Head Gasket? Blown Turbo? Cylinder washed out? Need help....

[Enve46]

When I was tuning I didn’t write tunes for guys that didn’t have boost and pyro at a minimum.

Talk to your tuner, not all tunes have the same safe EGT limits. Older specs, my tuning was mostly 5.9, but a stock 05 could run 1450° all day and be fine but if you do that with a custom tuned motor you run the risk of melting a piston.

Sent a PM to carry conversation and not destroy this thread

 

[FeedJake]

Any updates on this? From the sounds of it the truck is going to be down for a bit.

I am leaning towards head gasket;, sounds like you popped it pretty good allowing coolant to enter the combustion area and your also pressurizing the crankcase causing the blow by. It could be piston related but this would only cause a crank case pressurization issue, not the rapid loss of coolant. Does the white smoke out the tail smell like coolant?

You mentioned the truck has used coolant since you first deleted it. Did you leave the EGR components in place or remove them and use block off plates? Again, dont think this is your issue, has to be something related to both coolant and oil.

I do not think its turbo related because this would not cause the crank case to pressurize. Sure your seals could let go but you would more than likely just have oil/coolant (if turbo uses coolant.... im not sure) entering exhaust and it would just smoke like crazy.

Yeah truck is definitely going to be down a bit, I just jumped in my other truck for now. When the wheels aren’t turning the money ain’t flowing.

Smoke does not smell like coolant. Smells like oil actually. When I deleted it I did take all the erg etc. off and have block off plates.

 

[FeedJake]

fuel/water in the oil?

No cross contamination in the oil. Which I thought was weird right off the bat.

 

[FeedJake]

Generally speaking this is true, but there are tuners who can give you a strong tow tune in the 100hp range… but you better have gauges.

I’ve written many tow tunes for folks that are +100, or more, and they don’t have issues. There is a big difference in a +100 street tune vs a +100 tow tune. Many tuners only do 50-75 as tow settings and I’ve also found that many custom tunes aren’t much more custom than box tuners. Truly one off custom tunes are harder to find, or at least they were last I looked.

My 05 was running +130/330 to the ground over stock, but it was a tow tune and I ran that tune all the time.

I agree and I think that is was happened here. I was assured that the tune was 100hp for towing specifically, because that’s what I requested. But I feel like I got the standard out of the box tune instead.

There will definitely be monitoring equipment going in once I get the truck back together. Anyone want to suggest some good EGT/Pyro monitoring?

 

[flan]

I agree and I think that is was happened here. I was assured that the tune was 100hp for towing specifically, because that’s what I requested. But I feel like I got the standard out of the box tune instead.

There will definitely be monitoring equipment going in once I get the truck back together. Anyone want to suggest some good EGT/Pyro monitoring?

I always ran an isspro boost and egt gauge with the egt probe pre turbo and the boost reading at the intake plenum in my 12 valves. Closer to the #6 piston the better as they ran hotter towards the back of the engine. I had the gauges themselves mounted on the A pillar. Not much to change monitoring on newer trucks.

 

[FeedJake]

Just an update. Thank you all for your responses. Tore the engine down and had a hole blown thru the piston on cylinder #5. Still trying to find pistons and someone that will put the motor back together.

Any suggestions?
Are the pistons in the 2020 6.7L the same as a 2018 6.7L?

 

[gimmie11s]

Hole in piston or busted chunk of ring land was my vote.

Sorry to hear.

 

[Riddick]

You trying to find someone local to you for your build or does it matter? If local, where are you?

 

[FeedJake]

You trying to find someone local to you for your build or does it matter? If local, where are you?

Doesn’t matter really. I’d like to keep it as close to me as I can but right now I’ll take it to anyone that knows what they are doing. I’m in the Bristol, VA/TN area.

 

[Riddick]

Call up WOT Motorsports in Abingdon VA. Josh is awesome with the Cummins platforms and can build you anything you need. He knows these platforms very well and he's right down the road from you.

 

[FeedJake]

Call up WOT Motorsports in Abingdon VA. Josh is awesome with the Cummins platforms and can build you anything you need. He knows these platforms very well and he's right down the road from you.

Unfortunately I tried him already. Said he wouldn’t build a fifth gen.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Unfortunately I tried him already. Said he wouldn’t build a fifth gen.

Well great news since there is no 5th gen HD yet!

 

[Riddick]

Unfortunately I tried him already. Said he wouldn’t build a fifth gen.

Sorry to hear this, he would of been perfect since he is so close. Did he recommend any shops that would take on the job? I came across Josh's YouTube channel a few years back and have learned quite a bit through his videos.

There are diesel shops all over but I cannot comment on any of their reputations. Wish I could help out more but let us know what happens.

 

[jeepinmatt]

In case anyone else in the future finds this thread via Google search like I did, I had the exact same symptoms, and it also ended up being a hole in a piston, #1 in my case. My truck is a 2017 5500, had 197,000 miles, and ran about 100,000 miles of that deleted. I was towing 15,000 pounds of trailer and skidsteer up up a grade and all of a sudden had a major loss of power and shaking and smoke. Pulled the head and found the obvious hole in #1


After closer inspection, I also found the formation of cracks of varying sizes in pistons 2, 3, 4, and 6.



Everything else in the rotating assembly and the bottom end appears to be in great condition. Plastigage on the bearings is good, pins look great, bores mic out well and have good crosshatch, no issues with head or head gasket other than obviously needing to replace it now that the head is off. Ive rebuilt multiple diesels before, but in this case, my thoughts are to replace the pistons and reuse the stock rings since they are already mated to the cylinders so to speak. I figured I’d go back with stock pistons, but at $500 a piece, I can’t make that make sense. Are there any other pistons out there that use the stock ring dimensions and are of decent quality? I’m having trouble finding that information.

 

[AH64ID]

In case anyone else in the future finds this thread via Google search like I did, I had the exact same symptoms, and it also ended up being a hole in a piston, #1 in my case. My truck is a 2017 5500, had 197,000 miles, and ran about 100,000 miles of that deleted. I was towing 15,000 pounds of trailer and skidsteer up up a grade and all of a sudden had a major loss of power and shaking and smoke. Pulled the head and found the obvious hole in #1
View attachment 89065
View attachment 89066
After closer inspection, I also found the formation of cracks of varying sizes in pistons 2, 3, 4, and 6.
View attachment 89067
View attachment 89068

Everything else in the rotating assembly and the bottom end appears to be in great condition. Plastigage on the bearings is good, pins look great, bores mic out well and have good crosshatch, no issues with head or head gasket other than obviously needing to replace it now that the head is off. Ive rebuilt multiple diesels before, but in this case, my thoughts are to replace the pistons and reuse the stock rings since they are already mated to the cylinders so to speak. I figured I’d go back with stock pistons, but at $500 a piece, I can’t make that make sense. Are there any other pistons out there that use the stock ring dimensions and are of decent quality? I’m having trouble finding that information.

$500/ea from Ram or Cummins?

 

[Brutal_HO]

In case anyone else in the future finds this thread via Google search like I did, I had the exact same symptoms, and it also ended up being a hole in a piston, #1 in my case. My truck is a 2017 5500, had 197,000 miles, and ran about 100,000 miles of that deleted. I was towing 15,000 pounds of trailer and skidsteer up up a grade and all of a sudden had a major loss of power and shaking and smoke. Pulled the head and found the obvious hole in #1
View attachment 89065
View attachment 89066
After closer inspection, I also found the formation of cracks of varying sizes in pistons 2, 3, 4, and 6.
View attachment 89067
View attachment 89068

Everything else in the rotating assembly and the bottom end appears to be in great condition. Plastigage on the bearings is good, pins look great, bores mic out well and have good crosshatch, no issues with head or head gasket other than obviously needing to replace it now that the head is off. Ive rebuilt multiple diesels before, but in this case, my thoughts are to replace the pistons and reuse the stock rings since they are already mated to the cylinders so to speak. I figured I’d go back with stock pistons, but at $500 a piece, I can’t make that make sense. Are there any other pistons out there that use the stock ring dimensions and are of decent quality? I’m having trouble finding that information.

Tune/tuner (to avoid)?

 

[jeepinmatt]

$500/ea from Ram or Cummins?

$500/ea from Ram. I do need to see if they are significantly cheaper from Cummins. In my fog of frustration I hadn’t thought about checking Cummins yet. I assume the Cab and Chassis pistons are somehow different and more expensive and not as good.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Tune/tuner (to avoid)?

No idea. Truck was tuned and deleted when I got it, and has spent most of its life with 15k pounds of equipment behind it or 6-10k pounds in the bed or both. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run the grades going up the NC mountains at full throttle and grossing 30k pounds. While I’m sure this would be less likely in a stock truck, and the tune was certainly a contributing factor, I’d be reluctant to call it a bad tune.

 

[AH64ID]

No idea. Truck was tuned and deleted when I got it, and has spent most of its life with 15k pounds of equipment behind it or 6-10k pounds in the bed or both. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run the grades going up the NC mountains at full throttle and grossing 30k pounds. While I’m sure this would be less likely in a stock truck, and the tune was certainly a contributing factor, I’d be reluctant to call it a bad tune.

If you think the tune was contributing then it’s a bad tune. It’s not that difficult to write a delete tune that can tow heavy all day without burning a hole in the piston.

I’d have the injector tested too, probably all of them.

$500/ea from Ram. I do need to see if they are significantly cheaper from Cummins. In my fog of frustration I hadn’t thought about checking Cummins yet. I assume the Cab and Chassis pistons are somehow different and more expensive and not as good.

Defiantly try Cummins. I doubt the C&C pistons are not as good.

If you want to DM or post your ESN I can look up the Cummins part number for you.

 

[jeepinmatt]

If you think the tune was contributing then it’s a bad tune. It’s not that difficult to write a delete tune that can tow heavy all day without burning a hole in the piston.

I’d have the injector tested too, probably all of them.

All I mean by that is it's not a stock tune, so it's going to build more pressure and more heat to build power so inevitably it is more likely to cause failure. Definitely plan to have the injectors tested. Anyone know of a place near Charlotte, NC, or if not, a good place to send them off to?