7.3 IDI Turbo Knock -> Engine Pull and Rebuild

[MICHAEL MICHAUD]

So I have about a hundred fifty miles on the truck since the rebuild I already did the 20-minute oil change for the break-in. I have new oil and a new filter and I also have an 800 mile road trip coming up on Wednesday. do I change the oil before I leave change it in the middle of the trip or just change it when I get home. I know that you're supposed to do an oil change after 500 miles and then another one after 1500 but can I just go a grand?

 

[Thewespaul]

Change it when you get home, keep an eye on the oil level on the trip.

 

[MICHAEL MICHAUD]

Change it when you get home, keep an eye on the oil level on the trip.

Thanks a lot West I haven't forgot about that cover I just got a ton going on with the move and I'm going to have you send it to my new address.

Also I just realized something about my brakes unfortunately now that I already have the new vacuum pump on my door step. so when I'm driving if I slam the brakes I got no assist but if I push the brakes slowly I get assist every time.

I guess it will be good practice for not panicking haha

In all serious though now I'm thinking it's the booster that in it acts funny in certain spots

 

[MICHAEL MICHAUD]

Its been about 11 days since I made it back. Truck and trailer made it with no issues. Brakes work fantastic.

Final weight of truck with trailer was 20200 LBS so I was hauling 13 - 14k worth of stuff. I thought the ebrake was on at first because it was crawling so slowly up to speed. It took so long to get up to highway speeds and on the looong highway hills a couple times I put it in 3rd and crawled up in the truck lane and watched my temp gauge go to the L in normal a couple of times when there was back to back hills. Too much weight for her or maybe my timing is a little off? Either way if she wasnt broken in before she is now. No ill effects on the truck after the trip she runs great. Took about 17hrs. Never exceeded 65 unless it was a downhill roll.

Also maybe you guys will think im crazy but I didnt use any weight support system or sway system. Just a 2 5/16 ball drop hitch. I balanced the trailer load so I had exactly 900 to 1000 tongue weight and it was level (.5 inch lower in front) for the trip. I was worried after reading that 18 wheelers passing me would cause the trailer to go into a sway but my truck and trailer didnt budge for anything at all. Extremely stable even over consecutive bumps.

Maybe because the trailer was so heavy and its an F350 and I was reading about sway bars on a Tacoma forum lol. But if the trailer was getting sketchy at all I was prepared to buy a sway system, it just never happened even if I tried to manipulate a somewhat controlled sway situation.

Now for some juicy comfessions.

Confession 1, My harbor freight engine stand with the engine mounted for some reason only 3 of the 4 legs were on the ground like it was flexing or twisting. Sketchy. I wanted to adjust it or shim it so I thought "ill swap the pin holding the front leg with a slightly bigger one" Well i tried something less than safe and before my roomate could get the pin in the stand folded over and the block which had the crank in with caps torqued already, smashed into the ground! Ouchhh

I checked the motor it had absolutely no damage or marks at all. Garage floor took a hit though haha. Anyways I rotate the motor over and I can hear jingling. I keep spinning and eventually a chunk of messy cast (the stuff thats leftover from the cast that you would get rid of on a porting job, it was magnetic too) fell out from idk where.... talk about a skeleton in my closet with a big trip coming up.... how about those oil pressure issues I still have when its warm haha maybe a chunk of cast just blocking the way. Yikes!

I do think the oil pressure thing is a problem with my electrical system and gauge cluster. With the headlights and heater fan on full blast my rpm indication drops to about 100 heat off 500 headlights off 800 haha. Theres some funky electrical stuff happening. I have to get some gauges to know whats happening but I truthfully dont want to work on this truck for a while and its not my daily driver so I think anything else can wait till warmer weather.

Confession 2, The water pump front plate nuts that were stripped: I used some ridiculous thread repair tool from autozone I think its like a threaded bolt oversized to kind of clean and re impress threads but doesnt cut anything. I bought new hardware too. I installed the water pump with a bunch of rtv in those bolts that open up into the block but two of them 1 on top left and 1 on bottom right i could only trque to 7 ft lbs :/ I called it good because the layout pattern of the bolts on the pump had similar sized distance between bolts and that no two bolts in a row couldnt torque to the full 15. She holds well and took a serious beating on the trip home.

Confession 3, Front and rear main seal have been leaking the whole time but I was too embarrassed to admit it to you guys. I know for sure its the seals because of my blacklight testing. At least its not the oil pan haha (sarcasm)... Didnt sleeve the crank like I was supposed to because I thought I could just reposition the seals on the crank.... well I either missed or the fel pro seals suck or I screwed something up When will I learn about doing a job 2x. The oil consumption wasnt even noticeable on the trip.

Anyways this has been really fun. I hope you guys got something out of my build thread and it helps people in the future. I know it was a very good learning experience for me. Dont be intimidated to do a rebuild. Tearing down the motor and putting it back together is easy! Contaxt me if you guys have questions. I had one guy call me already. Im happy to help!

Favorite part has to be the down pipe! It was my first time fabbing anything with welding that had an actual function so im proud of it and my welds look pretty good. More importantly I can hear my turbo better and Engine braking under bridges and tunnels, wow, I honestly cant even help myself. Its soooo loud like a jake brake when youre medium or higher in RPMs. I used both engine and traditional braking at the same time on the trip home to slow her down consistently and it really helped with stopping distance. Is there any drawback/harm to engine braking like that?

