hole in piston, what to use for rebuild?

[rlvelin]

To make a long story short, at 210,000 miles I have a cracked piston with a piece broken out of it. It makes a great insect fog when pulling a 20' gooseneck full of horses up a steep, winding pass but that's not what I want.

I've decided to rebuild rather than replace because I have a 599 block (I understand that is good) that looks to be in good shape thus far and a timing gear set already inplace.

This will be my first diesel rebuild and the question I have is what have you folks that have been there and done that used for your rebuilds? I'm looking for good quality replacements, not necessarily high performance, latest and greatest parts. The kit from Diesel Direct (on Ebay) has Mahle pistons, rings, and bearings; Victor Reinz gaskets; and a nice price tag. Is there anything that I should be aware of with these parts? There are no top end parts with this kit so I guess I would have to get those seperately, any suggestions? Are there any other kits that I should consider or any things to look out for? Also are new head bolts recommended and if so where are they found?

I will have be purchasing an engine stand and hoist for this job, does anyone know how much this engine weighs all dressed up so I can get an appropriately rated stand and hoist?

[ 05-31-2005, 12:42 PM: Message edited by: rlvelin ]

[cruzer]

rivelin, I went thru this about 3-4yrs ago. Cracked piston in #3 hole. My everything checked out STD.except for #3 hole. I found a local shop familiar w/6.5, to clean & check blk and sleeve bad hole. They also did the heads w/coolant passages sleeved too. I used a parts guy on ebay who was down in FLA. He never would answer his phone or return calls, only email and I thought he took my $. It took 2-3wks to get the parts. The description you mentioned sounds like the same guy. I purchased the master rebiuld kit w/0.010 reduced height pistons. My blk(599) had to be decked 0.10 and wanted to keep comp. approx the same. Everything came as advertised. I had alot of stuff left over, but I could not find the individual parts cheaper than the kit so I opted for the kit. I took the the lifters apart and cleaned them up. Made sure they went back in the same hole in the same direction.
B4 taking the heads to the shop I port match the intake,head ports and exhuast mnanifold to the gasket size.

In reality, the gasket kit is some what useless
because these engines are put together w/glue and minimal gaskets. I decided to use felpro head
gaskets, per TDP recommendations. The bolts have to be replaced, they are torque to yeild. The old ones are now junk. Felpro makes them too. I did all the mods listed below except for exhaust and gauges. The power now is like night and day compared to stk w/a Banks Stinger kit.

I'd consider the 97 cooling upgrade too. It made a considerable difference when pulling.

Thanks TDP and all its members,

Ken

[ 05-31-2005, 09:53 AM: Message edited by: cruzer ]

[rlvelin]

I guess I forgot to mention that I plan to add the cooling upgrades and the stud girdle kit while it is all apart.

So you reused the same lifters after cleaning them? Is there any reason to put in new ones, I have never had any problems with the current ones not pumping up or losing pressure.

[markrinker]

Sounds like its time to build a new monster. What boost pressure were you running? Any overheating events before the performance mods? I am curious to see what you think caused your piston failure...

[cruzer]

In talking to several people and pricing out what new lifters cost(approx $400), I figured cleaning
and inspecting sounded like a good idea. These engines have roller lifters. They are really easy to take apart, clean, oil and reassemble. I made sure I put them in the same hole and same direction. Had the cam checked at the shop.

I purchased my truck in approx 1995 w/75k miles on it and the guy worked construction. I'm sure it was run harder than avg. It came w/a pintle hitch on it. About 6 months b4 cracking the piston(125k miles), I took a trip out west to Colorado pulling 8500+lbs and it had several heat related events. EGT's never went over 950* post turbo but the water maxed a couple of times. During the rebuild I wanted to have the rad rodded out, it ended up the rad was shot. Everybody please, maintain your cooling systems!!!!

The only mods to the truck was a Banks Stinger kit, which is a 3" exhaust, gauges, K&N and an extended arm for the stk boost controller, which increased boost to about 12psi max & 8-10psi normal driving. It gave descent power but I had to drive it hard in the hills of KY to keep the speed up. Now there's no down shifting and speed doesn't fluctuate much w/cruze on.

I'm sure earlier events took out the piston. Now all is well.

Ken

[rlvelin]

Mark

The truck was bone stock when I bought a couple years ago with 188,000 miles and it had been used for some towing, I don't know much else on its previous history. I think the piston was already cracked when I bought it as it would blow white smoke out the exhaust during the warmer months (never did it much in winter?)until it warmed up to operating temp. Maybe the the piston expanded when it warmed up enough to seal the crack. Of course I test drove it when it was already at full operating temp (the guy had just drove it home from work).

When I added the gauges it was still stock except for the timing gears and airbox mods. I drove it for about a week under normal driving conditions (around town, short trips on the interstate, up the pass empty, some light towing)just watching the gauges. The EGTs would climb to about 1500F just going up the pass empty at 65-70 mph. This would have happened many times during the Before Gauges (BG) era especially while towing a decent load up and down these Montana hills and passes.

I then made the boost control and adjusted it to a max of 12 psi boost (engine has never seen anymore than 12 psi), this helped keep the EGTs down during normal driving empty but had the potential to get real hot while pulling a load up a hill.

As for general overheating (water temp), I've never had a problem even with the single thermostat and stock water pump and fan.

I suspect the boost didn't have much to do with the demise of the piston as it was relatively low. I believe it was mostly due to repeated cycles (and lengths of those cycles) of high EGTs even while the engine was still stock.

I only got a short look at the piston last night at about 11:00pm when I finally got the second head off. I was coverd in oil, antifreeze, diesel fuel, and general grime and just wanted to see that there was infact a hole in a piston and to get some dinner and a shower. I will explore the hole more when I get home and post a picture if I can.

[rlvelin]

Well I think it just went from bad to worse, is this the dreaded block crack we all hope never to see in our own engine? http://members.isp01.net/rmvelin/engine_crack1.jpg
The 4th journal web is also cracked in the same place but on the back side and it is smaller.

Also here is the piston with the hole. All of the pistons but one had a crack in them in the recessed area.
http://members.isp01.net/rmvelin/piston_hole.jpg

So where does one get a good block, and how much do they cost?

Ryan

[tom.mcinerney]

Seven cracked pistons! That's getting one's money's worth!
Good luck on the replacement. Take care with the cooling system and wire harness, and any other normally-inaccessible items.

[MTTwister]

Ryan, How's the "project" coming along?

Let me know if you need any help. I lost your number when you volunteered to be available last year for one of my little upgrades. Not that I know what I'm doing. but a little immoral support never hurts.

Finally planning on getting my '97 cooling upgrade installed in the next few weeks, if it ever warms up enough!

edit - by the way , don't think anyone ever answered your uestion on how heavy these things are. Seem to recall a post where "heaver that hell" was the operative thought. 1500#'s ? Get a really good engine stand.

Good luck.

[rlvelin]

MTTwister

Good luck with your cooling upgrades and thanks for the helping hand offer. I've ordered a remanufactered long block from Kennedy, still waiting to hear when I should expect it. I also have the cooling upgrades and braided SS/Teflon oil cooler lines on on the way, wish I could buy an exhaust system too but this project isn't cheap.

I was able to get the "gaping hole" under the hood pressure washed two days ago during the brief period of sun. Now the poor truck is relagated to the cold, dark garage; the chest cavity laid wide open, awaiting a heart transplant.

I bought a 2ton hoist with 750lb stand for $169 on sale at Checker, the stand is holding up the long block core for now but I also purchased a 1250lb stand (heaviest one I could find in town) to build up the new engine on, hope this holds it.

Ryan