Engine Replacement

[LTC_R]

Well, not such a good time pulling out of storage this spring. Did a short weekend trip to Meremac Caverns, a three hour drive, and my SN 6400 left me stranded. Ran fine there but in the end, it would not start and left me stranded. We drove down on Thursday night, got set up on our site, had a great family day on friday, did some light work on the jacks on Saturday mornning (had a bad wire splice) went to start it to test the work, and the SN wouldn't start. I did some basic checks, oil, fuel, power, and still nothing, it would turn over, sounded like it wanted to start, but nothing. Gave it a shot of ether, and it turned over for a few cycles, but then nothing. I called for roadside assistance, they came out, bottom line, no oil pressure, therefore, no start. Had it towed home, thank goodness for Progressive insurance roadside assistance for the reimbursement on the tow; then had a local mechanic well versed in the VT365/powerstroke 6.0 engine dive in. The first test was compression, and found very low compression on 1 cylinder. He drained some coolant from the system and found oil in the coolant. Definitely a breech between the coolant system and the lubrication system most likely from the head gasket. Now the dilemma, spend the $1000 to have the heads checked, find out they are bad, then spend another $3500 for new heads; or just go ahead and spend the $5000 for a remanufactured long block and move on.

I opted for the remanufactured long block, hope it was the right decision. I so had wanted to be doing other things with my Supernova 6400 these past few weeks, like soundproofing the cab (see another post), and definitely didn't want to spend the nearly $7000 for an engine replacement. The remanufactured engine has an 18 month, unlimited milage warranty, so hopefully this chapter is over. I will be exploring repair insurance and extended warranties, for the next few months, as I don't think I can afford to go through this again.

[LTC_R]

It's done and runs great! I did opt for some performance modifications which, of course, added to the cost, but I think they will pay off in the long run. Yes, I am now an outlaw and run against EPA rules. EGR Delete, higher voltage FICM Power supply, Diablo Tuner, catalytic converter delete, modified Oil Cooler, small tweaks, Scangauage D display, and yes my mechanic is now on speed dial.....but it runs great! took a couple of weekend trips to get everything dialed in but now I am satisfied that the SN 6400 won't leave me stranded again.

[xtream1]

Glad its working out for you as an improvement.

On another note, my understanding from previous encounters about engines not starting...NEVER spray ether or any other starting fluid into a diesel engine! save that for a gas engine. A diesel engine will use WD40 as a starting fluid due to compression and motor function differences. Just my understanding.

[SlimTim]

LTC I sent this in a pm as well but I am not sure it went through. So if you happen to look at this old post, what Scangauage display did you use? I have been looking for one for my 6400 but have not found any that work with the IH. Also what oil cooler modification did you do? I am getting ready to install the Bullet Proof Diesel cooler on my rig. As I mentioned in a different post, I am a firm believer the oil cooler in the VT365 causes many of the HPOP, Injector, Turbo, and EGR issues.

Did you install a larger turbo or injectors when you did the overhaul? My 6400 has the MP8 fuel rail device but I would still like a bit more HP if it can be found.

Thanks in advance for any info you can share with me.

[LTC_R]

I went with the Scanguage D, you can buy it on line or at Camping World. It will work with the IH chassis. You have to set it to read from only 1 system at a time. By default it reads from the J1708 and J1939 systems simultaneously. When it does that, you get some rapidly flashing readings, so you have to manually set it to read from the J1708 system only to get correct values for MPG, GPH, and others that the Scanguage provides. I have yet to find a reference to translate the Diagnostic trouble codes that the Scanguage gives, but it will reset the DTCs when they appear.

As for the oil cooler, the BPD product is what I went with as well. I did not change out the Turbo or the injectors when I had my engine swapped, but I did do the EGR Delete, and it runs so much cooler and cools down quickly. I am running the Diablo Sport power puck, which does pretty much the same as the MP8 from what I understand.

[bhplumber]

Did you get any CEL's with the EGR delete? I am getting ready to send in the SN for EGR delete, BPD oil cooler, gauges, and chip or programmer. Has anyone found a programmer that will work with our chassis? The local shop says it has a round Diag port so they cant plug in to reprogram the ECM.