[TheBlueStroker]

I had my 7.3 rebuilt by a very reputable shop locally here in MI. I did most of the work myself, but because I ran out of the time had my local mechanic do a few things and make sure I didn't overlook something major so that it would blow up 5 miles down the road.

My engine builder told me to do a 20 minute break in period at high idle just to seat the rings. I realize that this wont seat the rings 100% but I'm assuming it's a good start. I had to replace my #8 injector and got a brand new AP injector. Right now, my mechanic is saying that it's blowing "a little bit" of blue smoke out. I'm picking it up tonight, and I've heard that these engines will run rough for a period of time and consume some oil, misfire a little bit, and stuff along those lines. My question is, how long or how many miles should this be happening before I call my builder and have a talk with him.

ALSO, I realize that this is like asking gun owners if the 9mm or .45 is better, is it better to keep it to the floor? or baby it.

Thanks

 

[DaleCook]

I know I won't be much help but I just got done rebuilding mine and I had light smoke for 75-100 mi or so. Did alot of reading on seating the rings and my assumption was in town driving was the best thing so that's what I did for a couple days and it worked. No more smoke at idle when warm. No when it's cold, that's a whole different story. I live in Alaska and if it's below 40* or so it will roll blueish white smoke at idle, high idle is twice as bad. All I can picture is the cylinders being washed down!! But if I plug in the block heater I won't get a puff of smoke, not even in negative temps. Not sure that's about but that's how my motor acts, it's been going for 500mi now.

 

[TheBlueStroker]

Anything helps brother. It was low 40s today and she started right up. When she first fired, it blew a decent cloud of VERY blue smoke but went away quickly and once it was warmed up, it was fine

 

[TheBlueStroker]

Well as an update, was driving for 5 miles and she died on me. No noise or nothing, lost power, started knocking, BIG cloud of smoke, getting towed away.

 

[DaleCook]

Why did u have it rebuilt in the first place? How long was the truck down till the rebuild was done and driving again?

 

[Maryland dieselnick]

Any cartridge that begins with a 4 .
Rings take a while to seat but you should not be smoking if it has run for a half hour or so.
Did he inspect the turbo? How many miles did it have on it? Smoke smells like oil?

Who did what to the block and how much experience did the person have?

Hard to tell guy, a lot can be causing this.

Did the reuse your old injectors? How many miles in them ?

What oil is in it? Has this guy rebuilt diesels before?

 

[blue99stroker]

People have had terrible luck with bad quality injector Orings lately. Blue smoke is usually from the injectors

Did it die because you ran out of oil? Have you been checking oil level?

 

[TheBlueStroker]

Here's the full back story.
I bought it last year from a dealer down in Arkansas (I'm from MI and they salt the roads so the bodies are terrible). I didn't know a whole lot about diesels back then but I was forced to learn quickly and hindsight being 20/20 I would not have bought this truck if I knew what was going on.

I rebuilt it earlier this year after noticing a bad misfire and had to get bored 40 over because the damage was so bad from the piston rings.

Rebuilt by Performance Engineering in MI which does a lot of different racing gasser engines as their front, but does A LOT of big, heavy duty diesel engines for local truck companies so they're no stranger to diesels or the PSD. Got it back from them in mid Sept and put Carillo forged rods and Mahle brand Pistons, rings, gaskets, everything else. Did not get new injectors but got new orings from AP. He advised a 20 minute high idle break in period which went fine, checked my oil before and after and didn't lose any.

Took it home and it drove around the block fine and wanted to go show my buddies I rose my truck from the grave. I started it up fine, and she smoked a lot on start up but when she warmed up no smoke. It started shaking, misfiring really bad. Took my foot off the gas and started knocking. Looked in my rearview and saw a big cloud of smoke. looked down at my gauges and AE scan tool with me and everything was still nominal.
Pulled over, turned it off and checked the dipstick. Had very little, maybe a gallon in the pan. I was running Rotella dino 15w40 for the time being until I was comfortable switching to a synthetic 5w40.

 

[blue99stroker]

Sounds like bad Orings or bad internal oring on the injectors.

How many miles on the injectors? I wouldn't gamble anymore with old injectors on a new engine.

 

[Maryland dieselnick]

Well hold the door!
If you only had a gallon of oil in the pan, the injectors will not work correctly and would be cutting in and out.
Drain that stuff and fill to the Lind and we can go from there.

 

[Maryland dieselnick]

What's the smoke smell like?
Did you using bore measuring pins and mic the Pistons? Did you stagger the gaps?

Bad orings will allow oil to push into the fuel rail where it gets burned. Drain fuel bowl with hose from bowl drain pipe on front of engine, into a container to see its color.
White smoke can be timing. Do you have the cam in time?

 

[blue99stroker]

He has blue smoke which is most commonly an injector issue

He had one gallon left after it died. He burnt the other 3 gallons

I'd atleast pull the injectors and replace the Orings, but if you have a lot of miles it might be time to replace the injectors.

 

[TheBlueStroker]

Well here's another hold the phone. I checked the oil again today for kicks and giggles and most of it is back in the pan with no sparkles that I can see with a LED flashlight. Checked radiator fluid, that was clear, but did not check bowl, will do that tomorrow. I have two essentially brand new AP injectors. One I replaced after doing a buzz test and recognizing that it's horribly weak after the rebuild. I can tell the other is very newish because when I took them out in the first place, I could still see the color on the rings and wipe the oil from the orange and it was perfect. The other six have appx 240k on them give or take depending if they were replaced at all I planned on getting a set of single shot swamps next spring, summer. I plan on draining the oil and cutting open the filter just to triple check to see if anything is in there.

AP's warranty kind of upsets me, considering if their O-rings failed and burnt something up they wont pay for it from what I understand with the "Consequential Damages clause" Warranty Policy | Alliant Power ? OEM Quality Without the OEM Price

Just kind of curious as to what the knocking might be? just a god awful injector knock? The one AP injector that was replaced with the build was the #8.

 

[TheBlueStroker]

Also, the whole engine is seized up thing, not sure I mentioned that. I tried starting it shortly after this ordeal and wouldn't crank. Jumped the starter and still wouldn't crank. That's got me the most worried. I have not yet, I again plan on doing this soon, taken a wrench to the pulley and see that way, but it should still try to crank over with a jump.

 

[blue99stroker]

you have fluid in the clyinders.


take the glow plugs out and crank it over by hand. make sure to put the vc's back on loosely so it doesn't make a mess