Whats Next?

[sasquatch81]

Hello Everyone, Ive been learning a lot from this forum and finally decided to join up. I purchased my first diesel 9 months ago and want to get some opinions on condition from the few tests I have done.

Future plans for the truck are as follows:

Moose IP " I believe the existing Pump is original and the truck is at 216,000 miles"
new injectors
new banks downpipe and 3" exhaust
coolant filter "would like to know thoughts on if these are worth installing"
Possibly more if my wife and wallet permits

I am interested in finding out if this engine is worth putting the above upgrades on due to the following conditions.

Truck starts great even in cold weather, It seems to smoke more when oil is topped off all the way? No smoke typically when truck is at high idle but then sputters smoke when it kicks down. It produces a slight haze of smoke when accelerating but clears up when maintaining speed. I have found oil in the intake coming from the CDR valve. I cleaned the cdr and it seems to seal when i plug the outlet and suck on the inlet "valve cover side" would like to know if there are other ways to stop oil from getting over too intake.

Compression # are as follows "cold engine"

#7 355psi #8 310psi
#5 370psi #6 405psi
#3 365psi #4 410psi
#1 410psi #2 390psi

I performed a leakdown test not going to guarantee accuracy because I used a homemade setup. supply pressure was set to 100psi and upon opening air to cylinder pressures dropped too between 70psi and 80psi. I heard good air movement into crankcase but did not hear air anywhere else, or see any bubbles coming from radiator. this test was also done while the engine was cold.


I guess my main question is what should be my next steps. I would be willing to make upgrades to the truck if it will last me another 100,000 miles but would like to know from what little info i have given if it is worth it or not. I know there may be mixed opinions but just would like to hear them.

I am concerned with Cylinder 8 especially and worry it is rings.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated and I hope I am posting correctly, I have never used a forum before so let me know if I am doing something wrong.

 

[BrandonMag]

Welcome! It's always good to get new members.
There's a good possibility new injectors and a new pump would eliminate the slight haze you see. Mel builds great products, but if it were me, I would try replacing the injectors first and seeing how it clears up.
You are correct about cylinder 8, that's a bit low. Try running some AutoRX through it and see if that takes care of your compression problem.
I had a coolant filter on my truck and removed it. If you maintain your SCAs, IMO a coolant filter is not necessary.

 

[BDCarrillo]

Compression # are as follows "cold engine"

#7 355psi #8 310psi
#5 370psi #6 405psi
#3 365psi #4 410psi
#1 410psi #2 390psi

I performed a leakdown test not going to guarantee accuracy because I used a homemade setup. supply pressure was set to 100psi and upon opening air to cylinder pressures dropped too between 70psi and 80psi. I heard good air movement into crankcase but did not hear air anywhere else, or see any bubbles coming from radiator. this test was also done while the engine was cold.

Any air out the exhaust from the leakdown test?

In what order did you do the compression test? Were all of the glowplugs out for the entire test?

 

[sasquatch81]

No air from exhaust on leak down, I did remove all glow plugs when testing. I started on the drivers side and went 2,4,6,8 then over to the passenger side and went 1,3,5,7. I saved the best ones for last.

 

[sasquatch81]

I just performed a blow by test with homemade u-tube manometer. had +1" w.c. at idle, -1/2" w.c. at 2000 rpm, and -2" at 3000 rpm. Not sure if that means anything to anyone, I read that normal levels at 3000 rpm should be between -4" w.c. and -5" w.c.

 

[79jasper]

For the time being, I bet advancing the timing would mostly get rid of the hazing.
Yes on the coolant filter.
Sounds like you're on the right track.

Sent from my SM-T537R4 using Tapatalk

 

[sasquatch81]

So any thoughts on if it is worthwhile to put some money in this truck. I love the truck and am happy I ended up with an IDI, something I can actually work on. Should I be real worried about the #8 cylinder or maybe do the auto-rx treatment and see if the numbers come up. one more question, I have read that the compression numbers are lower at altitude. I am in Colorado around 5200' does that significantly change what normal compression should be?

 

[IDIoit]

doing a comp test and a leak down while the engine is cold will tell you very little.
yes you have 1 cylinder low on the pressure, but the rings were not at tempurature either.

when i purchase a used engine, i always put a bit of WD-40 down the holes. then do a compression test (cold)
that drop in pressure may be nothing more than compression rings that spun(like they do) and the piston ring gaps aligned.
atleast you know your heads and gaskets are golden!

run it!!! she will run for alot longer. but its a good idea to look for a spare, build it up the way you want, and when the time comes that you have /want to swap engines,
you will be ready.

as far as putting money into it, your pocket book aka wife, will be the determining factor.
as jasper said, i would mess with the timing.

im running a used 7.3 currently. i am purchasing a new IP, injectors, and a turbo rebuild shortly.

im gonna run her as long as i can, and hopefully i will have a spare ready to go!
but before i do that, ill be purchasing another truck to run some WMO on!

 

[sasquatch81]

Thanks For the replies. I guess I will go ahead as planned and put some money in to the truck. I guess if things get worse I can always tranfer those parts over to a rebuilt engine. Thanks again!

 

[jay22day]

Welcome to the forum!!

honestly if you do a compression test, you want to do it on a warm/hot engine, not cold.

I did mine cold only because the truck had sat 6 years and wasnt runnable when i got it. The only point of my cold test was to make sure there was no catastrophic failure within the motor prior to purchasing parts for it.

As i remember from my research at that time, service limit on these motors isnt just said to be (a minimum of) 300,000 but said by international to be, more specificly, when the the compression ratios of the engine has a difference of 20%.

as long as your compression ratios stay within that percentage they can drop very low, and still have a runnable engine.


im sure you have a work horse, its standard to overhaul the fuel system at 150,000, malfunctioning injectors can cause many and most problems.

im sure you have a workhorse!!!!! id use it!


what turbokit is on it?

 

[IDIBRONCO]

If your truck is mechanically sound and doesn't look like it just won a truck demolition derby, then it's worth putting money into. We all put money into old trucks here.

 

[sasquatch81]

Thanks for the replies. My plan was always to put some work into the truck just at the early part of the learning curve for turning wrenches so nice to get some outside opinions from folks that have been there before. Thanks again for the words of widsdom.

 

[IDIoit]

in complete honesty, if you sit back and look at your equasion, this site, unlike any other forum, will steer you right,
but i still have to say the phrase, " do you believe everything you read on the internet?"
without a doubt. mistakes are the only way you will learn.
we have all made em. and we will continue to do so.
with the description you gave, it all sounds good on paper/ internet.
but real world situations may be different.

without doing it, you will never know.
stay safe, have fun, learn lots, and DO NOT BLOW BLACK SMOKE BECAUSE YOU THINK ITS COOL.

 

[sasquatch81]

Yeah the not believing everything on the internet is definitely good advice. I typically try to do tons of research and if I'm seeing common thoughts from multiple sources then I can formulate my own opinion. Just nice to hear opinions and go from there.

 

[sasquatch81]

And no black smoke for me. Just want a good strong reliable truck!