In-Frame Time For my 3406...

I really didn't expect this...or want it... but here we go.

After 7 plus years of nearly bulletproof running my old 3406E is in the hospital for some heart work.

Back in '05 I cooked one liner after a heater hose blew and it overheated in traffic on I-40 in NC. I replaced one cylinder pack and rods/mains at that time. The engine had approx. 710,000 miles on it since it's first in-frame.

I just got the truck back to work in August after a big wreck (long story) on 8/17/09. On the first trip my oil cooler started leaking oil into the coolant. I replaced it.

On the second trip I started getting water in the oil...foamy oil... not good. I was out about 8 days. I drained the fresh anti-freeze and filled the system with water... I did three oil changes during the week trying to save the engine bearings. I use 40 gallons water during the trip.

I got back home last week and the shop pulled the pan on Tuesday... found the #5 liner pissing water like a super-soaker squirt gun. the bearing were actually in pretty good shape all things considered. The crank has some scratches but nothing you can catch a fingernail on... it was in the same condition back in '05. Should be OK.

So today I stopped by and took a long, hard look at the engine and considered my options...

The #5 liner has a big crack and lots of pitting. We figure the pitting was caused by the coolant not having enough additives in it... I used the local farm store's house brand that was rated for HD diesels... I have been lax on checking the SCA levels but I figured all was well because I kept the coolant pretty fresh... I was wrong.

So the head is going to a diesel machine shop to be freshened.... new guides/valves/springs and injector cups (they are suspect) etc. We ordered six new cylinder packs and bearings. Surprisingly the turbo shows no wear and the injectors are nearly perfect... all this after at least 1,000,000 miles.

The head has some pock marks on cyl. #1... maybe the head was replaced at the first major and it may have come from a core pile where they didn't care about the looks of the surface... don't know. It will be fine... the pits won't affect a thing.

The engine has 1,615,000 miles on it (about 1,000,000 since the first in-frame)... used one gallon of oil every 10,000 miles... 5% blow-by at the last dyno report 300k ago. It should have been good for another 300-400k before a rebuild was needed... oh well it's only money!

Here are a few pix...

 

CAT reman heads have a less than stellar reputation around here... more than one shop has told me they only replace what's out of spec.... if only two valve guides are worn that's all they replace... no big deal but the shop that is doing my head is using all new springs/guides and valves.... for less money than a CAT head and still using CAT parts.

I'm going to fill the cooling system with CAT ELC... the shop has it in stock and uses it on all the engines it repairs.

If you look at the photo of the head surface you can see some pitting on the face under the valves... I'm going to find out if a CAT head was used on this engine when the first in-frame was done... I don't remember my CAT dealer mentioning anything about that when the head was off several years ago... they did the original in-frame.