I just got truck back from dealer with a new long block installed under warranty. This truck ran great up to 35,000 miles. Got home from a race and when I rolled window down to back in driveway I noticed a knock. I pulled the valve cover checked the rocker arms and clearances were normal. I even removed one injector wire at a time to try and find the cylinder that was knocking. I noticed a difference on #3 although the knock did not go away. Removed my gauges and took to dealer. I even changed the oil ran it through a filter to find no debris and cut the filter open which was also clean. They found #3 piston burned and it had touched the head so warranty covered the long block and replaced the one injector thought to have "MAYBE" caused the problem. All of the other 5 pistons look perfectly normal and mechanic stated the engine was extremely clean.

Most of the use of this truck is towing and my combined weight is much less than others although I am right at the limit recommended in the owners manual. To add insult I frequently tow Sandstone Mt on I 64 WV. It is 5 miles long and very steep. The EGT's run high and I had always limited to 1350 which was recommended at the manifold where I have a pyrometer. Stock the EGT would show over 1500 on that mountain. So I limited it normally to 1350 and on the one mountain 1450 for very short periods. I was told this was actually fine on the '05 truck. After the local fuel depots were changed from LSD to ULSD I noticed more smoke. It was dark black smoke not white. I figured it was fuel related and did not see any performance issues.

I have nothing but praise for Cummins replacing the long block under warranty but I am not comfortable with the fact that this should not have happened and I have been down for three weeks. I hear some pistons in 05's have just failed and that some injectors have had issues. I would have liked to have seen this injector tested to see if it there was a problem with it.

I build gas engines and have not had a piston just fail. I have ran tons of nitrous on gas engines and have burnt a piston but you saw damage starting in other places. I understand that #3 is not a bad cylinder and is unlikely to be the first to fail. Should I expect to have to replace engine every 35,000 because I work the U-know-What out of my truck. I owned a V10 dodge that over 118,000 miles never got anything but a set of spark plugs. The cummins was supposed to be 4:1 better.

I already threw out my tranny warranty after breaking an input shaft towing up mountains. The shaft broke because the 48RE shifts into overdrive very rough. I was told by Dodge that there was no fix for it so I replaced shaft with billet and got a laminated flexplate, VB, and triple disk converter while under the truck.

What needs to be done to the engine to prevent another piston failure if this had been after 100,000 miles I would have had to take out a loan. If there is something that needs to be improved obviously I am willing to ditch the warranty if it means I can expect several houndred thousand miles of good service. Is there any chance the ULSD fuel had anything to do with this sure seems likely. I have wondered about adding 2 cycle but have seen no where that it helps injector life or save pistons. By the way this truck has never seen a programmer of any kind or any fuel pressure mods as the dealer who sold it to me suggested not to.

 

I had a 01 HO with a manual and fried #6, they sleeved it and sent me on my way 50 miles later back for a Long Block, so it sounds like you got lucky the 1st time. That truck now has well over 350k on it with 300 on the motor. I was told an oiler failed, causing the rings to "stick" that caused the problem.

You should be fine with your new motor, keep it serviced, and let it cool down after long hauls before you shut it off. if your worried, turn it in at 80-90K, and get a decent price on it. My experience has been that clean oil, clean filters, and maint, have made all the trucks I've owned last well over the 200k mark with little problems.

You can search the Forum for 2stroke and see a variety of opinions on the use. I've tried even 5w oil and it didnt hurt anything.

As to your V-10 remark had 2, 1 has 300K, an the other had 170 when I sold it with no trouble at all other than a bit thirsty.

 

From what I've read on here your failure is unusual, but not completely unheard of. I’d make sure you replace your air filter on a regular basis and look into a free flowing muffler line the Donaldson or what have you.

 

didn't see anything in your sig about added fuel filtration. A 2mk filter from gdp might be a good idea to keep junk out of your injectors.

 

I thought about a GDP filter and pump but was told not to for fear of warranty issues.

I have been looking the engine over today and noticed what appears to be a small crack in the turbo housing, exhaust side of course. The housing bolts to the manifold and then runs exhaust down to the turbine. The crack is just to the front of the part that goes up to manifold. You can see a black area around it and it does not clean off. Is this normal or is the turbo getting ready to break next time I am really leaning on it.

 

Your crack manifold is a common problem on the Cummins motor. You can choose to have it Warrantied, or have it replaced with an aftermarket one. That area is a weak spot since the turbo housing tends to have two runners going into the turbine side of the manifold.

