my dad is a diesel page member he has same truck as me but it has the orginal engine and is a 2wd. he's using the amsoil 15w40 synthetic. but looking at other posts i dont know if i wanna go to synthetic yet.

[ 11-23-2005, 08:33 AM: Message edited by: William Fullington ]

[markrinker]

Even if you don't switch to synthetic now, my suggestion would be to get the Rotella out and see if another quality diesel brand will do any better.

Are you referring to the outside or inside of the intake? I was curious to know if you unbolted the intake housing and looked into the intake manifold with a flashlight, if it was oil covered or dry/clean.

This can give you an idea if you are getting excessive oil vapor through the CDR. Also, I think its possible that a leaking oil seal in the turbo can cause excessive oil consumption. If so, you should see it in the intake.

Do you have gauges installed? If not, I would recommend - them with a chip and manual boost control. Your ECM has no way to pull boost and fuel when things get out of range.

[ 11-23-2005, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: Mark Rinker ]

[William Fullington]

i have had the upper intake manifold off. The inside of the upper is dirty, a thin layer of oil and the lower intake manifold is clean (i just replaced it about a month ago, but the old one was clean too.)

My turbo is pretty clean, just a little bit of oil on the blades when i take the air intake off. This and a little bit of oil on the walls of the manifold are normal right?

I have ordered guages, they should be getting in today or friday. Trying to decide if im going to install them my self or pay $240 for it. im not exactly comfortable w/ installing the EGT probe or putting a hole in the firewall.

The engine i purchased has 19:1 compression ratio pistons so so it can handle extra boost. But using the settings for the turbomaster given by heath diesel, i shouldnt be over boosting any way.

The engine company finally called me back and their head mechanic says it sounds like something with my waste gate. But talking to heath diesel who made the waste gate controller im using doesnt think thats what it is. of course each thinks its the others product.

US Diesel is sending me a new stock wastegate canister and ive tuned down the mechanical one from heath till that shows up. If those help w/ the oil consumption we know thats the problem.

All three of my solenoids on the drivers side valve cover have white dots on them. Could that be contributing? Are the wrong solenoids are bieng used in 2 of the locations?

[ 11-24-2005, 07:43 AM: Message edited by: William Fullington ]

[William Fullington]

sorry, hate to do this but i need the help and dont want to get lost among all the other questions.


bump.

[David Brady]

I have run many miles on the Delo 400 15W40. Consumption was about 1 qt per 3K miles. 20K to seat the rings seems rather long.

[rjwest]

My opinion is not to break in an engine on full Syn
oil, rings may not seat,

Dello & Delvac about 15oo mils on a qt Rottella Full sync about 1000 mils ( 125 K on stock eng )

Suggest wash down to determine Leaking vs using,

But your consumption does seem excessive...

[More Power]

William, What is the oil consumption rate?

GM considers consuming a quart in ~1000 miles acceptable, but nearly all engines do better than that.

Jim

[William Fullington]

morepower: my oil consumption is a 1qt every tank of gas or 2. so 6-700 miles.

i have no spots on the ground. i was seeing a small (quarter sized) spot up near the front skid plate at most once a week, but i havent even seen that lately. Undercarriage is dirty, but i had it in for a coolant leak i couldnt repair and mechanic (owns a 6.5 him self) couldnt find any leaks. (i want to wash it for aesthetics any way)

I'm bieng pointed to it bieng a bad turbo. I have a light mist of oil on the turbo blades and the upper intake is dirty. The turbo radiator, engine oil cooler, transmission oil cooler, and transmission are about the only parts that are old on this engine.

If i have to replace the turbo i figure i might as well upgrade it if i can. Ive got the GM4 right now, are there any better ones offered anywhere? I have 19:1 compression ratio pistons so i can handle some extra boost. Peninsular diesel has a 300hp and 250hp, they havent gotten back to me about compatability yet.

Walt at SSdiesel is telling me i lost 25%hp with the 19:1 and everthing else stock. Is there any truth to this?

my engine has 7800 miles on it and im changing the oil at 8000. Breakin should be done. I'm definately dropping the rotella. Whether its for the chevron delo or the mobil equivilant (i forget its name) or a synthetic i am not sure.

[ 11-30-2005, 06:05 AM: Message edited by: William Fullington ]