Headed out of town this morning to go and race. 2-1/2 hour drive to the track. I'm guess we were 20-30 minutes from the track and I made the decision to turn around.

My truck was making black smoke on the trip but I thought it may have just been working too hard. When we eventually heard diesel knock, I figured an injector tip was gone. I made it back to the city and about 10 miles from home where power really started to decrease. I pulled over and the truck died. Called for a tow truck which took 90 minutes to get there. Truck went on the deck, trailer went on the stinger boom.

I was able to start the engine when I got home to park the trailer. Drove the truck to work with the girlfriend following. The engine died again just as I was going around the corner approaching the parking lot.

I know an injector is bad. I just hope it didn't melt a piston. Depending how bad the damage is, I can't see making the next race next weekend. I really wanted to make some 1/4 mile passes today. If I don't make it next weekend, the next race I can attend is Sept 3

 

That sucks,only thing worse than a broken racecar is breaking the tow rig.

 

Is your diesel one of those ones that takes $3500 injectors, or one like mine that takes $350 injectors?

 

Depends how you look at it. Mine is a 6.0 Powerstroke. I work at an International dealership and I get my engine parts at cost since the engine itself is made by International. The last injectors I replaced were something like $300-$350 each. The $200 warranty injectors have been discontinued.

Even if I melted a piston, I think I can get a longblock for around $5000 but that may have been a special deal a few months ago.

The truck just isn't my tow rig, it's my daily driver and I don't put a lot of mileage on it every year. I've only logged 14,000 km in the last 2 years.

 

Sucks that its your DD too.

Two of my buddies run Duramaxes, one of them has a 12.99 timeslip. They're always laughing at my old 7.3 IDI. That's ok, I'll be patient while towing and let them laugh until its time for them to do some fuel system service. Then I'll show them this: http://www.dpsperformance.com/collec...-idi-injectors
I can do my entire fuel system for just over $800.

 

Sorry to hear that Alky!
Best of luck!!

 

Sorry about the bad luck. Is there just not many races up there? I've been to 13 races so far this year!

 

The local track has been shut down. Edmonton is my next closest track. They started racing back in May and even then, it's usually still cold. They also have a lot of specialty races that I can't or don't attend. They usually also have a double race weekend racing on Saturday and Sunday but I just want to do the Sunday race.

It took me this long to finally get the engine together and back in the car. I was ready to go a few weeks ago but this weekend was the first one I could race at.

The last races of the season are the last 3 weekend of September. Weather is always a factor and it could easily be too cold for the last race but I've seen racing into mid October.

 

Just an update. I installed a scan tool on the engine and had a #3 cylinder fault. I replaced the injector on Monday after work. I didn't see any damage to it. I was expecting a damaged tip or broken o-ring. The oil looked like water due to the fuel that got into it so that was also replaced.

Fired up the engine and there was still a miss and lots of smoke. No diesel knock though. Ran it through a self test and #3 failed again. As much as I didn't want it to happen, my worst case scenario happened. #3 piston must be melted or damaged. I need a new engine.

Good thing I work at an International dealership. Best deal I can get on a basic longblock is $6050. No injectors, no balancer, no sensors. I called Ford today to get a price on a basic longblock. $12,000. For that price, I might as well buy another truck. Getting the engine shouldn't be a problem. Finding the time and space to replace it at work could be very difficult. It isn't a weekend job.

As much as I'd like to finish the season with those last 3 weekends in September, finances may have ended my 2012 race season without a single pass. I'm working on getting my 91 454SS back on the road for a DD. Need to get insurance and plates hopefully by the end of the week. I put a battery in it and it fired right up tonight. Rumble, rumble, rumble. Because the truck is lowered, it wouldn't be able to pull the 20' enclosed trailer even though it has the towing capacity.

I get to drive the shop parts truck until the Chev is on the road.

 

You do a compression test on that cylinder? Put helper airbags on the SS and hook it up to the trailer. My truck is lowered 4 inches in the rear and with bags it tows better then when it was at stock hieght.

