How many 1-1/2" diameter freeze plugs are in the BLOCK of the 1987 6.9L engine. I counted (3) three on each side with one of the freeze-plugs on the passanger side sporting a block heater. Does anyone know for sure if there are any on the rear of the block under the flywheel??? The International dealer cant/wont tell me... thanx espiritusengineering@yahoo.com

 

THERE IS A SPECIAL TOOL TO INSTALL THE FREEZE PLUGS!!

these motors take a special press to seal plug. normal plugs will not seal and possibly fall out.

 

Yes, that is correct. Would you or anyone else know how many there are??? I already replaced the 6 that are readily visible including a new block heater on the passenger side.
I removed and rebuilt the oil cooler with new O-rings and did the ones behind the oil cooler.
Are there any behind the flywheel??? I saw a post that said there were two back there...
The dealers, both International and Ford, said the plugs came in pkgs of 7. Neither were able to tell me where the 7th one went. Unlike a pickup, this is a full size International vehicle (skoolie / RV) and getting to them was easy. Being an International vehicle and not Ford, it came factory equipped with coolant filter with SCA/DCA additives since new. With cylinder wall cavitation not being an issue, I did a complete rebuild with new .020 OEM pistons / rings / rods and bearings, roller cam and roller lifters, oil pump / waterpump, fuel & injector pumps with new (not rebuilt) injectors etc. new heads with ARP head studs. The whole shootin' match. All American made parts. Cost a bundle to do it that way but I did it right knowing it'll last a good long while. . I recently learned of Evans coolant and so popped the old freeze plugs out and made sure the whole block was bone dry before putting new plugs in in preparation to "installing" the Evans Coolant. It should be good for MANY miles. I'd just feel better, knowing that I "got" them all. thanx, dp

 

i think there is one behind the flywheel, maybe 2. also there is some in the heads also, front and back side.

been a while since i had one that far apart.

 

yes there are 2 frost pugs back of block you would have to remove transmission adapter to replace these. There also frost plug back of each head

 

Thanx, I really appreciate the information!!! Looks like I'll be pulling the tranny etc out. I'm glad I invested the money on that big hydraulic lifter. Aslo Glad we'll be having a heat wave 33*+ all week. Has anyone here used Evan's Coolant yet??? I'm going to be replacing the engine/tranny in my Freightliner and was thinking about putting it in there also. Wasnt sure about using it considering the cost of a new ISL cummins engine. I'm pretty conservative when it comes to engines and try to avoid anything but the tried and true. That being said, the new ISL will have a Spinner II centrifuge AND a puradyn unit to keep all that expensive Royal Purple oil squeaky clean and with the additives per specs. The puradyn unit is just for the additives. I got 700K out of my last engine. Hoping to do better with Royal Purple. Anyone have any good luck with RP synthetic. I about choked when I got the bill for 20 gals of THAT!@!@! These Vee engines are a bit different to work on compared to the straight sixes. I changed out the glow plugs for dual coil 12V units guaranteed not to burn out. NOT Much room in there to play????Thanx for the information on the last two freeze plugs. I ran across a neat trick for removing broke off glow plug tips from the cylinder if anyones interested. Saves the trouble of pulling the head. A guy in Canada turned me onto it. Ziggy or Zigster or some such. ....dp

 

what's that on the tips from cylinders? pencil magnet?

 

By now, everyone knows about the glowplug removal tools. OTC 6005A. available on Ebay very reasonably. But what do you do IF the heat swollen tip breaks off in there during removal???
I dont know anyone likes to pull a head for fun. I'd rather be fishing...
While researching this problem prior to my engine rebuild, I ran across a website in Canada that had a great idea that avoids the hassle and expense of head removal. Two things are needed. High pressure air and a good shopvac...not to mention the requisite wrenches.
Remove the ruined glowplug completely and curse it thoroughly. Then, remove the INJECTOR too. Bar the engine over until the offending cylinder's piston is at TDC. You dont want the broken glowplug tip to drop down into the cylinder. Keeping the pistion TDC keeps the broken tip inside the cylinder head area that the glowplug and injector resides-in, in most IDI engines. Attach one of those cheapie Harbor Freight air guns item #42939 or #3962 or similar to your air hose an stick it INTO the glowplug oriface. Try not to damage the threads!!! Insert the shopvac's nozzel into the now vaccant injector oriface. The shop vac alone wont remove the broken tip because it will simply create a vaccum in there but the High pressure air will shoot the broken glowplug pieces around and around the cylinder until the shopvac grabs them up and out the injector oriface. Its the combination of the high pressure air into the cylinder and the vaccum out of the cylinder that does the trick. A clean shopvac is necessary to see you got all the pieces.
Same guy has a diagram for bypassing the EVIL glowplug controller that is the bane of older 6.9 and 7.3 diesels if anyones interested??? I wired my glowplugs up as per his instrutions and it NEVER fails to start no matter how cold the temp and I dont burn glowplugs up anymore either.
I hope this has been helpful...dp

 

i have posted that before. major thing is before u remove the glowplug, have that cyl at TDC so the tip canot drop into the cyl. if it does u are screwed. so it would be #1 tdc, remove #1 plug. turn crank 1/4 turn and do the second cyl in the firing order. firing oder is on the intake.

 

Thats the nice thing about sites like this. If a member posts something not-quite-right, another with more complete information will straighten it out. Its never my intention to mislead anyone. **** I edited my previous post to include the correct information***** After researching all I could about this 6.9L engine and its various foibles, I decided to go ahead and completely rebuild it top to bottom. If you know anyone who might be interested in a used Cummins 8.3 ISC with 7 speed Spicer (twin counter-shaft) tranny, let me know. The 8.3 engine will need a ring job. The top end is fine and it has 60psi oil pressure on the highway. Tranny is perfect but non-overdrive model. I am replacing it with an ISL with a 10 speed Eaton O.D. unit. Thanx again for straightening my info out. cheers, dp.