2004 2500 diesel with 121,000 miles
I have been having quite a bit of blow by (cho cho out of oil filler)and it would not pass CA smog.
The shop did a compression test all 380 lbs except for 3&4 with 280 lbs.
Today they pulled the head and all of the pistons and cyl's look great,
you can even see the original cross hatch marks. There are no scratches and the pistons look fine. He took apart the turbo to see if there was alot of oil, everything looked super clean. The head looks real good all valves look to have black soot except for # 3 which was oily and you could tell it was not firing. The injectors were fine also.
The Mech says everything looks really good. He is going to pull the Cab so he can get to the motor and pull everything off so he can send the block into the Machine shop along with the Head.
My question is what would cause the blow by? If #3 rings were broke wouldn't there be groves/scratches on the cyl walls ?
Is it possible that the valve guides could be the problem?
We are going to replace all of the bearings, rings and gaskets, belts,filters and oil/coolant. Is there anything else that should be replaced while everything is apart ie water pump or ??. Any upgrades that should be done? Since we found a piece of a snap ring during trans fluid change,He is going to pull the overdrive plate and find and replace the ring and replace the two solenoids. Anything else ???
Thanks Bob

 

Are they really pulling the cab to get to the motor? That's crazy talk.
It sounds like you have it all covered. A water pump and thermostat are cheap so might as well do them. Also check motor mounts and replace trans mount.

 

This shop pulls the cabs on all of their overhauls. He says it is quicker and he can get to everything. He can then steam clean the body underneath and the complete motor & Trans.
Thanks I will get a new water pump too.

 

They must be used to working on Fords, never heard of a Dodge shop pulling the cab.

 

Its possible to have a cracked piston, usually at the ring lands, and not have any damage to the cylinders. You gotta remove the piston to inspect. Like you said the valve guides might me the culprit.

 

I have never seen a dodge cab pulled to get engine out even at the dodge dealer they remove the cross brace at the radiator and slide the hole mess out bell housing foward. Sounds like a ford man working on it and from what I know cracked rings would scare the walls

 

Upgraded cam and new tappets if you ever wanted to do one. Now is the time.

 

This doesn't sound like its going to be cheap.

 

Another "Why the heck are they pulling the cab?????" here!!

These trucks have plenty of room with the cab on. Ask him what the cost is to remove the cab!

 

He claims it is much faster, better job and less money to pull cab. He does it everyday. This will cost less then any shop in town. The machine shop looked at cam and tappets and everything looks good. The head and block are at the machine shop.
Not finished yet but estimate is under 2500.00 this includes opening Trans replacing the broken snap ring and 2 solenoids. We will see.

 

Numerous guys raise the front of the cab on the 2003+ Dodge Cummins trucks to make it easier to remove/install the engine.

They remove the front 4 cab bolts, leaving the back 2. disconnect the steering and wiring, brake lines and whatever else and just raise the front of the cab.
This will allow the engine to be easily dropped in with the head, valve cover and oil pan installed.

 

Interesting. Id like to see pictures of that. I suppose after doing it once or twice it could be done fairly quickly.

 

OK, pulling (removing) the cab and Raising the cab are two different things. If he is raising the cab and has done this several times before i can see this being faster.

At this point I would still have the cam replaced. You can get a much better one to improve performance and mileage and this is the perfect time to do it. No sense in putting a cam back in with 120k miles on it IMHO. But also not my money so easier said than done

Keep us posted on the final findings!

 

Hey keep me posted on this, I think its crazy to pull a cummins apart with 121k on it. Thats nothing for that engine and suspect a head or head gasket, and pulling the cab is a Ford thing.

 

Being pulled apart because of too much blowby. It would not pass smog and I could not get it registered (CA). I had numerous shops look at it and posted the thread here and all said needed rebuild. We looked at everything else ie turbo and could not find a problem, so opened it up. 121,000 is nothing for a Cummings but mine DID have an issue so no choice.
My cam and lifters look really good but I am open to any upgrades. Which cam do you suggest???