Have been getting a lot of blow by (I think) because since I have had the truck it's had an oil leak on the front cover somewhere. Fast forward to a few months ago I was towing a trailer and it was dumping oil from everywhere. It was all over the fender and the trailer. Even coated the wife's car driving behind me. So as a bandaid I got two valve cover breathers to make the rest of the trip. Now it hasn't leaked a drop of oil since. But it's getting hard to start cold, 70 ish degrees Temps out. When it does finally fire up, it smokes white for a while. After running for a bit it stops and runs fine. I am hoping the blow by is actually the vacuum pump and the smoke is a bad injector or two. I pulled the manifold back a tad to try to see which one but it's hard to tell in the video. I have already replaced all the fuel lines with the grey marine hose. Injectors are new Era 435 and are about 5 years old. Timing is 16.5, I checked the blow by with the home made manometer and was within specs for the lower two rpm ranges but the highest one it blew all the water out. I made a compression test adapter out of an old Injector that I can also use to check leak down. What else can I check before shelling out coin for a rebuild or a new engine?

 

Here's another video of my blowby hoses. I have the original one and the other two go to the valve cover breathers.

 

No one has any ideas? I'm going to pull the injectors, bore scope, leak down check and compression check this weekend

 

You seem to know what to check.
Time to start checking things off the list.
Compression test…
Leak down check.
Check the vac pump.
Test injectors.
Oil test kit sent off to Blackstone [?], maybe?

It could be a bunch of stuff.
Sounds like it is loosing compression somewhere…pistons?, head? headgasket? injectors?

 

Black stone is on the list too. How would you check the vac pump? Right now it's just taking up space, I use an electric pump and the engine one isn't connected. Just have the big hose to it plugged.

Also someone suggested the turbo leaking air down the oil return, how can I test this out?

 

To test the turbo for air getting pressurized down the return oil line.
Pull the return oil line for the turbo and run it into a jug to catch the oil.
Then test run the motor.
Add oil as needed.
Never heard of that problem, but that is how I would test that hypothesis.

 

I installed a new adjustable OFV and pressure gauge. Also a new fuel filter. Pics are of idling before and after the OFV. Still having problems starting though. I noticed when I shut it off that the fuel pressure drops to zero after a few seconds. Is the lift pump supposed to hold that pressure when off?

 

For the vacuum pump, look between the power steering pump and vacuum pump, that is where it will leak oil if the seal failed or got knocked loose. This is also where it will leak air in as well, regardless if the the main vacuum port is blocked off.



Here is a picture of the seal. It's the black ring inside of the silver collar. The shaft of the power steering pump rides inside that seal. If the power steering pump was ever removed, it is very difficult to put it back in properly without disturbing that seal.




The original seal is a single lip type of seal. Most replacement seals are a double lip type.

You can also unplug the vacuum port and put a vacuum gauge on it. The pump should pull a good vacuum into the upper 20s (inHg). Anything less indicates a leak.

 

I got the Blackstone results back and there was 60 units of iron but the rest was normal. What could that be from?

 

Cylinders, valve train, rotating shafts. Anything made of steel that is in contact with the oil really.

My last report shows that universal averages for our engines is around 25 for iron. I don't know if that is for the 24 Valve ISB only, or all 5.9L B series engines. How was your reading on insolubles?

Between the high iron reading, and the blowby problem you have, I wonder if you have a worn out cylinder?

If you start your engine while cold, and use an IR thermometer, you may be able to pinpoint if a cylinder is having an issue by measuring each individual exhaust port at the manifold. That test may work. It isn't a sure thing because of your P7100 pump, each cylinder has its own barrel/plunger/delivery valve so there will be some variance to how much fuel is injected between each cylinder.

A compression test and/or a leak down test would tell the tale if your cylinders are truly healthy or not

 

Here's the report

 

That looks mostly normal, minus the high iron reading and the lower viscosity.

I see that you added 6 quarts of oil. Did you do a partial oil change or are you having to add oil periodically? I think I recall reading that you had a slight leak before.

It is good that you aren't getting fuel or antifreeze in the oil, that rules out the head gasket.

I think at this point you should do a compression check and a leak down test. I also recommend a vacuum check on your installed vacuum pump (not the electric one), and see if that is contributing to any extra blowby.