My Dad's '96 suddenly quit with a shudder at 65 MPH. It appears there's something broken internally as the cylinders are in imbalance and you can hear a terrible knocking when you crank it. I tested cylinders 1 3 5 7 and #2 and found normal compression, but I am waiting to pull the turbo to test 4 6 and #8.

My plan is to diassemble and inspect the damage and go from there. I expect the crank or a connecting rod or similar snapped but didn't go through the oil pan somehow.

Oh no! These are the stories that you just hate to see. How many miles on the ticker before it stopped tickin'?

More than 260,000 miles with the original injectors& timing chain to boot.

I guess I have another 100k to look forward to then . . . I hope.

To bad to hear QM. I think that 260K is nothing to be sad about though... Good luck with what ever you find.

How much boost were you running on that engine, stock levels or fooled levels

The turbo has a home made spring controlled unit set to 15 psi + on hard acceleration, and a small IC, like my '94. My Dad really babied his truck and WOT accelerations were rare. I honestly figured I'd blow my engine first, as I'm hard on equipment but it was not to be.

I found a '94 shortblock 6.5L, worst case senerio, I'll rebuid it instead of the '96's original block if it's toast but the build will include lowering the CR to 19.5:1, timing gears, headstuds and possibly the cam I bought but never installed.

Sorrry to hear QM if there is something I can do give a call.

Thanks, I'll try to keep up with the pictures so you guys can see what the guts look like after an internal failure.

I finally pulled the engine and pulled the oil pan. I was pretty sure the crank was broken once I noticed the flywheel had slack in it. Once I pulled the oil pan and rocked the flywheel I could cleary see two clean breaks through the crank. One just before the #7 journal and the second just after the #8. I plan on pulling the broken crank out tomorrow and seeing if the mains are good. If all goes well I may just put in a new crank and bearings and put it back in. I took pictures but I forgot to bring my usb cable so I can't upload them 'till I'm back home.

You think it died of natural causes, or something else?

My old history teacher told us about midieval wars in Europe. He said that the soldiers died of natural causes. They had holes in them, naturally they died.

That weak crank syndrome rears it's ugly head once again... Does that '96 have the 141 casting number on it?

It's possible something could have helped it break but I won't know 'till it's all on the table.

I don't remember which # it was but I'll look again in the morning.

Ok the cast number is 141 and The only other thing I've found is a loose injector on #8 cylinder. Could a loose injector have contributed to a crank failure on the #8 journal, probably.

Is the truck a 5spd or auto. My buddies '96 broke the crank in the exact same spot as your dads. It was a 5 spd with the solid flywheel... Why would a loose injector have contributed to the failure in your opinion? I don't see how, but would enjoy an explaination.

A loose injector could have been leaking compression and throwing the engine into imbalance. The truck was making a little smoke on accelertion previous to the failure so I tightened the wg spring to compensate. It's an auto tranny BTW.

How loose is loose? Finger tight?

Two turns loose. I noticed because I had to put a backer on the injector to get the line off.

Here's the crank break.

Geeze, that looks awefully familiar for some reason?

It broke clean after the #4 main cap and before the #5. I pulled the caps and bearings and they look like they suffered little from the breakage, heck it was still turning over and making compression on all 8 cylinders. The plan is now to buy a '94 599 cast shortblock from a recent acquaintance and put it back together and take the 141 block to a machinist for a look see.

Quantam,
If you need any help give me an email or call 979-272-8060 I'll be out playing today and monday. I'm expecting my truck to die soon also.
just turned 300k. Getting a little white smoke on cold startup,funny noises it hasent made before and just how long can these poor old englines last.
If it blows up today I got my $ out of it x10. When it goes gotta decide if a rebuild or new truck is the way to go. I priced a new one like mine and it would be $49,000 and some change.
My friend has an 03 D-max/Allison he lost transfer case at 85k Allison at 105k And engine last week (he put gasoline in it and it ran away) So maybe a new one is no better than what I have. Sorry to hyjack you post QM, but please call if I can do something to help you out man.
Justin

Hey justin,
The engine blew 4 miles south of caldwell and I'm doing the work up in cameron. I've got it covered but if you'd like to look at all the parts layed out on a couple table tops or see the rebuild I'll be there most of next week git it done. My dad's not liking the stuck at home feeling.

Just let me know where you will be in Cameron I'd like to look. I would loan your dad my truck but I have to haul a couple loads of cattle next week and the old ford 7.3 is too tired to pull 38 ft loaded cattle trailer.
Justin

Here's a pic of of the cracks in the mains I found. The #3 and #4 mains were cracked around the outer holes.

What about the front balancer/pulley? Any sign of failure?

The HB had a major failure last summer that I posted on this forum. I replaced it then and just pulled it back off a few days ago.

sorry to hear about your dads truck qm.. lucky hes got you there to help him out..too bad you live so far from me...;)

Thanks Jenn.

Here's a close up on the crank break. This is the reason a cast iron crank will always suck no matter how much nodular iron fillets you add to the bearing area. Too brittle in the middle.

I picked up a 929 cast (Thanks hrjack!)and it's being bored .020"-.030" depending on how deep this one scratch is. I also found a crank to put in it. I should have the engine back middle of next week and begin putting it back together.

Here's a pic of a main that cracked all the way through.

Holy claymores Batman!!!! Good luck QM, hope you get it back together soon.

Was this the glued on balancer?

How does an injector get two turns loose when the line nut will not let it rotate? Must have benn hung on a burr/not torqued properly. Were they originals?

Weak crank is not the issue, weak block is...

Wow QM, that's a messy break. Good luck getting it back on the road.
I'm sure he'll run out and buy your splayed caps right away JK... Since you do have all the answers right?

Was this the glued on balancer?
?????:confused:

?????:confused:
Here:
http://dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22449

Thanks minisub. QM is my kind of lunatic:ro)

yes, The balancer was glued back on for a week 'till the new one came, then the truck ran the new one for a year or so (40,000) till this break.

As far as I know those were the stock injectors. This was the first time I had pulled the turbo/exhaust on the '96, so it was my first look at the even side.

I got around to cleaning the heads and when I whiped the soot off the CC's I saw a fat crack on every cylinder, that's all 8 of them. Upon further inspection I could see where coolant had been boiling off from behing the intake valves. So that pretty much means his engine was a near total loss. The cam and lifters I'm not reusing because I'm putting in the reground cam. So about the only thing I'll reuse is the connecting rods. Total cost so far to machine an old block, put in oversized pistons and rings, bearings and gaskets and buy a set of heads is nearly $1000 usd but I'm not including the expense of all the parts I had on hand, such as the reground cam , lifters, .010" over gaskets, ARP headstuds, and my labor.