Finally had a chance to stop by the shop and look at my pistons, their not bad at all. These pics don't do justice but here they are. The deck of the block is fine, the heads are fine, no warping. Gaskets were pooched. The pics look worse than actually seeing it, white stuff is old carbon that will be cleaned before installing heads, not sure why its white, bad fuel or maybe from the water that sat there for a few days before the heads were pulled. Cylinder walls have hardly any wear, just the slightest ridge thats hard to feel. Going to replace the harmonic balancer but it looks like new almost. This is a GM shop and once i got there they said the pistons weren't as bad and they initialy told me on the phone. I'd say she's doing ok for 345,000 kms.


http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/uploads/AEZ_piston1.jpg


http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/uploads/68F_piston.jpg


http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/uploads/FEB_Block.jpg


Circled area is the burning of the piston.


On the up side.....


Stopped to get my 4" exhaust on the 2000 but they didn't have all the parts, man is that a cool system, can hardly wait to get it installed. No muffler and going to put on a 5" chrome tip for the ladies. I've also recorded the old 2 3/4" sound and will record the 4" sound once installed without muffler and post a link to it on my website for others to here. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cool.gifEdited by: quantum mechanic

CR,


I lightened the pictures a little to see them better. I wish you the best getting it running again.

No problem, thanks. I should have done that before uploading. I told the shop to take their time as i already have wheels. Don't know if i should give it to the wife or sell it now. I don't really need 2 trucks but it might come in handy.


What i'm really going to try and do is get some mods done to the 2000 and maybe go to next years pull-off. Would be cool to meet some of you guys.

Would it be a better idea to rering the entire engine or just put the head gasket back. I've seen a motor with a freash head die after 1000 miles.

I just re-read your post about towing through the mountains. You said it got up to 250°F. Is that what burnt your pistons? Any idea as to what the exhaust temps were?


I just got back from towing my 5th wheel (29') through the mountains, mine got hot too but only 230°F and I was able to holt 40 mph on most hills. I hope that mine isn't planning a suprise like this for me!


Good news I guess on the repairs - could have been way worse.


Slapshot

If i said 250 F thats the best i could do from trying to read that stupid dash gage and converting it from degree's C to F. If your idiot light didn't come on (the one in the upper left of the dash) that says check gages your probably alright. Had no EGT gage. Our trucks appear to be very similiar, do you have the EGR and if so have you pulled the upper plenim off the intake, not very nice in there if its never been cleaned. That little bit of piston burning is minor as i'm not going to be doing much for mods on this truck now. I have the new 2000 to play with http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif.


QM Thanks but this truck was running like a top before the gaskets went. I wouldn't be affraid to put on another 100,000 the way it sits. My 0-60 times were 15 secs with 35" rubber and were 15 seconds with the new 2000 until i increased the tire size last week from 245 to 265, now its at 16 secs. Hoping the 4" exhaust will change that for the starting mod on the 2000.

CR,


You're probably OK because your going back with the same heads. The compression will only change a little with a fresh gasket. It's your rear pistons I see. That's why people upgrade to the 97 cooling improvements, it's sapposed to cure that. Your 2000 should have it.


On edit:


This is a good example of what's wrong with the themodynamic flow engineering of this truck. All the heat was on the passengerside/turboside. Also the heat seems to have oxidised the outside of the piston and cylinderwalls.


If you had the van/hummer exhaust/turbo or made your own, the heat would have been equally distributed across eight cylinders instaed of the off balance design where four on one bank take all the heat. Also, I'm reminded that with a little flow porting on the heads and opening the per cc for better direction of the fuel/heat toward the center of the piston.Edited by: quantum mechanic

hell i wouldnt get rid of it. keep it and run it into the ground. i wanna get another one to play with myself. im tryin to get my dad to buy a 2500 2wd 6.5 that we can turn into a dually for a farm truck. another toy to tinker with. i have come to the conclusion that new diesels will always be out of my price range. so that means i will be keepin mine runnin for a long time, hopefully past the 300,000 mile mark.


has anybody takin a truck and put the top mount turbo on it?

A member by the name of Darren Payne mentioned making his own header and putting the turbo where our fuel filter is. I think it was a good start.

Wouldn't be easier to just put a turbo on each side?

Have you seen the penninsular 400 HP twin turbo 6.5? It has these nice compact yet non restrictive exhaust manifolds the collector comes forward and up and feeds a turbo on top of each valve cover. I think you could do your own if you have the fabrication skills or the money to pay for them.

CanadianRigger,


What exactly happened to your truck? Did you have white smoke coming out the tail pipe, like mine. Was coolant leaking from your engine by the #8 cylinder like mine?





Lastly, how much did the repair cost, and did the dealer just replace the head gaskets?Edited by: Juancho

If You go further back CR had a post where he was losing coolant back out the reservoir via head pressure in the coolant system.

QM hit the nail on the head for you. I didn't have any white smoke or coolant in the oil, no external leaks, just exhaust leaking into the coolant. Just replacing the head gaskets only. Truck is still in the shop as i wasn't in a hurry for it. Cost will be between 1500 & $2000 Canadian for repairs.