hey everybody, I have been chasing a problem with my 07 5.9L. Truck is quad cab 4x4 auto short bed. Aftermarket items are straight pipe, bully dog triple dog, air intake and intake elbow, ats tranny.

My problem began with rough start for a morning or two, blue or white smoke, rough idle, and cleared up after awhile. After like two mornings I got a code got for injector 6 and injector bank b. Troubleshooting said to me replace valve cover gasket/harness. Replaced it and things got better for a week. I was driving to work and starting running pretty bad and I got a light and a code for injector 6 only. Tested them with a meter and 6 was the only one that was different, with harness on and off. Replaced injector six. Things got better for a week. Then began starting rough again. No codes just starting like crap. I looked into troubleshooting again and I kinda believed all the injectors should have been replaced when I replaced the one. After deliberation I decided change the rest of them. I followed procedure set forth by manufacturer. Replaced one by one and inspected all connector tubes real well, according to cummins all were considered fine. Retorqued everything and started easy. Little blue smoke but ran smooth. Definite difference. Cleared out good and I figured I was good. Remember, it always cleared up after awhile too. So the start on the next morning would tell me more. Next morning comes around, damn thing cranks for like 15 seconds and starts and dies. Starts again runs smooth. Drive to work. End of day, go out to head home, same thing cranks for a while and finally fires up, smooth and strong. I assumed I needed to probably reconsider connector tube torque, so I went back through all that again, complete disassemble and inspection. All appeared to be fine. Re installed. Same thing, started good and began to feel better. Next morning started good again, hell yeah now I am really feeling good. Still a little blue smoke but clearing up much sooner and smoother in entirety.

Now the funny part, I begin getting the long crank times again and running bad on start up. Still clears up. Runs fine, no loss of power, or not running bad. I am kind of at a loss at this point. After a day or two, I notice an unusual amount of blowby out of blowby tube. So go take the oil cap off and it blows out of my hand under pressure. Went in the fan and made a trip or two, should have been holding on better, but that's a different story. Anyhow it appears to be smoking like a smoke stack on the train. It's bad.

So given my story here, and truck has 140k, and has been run hard a put up wet most of it's life, what do you fellow posters think? I am sure it's rings. I live very close to Mexico, and those guys drive things that blowby horribly and they just continue driving them, for years. I a sure that luck would not be mine though. So I got to figure out what to do: rebuild, trade in? Given the story above, what is my most likely cause of the problem: too much bully dog for too long, stuck open injector? What to do, what to do?

 

#1 question, your signature says you have a 94 12 valve, but your thread says you have a common rail??
#2)I would run a compression check to see what cylinder is going out.

 

I actually have at least one of every generation of dodge 2500 cummins. I'm just not too good at updating signatures. I do need to run a compression test, I was just wanting help with some speculation as I am so blasted tired of removing the the fuel system. Can a guy do an inflame on theses trucks or is that near impossible? I can see how it might be a pain in 5 and 6 for sure.

 

Check blow by by just placing the oil cap on the hole if it jumps around you have a broken ring which would also cause the smoke issue. You may have a CP3 issue unplug it let it rattle for a sec and then plug it back in should take 30 seconds or less to recover. Losing prime is also a possibility.

 

Yeah, my oil fill cap does not stay on top of the hole for nothing, not even kind of. Were you saying my cp3 could cause this problem as well? I'm just wondering how. Explain the unplugging process to e with more detail please. I have no problem doing it just wondering what needs to be done and exactly what the results could be and what they mean.

As far as a real bonified comp test, I am farther than 250 mies from a real reputable diesel engine shop other than dealer, and dealer has already admitted not having an experienced cummins mechanic on staff yet.

 

If your cap is blowing off diagnosis is done you have a broken ring or rings! The engine has to come apart! Do a compression test to find out which cylinder-s is bad! Don't worry about the CP3 But for info if you unplug the harnesswhile running it will Max out the pump "sound Horrible" Plug it back in and it should smooth back out in 30 seconds or less! It just shows that the pump is working properly. Pulling the engine is the easiest way to rebuild but it can be done inframe! There are several good kits on E-bay for around a grand. Or you can just buy the parts as needed like rings and head gasket If you do the work yourself should take a couple days unless machine work is needed on the head. Run a hone in the cylinders to knock the glaze off so the new rings can seat. this is a real domino affect great time to do Cam, studs, injectors! Good luck any questions drop a line happy to help! Another option would be a engine swap if you can find one locally but that will cost at least 4 to 6 grand. So the rebuild would be the cheapest IF you do the work!

 

Thanks for the info and the willingness to help out. I spoke with a gentlemen at Rocky Mountain cummins and he priced some things out for me. He priced a long block at 6500, short at 3600, and we are pending a rebuild price. He claims in frame is no problem for him and won't take as long. Says you need the proper tools to make it easier and claims to have them. He says that first he would like to diagnose turbo which I suppose is fair. He says this year model seems to have a tendency to full open #6 injector and burn out a piston. Remember my opening post, #6 went bad on me to begin with. This could just be downhill from there. I did drive about 20 miles with a #6 code and a rough running engine. Possibly my fault. Lol, not too hard though. Anyways, he asks if I have a programmer I should put it back to stock so he can take a picture of the ECM so my rebuild warranty will be whole 1 year/100k miles. He explains I can put it back on when I get the truck back.

He says the rebuild will be half the long block, labor included, with a 100k warranty, which I will easily put on in a year, and I can bring it in anytime this week and they can get started on it. We are just waiting on a proposal in different case scenarios. Near closing time today. He is willing to help which is rather odd for my area(anybody near el paso should be able to vouch) so I told him we could talk tomorrow. Says if it's just a rebuild he can have it done in a week or so.

I typically tackle things like this myself, I own/operate a 700k ton a year rock crushing facility and I typically do all my equipment engine stuff in house. That is kind of my problem, I have too much going on right now to try and deal with something as depressing as my favorite pickup dying on me. But if I can get it done and have a warranty that's a definite plus.

So options are, rebuild around 3500 labor included; block no good, long block, around 8 labor included; or take all my stuff off and trade for new around 30k depending on trade in and how hot I get over all the new stuff available. Probably go with a rebuild. What you think?

P.s.- explored the trade in option today. Auto trader and selected my musts and must nots, first truck that popped up had a 80k dollar price tag. So I called them and asked wtf is worth 80 grand here, he explained to me that he could sell it for less if he wanted, but it had a lot of extras on it. I asked him if they sold a lot priced like that and said yes, went on to say that there was a lot of poeple out of their minds there. I agreed and we both politely hung up. Get it while you can I guess.

 

80k for a truck now that's funny! just think what you do with yours for that money!
The prices he quoted are good so it's just which route you have to take! the 3500 is outstanding for a rebuild with 100k warranty! Do a google search on the company and see what others have said about them!
When I melted #3 I spent under 500. to replace just that piston and associated parts! Sometimes being a mechanic is priceless!

 

Well, I believe I am going to drop the truck off to them this week. It's probably going to cost a little more than we first expected but should be under 5 grand. I was talking to the guy a little bit and he works for cummins now, but was a deisel tech for dodge before. He said that he was kind of figuring that #6 had been stuck open and with the common rail pressures, it may have blown out the head of the piston since I had driven it a bit when it happened. I replaced the injector myself that same day.He says he's guessing that it had worn thin in one area and may have developed a hairline crack due to stress. It's all just speculation and we won't know until we are inside obviously, buts it fun to guess a little bit. He is going to diagnose everything else before he tears the engine in half and maybe sav some hassle but I hold little confidence that it's not internal. Hopefully it pans out good for me.