 

I know that cylinder is low on compression. It's hard to start and has a bad miss. Also when I fired it up, I reved up the engine to see if the smoke would clear because the EGR valve had a lot of crap in it that I cleaned out. The engine stuck at 3000 rpm. It was sucking the oil out of the pan and kept running until I killed the engine and the loss of voltage to the other injectors finally allowed the engine to die.

Bad valve? Maybe but that wouldn't allow the oil to get full of diesel. Bad head gasket? Probably not, never lost any coolant until the tow truck broke the bottom of the rad from the tiedown chain. Bad piston is the most likely cause and I've seen many of those. Cheap fix is to pull the head and oil pan and replace the piston and con rod. It's a possible good repair but pulling the passenger side head without pulling the cab is very difficult. Pulling the heater box and AC evaporator out makes it easier. If the cylinder wall is scored then it still needs an engine. A light hone may fix minor scoring. Even with 2 wheel drive, I'm not sure how easy it is to pull the oil pan to unbolt the con rod. With a 4x4, it's almost impossible without dropping the axle. I wish we had a hoist so I could pull the cab off but we mostly work on big trucks and have no use for a hoist although sometimes I wish we did have one..

The 454SS does have helper air bag springs but it's also dropped 6 and 4 so the rear has the flipped axle kit which means axle travel is very limited. Pulling a 20' enclosed trailer with a shortbox truck is a little dicey. It pulled the 16' open trailer fine but when you pull a long trailer, a long wheelbase truck is much nicer. The lowered truck is also a little difficult to use with an equalizer hitch.

I'm going to check into the piston, conrod etc repair option tomorrow. The main reason I'll also do the conrod is in case it got bent. Too much fuel or oil in the cylinder and it can hydraulic the piston and bend the con rod. Probably a lot cheaper to repair than a complete engine as long as the block or head isn't damaged. The engine has roughly 230,000 km on it. For a diesel, that's hardly broken in.

 

DT466 swap time! Lol I'm liking my mechanical diesel more and more as this saga unfolds. Good luck man.

 

As if the 466 would even fit. That's a very tall engine. Even with a 7.3, there are things the 6.0 is better and worse at. I hate a lot of things about the newer engines. The 2010 emission Maxxforce 11 and 13's are very annoying to work on. The engine manufacturers can easily make a powerful and reliable engine. It's when they need to make it so it produces low emissions as per the government requirements is when they start getting complicated, unreliable and difficult to work on. The majority of the repairs that I do are all because of the emission systems. That's why Caterpillar doesn't make an on highway engine any more. It wasn't profitable for them.

New car engines are not much better. At least third gen engines are still basically low tech.

 

sounds like it cracked/broke a piston to me. i would pop another one in there if the cylinder looks ok.

can you shitcan all the egr crap?

 

I ordered an EGR delete yesterday. It will arrive long before I'm ready to use it. It was on sale.

I actually just found a great local deal. There's a diesel shop that sells and installs "rebuilt" engines.

ARP HEAD STUDS
BLACK ONYX HEAD GASKETS
NEW UPDATED OIL RAIL TUBES AND PLUGS
UPDATED HPP FITTING
UPDATED 65 PSI FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR
EGR DELETE KIT
NEW OIL SCREEN
8 TESTED INJECTORS
WIRING HARNESS
GOOD USED TURBO
UNLIMITED MILEAGE 3 MONTH PARTS ONLY WARRANTY
TESTED OIL COOLER

ENGINE PRICE : $5600
INSTALLATION: $1800**
CORE REFUND: (-$800)

That's a smoking deal especially for the installation. With only an $800 core, I'd keep my core. I've already invested over $800 just in injectors so the core would be a few thousand dollars worth of spare parts for me or just rebuild it on my own time and resell it. My engine already has a bunch of the updates listed above.

