One of my customers has some severe troubles with his Duramax.
They have already replaced 2 injectors and the high pressure pump. Still the truck will crank extremely long until it fires if warm, and there is diesel in the crankcase.
It's an 03 with 10 k miles.
Anybody got ideas where to find literature about this problem?
The vehicle is located in Austria.

Thanks!

AlpineRAM

 

http://forum.62-65-dieselpage.com/cg...ultimatebb.cgi

http://www.gm-diesel.com/diesel

http://flatratetech.com/

flatratetech is a ford site for technicians that work for ford. If they couldn't help they may be able to point you in the right direction...

 

Now that the Duramaxes are getting some miles on them there have been a lot of injector problems. Ive heard about guys that have been charged $800-$1200 to change 1 injector...

Check out:

www.thedieselpage.com

 

If there is fuel in the crankcase, it sounds to me like the injector o-rings need to be changed.

 

I much prefer www.TheDieselPlace.com when it comes to the 'Max.

Don't forget, that, atleast here in the U.S. the big three have 100,000 mile, and 5 year warrenties on the motor.

Merrick

 

Thanks Merrick!
I do know about the warranty, but my customer is the importer of this vehicle. His own staff didn't get far with the truck.
The 100 k miles warranty would only be honoured when shipping the truck back to the US- and the transport won't be paid for by the mfg of the vehicle.

Until now I found out that the truck had been filled with the wrong engine oil (5W30 API CD ), 2 injectors have been swapped, high pressure pump has been swapped.

My customers customer is not too happy with this 'max :'(

AlpineRAM

 

Sounds like they need to learn to read. Wrong oil? What is that? Use Rotella T and never a trouble!

 

A little slow this morning, so I'll advertise my lack of knowledge, what the heck. Isn't there something about the injectors not spraying correctly, or too much, that causes the fuel to wash by the pistons unburned? Wonder if expansion/contraction of the aluminum heads would hinder the injection/combustion process?

 

Right or not... I never did like the idea of an aluminum head on a diesel engine. Aluminum gets very weak with age and heat...a lot more so than other materials. That's why people don't suggest running aluminum rocker arms. They fail.

 

If there is still diesel in the crankcase, then the rest of the injectors have to come out. The injectors have some fittings and a seam that leak into the sump through the rocker covers. The whole injection system needs to be checked out.

Once you read up on the engine on thedieselpage.com (good Site) it will show you how the engine scanner can pick up the electronic balance of the injectors to see which ones are giving you trouble. Pay the money for thedieselpage.com and go ask the questions. There are at least two top notch technitions on that page that can answer any question and will get you on the right track..

BTW, GM now has made the injectors an external mount with scalloped valve covers. This way the diesel will just drip down onto the exhaust and catch fire so you can find the leak. :

J-eh

 

[quote author=Hired Gun link=board=8;threadid=23061;start=0#msg216896 date=1070374539]
Sounds like they need to learn to read. Wrong oil? What is that? Use Rotella T and never a trouble!
[/quote]

Easily explained, it's the more expensive equals better way of thinking about oil. Wrong viscosity and less stability but "very economical" oil for lots of cash per liter.

Since the oil change the truck ran much better, but wouldn't start the next morning. Found a lot of loose bolts on the fuel filter housing, diesel dripping from the filter.
I'll go from here and see whether it refills the crankcase or not.

AlpineRAM

 

When you get if repaired ,how about another good read and update,really enjoyed the last one,now I will understand if you only write in that mode when you are working on the cummins only. Thanks Rick

 

Rick, thanks for the head up, but since it's a customers truck I ain't emotionally attached. My only emotions are quite negative in that case, because almost all I had to do was to repair stuff other mechanics had messed up. They have changed the injection pump and 2 injectors even though the result of a code scan told me that the problem seemed to be air in the fuel lines all the time. If you primed it with the hand pump you saw diesel squirt out of the fuel filter and one of the copper rings on the inj. pump. Also the leakage of fuel into the oil seemsto be remedied by retorquing the injector holder and the nut on the inj. line. In total the truck has repair bills to a value that's higher than the miles driven with it, and more than 90% unnecessary IMHO.
I do hope that their foolishness didn't do severe damage to the engine.

AlpineRAM

 

Update: Changed the fuel filter (wasn't available 'til now) and found lots of crud in it. they had also fitted the wrong o-ring and changed the vent screw to something that looks like an hand cut steel bolt without a seal. I've started looking into the truck's electrical system and was amazed that they hadn't done damage there. (Usually they mess up a lot when doing the Euro conversion on the lighting system)

Wish me luck!

AlpineRAM