Shawn

 

The manifold is not cracked. It is the turbo housing that has the crack.

 

Sounds like you need to replace the turbo housing. I willing to be the dealership tech cracked it durning the longblock install. I would also check to see if the manifold has cracks too.

Shawn

 

Only ones I've seen with cracked housing were modded. Just an observation. Come to think of it the "broke engine" score where I work in ten years is: modded 9 stock 1.

 

What was the warranty ratio? LOL ! Just curious how your service manager was on that situation.

 

I have inspected the manifold and found no cracks scrapes or anything. In fact other than a nut on the spool mount on the passenger side having a corner rounded off, the valve cover plastic trim cover having some of the logo rubbed off, the attaching bolts being replaced with generic fasteners, and the insulation that refuses to stay against the cowl portion of firewall having a small tear you would not know they had been under the hood. For a dealer that has no experience changing out 5.9 engines they done an awesome job.

As for the crack in the turbo housing it is only 3/8" long and may have been there for several months. Everything is so new under the hood it is easy to look things over. This truck has always stayed very clean under the hood but I had little reason to go under it and look around for the past year. I always try to let the engine cool down for 3 minutes with the cool down timer I have.

As for assuming that only modded trucks have problems. That is total Bull. I have contacted the Manager of the dealership I purchased the truck through who has sold a ton of these trucks and serviced and repaired them. He stated they have modded a lot of customer trucks including there own. They have had trouble with some modded trucks pulling heavy loads. They have also had trouble with trucks they serviced on a regular basis that were known to be completely stock. His words were 6 one way half dozen the other.

Dodge claimed the 48RE in 2005 had all the issues fixed as I did not want to buy another truck with a trans that shifted rough. I was told the problems were fixed long ago. This was an outright lie. I could have used the tranny out of my 1996 truck and would not have known the difference. I questioned the fact that my gooseneck ball was pushing the linex bedliner up behind it. I was told that it was my hitch. After having to call for a tow 200 miles from home and missing a race I called Dodge. They told me there was no problem with rough shifting into overdrive. Again total Bull ask any of the aftermarket tranny guys who are linked on this site. I replaced the input shaft out of my pocket and modded the tranny to try and fix the problem because a warranty rebuild does not come close to cover the cost of towing and agrivation associated with breaking down in the middle of the night. If there were no AT problems then why have they changed the tranny twice sense 2005?

The 12V engines developed an outstanding reputation. They were loud and I didn't care to have one. The Common rail 24V was an answer to all my problems with Diesels. Little did I know a lot of people have had trouble with them. There is an old saying "Keep it simple stupid". Maybe with the age of electronics being so much in control of these trucks there needs to be some rethinking.

Early last year I blew the gasket on the stock intercooler. Funny the replacement was an all alluminum one under warranty. They are not going out and replacing everyones intercooler even though they are a timebomb just waiting to let you down. I feel there are other issues on these trucks that I might find out the hard way. If this exhaust housing blows apart I am going to be sitting on the side of the road God Knows where. I am sure it will be fixed no questions asked but what if I had not caught it. Dodge knows there are problems with the turbo. They have them on backorder from what I have read on here. I know where the problem is stock these trucks have nothing to keep the EGT at a safe level. You have to use your foot and a gauge. This is crazy.

I love my truck despiste the inconvenient troubles. Hopefully this will all go away soon.

 

No assumption here. Just stating the score of the work I've seen come through the door over the years. We also see alot of trucks as I live in a snowbird haven and those folks tow HEAVY!!

I've been out of the tranny loop for a number of years...but what other "changes" have they had since 05? You are talking updates or changes to the 48re correct? The only update that comes to mind was the use of an electronic actuator for controling the throttle psi that came about in 06.

We just pulled an 04 with a broken input shaft. Only around 40K miles....but loaded up with Banks goodies (six gun). Customer didn't fuss on warranty, but simply wanted it fixed so it wouldn't happen again (alot like you). He now has a Goerend trans and hopefully that will live up to his expectations.

As I recall you are using the TST chip correct?

At least you have an 05 so you don't have to worry about that stupid filter canister transfer pump being your next disappointment. Lots of people hate the idea of an in tank pump....but again. Since their inception I have not run into one single failure. Not saying they are perfect, just another observation, just like my engine score.

 

I would take some info about the gdp 2mk to the dealership where you have your vehicle serviced. I doubt they would have a problem with added filtration, especially when bosch advises better filtration than dodge's 7-10 micron filters.