 

I've towed our 24' enclosed many many miles with a K5 blazer that sat 4" off the ground. - My big adjustable drop hitch & weight bars for my burban flipped over so it's raised up & a good proportional brake controller.

That's definitely a good deal from that place on the motor/install.

 

Because you are so aware of repair costs it primarily why you see this being a great deal and that's very cool.For us,once a tow vehicle shows signs of heavy money needed,we turn them as well.Got me thinking for you if with your updates and the company your thinking of using for a rebuilt engine,if they could do a tear down,quick hone and go with a replacement piston so you could sell it off and save some money.We had a power stroke and turned it after throwing a trans code once it was fixed.The current Duramax(sp) is doing very well.

 

how do you know when a diesel will need an expensive repair soon? and if you sell the truck before taking a expensive hit, how can you tell if your replacement truck wasnt turned by someone else trying to avoid an expensive hit? this knowledge may help me in the future.

 

The power stroke I spoke of was a very sweet Texas truck and the trans code was $3,800 repair that got us to sell it off.Enough was enough.

 

Selling the truck "as is" was under consideration but a truck needing an engine or engine repair isn't worth very much. The cost of this replacement engine is at least half what it would cost to find another similar truck. I lucked out finding this two wheel drive. I didn't want a 4x4 and every listing is 4x4, big suspension etc. Been there, done that. No thanks. For me, a $7400 engine installed is a good deal for a truck valued at around $14,000 once it's running. Once I get the core back, I can slowly pick away at repairing it and either keep it as a spare or sell it for around $6000 making most of my money back. This is the third truck I've owned since 1986. I had the first one for 12 years and traded it for the 454SS in 1996 and I still have the SS.

If you routinely trade off vehicles then selling this to buy another may be your choice but I hang onto vehicles for a long time. Investing this money into another engine should get me at least another 12 years out of the truck before I consider selling it. Actually, at my age, it will probably be the last vehicle I need to buy unless I sell off my trucks and race car and retire driving some front wheel drive economy car.

There's also the cost of maintaining a vehicle. Being a mechanic and working on International diesel engines, this truck costs me very little to operate. If you have to pay someone to do routine maintenance and repairs then maybe it would be better to just trade it off. I just replaced the front brakes and rotors a few weeks ago in my back yard. I didn't have to pay a shop to do that. I've replaced injectors and have done other repairs that I know the average person would be complaining about the cost of the repairs just for the labor rates let alone the retail cost of parts. I get engine parts at dealer cost.

Same goes for my 454SS. It's a pig on gas but mechanically it's still more than roadworthy. It's showing it's age and needs lots of bodywork but it's still my hotrod with a 6 foot trunk. When it becomes unreliable, I may consider selling it.

 

So my truck gets towed to the shop on Monday. Owner said there was 3 trucks in the shop and 2 more waiting to come in. Mine should be ready to go in less than 2 weeks so going back racing in September shouldn't be an issue.

If I plugged away at the repairs staying after work or going to the shop on weekends, I'd be lucky to have it done by the end of September. After working a 10 hour work day 5 days a week, staying late to work on my own stuff really wears me out. For me, the cost of this new engine is more than worth it just for the time it will take to get the truck back on the road.

One of the guys pulled the engine from an F550 at work the other day. The bedplate seal was leaking and the only way to do it was to pull the engine and put it on a stand so it can be flipped over. At the end of today, it was determined that the engine needed more work than we thought and will get a replacement. I laughed and said my truck will probably be done first. The engine was pulled without pulling the cab because we don't have a hoist. Took him about a day and a half to get the engine out. With a hoist to pull the cab, an engine can be pulled in a matter of hours.

 

We work off of market value and not utility.Maybe you in your lifetime had around you a old guy who traded his car in every two yrs no matter if he needed to or not.

 

Some of us don't have deep enough pockets to be paying for a vehicle forever just to have a newer vehicle every few years.

