That's Mr. Cracker to you

[FLHRI]

Well, following the thread, No.6 suxx, removal of rt bank head reveals a parallel crack th-ru piston. :eek:

Any comments, suggestions on repair tips, parts suppliers would be greatly appreciated. ;)

[TimK]

I had the same problem with my truck when I bought it used. At minimum, you will need a new piston, a set of rings new TTY head bolts (Felpro recommended) and a set of head gaskets. You will also need a honing brush (bottle brush) to break the glaze on the cylinder. I got my piston and piston rings through NAPA. You can by an individual piston but you will probably have to by a whole set of rings for 8 cylinders.

Since you have to drop the oil pan anyways, now is a good time to check out the bottom end. For me it was a real pain to drop the pan, I didn't want to do it again too soon. Check the main bearings and rod bearings for wear. They are fairly easy to change. If your truck is over 200K miles and has the original oil pump, that's also worth replacing. The big thing is to check for the dreaded cracking around the main bearing webs. If there are obvoius signs of cracking, then you have to decide how much you want to put into the engine. Diesel Service Group sell a set of main bearing girdles to help stiffen the main bearings. I don't know if this will extend the life of an engine with signs of cracking.

TimK