Ok, so I am losing coolant somewhere. I have read all the other threads and I haven't seen one that fits what I have going on.

The steam coming out of the exhaust is not visible. The only way I know it's steam is after holding glass up to the exhaust and hitting the throttle. It steams up the glass. I'm losing coolant but I'm also maintaining pressure in the resevoir. A buddy hooked up a tester to the resevoir and it held at 15 psi and very slowly dropped. My question is this. Isn't the turbo cooled by coolant? If it is, is it possible that some is leaking somewhere into the backside of the turbo (turbine I think?)? I'm not losing any power at all and still blowing plenty of black smoke when I get on it. With the add ons I'm just shy of 600 hp to the ground. still running a stock turbo though btw. Plan on upgrading at some point soon depending on what this possible repair will cost me.

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Here is what I have on the truck so far. Its a 2003 LB7, Edge Juice w/Attitude (125 hp), Hypertech power programmer (90 hp), 15% overflow injectors (50 hp), 15% overflow fuel pump (50 hp), FASS fuel system, Cold Air Intake, Banks billet torque converter, Snow Performance Water Methanol Injection System - 2 nozzles. Alligator intake horn on its way with a boost fooler and high idle switch with wiring. As far as outside of the motor I have Ranch hand style front and rear bumpers, matching black diamond plate step rails, lighted headache rack, 110 gallon fuel tank in bed, LED everything, HID headlights, 18 gallon resevoir in bed for the water methanol system.

Any help you guys can provide would be awesome.
Thanks

 

your realistically in the 450 top HP range, mods don't add directly across. Black smoke means your out of air.

as for your coolant leak, it would seem that its coming post combustion, check the coolant lines to the turbo or EGR

 

Thanks I will check that today and get back to you. I don't have an EGR so hopefully I will see something at the turbo. I'm assuming that something will be visible if it's leaking. Is it possible that the coolant is leaking into the turbine somehow inside?

Thanks again for responding!!

As far as the HP to the ground, I had it dynod at Industrial Injection when they put the injectors and the fuel pump in. I had the Edge module pulled out and it was at 487. I have heard that double stacking doesn't add up exactly and some is lost. Once I get this fixed I plan to take it and get it dynod again. I won't be able to turn the edge up past 2 because it throws the Allison (brand new - recently replaced) in limp mode in 4th and 5th gear. Probably going to have to throw a kit into it to raise line pressure so the clutch packs can hold. Have you run into that problem or heard of it? The transmission shop put 2 brand new Allisons in because on level 3,4,5 it was causing 5th gear to slip and throw it into limp mode. I was told to turn it down from now on LOL.

 

thats what im thinking, the turbo is water cooled, so it's possible, and your not building pressure so a HG is out,

haha, sorta, i went through stock trans about every 6 months till the warranty was up. that was with just the edge w/ attitude, now ive got the sticks, more air, and a better tuneing Had a local shop do a full build and have not had a issue in 2 years. its the only way to go

 

Ok so I checked the water lines to and from the turbo and there is no sign of leakage. So if it is leaking into the turbine could that be a cracked water jacket of sorts inside? If so, I'm afraid to ask... Turbo is going out, or is out?

As far as the pressure, I'm building pressure in the system, it just bleeds off when I shut the truck off. So, hopefully no HG problem? I pulled four of the glow plugs so far and no sign of water at all, just black dry soot.

What kind of build did you have the shop do? What kind of HP are you putting to the ground and do you still have your edge or did you have an EFI tune on your ECM?

 

its only building 15psi and then dropping from there?

billet input and intermediate, red race clutches, modified VB (not a shift kit) stock output for weak link, its easy to replace on the 48re's

 

I'm not sure what its actually building. We used a tester and he pumped up 15 PSI into the system and it held. We were more checking to see if it would hold pressure.

So any thoughts on the turbo? Is it possibly going bad do ya think?

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Update... I went to a couple of diesel shops yesterday and landed finally at one that the guy seemed to know EXACTLY what he is doing. Hell, he even offered to do a cummins swap in my truck . They are going to run a test when I can get the truck to him, probably tomorrow, to determine whether or not it's my head gaskets or the mechanical water pump. I'll take it from there once a determination is made.

The test they are doing, they tap into a coolant line and somehow they monitor the coolant with the truck at idle, reved up, and under load and find out if there is evidence of combustion or not.

 

So they just did the test and they said that there is definite issues with the head gaskets. I'm going to have someone else do the check to verify their findings before I start pulling heads.

Will post more later when I have more answers.

 

hopefully this will help i had the same problem for awhile and it turned out to be the HG the rubber coating had worn off on the front causing it to leak out the front and into my cylinder pressure testing showed the same as you just without the leak down so thats what had me confused

 

So it was definitely the head gaskets. I pulled the motor this last week and did the hg plus a new 3" downpipe, drivers side exhaust manifold (no bs steering arm bend), bigger air horn into the turbo and a banks technicooler intercooler. The EGTs dropped about 300 degrees but i havent put it to the test while towing yet. Hopefully in a couple of weeks when i pull my fifth wheel, if i do.

Thanks to those who gave me suggestions and feedback!