Hey all, I am back again sadly for more problems.

 

I'll tell the backstory and all symptoms I'm having. Was headed home yesterday and check gauges light came on. Had oil pressure but noticed voltage was not reading. Parked the truck and shut it off and saw there was fluid leaking in front of the engine. Popped the hood and the belt came off and I assume it knocked the catch can (tbh I haven't emptied it and I've owned the truck for over a year) Noticed there was fuel in the fluid (oil) leaking and I smelled raw diesel. Checked the oil and there was sure as **** fuel and a damn good amount. Forums seems to say it's either injectors, crossover tubes, or the seal on the VP44. One thing I noticed only yesterday was when I'd go back to idle while rolling in neutral, RPM's would sit at like probably 900 (the line right before 1000) and then after a few seconds it would go down to it's normal resting spot (noticeable noise in the idle so it wasn't just the gauge reading higher). I'm at a loss of what to do with this damn truck. With this new issue, I'm tempted to just find a lower mileage 24v and swap it in myself because I need to replace my head too due to an ear breaking off for the plenum holes. Also noticed yesterday morning before the belt came off that there was vapor coming from the crankcase tube, which I hadn't noticed a few days before. Truck may have some blow by out the valve cover but its not pluming like a steam engine...

One thing to add with the idle thing, tuner is currently not hooked up completely so it's running off the ECM solely. Also, no check engine light for any of this.

One more thing to add, there was fuel on the injector line nut at the VP closest to the block.. Shop retightened all of them 2 weeks ago. Would this be possibly from the vp seal leaking and running out and getting that wet? As well as dumping fuel into the timing case? Or is that line possibly just shot and I need new lines.

 

If anyone has any other questions and want me to clarify things, I will be happy to answer!

 

Thank you,

Dylan

Edited January 21, 20223 yr by YeaImDylan

You can add UV dye in the fuel filter and then use a UV light to look for leaks.

When you do make sure to have everything ready to look shortly after start up. Have the valve cover off, have the vent cover off the gear case, pull the fan or fan belt so you can look in the gear case for dye. Being that the oil from the head drains back to the tappet area and the VP44 gets splash fed from the gears you could possibly see dye in all places in a short order so be set up for the dye and have all the stuff setup for adding the dye. Then in the first few minutes pay close attention where your seeing dye. Also if dye is visible then shut down because again you have dye running every where is a short time.  

Thank you all for this good knowledge! So change oil first before starting her again and then do the dye in the fuel filter? Once that happens, use the UV light up top and see if I see it there. If not, would I be able to see in the crank breather if removed and see if fuel went to there directly from the VP seal? Also, what’s the specific name of the seal? And is there any chance I’d see the dye up top due to oil being pumped up there from the rest of the engine and maybe it came from the vp seal?

 

also, from the top seeing fuel or dye, can I differentiate if it’s solely the injector o ring, injector itself, etc, or if it’s only the crossover tube? I just don’t want to replace only the tubes and I rings there and then it be a physical injector if that makes sense.

30 minutes ago, YeaImDylan said:

If not, would I be able to see in the crank breather if removed and see if fuel went to there directly from the VP seal?

Yes if the fan was removed or the belt was. You will be able to see the fuel push through. Of course the whole ares behind the gear would light up from the UV dye and black light. Again the time will be short between the time its start till it possibly got dye everywhere. The reason I know this I use the same kind of dye  and black light for A/C work.

 

34 minutes ago, YeaImDylan said:

Also, what’s the specific name of the seal?

Shaft seal. VP44 shaft seal. 

 

36 minutes ago, YeaImDylan said:

And is there any chance I’d see the dye up top due to oil being pumped up there from the rest of the engine and maybe it came from the vp seal?

Yes. This is why the time is short because once the dye makes it to the oil it will be everywhere in a few seconds then the test will show fuel everywhere in a short time. This why you want the fan belt removed, gear case vent removed, valve cover removed so you can monitor all this stuff in a few minutes and see where the dye is coming from.

2 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Yes if the fan was removed or the belt was. You will be able to see the fuel push through. Of course the whole ares behind the gear would light up from the UV dye and black light. Again the time will be short between the time its start till it possibly got dye everywhere. The reason I know this I use the same kind of dye  and black light for A/C work.

 

Shaft seal. VP44 shaft seal. 

 

Yes. This is why the time is short because once the dye makes it to the oil it will be everywhere in a few seconds then the test will show fuel everywhere in a short time. This why you want the fan belt removed, gear case vent removed, valve cover removed so you can monitor all this stuff in a few minutes and see where the dye is coming from.

All good advice,                     on spotting what if anything is leaking  under the rocker cover you should be able to see if it's crossovers or injectors especially if you have a helper on the key and as M34M says be quick, I've never had to use dye in fuel but my guess is it's a good bright colour, A/C dye here is bright frog green

Good luck

3 hours ago, wil440 said:

I've never had to use dye in fuel but my guess is it's a good bright colour, A/C dye here is bright frog green

 

Yup. Exactly what I get too in the USA. The problem is when your leaking from one media (fuel) to a second media (oil) eventually all the oil will be polluted with UV dye and look like everything has dye leaking out. This why you got to be set up at the time of adding the dye because a time later the entire crankcase will be full of the dye. You'll end up changing oil all over again to get rid the dye to start over. 

Well my belt is off currently so the fan won't be an issue. I'm thinking of checking the crank vent first since that's where dye would hit first I'd assume for a few seconds and then check up top. How much dye until it's an issue for internals that need oil? I'm REALLY not trying to do another oil change since I'm already about to change it and just changed it like 600 miles ago 

What if you put the dye in the engine oil?

3 hours ago, Royal Squire said:

What if you put the dye in the engine oil?

 You'll find engine oil leaks.

59 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

 You'll find engine oil leaks.

When I first read that, that is just what I thought

BUT, modifying the statement somewhat to " add dye to engine oil of a totally different colour"  and another totally different colour to the fuel

using dye in the fuel would work great if the engine oil was black and ready for changing, dye EO black and use a really bright colour for fuel, not sure though how expensive the dye is

 

Although I could be talking utter rubbish as I've never had to use dye looking for fuel leaks as in large construction plant is that destructive to have fuel in EO that you just dive in and change parts, starting with low pressure fuel  pump (Cat as it's driven and leaks internal) injectors/injector seals and any tubes then high pressure fuel pump and then head, although LP FP or injectors usually gets it