Well the truck has been at the Cummins dealer here for almost a week...after they told me it would take 1 day to replace the head gasket. Well...it went in on Thursday, they told me it would be in the bay getting torn down same day, and it wasn't. Friday the truck went into the garage about 10am, I called Friday night to see what was happening and they said it would be Monday afternoon before they were done ...I wasn't happy, but said fine. I called them Monday about 2pm and they said it was done, but the oil cooler was being pressure tested, because as soon as they fired it oil shot into the radiator like a bat outta hell . They never called me. I really wasn't happy now. I called them again at about 4:30pm to see if the oil cooler was shot, and talked to their write up guy (Devin, who is by far the best at handling customer service at any dealership I've been to) who had to go back and get the service write-up to tell me the oil cooler was shot, because Jon the shop foreman hadn't mentioned anything to him. Well he told me it was blown, and that they had to order the part but it would be there Tuesday (today) morning, and the truck would be done soon this afternoon. Well I just got a call from Jon, who informed me that when they went to flush the coolant, after the engine was warm, the head gasket blew AGAIN!!! Now when I dropped it off I told him to check the head to make sure it was flat, and he said they did, and that it did not have to be decked (which I now question). He also said that because the gasket blew they would file it under warranty, and I wouldn't have to pay for it (which I wouldn't have anyway...especially since I just got laid off for the winter, (construction sucks)) the second time around.

Why would the head blow in such a short time, with no load on the engine. I had them use new bolts, and a new marine gasket (stock thickness). The only thing that is different from stock, besides the plate and starwheel is that the timing was bumped by Cummins to 16.5*. Could they have bumped the timing a lot more than that on accident (or just because of stupidity)? Because the last head gasket lasted all of a week before it blew after the timing was bumped. My other truck on which the timing was advance to 17* by a friend of mine is still fine...with over 80K miles on the timing.

Just looking for a possible problem none of us have been able to think of so far...anyone have a suggestion?

 

I dont think its timing related, my truck is at 17.5 degrees and my friends is at 17.25 degrees, both trucks were timed nearly 2 years ago and knock on wood, both running strong. just my opinion.

Dave

 

Well thats what I thought, but if for some reason they went to 26.5* instead of 16.5* this thing would blow right away right?

 

hi
well there seams to be a lot of hg problems lately , what about the posiability of bad head gaskets ??????

 

Was the head decked, or at least checked to be true? Same with the block? Two warped surfaces tend to not seal very well. Maybe sealing a new gasket with higher timing will take them out quick? It seems that a lot of these stories of higher timing are on engines that have had the same gasket for a while. ccmckee on here had his timing set to around 24 degrees (he didn't ask for 24), and he never lost his gasket. Set it back to 15, runs and starts a lot better he said.

 

Yea..well the head was supposedly check for flatness, I'm starting to question that now. If that is the problem they had better deck it for me now, because its been a week and I still don't have a truck. I don't think its timing...considering the Marine engines run 22* of timing. I hope its not the block...because if they have to pull it to deck it its not gonna be cheap, and I can't afford too much.

 

The timing shouldn't matter at only idle IMO, but the head deffinately needs to be decked it's usually only $40 and then you KNOW it is perfect. Ask them what kind of finish they were preparing the block and head to, anything over a 150 grit sandpaper is completely unnecassary and IMO is worse. Have them use a machined straightedge on the block and check it with a feeler gauge for trueness and if they find a little bit of a high spot use 150 grit sandpaper and take a little material out....

 

Unless you told them to set your timing they had no reason to go near it, and wouldn't. I doubt your oil cooler went either... my moneys on a botched HG replacement and they are just trying to make up some $$$ for their mistakes.
Good luck with it.

 

Hey ratsun, where abouts on the wet coast are you located??

 

Well they fixed it once, and they offered to check the oil cooler before they fired it, but I said don't bother, because of what guys on here had said. They fired the truck up and oil quickly filled the radiator. Keep in mind the cooling system had enough pressure in it to blow a lot of coolant out of the puke bottle, so there was more than stock pressure to say the least. I don't doubt the oil cooler was blown, if you saw how much oil there was in there you'd believe me. They set the timing about 3 weeks ago, about a week before the gasket blew, they haven't touched it since.

The problem is that the head gasket blew after they just replaced it... And they are covering everything to replace it the second time around, so I doubt they put the oil cooler on for no reason being that they didn't know the gasket would blow again after they replaced it.

 

crappy service work is what your getting. I'd bet money that head isn't flat. My dealer did just installed my gasket but I went there myself and made sure the head & block was scrubbed with wd-40 and then degreased both head and block. It's all about the prep work done, studs & lots of molly lube. Then they hold and stay tight

 

Hey Brandon I'm in Maple Ridge, 1/2 hour east of Vancouver

 

Ahh I see (I didn't know they set the timing prior) Perhaps they timed it wrong initially causing the original HG to go also. If they nicked the gasket around a oil gallery during the install it could easily leak to water and fill the cooling system. Seems a little coincidental to me but hey... who knows.