Wow, those are some fancy rotors!

 

Well got the pan off and everything in the bottom looked good. So now I"M thinking something caught in the timing gears or a valve dropped in the cylinder.

Any tips on pulling the head?

 

I don't know any tips, but I would pull the injectors out before I pulled the head off.

 

Why's that? Whats needed to pull the injectors?

If the head gasket blew, which I think is likely as the engine bay is soaked in AF, could the cylinder fill up and hydrolock?

I'm thinking thats unlikely as if it did, over time the AF should leak down past the rings and into the oil and then the engine should turn over. Same thought for an over fueling injector....

 

Head are an easy pull. Mines abit different. You have to remove the injection lines, head bolts. You also have to remove the rockers and push rods. Leave the exhaust manifold on but remove the turbo from the manifold.There are a few sensors to remove. If you're very carefull you don't have to remove the injectors. The tips of the injectors are exposed, so don't lay the head face down on anything. I would pull the injectors, personally. Your truck has electronic injectors, so there some electrical connections to play with. You might also have to remove the injection pump. On my truck you don't have to. Mine had a drain line off the back of the head. That probably the worst part of pulling the head. Did you find any metal in pan? 2 to 3 hrs it should be apart. Have you removed the valve cover yet? Once you do you should be able to see if something looks odd with the valve springs if you broke a valve.

 

First thing I did when I got it was pull the valve cover and look at the springs. Unfortunately the rocker was hiding the damage. Decided to loosen the rockers and on the very first one I noticed something odd. A bit of prying with a screwdriver and I had this in my hand.



So what causes this and what are the chances the piston is ok?

 

This is awesome Clay.

Did you find any diesel fuel or coolant in the oil?
If not then the engine is not likely hydro-locked since coolant or diesel would have been in the oil too.

Have you pulled the valve cover off yet & had a look at the rockers & valves?
Pull the rockers & have a close look at everything. Since you can't turn over the engine fully
you won't be able to tell if all the valves are at the same height.

If nothing found, then I too recommend pulling the injectors.

Here is a link to an injector swap with tons of pictures:
See "3rd Gen injector install Procedures"

http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/sh...s.asp?pid=1011

Pulling the injectors will open up the combustion chambers.
You might be able to examine the tops of the pistons for damage. Plus you will be able to examine the injectors themselves.

If nothing found, then you can try turning the engine over again by hand & perhaps then tell which, if any, cylinder is causing the problem.



A slow, logical approach to determining what is wrong with the engine rather than ripping everything apart at once..

I hope my suggestions are ok. I am really curious what is wrong with the engine & I'm still hoping you find something really minor.

...Joe

 

That looks like a broken valve stem and retainer.

Is one end of that "rod" broken off? Is that the actual color or is that your camera doing that?

If it is a broken valve, it's time to pull the head. As Mike H. mentioned, pull the injectors 1st.

...Joe

 

Yep thats a busted valve. I'm guessing that the head is buried in the piston. Gonna try pulling the head tomorrow.

 

Clay, which cylinder is it? You might get lucky and just have to replace the piston. You're existing engine might be salvagable, that will save some $$$. Hopefully the piston took the beating and the cylinder head as well and but the not cylinder. Someone was running the truck hot and the valve seat dropped out. Its not the first truck to have this happen to it. Its common on early third gen trucks. Hopefully everything goes smoothly from here for ya.

 

I have a CR injector puller Clay-but I'm not coming that way for a while as I am back on shift. I know you can do it if you're careful with a small prybar IIRC, but you've gotta be careful-if you crack an injector body they are not cheap. Quite possible the one on the cylinder that dropped a valve got mashed by the head anyways. In a perverse way it's good to see you found the problem anyways.

Mike, I should have asked you a little more about your ball joints when we were talking. I assumed you had the wheel bearings out of the knuckles already-my bad. They can be miserable to get out alright. Did the dealer guys put a coat of antiseize on them when they installed the new ones? If not, might be worth your while to unbolt them now and put some on so the new ones don't get frozen in the knuckles like the old ones. Antiseize is your friend-I goop down as much as I can with it. Last time I pulled my wheel bearings out, they basically fell out in my hand.

 

Jason, The hub bearings are tappered cone bearing (like timken type). Can you remove them to grease them sporatically? Dodge didn't put in a grease nipple for maintaince, I guess they want us to buy new trucks every three to four years. Mines almost together and I'm getting pumped up to see what this ride will do. The lift raised the front of the truck by several inchs. It makes my 285/R16 look small and I'll have enough room for the big boy 37in when I go thru one of my mid lifes. My neighbor wants to take a picture of me when I try to get the wheels off the ground again. Other than the hubs, this has been a easy overhaul. If I knew that the hubs where scrap, I could have removed them easily. Plasma torch, I like cutting stuff up.

 

No, they're sealed units. I saw a thread over on the other site with the same initials where a guy had drilled and tapped them for a grease fitting and then drilled the knuckle for access. I'm sure if a guy was careful not to overgrease them, you could take the ABS sensor out and use a grease needle to get some down in there every once in a while. Best fix is to get rid of them altogether and install a Dynatrac/EMS/Solid conversion to a proper old-school setup, but it requires finding a money tree-and they don't seem to grow that well out here. The newer trucks seem to be better than the older ones for life-I got 220K out of the original set which I didn't think was horrible considering the abuse. The replacements from Chrysler weren't as good-maybe 150K? Don't have my logs in front of me. This time I bought them from NAPA-quite a bit cheaper. We'll see how long they last.

Jason

 

Thanks for the offer but I'm hoping to pull the head today. I'm actually hoping that the valve fell on on shut down and that there is no damage. We'll see......

 

Cool-let me know if you need it and we'll work someway out to get it to you.

Jason