 

And some of our tow rigs cost half of what Alky's last trip towards the drag strip will cost! Maybe in 2 years I can trade in on an OBS Powerstroke? lol

 

Your still in the game after all these yrs.So what works for you must be what you feel is the right way.My comments is the first one is the hardest being we paid off it and then after that we're just working the money for the least amount of loss.Actually with maintaining trade-in value short of a huge new price,payments do go down some.We're not adding to the load on that money because we clear that debt with each trade.

I well understand your broken engine situation.Kind of the reason why I was asking you about a hone and go repair to get out from under it at a lower repair cost on a trade.Then hard times again until you had it paid off in a reasonable trade in value time span.

I am not totally without empathy.I am sorry to see a good racer going threw all this.

 

if he fixed the truck, why would he trade it? how do you know something else would fail anytime soon?
i bought my 2500 with 182k on it in '04. now it has 252k 8 years later. havent really had to do anything to the truck other than putting gas and oil in it. been paid off since '07.

 

Since 07 your losing your investment in market value.It's about working the money and not a possibility of another repair.A example of that is let's say your trade-in value is 10,000 and a replacement is 15,000.You didn't deplete completely you original investment.Depredation will kill you.

 

i paid $7000 for the truck in '04. i can sell it now for $5000. losing $2000 in value is pretty dang good over 8 years, imo. taxes are low since its an older truck, and its paid for so i dont have to carry full coverage insurance on it... which is cheaper.

the replacement for the 2500 is a '06 gmc 3500 with the duramax. bought it used last year for $5000 with a broke crank. i should have it fixed for around $2,000.


what are some of your personal deals on trucks, gary?

 

Duramaxes break??? Holy ****, my buddy is not gonna believe you! Lol, according to him, a totally stock dmax will take 40psi of boost all day long and still live a million miles. He's proven the Allison is a different story tho :-/

 

after buying my dmax truck, i've bought 1 complete lbz with a mystery coolant leak out the exhaust, 1 lbz shortblock with a bad piston bushing (which ruined that cylinder wall), and 1 lb7 shortblock with no apparant issue other than sitting outside for 6 months or so exposed to the elements. the original engine had no issues over the years aside from the broken crankshaft. -which is fairly common, even on the stock trucks.

my dad's '03 dmax is as pristine as you will find. he has babied it since he bought it new, bone stock with no tuner or anything else. always ran the additives and filters everyone on the diesel pages said to run. at around 80k miles it started eating ficm modules every 6k miles or so. went through 4 of them i believe. ~$1200 a pop. they thankfully replaced all injectors just before the 100k warranty ran out on them. they also replaced the transfer case due to a common problem of something rubbing through the case from the inside. dodged a big bullet there.
the truck now has somewhere around 110,000 miles on it, and it seems to be ok now. if he had bought this truck used at 105k and it started having its problems he would have been screwed in a major way. (no warranty)

 

^^^^ The 01-04 duramaxes have a 200,000 mile warranty on the injectors (for high return rates only). Yes the transfer case getting a hole rubbed thru it is a common problem. In the 9 years I was a dmax tech, I replaced 2 motors, 0 trannies, 0 FICMs, 0 injection pumps and 0 head gaskets. Not saying they dont have problems, but I would take one over a powerstroke any day. Did do a LOT of injectors, water pumps and FPRs.

Still waiting to see what garys truck deals were lol

 

Guys-I don't mind passing along a concept,specific numbers are confidential.I don't post B.S. and it is irritating at times having to prove everything.Use my suggestions or don't.

 

that is why its hard to believe much of anything you say..... you never post up anything concrete. if you were to say exactly what you did, $$ spent and $$ gained/lost, i would be able to follow what you are saying. otherwise, its hard to follow. why are the prices of trucks confidential?

if you get a smoking deal on a truck, drive it 3 years, sell it and break even or turn it for a profit, i can believe that. but that just means you got a smoking deal on it in the first place, and then sold it at normal market value 3 years later.

 

Market value? That's like saying that you should buy a vehicle that's white because it has a better resale value. I'm not buying a vehicle for someone else. I'm buying it for myself. What it's worth when I finally decide to sell it is whatever someone is willing to pay. I don't think I've ever owned a vehicle that would blend in as a generic daily driver on the road like every other car on the road. Maybe then a market value would mean something since it would then be just another disposable vehicle.

I paid $18,000 for my 91 454SS back in 1996. Well, that's what it was valued at because I also had a trade in. I can't remember the final dollar value I paid. All the body work and lowered suspension were done. Edelbrock stainless headers and dual exhaust. The truck was in very good condition and was a big step up from my old 79 4x4. The body is now really seeing it's age and if I tried to sell it, only a true collector who knows the uniqueness of the truck would pay more than $5000 for it. I'd be lucky to get $3000 but I have no intention of selling my hot rod or I would have used it as a trade in when I bought the F350. Invest the money to make the body like new again and I could probably get at least $15,000 for it with the right buyer.

As for fixing my engine, yes I could do it myself but everything would have to be done in the truck. Pull the passenger head which isn't easy but is possible. Raise the engine to get the oil pan off and pull the rod and piston. Clean up the bore and slap a new piston in. Reassemble with OEM parts (head gaskets, head bolts etc) and the engine would probably run for many more years with no problems. The biggest issue is time and a place to do the work. Our shop has very few bays empty at any time. Trying to find a bay to work in over the weekend isn't always possible and evenings during the week are difficult. Then there's the part about pushing the truck out before the next work day. Our yard is normally double parked with trucks so even finding a spot to put it is difficult. This week hasn't been too bad. The yard didn't start to fill up again until today.

It's totally possible to repair the engine for minimal amount of money but I couldn't see getting it finished for at least 2 months or more. Sending the truck out to have another engine dropped in with goodies that I would have wanted to do anyway and getting it back in 2 weeks or less is a great option for me. My F350 has 230,000 km on it. It's barely broken in. The 91 454SS only has 170,000 km and still runs great once you get over the poor gas mileage but the cost of putting gas in it is cheaper than buying another, newer truck. Sure I'd love a 2012 truck but I don't like them. Maybe 15 years from now I'll buy one.

Buy a cheap tow rig? Sure, there's lots of 70's or 80's 3/4 and 1 ton trucks available really cheap but how reliable are they going to be? Anything in good condition is still getting a good price and anything that's really cheap also needs a lot of work. Those older trucks are also very uncomfortable to drive for long distances compared to newer vehicles.

 

I'm the same way, I buy a vehicle with the intention of keeping it. I would have to disagree with you about older trucks being uncomfortable and unreliable though. I bought my '93 sight unseen for slightly below NADA and drove it 1000 miles home. While not as plush as my friend's leather interior duramax, it is not uncomfortable. As for unreliable, I have service records showing nothing but regular maintenance and wear items for almost 300,000 miles, and my dads truck of the same vintage has needed two transmission rebuilds, but has never left him stranded.

 

Diggler,

Yrs ago we went through a period where we went threw 5 BBC engines in 4 wks with really dumb luck and where 3 of them never left the shop before destroying themselves.EVERYTHING got sold.We just continued as a vendor of used hard core parts and took about two yrs off.It was at that time we took a hard look at the way we did things to see the huge mistakes we where making and how to turn that around.We where able to still save the seed money of $32,000 from a sale of a company.Unconventional way of making money???Absolutely.Do we know how to buy and sell??. Well I think we do.The core investment has grown over the yrs with a better return than anything else I can think of.I think the current motor home is number 13 which is used for long trip races.Have we fallen in a pattern with the current car having owned it too long??. Yes we have and I am in the process of turning that around.But we have gone faster than anything we have ever owned and learned tons for a upgrade.I'd like us to make a move on a blown Alky RED over the winter.

 

i thought long and hard about just getting an older late 90's dually with the 454. super cheap, good towing power,very reliable, and if something goes wrong, its pretty dang easy to work on.
if something goes wrong on a duramax, get out your checkbook. they do get much better fuel economy though, and the power is unreal if you put a tune in one. i brought my truck home on a dual tandem trailer pulled by a '08 duramax. trailer with my '06 sitting on it was roughly 13,000 lbs. the truck i was towing it with had a 75hp tune in it and i could not believe how easily it towed that thing. unreal. oh and got 13mpg doing it which is 1 better than my 6.0l gasser gets pulling the racecar on an open trailer.

 

I wanted ti add this.At soon to be 65 yrs old I have come to realize my time left isn't very long.I do not want to be a internet hero and honestly don't give a damm about that.All I am trying to do is pass along the things(concepts) I have learned about drag racing and the things I have seen as what is wrong in drag racing in the ways people handle situations.Am I willing to tell people exactly money figures??. No,frankly it is none of their damm business.I hope telling my net friends how we have done what we have,will help them do better.That is my motivation in total.

 

im all about someone helping others, but so far what i have learned is:

gary's concepts-
1. buy racecar, run it for free for a year, sell for profit.
2. buy tow rig, run it for a couple years, sell for profit just before blowing up.
3. get a big name sponsorship for your bracket car to pay for all your expenses.
4. become a professional driver by bracket racing.

 

Diggler,
Just number two I would like seen changed.Sell it for money reasons.Oh yeah number three it doesn't have to be a big sponsor deal,just the right deal.Your selling a ad and support of the sponsor.

 

Update

I had my truck towed to the shop on Monday. Today they called me.

The used engine they were going to put into my truck has problems. When they pulled the heads off to change the head gaskets and install the studs, they found a melted piston. They won't get another used engine in my year for a couple of weeks but offered me a deal.

A new reman longblock with a 3 year warranty instead of a low mileage used engine (115,000 km). I get to keep my 3 new injectors from the old engine that I've installed since I bought the truck and they'll keep the rest of the core. All the updates will be done to the reman engine and I'm hoping the aftermarket head gaskets and studs as well. It will have the EGR delete, new high pressure pump with a 1 year warranty etc.

Same price as I was going to pay of $7400 installed and I'll have a new longblock with zero miles on it plus 3 spare new injectors worth roughly $340 each, my cost. I just won't get the whole core back. The truck was supposed to be done late this afternoon but I never got a phone call. I wouldn't be able to pick it up until tomorrow anyway.

The main reason I wanted the core back was because of all the newer parts I have installed. I would have been able to rebuild the engine over the winter then sell it for $5000-$6000 and make most of my money back but getting a new engine for me is a better deal and I'll have my truck back for the weekend instead of weeks from now. I'm cruising around in my 91 454SS right now. It's fun to drive the hotrod again. Just don't watch the fuel gauge while driving.

 

i was assuming it was rebuilt at $5,000? not a low mileage longblock. you can buy a complete takeout motor for that much.

here is a used shortblock for $650 on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2006-Ford-6-...ead2bb&vxp=mtr

 

The "rebuilt" engines that they sell still have a stock bottom end. Low mileage diesels (less than 300,000) usually have nothing wrong with the bottom end. They'll warranty it for 3 months. They pull the heads, change the gaskets and put in studs. I've seen the listings for the cores they want. They'll buy a core in any condition for $1000. Do all the updates, install the EGR delete, make sure the injectors, oil cooler and HP pump pass then resell it for $5600 plus installation. There are other options if you want different brands of injectors etc.

The cheapest I can buy a new longblock for is $6000 and that's dealer cost plus there's probably a core charge to get the old one back. That doesn't include sensors or injectors and I would still have to install it. I just don't have the time or place to do the swap.

That Ebay listing would probably cost me close to $2000 for shipping and cross border fees/taxes. Shipping 1000 pounds across the continent and over the border is far from inexpensive. That's also a shortblock which isn't worth anything unless you have undamaged heads, injectors etc. It's also the wrong year. Too many things to change to make it work.

 

a rebuilt engine should at least have all new bearings and rings in it, instead of having who knows how many miles on them... and half of the used diesel stuff out there has had a tuner on it at some point which can cause wear on the piston skirts and wrist pins. if the previous owner overheated it, the rings are probably shot. one of my duramaxes had a wrist pin bushing go bad in it, which was not easily noticeable until i pulled it out of the bore. (then i could also see the damage on the cylinder wall)
most of these core motors were pulled out of a truck for one reason or another, and there is a possibility of a problem in the bottomend.

i hope everything works out good for you, but i would prefer the rebuilt or new engine for that much money.

 

We do not maintain or repair towing vehicles.The truck or the motor home.But because your having to change your game plan,you still have time to patch up what you have so it is running and resalable to cut your losses and who knows find a great deal with another truck using the money from what you own.

Just a side note.With your home track being a two hr drive,if you don't have it yet,do get AAA.A towing bill on a breakdown in a strange town does get scarey.I won't get into a horror story of race buddy of ours,but the bill put him behind the eight ball for a long,long,time.

 

i don't make payments on my towing vehicles.

 

Neither do I. All the vehicles I own including the race car are bought and paid for. Even dropping in a new engine is far cheaper than buying more vehicles or replacing the ones I have. Some people just want to stay in debt forever just to always have a newer vehicle. More bells and whistles doesn't make a newer vehicle any better. The Ford has a few more options that the Chev doesn't have but the Chev can still get me from point A to point B just as easily.

I was working on a 2012 F550 today. Couldn't even see the 6.7L engine under the hood. Can't imagine having to do any engine work to it in the future. What ever happened to trucks when you were able to open the hood, see the engine and be able to easily get to it for repairs? The bigger trucks I work on and not much better. I've spent 2 hours removing stuff just to change a sensor. I've sat under the hood of a 70's/80's GM pickup to do engine work.

Keep your third gens. New cars are nicer but the labor costs alone to repair them are getting worse.

 

100% agree. i bought a flatbed off of a '93 chevy 3500 dually awhile back. the guy was asking $1500 for the truck with the bed still on it. still ran, but had a blown headgasket where it had overheated. anyways, under the hood there was nothing but an engine with 2 feet of empty space all around it. i stood there and considered buying the truck for quite awhile just because of the simplicity. i burn a tank of fuel out of my truck in roughly 2 months time. honestly an older simple 454 truck would work fine for my needs, but i got a good enough deal on the duramax to stick with it.


my new daily beater is a '90 civic hatch. i purposefully bought an old well built honda for the reasons listed above. it gets 52mpg, is pretty reliable, and i can work on it if something breaks. tires are cheap, taxes are cheap, parts are cheap, and insurance is cheap. if someone dents it in the parking lot i will not be very upset. lol

edit- (yes, it gets 52mpg because i swapped an engine from a '95 civic vx in there)

 

Picked up my truck today. I think I made the right decision. The cylinder wall was badly scored and a simple piston replacement wouldn't have fixed the engine. An overbore would have been required which means a complete new engine was the better option. I never got a chance to take a picture of the cylinder wall but I have the piston as a trophy.

Final bill
Reman engine with 3 year, 100,000km warranty, ARP head studs, EGR delete, Blue spring fuel pressure kit, updated high pressure oil fitting and case to head tubes. $5000

New OEM high pressure oil pump with 1 year warranty $500

New OEM water pump required for engine warranty $200

8 tested injectors, coolant and oil, new oil and fuel filters, used turbo with 3 month warranty, OEM oil cooler kit. $700

R&R engine $1800

Put some fuel in my almost empty tank $60

Subtract the value of the core -$800

Tax $373

Total bill $7833 and I now have a zero mileage engine with all the proper updates done to it plus I got my 3 new injectors back as spares.

This is not pretty but I've seen worse 6.0L powerstroke pistons



Tow vehicle is fixed. I can go racing in September!