I have been waiting months to get these confessions off my chest I hope you know! Thanks again!

 

[Thewespaul]

Engine braking isn’t going to hurt anything, if anything it’s helping cool the engine. So what’s the plan with the wp bolts and main seals? Gonna attempt it inframe or pull it back out?

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Pics or it didnt happen man!!!!!

Engine braking is standard issue for any professional driver, and does not hurt the engine (unless you over-rev maybe). Its even got it's own section in the class-B/class-A drivers' ed study book. It's very important to utilize with heavy loads. Just be aware that it will help lock up the rear axle when empty because the slowing of the engine only goes through the rear(drive) axle. In 4x4 that isn't a problem anymore.

Glad to hear the move went well! Darn those main seals, otherwise you'd be good to go. Oh well.

That is interesting to know about with the trailer sway(or lack thereof). Good job getting the tongue weight correct, that is really the key to a stable tow.
So many people ignore that it isnt funny...and then it causes issues.

Without real gauges you wont know much about temp, it's a great upgrade when you get around to it. Takes all the worry out of driving the engine hard for sure!
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us! And I love the confession section. Its always good to have those humble moments(if we live through them) and even better to have the maturity to share them!

 

[Shaker Breaker]

Glad to hear she’s still alive and well after the trip.
Did you put sealant around the seals before you pressed them in ? Just wondering if the leaks could be between the seal housing and the plate not the seal and the crank .
I hope you get a chance to tweak the timing, it could make a big difference if it’s not right. Looking forward to more updates.
Thanks for your service and thank you for sharing

 

[79jasper]

While you say you didn't "need" a sway control/weight distribution hitch, if you did go back and make the trip with one, you would likely kick yourself in the....
Thanks for the tidbit on the HF engine stand. Thinking if building one. Or may get a deal on the HF one and do some fixes to it. Lol

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[YJMike92]

Thanks for sharing. There's no shame in a mistake or two. As long as we gleaned something from it. I'm glad you made it safe.

 

[WarNose]

Its been about 11 days since I made it back. Truck and trailer made it with no issues. Brakes work fantastic.



Confession 1, My harbor freight engine stand with the engine mounted for some reason only 3 of the 4 legs were on the ground like it was flexing or twisting. Sketchy. I wanted to adjust it or shim it so I thought "ill swap the pin holding the front leg with a slightly bigger one" Well i tried something less than safe and before my roomate could get the pin in the stand folded over and the block which had the crank in with caps torqued already, smashed into the ground! Ouchhh

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I was worried about that too, so I built this A-Frame to help handle the weight. I can even roll it around carefully by myself. I don't think I could have moved it without it.

Edit: Darn I can't get the picture up. But its basically a welded A-Frame that sits on the front rails of the engine stand. I hang a chain fall off of it to handle the weight of the front of the motor.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

My engine stand was a Sam's Club special. I bought it back in the late 90's and it still works just fine with no issues. It is rated for either 1200 or 1250 lbs. though. A heavy enough engine stand isn't expensive, it's just worth it!

 

[MICHAEL MICHAUD]

Ill upload some pics soon!

The seals had sealant around them. I pressed em in. Blah they suck. So did putting that oil cooler together despite what I had read.

Maybe I will weld a gusset or two onto my stand someday to fix the flex. I know it was monted in the middle and everything like that. Its rated for 2000 Lbs as is.

Thanks for the kind words!

What in the heck. My front axle is leaking gear oil out of the side closest to the wheel. I JUST pulled, cleaned, resealed and serviced that pumpkin with Mobile 1. How do I get that leak to stop besides parking on top of a cynder block on that side?

 

[Fision]

Its been about 11 days since I made it back.

Anyways this has been really fun. I hope you guys got something out of my build thread and it helps people in the future. I know it was a very good learning experience for me. Dont be intimidated to do a rebuild. Tearing down the motor and putting it back together is easy! Contaxt me if you guys have questions. I had one guy call me already. Im happy to help!

Michael, 1) Glad you made it home safely. Live long and prosper!
Sorry to hear about the latest leak I do take some comfort in talking to guys telling me how much time their truck spent in the shop over the last year—and they bought it for $60k+ a year ago.
2) Thank you SO much for your pointed and thorough descriptions and excellent questions. I learned a lot from this thread, both from you and from the knowledge you extracted from others. My photo library is clogged with screenshots from this thread. Thanks again!
What you did with yours is very similar to the build I have in mind as I just dropped off the major innards of an IDIT to the machinist and await prognosis.
How do you like your Luk clutch? What made you go with it over Centerforce or others?
And... thanks!

 

[MICHAEL MICHAUD]

I havent put too many miles to give you legit feedback but the clutch seems to be holding up well.

Any time! I have some pictures that I havent posted yet but if you need a refresh or missed something on teardown I may be able to help.

 

[MtnHaul]

What in the heck. My front axle is leaking gear oil out of the side closest to the wheel. I JUST pulled, cleaned, resealed and serviced that pumpkin with Mobile 1. How do I get that leak to stop besides parking on top of a cynder block on that side?

Dana 60 front axle? I had a similar experience after I swapped a D60 onto my truck. Parked at an angle with passenger tire lower than driver and a small amount of gear oil would leak out. This continued for a while so I did some reading and came across quite a few posts on various forums where people had the same issue with their D60. The universal conclusion I read was that it probably was overfilled a little and just let the excess leak and not to worry about it. 2 years and roughly 21k miles later and no issues whatsoever.