1,000 mile new engine disaster

[typ4]

Methinks that cowl seal is a vital part for the preservation of the engine.

 

[icanfixall]

Sorry to read all this. Its a shame but a cowl seal is VERY important to keeping rain water out of the intake. For those that have suspect cowl seals please use a plastic bag wrapped around the air filter so water runs off and not get inside the intake. At one time we did have a special metal washer with rubber attached to it that supposedly kept any water pooling on the filter out of our engines. Thos freeze plugs do not appear to have the dimple in the center to expand them into the sides of the block. Sadly I found out the expensive hard way we can use ONLY the factory stainless steel plugs. The brass ones installed in my engine failed too easily. Yes... I got screwed big time on the build and double failure. We learn expensive lessons sometimes. Use ONLY the factory special tool to install new plugs. A simple socket or drift punch wont work.

 

[typ4]

Or dont remove them.

 

[franklin2]

Some people have used garage door seals for this with success. A few holes to drill to match the Ford holes is all you need.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-Ki...acement-Foam-Kerf-Door-Seal-DS7B-25/100017658

 

[Diesile]

Wonder if the studs stretched ?

 

[Garbage_Mechan]

I bet the gasket failed to the water port and jacked the plugs out.

Precisely. Take a look at the pics.

 

[laserjock]

The cowl seals aren't that expensive from lmc.

 

[Garbage_Mechan]

Or dont remove them.

I think this is a true solution to the soft plug problem. It is more of a routine habit of mostly gas engine rebuilders. The stainless plugs will not rust out. Next time they stay in!

 

[Garbage_Mechan]

So I spoke to the machine shop today. The one issue I ran into is that when doing a sleeve repair to an engine that has all the other cylinders at finished bore is that the press fit of the sleeve will "push" the adjacent cylinder out of round. This is normally not an issue since the last step is to finish hone all the cylinders. They indicated they could fix the issue on cylinder adjacent to the "repair" sleeve by honing, however my issue is that the piston clearance is already set so honing it back to round will increase piston clearance, which was blueprinted.

So the options seem to be to sleeve all 4 cylinders on that bank or get another block. This block was the most perfect core since I had control of it all of it's life. I have another block lined up that will need hot tanked, bored, cam bearings and decked. But not really any history other than it was running, had a blown head gasket and it is a late block.

 

[towcat]

So I spoke to the machine shop today. The one issue I ran into is that when doing a sleeve repair to an engine that has all the other cylinders at finished bore is that the press fit of the sleeve will "push" the adjacent cylinder out of round. This is normally not an issue since the last step is to finish hone all the cylinders. They indicated they could fix the issue on cylinder adjacent to the "repair" sleeve by honing, however my issue is that the piston clearance is already set so honing it back to round will increase piston clearance, which was blueprinted.

So the options seem to be to sleeve all 4 cylinders on that bank or get another block. This block was the most perfect core since I had control of it all of it's life. I have another block lined up that will need hot tanked, bored, cam bearings and decked. But not really any history other than it was running, had a blown head gasket and it is a late block.

imho you're geeking out too much on detai. there's no reason to be nervous on a 6.9 block. there's no porosity issues, and the deck surface is pretty stable compared to others. If it was mime, i'd either drop a set of 8 sleeves or go with the ****** block and do the bore/hone. dropping in 4 sleeves on one side and leaving the other side alone would be my last choice.

 

[franklin2]

Don't you need to get the engine balanced if you do anything but sleeve all the cylinders? When they sleeve it do they finish it out to standard bore? But all the other cylinders may be 20 or 30 over? So that piston will be smaller than all the others?

 

[OLDBULL8]

I would compare all the rebuild costs to a Promar remanufactured 7.3 engine. They do not reman any 6.9. That is if the truck chassis is not a rust bucket.

 

[laserjock]

3200 to your door for a full reman long block to your. If you sent them extra goodies they will install them (cam valve springs studs etc) as well. And a 3 yr warranty.

 

[Garbage_Mechan]

I would compare all the rebuild costs to a Promar remanufactured 7.3 engine. They do not reman any 6.9. That is if the truck chassis is not a rust bucket.

No rust in California!Truck is cherry, well kept up. Completely new front end and brakes in last 20000 miles, fresh rebuilt Gear Vendors, fresh rebuild C-6. Before this little disaster, the truck was good to go for 200k minimum.

Remember there is only 1,000 miles on brand new engine. All the best. Besides the bent rod and rusty cylinder checking to be sure there is no other damage is all that there is to do.

 

[Garbage_Mechan]

imho you're geeking out too much on detai. there's no reason to be nervous on a 6.9 block. there's no porosity issues, and the deck surface is pretty stable compared to others. If it was mime, i'd either drop a set of 8 sleeves or go with the ****** block and do the bore/hone. dropping in 4 sleeves on one side and leaving the other side alone would be my last choice.

Yep I tend to do that......... here is what I'm thinking about the block deck. The pistons in the 1,000 mile engine are reduced compression height since that bock has been decked twice. Also, I have never seen a 200,000+ mile 6.9 that didn't need the block decked due to erosion around the rear water ports.