C15 Severe Coolant Loss

Discussion in 'Heavy Duty Diesel Truck Mechanics Forum' started by A5¢, Jan 24, 2018.

  1. A5¢

    A5¢ Medium Load Member

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    I am in Florida right now, but I can get some nice fire ring pictures when I get back home.
    The cracks we're from one jntake valve to the other. If I didn't tighten down the radiator cap, all was well. It would just blow bubbles back into the reservoir.
    At start-up, the exhaust was clean. The guy that was supposed to measure the liners, has been impossible to contact. Now I need to take care of this without him.
     
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  3. A5¢

    A5¢ Medium Load Member

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    You are very correct. It was a good read. The place that I am getting the head from is a machine shop. He checks all of the heads he receives for being flat. When I get back above sea level, I will contact him and bring the d head up to him and show him exactly what I have. We can then get the work done and get it right!
    I can easily see where not pulling the liners would mask the true root cause and another head issue would be just a short ride down the road.
    Even though this is not a working tractor, it still deserves to be repaired proper.
     
  4. combo7

    combo7 Bobtail Member

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    Hey I’m having the same problem with my c15 MXS how much did you end up spending on the rebuild?
     
  5. A5¢

    A5¢ Medium Load Member

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    I have not bought the parts I need as of yet. I had some more important issues that needed attention. I will be pulling the liners out and see what the rod bearings look like. The local diesel machine shop is where I will be getting all of my parts from. If the deck is not flat, or I need any other machine shop work done, they can do it on site. They will also know what parts were installed.
    Are you going to do your own work?
     
  6. combo7

    combo7 Bobtail Member

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    Worcester MA
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    No I’m thinking of taking it to the cat dealership but I’m not sure yet
     
  7. A5¢

    A5¢ Medium Load Member

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    It is a big project, but if you have the tools and a place to work on it, it's not that bad. A Caterpillar manual is a very handy tool.
     
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  8. DieselTech_Aus

    DieselTech_Aus Light Load Member

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    hard to compare from the other side of the world. we would pay I estimate about 20% more for our cat parts here than you would over there ball park. our tech labour rate is anywhere from $80-$120/hr. its more at the dealerships. $135 to $165/hr is the going rate for a dealership tech.

    repairing the engine in frame I tell my clients to budget $20K without replacing the turbo, cam or oil cooler. $20K will generally cover strip inframe, counterbore deck for liner shims, full bearing roll. new liners, pistons and rings. reman head, injectors and rocker shafts included. if the camshaft or rocker arms are damaged then the budget creeps over $20K.

    that's drive in drive out full inframe in 5 days. $20k. if it doesn't need counterboring or you reuse the head then they get change from $20K. however if we do exhaust manifold center section, turbo, oil cooler, camshaft, rocker arms, water pump, oil pump, harnesses or start resealing the front cover etc then it grows to a $25-$27k drive in drive out budget.

    on the flip side though, the wrong shop or slow/inexperienced dealer $20k will be lucky to get you a head fitted and bearing roll
     
  9. A5¢

    A5¢ Medium Load Member

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    Well, I finally got back to wrenchin' on the Cat. I crawled underneath, removed the oil pan and popped the pistons out. That went quite smooth. It's always nice to be laying on your back, staring up at the crankshaft and have an occasional drop of 15-40 land right on the glasses!! Good times!!
     

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  10. A5¢

    A5¢ Medium Load Member

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    I will be ordering my inframei kit this week, so I will be putting parts on instead of taking them off. I have been painting what needed to be done. At least it's looking better than when I started.
    The radiator was lookin' pretty I'll, so I'll be putting a new one in. I gotta have a cool cat cat!
     

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  11. pushbroom

    pushbroom Road Train Member

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    I like the yellow on top. Different then usual. I paint the whole cover black and buff off the ridges to bare aluminum
     
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