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So I was driving down the highway, doing about 65mph, everything seemed fine until I heard/felt a large ‘clunk’. Pulled over, popped the hood, the turbo was smoking and there was a piece of broken metal (picture) near the passenger firewall. I suspect the worst, that somehow a part of the camshaft busted and blew thru the block.
1.) Can we confirm?
2.) Worth a fix and what would the cost be?
3.) Start looking for a new 5.9L 12V?
Was the engine still running? Oil light on or off? Massive rattle-bang etc?
If running with oil pressure I'd start by looking for a hole in the block or oil pan- if none the part may be from a different vehicle, and may just have knocked the oil line or return of your turbo.
A part of the camshaft passing through the block, the crank and conrods from left to right, exiting the block and coming to rest on the right side of the vehicle sounds very rough to me.
If this is what happened you will need at least a new block, potentially conrods and crankshaft, pistons and also maybe a head because the valves hit the piston...
A different 5.9 12V sounds definitely cheaper than buying all that piecemeal.
If the engine is running on all cylinders, then it's not from your camshaft. If you lost a chunk like that from your camshaft, all cylinders behind the missing segment will be dead as there is nothing to actuate the valves.
I would think finding the hole in the motor that allowed a chunk that that to blow "thru" would be pretty easy.
It is not like you are looking for a hairline crack.
Judging from how shiny that metal is I doubt it has been sitting in the fender well / firewall for long.
I do not doubt a bang and oil smell and smoke from the incident.
I think that a torn off camshaft passing through the crank and tearing open the block would make sounds that made me use a shovel to clean my drawers..
Checking for a hole that you can put at least 2 fingers through on this engine takes 5 minutes (tops) and a replacement engine costs x $- if you earn more than 12 x X $ per hour- buy new engine- if not search for the hole.
Look for the oil leak. If no leak, find the guy who left that lying in the road just before you drove over it.
This is a more likely scenario, the cam is on the opposite side of the block from the Turbo, so for it to come out that side it would have to pass thru the cylinder walls, piston, etc........ For that to happen, the owner would have the be Ray Charles to miss it and the bang would have been more than epic.
I'm sure there would also be a puddle or trail of coolant - it's hard to imagine how that chunk could have exited the block without passing through the water jacket on the way. As Pat and Alpine mentioned, that would really get your attention. But my question about how the engine was running is still the easiest and quickest way for the OP to tell if that chunk came from his engine. If it was still running on all cylinders after the noise, then the chunk didn't come from the OP's truck. If your camshaft is missing a section, all cylinders aft of the missing section will be dead.
OP - what's the latest? Lots of engines on car-part.com, if needed
09-30-2018, 04:03 PM
