So, as anyone who follows my blog knows I have a 2005 F350 with teh 6.0L diesel. I fell in love with this truck the first time I drove it and I have made the decision to own it till either it or I reach the end of our lives. The only weakness this truck has is the stock 6.0L engine. It was a failure from the day International built it, however, over time all of the issues have been addressed and corrected and once the modifications are made the engine is great and the truck is awesome.
Well, that time came for my baby. Anyone who has followed me for a while may recall a few years back when I had the flat bed put on and some engine work done. The major part of that engine work was done by Gearheads Garage in Louisville ohio. This work included putting new injectors in the engine. That was were the road to ruin began for me and I will dive into that so that anyone needing to have this kind of work done will know going into their project what can happen if you hook up with the wrong garage.
When replacing injectors in any diesel engine there is a lot to be said for delicacy and professionalism and skill. The smallest slip in any of those categories will cause huge issues down the road. When the injectors were put in by my previous garage one of the injector cups was damaged and allowed excess diesel fuel to leak into the cylinder under low load. Under heavy load this cylinder would fire and the pressure from the firing would blow past the seals and cause what felt like a miss that my last garage could not figure out. This would also allow for diesel fuel to push into the coolant around the injectors. We also found two other injectors that had the seals damaged during installation that were also allowing diesel fuel to leak past into the coolant.
We also found the glow plug wiring harness damaged and not working correctly as well as the injector wiring harness. The turbo charger only had one bolt installed out of three and all of the bolts on the up pipe were loose. There were a lot of little things all over the engine that were not correctly put back together which lead to the eventual failure that I experienced.
The end result was 90%+ of the coolant being replaced with diesel fuel and excessive heat being created from the leaking fuel and ruined coolant which took out the head gaskets and cracked the heads.
The above picture is off all of the parts that were ruined, there are more in the box at the end. The heads, head gaskets, turbo charger needed cleaned and rebuilt, wiring harnesses needed repair or replacement, new up pipe, glow plugs, all eight injectors were trashed and they only had about 20,000 miles on them and they should have lasted 200,000.
To replace the heads the cab needs removed which allows for proper access to everything without damaging other stuff. With the cab off we were also able to properly undercoat the cab.
It looks odd to see it all pulled apart but so easy to get to everything properly! The great news is that the bottom end of the engine is still in excellent shape which was not expected with all the top end problems! That is our win in this little endeavor.
Since we had everything pulled completely apart I leaned on the professional for advice. Just like people come to me for advice with farming and Landscaping, I decided to listen to the advice from the engine professional! Justin suggested using the upgraded parts that will last the life of the truck. For starters, the new exhaust manifolds are much larger and flow much better.
The turbo looks like brand new after the rebuild, actually, I think it looks shinier! The specialist that rebuilt it also upgraded the bearings and thrust washer so it will perform better and last longer.
A shot of the engine before the valve covers went on. I thought I was going to have to buy all new injectors because my previous garage told me that you cannot use rebuilt ones as they do not last. Truthfully, the only difference between an OEM brand new injector and a rebuilt one is the outside case. Everything inside is new. The difference in cost is where it is at. To replace all 8 injectors again I was looking at $3k-$4k, to have the new ones I already had rebuilt.....$1000.
The only disappointing about getting everything completed is realizing all the shiny new parts are hidden underneath and behind everything you can see when you open the hood! What you are looking at is the fully reconstructed engine with the new upgraded up pipe installed.
Now, while I want to tell everyone that upon completion we started the truck and I drove it home and everyone lived happily ever after....that wouldn't be fair. Justin tested the truck and found some more small issues that he quickly and correctly repaired that were issues out of his control that were not found till we had it up and running. Once testing was complete and we thought we were good I brought it home.
I decided to drive it to work the next day to get some miles on it and because I missed driving it for 3 weeks. Half way to work it shut down on me. Had it towed in to the garage to see what was up. Upon inspection Justin found that one of the brand new ProMax heads that he installed has a defect in the casting that allowed one of the injectors to break loose.
According to ProMax, this is only the 3rd one of these heads this has happened to out of the 10's of 1000's of these they have produced and sold. So they sent a replacement and will be covering the cost of the head gasket. The disappointing part about it is that they will not be covering Justin's shop time to reinstall, the other gaskets and stuff he had to re-service to be sure it was all perfect again, and they shipped the parts via ground shipping. No expedited shipping or overnight shipping. Not the customer service that was expected since the original order came through a day quicker than the replacement!
At the end of the day Justin got it back to perfect and I was able to bring it home Saturday and put it to work! It runs like it did when I first test drove it and fell in love with it. It starts correctly, doesn't shudder under full load, fuel mileage is up, and everything is finally functioning as it should. I cannot wait to put it through its paces next weekend hauling its first heavy load since the rebuild!
Now, a note on my new garage and the garage that I will stay with for the long haul. My only regret is that I didn't meet Justin sooner for it would have saved me a lot of grief and money. Justin has over 15 years of working in the diesel industry and has been working on trucks like mine as well as semi's and other diesels for the same length of time As it turns out my truck was the first to go into his new shop and the start of his new career on his own. He services all different types of diesels and when I visited I saw every brand in the shop! He can do pretty much anything you want to do from mechanical work to programming! His shop manager Doug is also very professional and knowledgeable and does great work! They make an excellent team and I know that in the very near future finding a spot to get work done will be tough because they will be busier than they could ever imagine!
A huge thank you to Zeigler Diesel Performance for the professionalism and the skills! They are in Canton Ohio, look them up. If you need diesel work, go here and get it done right the first time!
Have a great week everyone, take in the great weather before the snow hits. The time will come all too soon when you wish you had spent these days outside in the sun when you had them!
Kenny
