Pistons split in half!!!!?
 

Truck quit running on my way to work about 3 weeks ago. Checked and replaced most electrical boxes and sensers idm,pcm,cps and many more... Couldn't figure it out so i took it to ford dealer they told me i had bad injectors... My truck had 453143 miles on it so i decided it was time to freshen it up a bit... maybe rering the engine.... after pulling the heads piston # 2,3,5, are cracked half way across the top the piston to the center where the factory dish is and #8 is split all the way across the top of the piston. There are no burn or scorch marks on the pistons just cracks and #8 is split in half. Never seen this before in a diesel engine or any engine for that matter anybody got any ideas?

Ok the pistons are were burned though tiny holes in the combustion chambers and some of the cylinder walls are scarred. Crankshaft looks ok camshaft is kinda scarred on a few lobes too..... (maybe from the #8 piston skirt shattering) called a local shop and told him what was going on and he said he has to bore several 7.3 blocks to (.60 over) He said he can get the pistons and kit to do it and hasnt had any problems with the motors it was done to (yet) Anybody on this forum ever bore a 7.3 .60 over? Will it hold up in the long term? ANYONE got any experience in boring a 7.3 .60 over?

Go to the junk yard and get a used engine. I don't think I would ever go 60 over. You can get a running long block for around 1000

*sigh*Allready checked junkyards within 100 miles of my house and cheapest i found for longblock minus turbo and injectors was 1500$ no warranty and a motor that was garranteed to run was about 1950$ minus turbo but with injectors all said motors had about 180k to 250k miles on them. I am hoping my block wont need bored more than .30 over but i wont know till wednesday after christmas But thats what i wanted to know .60 over is not good for diesel cylinder walls thanks for the information

Who's injectors in the new engine?

i wouldn't go any more than .300" over.

no injectors in cheap junkyard engines 1500$ Complete engine minus the turbo but with injectors in junkyard engine for about 1900$ Did some checking on my cylinder bores today and other than #8 (slightly egg shaped) most of the other cylinder bores seem to be within spec. Honing tool took most of the (leftover piston im guessing) off the cylinder walls so im crossing my fingers i won't have to do more than a .30 over. Who's got good quality rebuild kits for sale? This truck gets some pretty brutal use 4 months out of the year towing 40,000+ grain wagons. I dont wanna rebuild it again for awhile.

I would only buy a ford factory kit. I think riff Raff sells one