Ok guys, I bought this truck as an 04.5 dodge with the HO 325 hp 610 ft lbs tq engine. After buying it found out the engine was down 2 cylinders with half the compression each. Valve cover plate said the 325/610 and it had the electronic waste gated turbo and such. Found an engine from a member on here and he was selling an 04.5 engine so I drove to him to have it swapped and on the way there my engine blew up so had to get towed the rest of the way. After getting there and they had my motor out we found out his motor was an 03 engine as the turbo wasn't electronic wastegated and the turbo kneck was smaller and the front cover wasn't the same to bolt the plastic fan shroud to the motor. so had to get a boost fooler for the turbo and make some brackets for the fan shroud and such. now that engine blew up and the truck is at a shop getting rebuilt.

He is now telling me that the engine originally in the truck was an early 04 engine and that the engine that was replaced into the truck was actually an 04.5 engine.

So now I am all confused on what the heck is up with this truck and what motor I actually had in the truck. As the shop has an early 04 engine done up for the truck and ready to go, as he says that's what was the engine that came out of it and when he ran the VIN they said it was an early 04 engine.

Truck had the electronic waste gated turbo, build date was Feb, 9, 2004. Had dodge run my VIN to see what injector it took and they gave me part #5135790AD and said it was a 600 turbo federal emission truck which from my research that injector # comes up as a BOSCH number ending in 505 which is an 04.5-07 injector.

The wiring harness on the truck is the 04.5 wire harness and ECU which I was told was left on the truck when they replaced the engine.

I am so confused and lost. I have a complete 04 setup and a 04.5 engine set-up. But the shop has the 04 bottom end ready to go.

What do you guys suggest on figuring out what was actually in the truck and what would be best for it? Truck with the 1st motor was getting 24.7 mpg with the 2 bad cylinders pulling a boat from texas to iowa and the 2nd motor pulling a car trailer with a 8 wheel amphibious atv got only 14.7 from florida to iowa.

 

Sorry, giving your post a bump is the only thing I know how to do.

 

The truck is an 04.5. The 04.5 truck build dates started Jan, 04. As far as which way to tell you to go, it is up to you. If they have an early 04' bottom end ready to go, then you have the 03-04 pistons. That is actually a good thing. You will need to make sure you run the correct injectors for an 03-04 to match the bowl. I would run the 04.5 head because it is better and won't drop valve seats like the earlier head would. You can run the 04.5 computer, not problems. I would make sure to run the 04.5 turbo with the electronic wastegate also. It is a much better turbo than the 03-04.

 

Forgot to add. A good many of folks with an 04.5 to 07 truck will take and run the 03-04 pistons and injectors. It is actually a better design. Don't forget about the injectors so you use the correct ones.

 

The 04.5 model uses a 3 injector event engine cycle, Pre, main and post. The 03/04 model uses a 2 event engine cycle, pre and main. The post event is to keep the cat warm. The 03/04 model has no cat. So, if you use the 04.5 ecu, you should use the 04.5 injectors as well.

 

While this is completely true, it doesn't really matter if your cat is long gone.
With EFI Live and Smarty UDC, one can remove the 3rd injection event and even the 2nd injection event with custom ECU firmware programming.
This is for all 2003 to 2007 5.9L Dodge Cummins.

It is no problem to mix and match 2003-04 injectors with 2004.5-07 injectors.
They are identical other than the nozzle spray pattern.

It's very strange to hear a computer controlled common rail Cummins sound like a 12V or 24V engine when it's only running a single injection event!

 

What he said.

Correct until you mention injector use. Injectors need to match the piston not the ECM. As long as both the pistons and injectors are early CR it will be fine. I am in the process if MY03 pistons/nozzles in my 05. Custom tuning will help, but it does work well without it.

I know of engine builders that only use the early cr pistons, regardless of year. Tr late CR pistons are the weakest piston ever used in an ISB.

 

Wonder how its going.