how far would you go?

[bj_idi]

I have a 7.3 idi running a banks sidewinder kit. waste gate isn't working and the boost gets a bit high at times. stock studs, 15 psi max. To make a long story short a few weeks ago after driving a bit hard, i found coolant in my oil. Had no oil in coolant, but had a visible head gasket leak. pulled the heads, had them re surfaced etc. block looks good, can see cross hatching in all cyl (320k mi) and no visible damage/scoring. The question is being this far into it would you pull the block and change bearings and have it checked for cracks or let it ride?

side note: when this happened I thought I heard a pop noise and the oil pressure dummy gauge got a bit higher in pressure. everything else was fine besides having coolant in oil.

 

[DaveBen]

I would NEVER rebuild an engine without doing everything properly. You only get one chance to get it right. Do it all and do it all right. I know it cost more money, but it costs a whole lot more to do it twice. Pull the block and have it cleaned out and checked for cracks. You might need new liners. Good luck on your rebuild!

 

[icanfixall]

My guess with that many miles and oil in the coolant it seems to me the oil cooler o rings are hardened and failing. so oil beung higher pressure than coolant pressure it goes one way. Oil into coolant. Even when the engine is off you wont get coolant going into oil because of the low coolant pressure.

 

[IDIoit]

time a budget is the biggest factor in this question

 

[riotwarrior]

At the least pop oil cooler off n rebuild it easy peasy w heads off

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I doubt that the engine has 320,000 on it since you can still see the crosshatch in the cylinders. I say to reseal the oil cooler now. Like Riotwarrior said, it's so easy with the heads off. Although icanfixall is wrong. There's coolant in the oil, not oill in the coolant.

 

[bj_idi]

I doubt that the engine has 320,000 on it since you can still see the crosshatch in the cylinders. I say to reseal the oil cooler now. Like Riotwarrior said, it's so easy with the heads off. Although icanfixall is wrong. There's coolant in the oil, not oill in the coolant.

That would be awesome if it had been replaced at some point! The clock shows 320k but before me is a mystery. Turbo has been on it about 40k, I do plan on changing the oil cooler o-rings for sure. yea there was no oil in the coolant, just coolant in oil (about a gallon and a half). I have the block out of the truck now, was going to turn it over tonight and see what's up

 

[icanfixall]

I doubt that the engine has 320,000 on it since you can still see the crosshatch in the cylinders. I say to reseal the oil cooler now. Like Riotwarrior said, it's so easy with the heads off. Although icanfixall is wrong. There's coolant in the oil, not oill in the coolant.

I did not see this as it was posted.Kind of sad when I make a common mistake like this. Now reading that there was about a gallon of coolant in the oil tells me a very different story and its not a good ending..but we will see how this turns out. Glad you have the engine out of the frame too.

 

[bj_idi]

Got her torn down this weekend (minus the crank) the bearings were worn into the babbit on a few mains and rods. Cam bearings or at least the first I can see definentaly shows wear, and what looks to be a small crack (third picture). That spring I found in the bottom of my oil pan, I think it's to the rear main but I haven't pulled that or the crank yet .

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[bj_idi]

All the cylinders looks pretty good the last pic is probably the worst, looks like scoring. can barely catch it with finger nail. Thinking a hone would do it good? I was pretty worried about cavitation, but I don't think I would get that much coolant that fast if it was. Also not that it means anything but I looked into the coolant passages in the block and can see around the sleeves, pretty clean inside. So my thoughts after everything gets spec'd out we're hot tank, bearings, rings, gaskets etc. Gonna head stud it this time and maybe put a cam in it. Suggestions?

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[icanfixall]

Nice tear down. What I see is a need to line bore the block for the out of alignment mains. any time you see wear like this it tells you that is a high spot so that part of the bearing wears thru. The rods appear to show wear as if this engine may have had tooo much timing advance. Others may agree or not with this. also the thrust bearing shows some wear it should not. the crank is being pushed back in the block to wear the thrust like that. Finally that last pic might show excavation on the cylinder or it had a small amount of water or coolant sit in it so it rusted the cylinder. That last main journal looks like so water laid on it for a time too. Might want to see if polishing the rods and main crank journals can clean it up. these are slow rpm engines and the cranks are very hearty. the seldom rear out. Same goes for the original oil pump. they most never get replaced because they are high volume low pressure pumps. And the new Melling pumps are not as good as these original pumps.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Before you go any further, I would strongly suggest that you get that block & cylinder heads magnafluxed. If everything checks out ok, proceed with a rebuild.

 

[ifrythings]

Get that block pressure tested!

I had a block with cavitation and 20 minutes idleing with fresh oil and coolant and I had milk for oil when I shut it off, doesn't take long.

 

[bj_idi]

I 100% agree with all of the above posted here. Will be taking it to the machine shop soon. The heads have already been tested, decked and rebuilt. There was a small crack between the valves that magnaflux picked up. Under pressure test it did not leak (don't know how I feel about that). I thought I was just going to replace the headgaskets but here I am. Have to make sure it's all good.

Nice tear down. What I see is a need to line bore the block for the out of alignment mains. any time you see wear like this it tells you that is a high spot so that part of the bearing wears thru. The rods appear to show wear as if this engine may have had tooo much timing advance. Others may agree or not with this. also the thrust bearing shows some wear it should not. the crank is being pushed back in the block to wear the thrust like that. Finally that last pic might show excavation on the cylinder or it had a small amount of water or coolant sit in it so it rusted the cylinder. That last main journal looks like so water laid on it for a time too. Might want to see if polishing the rods and main crank journals can clean it up. these are slow rpm engines and the cranks are very hearty. the seldom rear out. Same goes for the original oil pump. they most never get replaced because they are high volume low pressure pumps. And the new Melling pumps are not as good as these original pumps.

When I was new to the idi I 100% put this motor through some abuse. A period of maybe 10k miles or so. I had the timing on IP way advanced, heavy fuel and trying to get my EGT to not climb so fast .


The thrust bearing shows wear on both front and back bearing surfaces. 100% the first and last crank journal show surface rust. I do see some wear spots on mains. Is it normal to see heat spots around where the main bearings would be? Hoping a polish will take care of the crank. We shall see. I'm pretty sure a little water got in the cyl there is some surface rust there.

I'm not looking to make crazy power or dump a bunch of money into this rebuild, but a runner and able to handle the 10-15 psi from the banks kit without any issues would be nice

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[bj_idi]

Cylinder head and cam

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach