Dan's ratty truck

[Dantheman1540]

The smoking's never gone away and all though it passed the leak down test obviously something wasn't right. I was planning to pull it apart again and investigate further. However I Went for a little ride to relax and on the way home I punched it in third AFR was steady in the low 12s, boost was between 7-8 and oil pressure was close to 70psi. Shifted to 4th at about 5900rpm and into 4th I kept my foot down. About 1,000 rpm into 4th gear somewhere around 4,500-5,000rpm motor felt as if it shut off. Looked down and saw it struggling to idle at 100-300rpm. Oil pressure was about 5psi. I shut it off and pulled over. Quick visual inspection and everything looked good. No rods hanging out no oil dripping. Checked the dipstick and it was still full and didn't sparkle or smell terrible. Tried to start it and it sounds like Optimus Prime fighting Decipticons. Luckily I was just a mile from the house and got towed home quickly. A better visual inspection noticed these sparkles in the tail pipe. Pretty sure its bits of metal.

So:
A) Piston exploaded?
B) Valve dropped?
C) COVID-19?
D) All of the above
E) Start it and try to do a burnout?

 

[Tonyrodz]

View attachment 245143 The smoking's never gone away and all though it passed the leak down test obviously something wasn't right. I was planning to pull it apart again and investigate further. However I Went for a little ride to relax and on the way home I punched it in third AFR was steady in the low 12s, boost was between 7-8 and oil pressure was close to 70psi. Shifted to 4th at about 5900rpm and into 4th I kept my foot down. About 1,000 rpm into 4th gear somewhere around 4,500-5,000rpm motor felt as if it shut off. Looked down and saw it struggling to idle at 100-300rpm. Oil pressure was about 5psi. I shut it off and pulled over. Quick visual inspection and everything looked good. No rods hanging out no oil dripping. Checked the dipstick and it was still full and didn't sparkle or smell terrible. Tried to start it and it sounds like Optimus Prime fighting Decipticons. Luckily I was just a mile from the house and got towed home quickly. A better visual inspection noticed these sparkles in the tail pipe. Pretty sure its bits of metal.

So:
A) Piston exploaded?
B) Valve dropped?
C) COVID-19?
D) All of the above
E) Start it and try to do a burnout?

That sux major ass Dan! At least you still have a sense of humor buddy. F@#$ it!! Do a burn out

 

[ivin74]

Covid-19 got it, lol


Great tread Dan.

 

[Dantheman1540]

That sux major ass Dan! At least you still have a sense of humor buddy. F@#$ it!! Do a burn out

If it had some cheap stock heads I'd consider it but PRC heads are $1,000 a pop so I'll will ***** out on my own challenge lol.

First step will be pull plugs and borescope it. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow.

Another possibility I didn't list is
F) Bearing shat the bed.
G) Lifter collapsed.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Covid-19 got it, lol


Great tread Dan.

Stupid Covid 19

 

[Dantheman1540]

Covid-19 got it, lol


Great tread Dan.

Thank you! I wish I wasn't limited to 5 pictures per post but I did my best. I find a build thread is a good way to keep track of things you did and lessons learned.


So pulled spark plugs, drained oil and borescoped the cylinders. Good news is there's no catastrophic damage and I believe the heads are completely unharmed (Thank you sweet baby southern born alligator riding Jesus!). Pistons looked totally normal during the scope and plugs weren't blown in half like I sorta assumed. Oil even looked okay. No crazy unicorn blood, no chunks and the drain plug had a weak afro. I'm leaning towards a bearing went or maybe timing chain also there's no signs of metal damage in any cylinders so maybe the previous picture of sparkle in the exhaust pipe was sand and not metal. Or possibly pieces of the muffler as its pretty old.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Thank you! I wish I wasn't limited to 5 pictures per post but I did my best. I find a build thread is a good way to keep track of things you did and lessons learned.


So pulled spark plugs, drained oil and borescoped the cylinders. Good news is there's no catastrophic damage and I believe the heads are completely unharmed (Thank you sweet baby southern born alligator riding Jesus!). Pistons looked totally normal during the scope and plugs weren't blown in half like I sorta assumed. Oil even looked okay. No crazy unicorn blood, no chunks and the drain plug had a weak afro. I'm leaning towards a bearing went or maybe timing chain also there's no signs of metal damage in any cylinders so maybe the previous picture of sparkle in the exhaust pipe was sand and not metal. Or possibly pieces of the muffler as its pretty old.

View attachment 245218 View attachment 245219 View attachment 245220 View attachment 245221

Few cylinders burning rich?

 

[Dantheman1540]

Few cylinders burning rich?

AFRs have been good but it's been burning oil since first put together. Strange that last week when I did the leak down test #7 was visibly wet and today its dry. Several cylinders have substantially more carbon deposits on the top of the piston which is likely due to burning oil but the question is WHERE IS THE GOSH DERN OIL COMING FROOMMMMM!!!!!!

Seriously considering sending both thos motor and the 4.8 to TSP and telling them to build me something with a warranty lol.

 

[Rocket Man]

One thing for sure- something’s up! Waiting to see what you find. Could be a number of thing obviously. Best to keep that sense of humor, it comes in handy in times like this.

 

[Dantheman1540]

One thing for sure- something’s up! Waiting to see what you find. Could be a number of thing obviously. Best to keep that sense of humor, it comes in handy in times like this.

Hopefully this week I can get the blower and heads off to see more.

One thing that's bothered me since before I installed the motor is this.
When I bought the motor it had a spun cam bearing and on both heads on every cylinder between the 2 valves was a crack indicating the motor got nuclear hot. I had the block "fully machined" but just a few weeks after I paid and picked up my parts the shop closed indefinitely and the owner moved out of state. He seemed like a great guy and I'm not blaming him for anything especially since I don't know the true cause yet. However I can't help but think maybe the one particular cam bearing needed to be oversized and wasn't or a cylinder or 2 was never honed correctly and is out of round at one point causing oil consumption.

More than likely I assembled something wrong and when I get to the bottom of it I will learn from my mistake. Wish education wasn't so expensive.

Maybe I can get an education loan buy a 427 dart block and get the government to forgive the debt!